Amazon, on Friday, announced that it has acquired self-driving car start-up, Zoox.
Zoox is an American company work in the area of autonomous vehicles primarily targeting the robo-taxi market and is headquartered in California. It was found in 2014 by Australian designer Tim Kentley-Klay and Jesse Levinson, son of Apple Inc. Chairman Arthur D. Levinson, who was already involved in developing self-driving technology at Stanford University
The deal is reported to cost $1 billion. Rumours of the acquisition started going around last month when reports of a Amazon buying Zoox for $3.2 billion came.
Zoox was earlier embroiled in a controversy when it admitted that 4 of its employees who were earlier part of Tesla possed confidential documents of their previous employer. It was reported that Zoox was ready to pay an undisclosed amount to Tesla along with an audit to ensure no other employees had Tesla’s confidential information.
“Amazon and Zoox are pleased to announce that we have signed an agreement for Amazon to acquire Zoox. Zoox is a forward-thinking team that is pioneering the future of ride-hailing by designing autonomous technology from the ground up with passengers’ front-of-mind,” Amazon said in a blog post.
The post also said that Aicha Evans, Zoox CEO, and Jesse Levinson, Zoox co-founder, and CTO, will continue to lead Zoox, as a standalone business as they “innovate and drive towards their mission.” Jeff Wilke, Amazon’s CEO, Worldwide Consumer, said Zoox is passionate about innovation and its customers.
“Zoox is working to imagine, invent, and design a world-class autonomous ride-hailing experience. Like Amazon, Zoox is passionate about innovation and its customers, and we are excited to help the talented Zoox team to bring their vision to reality in the coming years,” Wilke stated.
Mr. Evans said, “This acquisition solidifies Zoox’s impact on the autonomous driving industry. We have taken great steps with our purpose-built approach to safe, autonomous mobility, our exceptionally talented team working every day to realize that vision. We now have an even greater opportunity to realize a fully autonomous future.”