Amazon-owned Zoox is steering its autonomous vehicle ambitions to the nation’s capital, announcing Tuesday that it has begun mapping Washington D.C.’s streets in preparation for testing later this year.

The company said it will start with manually driven Toyota Highlanders equipped with sensors and proprietary software to build detailed maps of the city. Once the groundwork is complete, Zoox plans to transition to testing its autonomous vehicles with human safety operators behind the wheel.

“With its growing population and high demand for flexible transport options, the District is an ideal next location and optimal place to begin testing and mapping our technology on the East Coast,” Zoox said in a blog post.

The push into Washington D.C. marks Zoox’s eighth U.S. test site, joining Austin, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, San Francisco, and Seattle. A spokesperson told TechCrunch the company will begin with a small fleet in the District, which will expand gradually over time.

Zoox has come a long way since its 2014 founding in Foster City, California. Backed by Amazon since 2020, it has scaled operations from Silicon Valley test tracks to hundreds of vehicles across multiple U.S. cities. At the heart of its ambitions is a custom-built robotaxi, designed without a steering wheel or pedals, that aims to redefine urban mobility. Earlier this year, the company launched a free robotaxi service in Las Vegas, its anchor market since 2019, and started testing the shuttles in San Francisco last November.

Still, Zoox must clear regulatory hurdles before it can run a full-fledged commercial service. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration granted the company an exemption in August to demonstrate its custom vehicles on public roads, though that approval only covers research and demonstrations. Zoox has since filed for a broader exemption that would pave the way for commercial rollout.

The Washington move comes at a time when the robotaxi market is heating up, with self-driving companies jockeying for leadership as the technology inches closer to mainstream adoption. Alphabet’s Waymo and General Motors’ Cruise have been at the forefront, running robotaxi services in parts of California. Waymo recently expanded its service zones in Los Angeles and Phoenix, while Cruise is navigating a turbulent stretch after regulatory scrutiny forced it to scale back in San Francisco. Tesla, meanwhile, has promised to unveil its long-delayed robotaxi in the coming year, positioning its approach as one built on mass deployment of existing vehicles rather than bespoke designs like Zoox’s.

The different strategies underscore the race to establish dominance. Waymo has leaned heavily on regulatory goodwill and incremental expansion, Cruise has pursued aggressive rollouts that at times backfired under safety concerns, and Tesla has staked its future on AI-driven autonomy built into its passenger cars. Zoox, by contrast, is betting that its purpose-built robotaxi will give it a unique edge once regulators greenlight full commercial operations.

By choosing Washington D.C., Zoox is not only entering a dense and highly visible urban environment but also signaling its readiness to compete coast-to-coast with rivals. But the bottom line is, cities are becoming equally important as the fight for control of the emerging robotaxi market is shaping up to be one of the defining contests in the transportation industry.

Google is expanding its artificial intelligence-powered search experience, AI Mode, by adding visual results, the company announced on Tuesday.

The feature, launched in the U.S. in May as a text-first tool that answered queries in natural language, will now generate images for users seeking inspiration or shopping help — a shift that underscores how search is evolving in the age of generative AI.

Robby Stein, vice president of product management at Google Search, said the update unlocks new possibilities for how users engage with AI Mode.

“Sometimes what you’re looking for really just can’t be articulated with text,” Stein told reporters during a briefing. “If you ask about shopping for shoes, it’ll describe shoes when really people want visual inspiration, they want the ability to see what the model might be seeing.”

For instance, a user searching “Show me a maximalist inspo for my bedroom” will now receive a series of AI-generated images. These results can then be refined with follow-ups such as “Show me more with bolder prints and dark tones.”

The same logic applies to shopping. A query like “Barrel jeans that aren’t too baggy” would produce shoppable images, each linked directly to retailer websites.

The new feature draws on multiple Google technologies, including the Gemini 2.5 AI model, Google Search, Lens, and Image Search. Google aims to create a multimodal experience that goes beyond the limitations of text by combining these.

“This is really, we think, a breakthrough in what’s possible,” Stein said.

Market Context and Investors Sentiment

The rollout comes as Google faces growing competitive pressure from Microsoft’s Bing, which is infused with OpenAI’s technology, and AI-native startups that are reimagining online discovery. Google is attempting to lock in users who might otherwise turn to rivals by making search more visual, interactive, and transactional.

For investors, the financial-market angle has an underpin. Visual shopping features not only deepen user engagement but also pave the way for new monetization channels, particularly through advertising and retail partnerships. Analysts say the move could shift consumer behavior from traditional search queries toward direct commerce funnels, potentially increasing Google’s share of e-commerce-driven ad spending — an area where Amazon and TikTok have been eating into Google’s dominance.

But Google’s AI strategy has drawn criticism from many quarters. The company’s AI Overview, which automatically generates summaries at the top of search results, has drawn backlash from publishers and content creators who argue that it undercuts traffic to their sites. Critics say this risks alienating an ecosystem that has long relied on Google referrals for visibility and revenue.

That criticism creates a behavioral challenge in the market. Advertisers may welcome AI Mode’s direct purchase links, but publishers and online businesses share a concern that traffic may continue to erode, broadening questions about the sustainability of Google’s AI-driven search strategy.

However, many believe that Google’s visual expansion highlights how users are being trained to expect multimodal, curated answers instead of static blue links. This means faster discovery and more immersive shopping for consumers, and a balancing act for Google. The company is seen as tapping into new revenue streams and protecting market share, while navigating the backlash that comes with altering the fundamental economics of the web.

As the rollout unfolds, the key question will be whether these AI-driven innovations can strengthen Google’s financial moat without deepening conflicts with publishers and content creators.