A few years ago, Resorts World Las Vegas Vice President of Operations Shannon McCallum traveled to San Francisco to tour an autonomous robotaxi company.
McCallum was impressed by Zoox, an Amazon subsidiary that builds self-driving electric cars for ride-hailing services similar to Uber and Lyft. But McCallum also cautioned Zoox representatives they needed to build relationships to be successful in Las Vegas.
“You just can’t come in and launch something and think that it’s going to be well received,” McCallum told CDC Gaming.
So far, so good. After mapping Las Vegas streets starting in 2022, Zoox struck a partnership with Resorts World Las Vegas in May 2025, offering complimentary rides to the resort’s guests.
“Zoox and Resorts World share a joint focus on creating superior customer experiences,” Zoox Chief Product Officer Michael White said in a press release at the time. “When visitors ride Zoox, they’ll find the service offers an extension of the signature hospitality they’ve come to expect from Resorts World’s collection of premium brands, including Hilton, Conrad, and Crockfords. This partnership will allow us to enhance the overall guest journey, adding to their Las Vegas experience with personalized mobility.”
“We were the first property to partner with them on their launch,” McCallum says. “We were the first property to have a location like a hub for them, that we built on the south port cochere.”
Zoox’s cars are designed from the ground-up for the purpose of fully driverless ride-hailing. The vehicles have no front or back, no steering wheel or pedals, and carriage-style seating for up to four passengers. According to a Zoox spokesperson, the cars’ unique form factor provides “a unique way to move around and explore everything Las Vegas has to offer.”
Rides can be requested through the Zoox app, which looks and operates like those of other ride-hailing services. Zoox service in Las Vegas is destination-specific. Through the app, riders can select from sites and venues along the Las Vegas Strip including Resorts World, AREA15, T-Mobile Arena, the Sphere, the Las Vegas Convention Center, and most major hotels in the area. Zoox also is testing at Harry Reid International Airport, and will soon add that as a destination in the app.
McCallum says Resorts World Las Vegas views Zoox as an asset for its guests. She notes that Zoox has, from the start, been thoughtful about introducing its service, which also is available in San Francisco and will soon be introduced in Austin, Texas, and Miami, Florida.
“Before they opened to the public. Zoox invited all our team members to take a ride, so that we could educate our team member base,” McCallum says. “Which I think was a fantastic idea on their part, because then if they’re speaking to guests, they’ll have experienced it and talk about it and there’s a comfort level with it being at the property.”
There have been no reported accidents with Zoox vehicles. The only flaw has been that vehicles with human drivers will occasionally fail to yield to Zoox cars, causing backups when the cars are trying to make a left turn. To mitigate any concerns or problems, police can communicate directly with a Zoox operator who monitors all rides.
“It does look like something that the city believes will be helpful to get people from one point to the another,” McCallum says, “and the movement of people is important in the city, especially due to all the entertainment that we have for people to go to.”
To stimulate interest in Zoox, rides are complimentary to the areas the company serves. McCallum notes that alleviates concerns about how the service works or the autonomous vehicle themselves. Younger people are more likely to use Zoox, and social media influencers have embraced it. People who are active on their phones or are interested in technology also have used the service.
“I have seen older couples that have some time and they are interested, or they walk by and start talking to the attendant, get in and try it out,” McCallum says. “It’s all different kinds of people who will try it, whether it’s families or whether it’s couples, or friends who are here from out of state.”
