Another tweet, another catfight: Billionaire CEO Elon Musk has once again accused Amazon super-billionaire CEO Jeff Bezos of being a copycat.
This time, Musk pointed to the $ 1.2 billion acquisition of Zoox from Amazon, a company that focuses on autonomous cars that could compete with Tesla, the automaker that Musk runs:
. @ JeffBezos is a copy 🐈 haha https://t.co/plR7uupqBG
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 26, 2020
For years, Musk and his Tesla team have been fine-tuning an autonomous driving system that could eventually reach full self-driving status, sparking controversy along the way. Several auto companies are developing their own sets of autonomous driving capabilities, but for now, Tesla is the industry leader.
Zoox, based in California, is seen as one of the promising ones. He is currently testing a set of Toyota Highlanders that have been retrofitted with autonomous driving capabilities in San Francisco and Las Vegas. Before the coronavirus outbreak occurred, Zoox planned to introduce an innovative type of two-way vehicle later this year and begin testing its own taxi theft service next year.
The possibility of Amazon getting involved in the driverless car market is what led Musk to take a hit.
Not the first time: Musk dragged the same cat emoji over a year ago when Amazon’s plans to create its Project Kuiper broadband satellite network came to light. The Kuiper Project is still a long way from launching spacecraft, let alone offer service. However, the Kuiper Project is a potential rival to the Starlink broadband satellite network being deployed by SpaceX, the other company where Musk serves as CEO.
. @ JeffBezos copy 🐈
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 9, 2019
There is a similar parallel between Tesla’s focus on fully electric cars and trucks, on the one hand, and Amazon’s investment in electric vehicle company Rivian, on the other. Last year, Amazon announced that it would order 100,000 Rivian electric delivery vans as part of its Climate Pledge.
Musk and Bezos have also become entangled in the SpaceX system to land and reuse rockets versus the reuse strategy pursued by Bezos’ Blue Origin space company. And earlier this month, Musk led Amazon to the task of its policies regarding online sales of literature related to the coronavirus pandemic. “It’s time to break Amazon,” Musk tweeted at the time. (Amazon quickly resolved the controversy.)
If Bezos’ interest in rockets, satellites, autonomous cars, and electric cars is a stumbling block for Musk, a possible recourse is for Musk to challenge Amazon in online retail. Come to think of it, he already has a history there, thanks to millions of dollars in flamethrowers that were sold last year through Boring Company, his tunnel company. Next: Teslaquila and boring caramel?
