Driverless cars are the future. Therefore, it is not surprising that tech giants are steering towards investing in them. The latest company to venture into the world of self-driving cars is Amazon. Reports suggest that Amazon has acquired self-driving startup Zoox. And that too at a price of over $1 billion!
Zoox originally was founded in the year 2014. It is basically a vehicle company that focuses on self-driving technology. However, that’s not it. The company develops its own vehicles too. They take a full-stack approach in developing self-driving cars. Their approach includes developing both the AI system and the hardware themselves to make dedicated driverless cars. Eventually, these vehicles will be a part of robo-taxi.
The e-commerce giant, with this investment, will want to exert itself as a strong competitor in this market. However, they have refrained from stating what exactly have they planned for Zoox. Maybe they will support its logistics. But at this point, we cannot confirm anything.
Also Read: Best Ride Hailing Apps in Nepal
Now despite the acquisition of Zoox by Amazon, the company will reportedly remain an independent entity. Amazon’s CEO of global consumer, Jeff Wilke, was full of admiration about this acquisition. Both Amazon and Zoox have the same vision: innovation and quality customer service. Basically, Amazon wants to realize Zoox’s ideas, by helping them build world-class automobiles.
Zoox vs Waymo
However, Amazon will face competition in this market from Waymo. Waymo, itself is owned by another tech giant, Google. The company has been around for quite some time now. And it has been developing its own self-driving vehicles. Moreover, the company has announced a deal with Volvo in order to power its robo-taxis. Robo-taxis are basically self-driving cars, that will not need a human chauffeur. Eliminating human involvement will eliminate the major operating cost for businesses. And in that process also help spread Transportation-as-a-Service. Thus, it will be interesting to see which of these two companies will come out on top.
Musk vs Bezos
Amazon’s acquisition of Zoox has not gone down well with fellow billionaire Elon Musk. Bezos’ Blue Origin and Musks’ SpaceX are already locked in a battle to bag the NASA contract. And now, as Amazon has acquired Zoox, a company more or less similar to Tesla, Musk was quick to call out Bezos on Twitter.
.@JeffBezos is a copy ? haha https://t.co/plR7uupqBG
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 26, 2020
A copy cat, yup, that’s what Musk has labeled Bezos in response to this acquisition. But the competition between these two billionaires can only mean a quality service to eventual customers. They both are not the ones who like to lose. Thus, both of them will do all that they can to become the leader in this business.
