In June this year, Amazon acquired the autonomous ride-hailing vehicle company, Zoox. This month we have been given a first look at the fully functional EV that is part of Amazon’s vision to build an autonomous robotaxi fleet and ride-hailing service bringing the future of autonomous delivery vehicles even closer.
The EV which has been in the making for 6 years can operate up to 75 miles per hour in both directions and will help push a sustainable future whilst providing amazon with a vehicle with multiple functions and capabilities.
“Revealing our functioning and driving vehicle is an exciting milestone in our company’s history and marks an important step on our journey towards deploying an autonomous ride-hailing service. We are transforming the rider experience to provide superior mobility-as-a-service for cities. And as we see the alarming statistics around carbon emissions and traffic accidents, it’s more important than ever that we build a sustainable, safe solution that allows riders to get from point A to point B.”
– Aicha Evans, Zoox Chief Executive Officer
It is interesting to see how Amazon is making their way 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.
