Amazon set to acquire self-driving startup, Zoox

Published

June 27, 2020

Amazon will be acquiring self-driving car startup, Zoox in a deal worth over $1.2 billion.

This new deal would give Amazon control over the 1,000-person startup, and Zoox has been working on an electric self-driving vehicle. This would be Amazon’s biggest investment yet in self-driving car technology; as well as one of the biggest purchases.

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Amazon’s plan for the technology company, however, remains unclear.

The news report has it that it could be used for independent deliveries like a drone; also robot; delivery projects; while the acquisition will be used for the production of an independent ride-hailing fleet; to go head to head with the likes of Alphabet’s Waymo.

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Zoox has been working on a bi-direction vehicle with no steering wheel or front or back end; which allows you to travel comfortably in either direction which the company said would be tested in 2020.

Amazon is expected to let Zoox run as an independent subsidiary; after the purchase which is similar to the way Twitch operates. Amazon will be spending billions to bring Zoox’s vehicle to the market.

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This is not the first time Amazon has invested in self-driving car technology. Just last year, it took part in a funding round for Aurora Innovation, an independent tech startup directed by the former head of Google’s self-driving car project.