Santa Monica advances Zoox robotaxi storage plan at Main Library garage

Santa Monica’s City Council has voted 6-0 to let staff negotiate a license agreement allowing Zoox to stage and store as many as 150 robotaxis in underused city parking facilities, led by space beneath the Main Library. The authorization did not approve a final contract, set an arrival date for vehicles or authorize public passenger service in the city.

The Oct. 13 vote permits staff to continue negotiations and, if acceptable terms are reached, execute the agreement administratively without necessarily returning to the council. The proposed arrangement would operate as a pilot for up to one year, during which the city could decide whether to extend it.

The Main Library garage’s first underground level and parts of its surface lot are the principal sites under consideration, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press. The Kiss-and-Ride lot south of the Downtown Santa Monica E Line station is also being evaluated as an interim location while the city and Zoox develop a longer-term plan.

Zoox, Amazon’s autonomous-vehicle subsidiary, would pay by the parking space and the city expects at least $500,000 a year in recurring revenue. About 30 mostly unused ground-level spaces at the library are being considered. The three-level garage has only one level regularly in use, while a third has been closed because of operational problems.

The sites would be used for staging and storage, rather than charging, because Zoox is establishing charging infrastructure elsewhere. The garage would remain open while the company used it, requiring appropriate staffing, and the prospective license would follow the city’s standard Parking Division protocol and indemnify Santa Monica for incidents involving Zoox vehicles.

City Manager Oliver Chi said keeping autonomous vehicles from congregating in residential neighborhoods has been a recent city priority. He also said Santa Monica is included in Zoox’s anticipated wider Los Angeles-area deployment, though technical requirements, precise sites and operating details remain under discussion.

Councilmember Dan Hall recused himself after disclosing that he might own between $2,000 and $100,000 in Amazon stock. The city previously discussed library-garage staging with another autonomous-vehicle company, but those talks did not yield an agreement.

The proposed local parking license is separate from California authorization for passenger service. The California Public Utilities Commission says applicants for its driverless autonomous-vehicle deployment programs must first secure a Department of Motor Vehicles Autonomous Vehicle Deployment Permit and submit passenger-safety plans.