Amazon announced on Friday that they have signed an agreement to acquire the autonomous ride-hailing vehicle company, Zoox. According to Amazon the company are an asset to the future of ride-hailing through their innovation of autonomous vehicle technology that focuses on the passenger. Despite the acquisition, Amazon have stated that the autonomous vehicle company will continue their journey alone as a standalone business run by CEO Aicha Evans and co-founder Jesse Levinson.
Zoox’s mission is to provide zero-emissions vehicles designed for autonomous ride-hailing that focus on passenger experience through tightly integrated features. Their focus on delivering a superior experience for customers was probably attractive to Amazon.
“Zoox is working to imagine, invent, and design a world-class autonomous ride-hailing experience, like Amazon, Zoox is passionate about innovation and about its customers, and we’re excited to help the talented Zoox team to bring their vision to reality in the years ahead.”
– Jeff Wilke, CEO, Worldwide Consumer, Amazon
It is interesting to see how Amazon is slowly pushing forward into the world of autonomous vehicles whilst also maintaining steady progress on their other electric logistical solutions. Last year we saw Amazon invest in autonomous vehicle firm, Aurora in a bid to strengthen their fulfillment possibilities. It wasn’t long before UPS followed in their footsteps by making their own investments into TuSimple and by January UPS had even teamed up with Waymo both specializing in autonomous logistics. It’s quite likely that Amazon are giving themselves a safety net of sorts, creating options and pathways to their future of autonomous fulfillment. For now though, Amazon will sit back and let Zoox take the driver’s seat until it’s time to get autonomous taxis delivering parcels.
“This acquisition solidifies Zoox’s impact on the autonomous driving industry, We have made great strides with our purpose-built approach to safe, autonomous mobility, and our exceptionally talented team working every day to realize that vision. We now have an even greater opportunity to realize a fully autonomous future.”
– Aicha Evans, CEO of Zoox.
