San Francisco is about to become even more crowded with autonomous vehicles as Amazon’s Zoox opens its robotaxi service to members of the public for the first time in the city.

Beginning Tuesday, selected users from the company’s waitlist gained access to free rides in Zoox’s distinctive, steering-wheel-free vehicles as part of its expanding early rider program.

Zoox CEO Aicha Evans said the rollout marks a major step forward. “We have seen incredible interest in Zoox in this market and are excited about this first step to bring our purpose-built robotaxi experience to more people,” she noted.

The company will remove people from the waitlist based on criteria such as location, with the first service zone covering the South of Market, Mission, and Design District neighborhoods. Zoox hasn’t disclosed how many riders will be admitted initially, but said more will be added as the fleet grows.

The company currently operates around 50 robotaxis, split between Las Vegas and San Francisco. It launched a free ride service on the Las Vegas Strip in September, where thousands of visitors have already tried the autonomous shuttles. Zoox says the reaction has been “overwhelmingly positive,” with riders consistently saying they prefer its group-oriented, lounge-style cabin to the feel of a conventional car.

A Different Kind of Robotaxi

Zoox’s vehicles stand out sharply from the rest of the industry’s offerings. Unlike Waymo, Tesla, or Cruise — whose autonomous systems are installed onto traditional car bodies — Zoox manufactures its vehicles from the ground up, removing everything associated with human driving. There is no steering wheel, no pedals, and no driver’s seat. Instead, passengers sit facing one another in a rectangular, gondola-like cabin with large windows and a compact exterior footprint.

The design reflects Zoox’s goal of building a shared mobility service rather than a modified consumer car. The company has been testing autonomous systems in San Francisco since 2017, but the robotaxi now being deployed represents years of reengineering toward a fully purpose-built experience.

A Growing, Heated Competition

Zoox’s arrival slots into a highly competitive and rapidly shifting robotaxi landscape — one that has seen triumphs, setbacks, and aggressive expansion across the past decade.

Waymo remains the dominant player in San Francisco, with more than 1,000 autonomous vehicles operating across the Bay Area as of November. Its fleet consists of Jaguar I-PACE SUVs retrofitted with sensors and computing hardware. Waymo now offers fully driverless rides in five major US cities, giving it the largest footprint of any autonomous ride-hailing service in the country.

Tesla has also moved into the robotaxi space, beginning a pilot program in Austin and the Bay Area. These rides still include safety operators, but the company says it is preparing for a future fleet based on its dedicated robotaxi vehicle, which is still under development.

Uber, after exiting its self-driving program in 2020, is attempting a comeback. It plans to launch a robotaxi service next year using vehicles from Lucid Motors and Nuro, marking a renewed push to compete in the market it once tried to dominate.

Cruise, the most prominent rival to Waymo until last year, saw its rapid expansion collapse after safety incidents forced it to suspend operations and eventually shut down its robotaxi program entirely under GM.

In this context, Zoox enters the field as a fresh but well-funded challenger with a radically different vehicle design — and the backing of Amazon, which bought the company in 2020. That financial muscle gives Zoox more room to scale than many smaller startups that burned out during the autonomous-driving boom.

How Zoox’s Entry Reshapes the Competition

Bringing more San Franciscans into its vehicles gives Zoox a chance to prove it can compete in a city that has become both the testing ground and the battleground for autonomous mobility. The move increases pressure on incumbents like Waymo, which has enjoyed near-monopoly visibility since Cruise’s collapse.

Zoox’s shuttle-like design also adds a new dimension to consumer choice. While Waymo and Tesla offer rides that feel like enhanced versions of traditional cars, Zoox promises a shared, cabin-style environment designed from scratch for autonomy. If San Franciscans find the design more comfortable or social, Zoox could carve out a distinct niche in a crowded market.

The expansion also intensifies competition over data — the lifeblood of autonomous driving. Every ride Zoox provides gives it more real-world training data to improve its systems. That advantage helped Waymo pull ahead earlier, and Zoox is now racing to close the gap.

On top of that, a thriving multi-player market benefits cities and regulators, who hold the belief that robust competition prevents any single company from dominating access, pricing, or public negotiations. Zoox’s rollout helps restore competitive balance in a city that previously saw two major players reduced to one after Cruise was sidelined.

Nigeria’s commercial engagement with other African nations strengthened sharply in the first half of the year, with intra-African trade rising 14% amid a renewed government push to overhaul border processes and deepen regional connectivity.

The data, released on Monday by the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, offers one of the clearest signs yet that Nigeria is beginning to benefit from a more integrated continental market.

Adeniyi told participants at a trade conference in Abuja that trade with African partners jumped by 600 billion naira (about $415 million) to 4.82 trillion naira between January and June. He described the growth as a firm signal that Nigeria’s regional trade reforms are gaining traction.

“This is a clear signal of strengthening regional trade momentum,” he said.

Nigeria’s exports to member states within the Economic Community of West African States saw a marked increase as well, which he said highlighted the country’s rising importance as a hub for continental trade and emerging value chains.

