SAN FRANCISCO, California: Amazon's Zoox will begin charging passengers for driverless robotaxi rides in Las Vegas next week, marking its first commercial service days after receiving U.S. regulatory approval to deploy its vehicles without human controls.

Zoox said it will start paid rides from August 10. The company has been carrying passengers for free in Las Vegas, San Francisco, Austin and Miami as part of its testing program.

The commercial launch intensifies competition in the U.S. robotaxi market, where Alphabet's Waymo already operates paid driverless services in multiple cities, and Tesla has begun rolling out its own service.

Zoox said fares will be comparable to the "comfort" tier offered by other ride-hailing companies. Pricing will be based on a base fare plus time and distance using the best available route, with any destination-specific fees, such as airport trips, disclosed upfront. Riders will not pay more if the robotaxi takes a longer route than originally planned.

The company did not say when paid rides would begin in its other operating cities.

Last week, Zoox became the first autonomous ride-hailing company to receive an exemption from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) from federal rules requiring human driving controls. The decision marked a milestone for companies building robotaxis from the ground up rather than adapting conventional vehicles.

The approval is limited to deploying up to 2,500 vehicles in each of the next two years.

NHTSA said it determined Zoox's vehicle was as safe as an equivalent vehicle that complies with federal motor vehicle safety standards. However, the agency imposed additional reporting requirements covering issues such as crashes and vehicles stopping inappropriately on roads.

Robotaxi operators continue to face regulatory scrutiny over safety, particularly how autonomous vehicles respond to emergency scenes and interact with other road users.

Zoox has issued several software recalls over the past two years. Most recently, in July, it recalled vehicles after one of its robotaxis struggled to detect heavy smoke at an emergency scene.