After years of big promises and limited pilots, Amazon.com Inc’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Zoox is finally preparing to build at scale.

According to reports from the States, the self-driving start-up will begin mass production of its purpose-built robotaxis next year, opening a new facility in California’s Bay Area to move beyond its current small-batch output.

The company has so far deployed just a couple of dozen vehicles across six US cities, but says it’s now ready to manufacture “hundreds and then thousands”.

Public ride services will launch in Las Vegas this year, with San Francisco next in line.

Unlike rivals that retrofit existing models, Zoox designs and builds its vehicles from the ground up, with no steering wheel or pedals.

The expansion comes as US regulators move to ease restrictions on autonomous vehicles, amid growing competition from Tesla and China’s BYD.

Zoox, acquired by Amazon for $1.3bn in 2020, has grown to 2,500 employees.

A recent low-speed collision in Las Vegas led to a voluntary recall, but testing has resumed. “The public has less patience for robotaxi mistakes,” said co-founder Jesse Levinson.