The gains coincide with government efforts to remove long-standing trade barriers. Authorities have been digitizing customs procedures, reducing clearance times, and improving transport links with neighboring countries, all aimed at easing the movement of goods across borders. Weak road networks, bureaucratic delays, and a lack of harmonized documentation have historically been some of the biggest obstacles to intra-African trade.

Nigeria’s reforms are part of a broader strategy to position the country advantageously under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the landmark agreement that aims to create a unified market of more than 1.3 billion people.

Industry, Trade and Investment Minister Jumoke Oduwole said Nigeria has taken “concrete” steps to implement its AfCFTA commitments. Among the measures is a set of new tariff concessions designed to expand market access for Nigerian exporters. She also highlighted the launch of a dedicated air-cargo corridor to East Africa, which has already cut export costs by about 75%.

According to her, the corridor is helping exporters — especially those dealing in perishables — reach distant African markets faster and more competitively.

The surge in regional trade has generated fresh optimism among analysts who have long argued that AfCFTA could significantly boost Africa’s economic fortunes if fully executed. The recent uptick in commerce, they say, demonstrates the scale of potential gains once member states harmonize regulations, improve logistics, and expand cross-border infrastructure.

Analysts have pointed out that Africa currently trades more with Europe and Asia than with itself, largely because of tariff and non-tariff barriers, fragmented markets, and poor connectivity. Nigeria’s improvement, driven by early compliance with AfCFTA-aligned reforms, is seen as proof that removing these barriers could unlock substantial growth for businesses and governments across the continent.

Some trade experts noted that if more African countries adopt Nigeria’s approach — especially in simplifying customs procedures and reducing transport bottlenecks — the continent could see a dramatic rise in manufacturing competitiveness, agricultural exports, and value-added processing.

For Nigeria, the gains come at a crucial moment. The country has faced persistent economic challenges, including high inflation, forex volatility, and reduced oil earnings. Stronger regional trade, analysts say, could offer a new path toward diversification, helping local industries plug into regional supply chains.

The next test will be whether Nigeria can maintain the trajectory — and whether other African states can match its pace of reforms. But for now, officials and analysts agree that the latest figures are a promising indicator that AfCFTA’s long-anticipated economic benefits may be within reach once implementation deepens continent-wide.

Morgan Stanley is leaning heavily toward equities going into next year, projecting that U.S. stocks will outperform global peers in 2026 on the back of accelerating artificial intelligence investment and a policy backdrop it believes is finally aligning in favor of risk assets.

“Risk assets are primed for a strong 2026, powered by micro fundamentals, accelerating AI capex, and a favorable policy backdrop,” the bank said in a set of global economic and strategy outlook notes released Monday.

The view caps a turbulent year in global markets, shaped in no small part by President Donald Trump’s shifting tariff approach. Much of that uncertainty has eased heading into 2026, giving investors clearer visibility even as Morgan Stanley cautioned that the next 12 months still carry a wide range of possible outcomes. The U.S., it stressed, remains the central swing factor for global markets.

U.S. Outlook: AI, Earnings, and a Soft Dollar Cycle

Morgan Stanley’s baseline scenario sees the S&P 500 climbing to 7,800 by the end of 2026, implying roughly 16% upside from current levels. The bank attributes the projection to resilient earnings growth across major sectors and productivity gains tied to the rollout of AI-driven tools and infrastructure.

Small-cap stocks are expected to outperform large caps, while cyclicals should lead defensive sectors. The assessment reflects expectations of a Federal Reserve that remains dovish through much of 2026, enabling borrowing costs to stay supportive of growth.

On currencies, Morgan Stanley forecasts the dollar index sliding to 94 in the first half of next year before recovering to 99 by year-end as global growth patterns shift.

Europe: Riding the Coattails of a U.S. Upswing

The firm expects Europe to benefit from a widening U.S. recovery despite the region’s stubborn fiscal constraints and intensifying competition from China.

It raised its 2026 target for the MSCI Europe local currency index to 2,430, up from a prior forecast of 2,250. European stocks have already gained about 12.5% this year, buoyed by improved corporate earnings, easing inflation, and renewed optimism around Germany’s fiscal spending plans.

Still, Morgan Stanley noted that Europe’s structural challenges remain unresolved, making the region more dependent on U.S. momentum than in previous cycles.

Commodities: Gold Soars, Oil Anchored

The bank’s commodities outlook paints a sharply divergent landscape.

Gold is projected to hit $4,500 per ounce in 2026, reflecting expected demand for safe assets and a weaker early-year dollar. Copper is forecast at $10,600 per ton, supported by continued electrification demand and tight supply conditions.

By contrast, Brent crude is expected to hover around $60 a barrel. The brokerage anticipates a soft supply-demand balance through 2026, keeping oil prices capped even if global growth holds up.

A Wide Band of Possibilities

While the baseline is upbeat, Morgan Stanley flagged that uncertainty remains high as markets transition into a new policy and growth cycle shaped by AI, geopolitics, and post-pandemic economic rebalancing. The firm described the U.S. as the critical variable that could swing global markets either toward a sustained rally or back into volatility.

What remains clear, in its view, is that equities—not credit or government bonds—offer the most compelling opportunity next year, with artificial intelligence once again at the center of the global market story.