Amazon is acquiring driverless car startup Zoox in a deal estimated at more than $ 1 billion, Information and The Financial Times are reporting. The deal would give Amazon control of the startup of nearly 1,000 people who have been developing an autonomous electric vehicle. The deal could be announced as soon as today. Rumors of the acquisition first emerged last month, when it was reported that Amazon would acquire Zoox for less than the $ 3.2 billion it was valued for in July 2018..
The acquisition would be Amazon’s largest investment to date in autonomous car technology, and one of its biggest purchases. However, at the moment it is unclear what exactly Amazon plans to use the technology for. Information points out that Amazon could use the technology for autonomous deliveries, similar to its existing robot and drone delivery projects, while the Financial times He says Amazon will use the acquisition to produce an autonomous fleet of passenger carriers to compete with the likes of Alphabet’s Waymo.
Zoox has been developing a two-way vehicle without a steering wheel or with a noticeable front or rear, allowing it to travel comfortably in any direction, which the company says would be tested in 2020. Zoox has been testing its autonomous driving technology in a fleet. of Toyota SUVs retrofitted in San Francisco and Las Vegas. However, these tests have been affected by the COVID-19 closings, and in April Zoox fired almost all of its contract workers, including their backup controllers. At the time, he said he planned to rehire them once shelter-in-place orders were lifted.
Zoox recently admitted that four of its new Tesla hires were in possession of confidential documents from their previous employer when they joined Zoox’s logistics team. The disclosure came after Zoox settled a lawsuit over the matter, in which it agreed to pay Tesla an undisclosed amount of money and to conduct an audit to make sure no other employee had Tesla’s confidential information.
According to The Financial TimesAmazon is expected to allow Zoox to function as an independent subsidiary after the acquisition, similar to how Twitch currently operates. Billions are expected to be invested by Amazon to bring Zoox vehicles to market.
This will not be the first investment that Amazon will make in autonomous car technology. Last year, the e-commerce giant participated in a funding round for Aurora Innovation, a self-contained tech startup led by the former head of Google’s self-driving car project. Amazon has also invested in the Rivian electric vehicle startup.
