Advertisement

Amazon in talks to buy driverless car startup Zoox

Zoox - Zoox
Zoox - Zoox

Amazon is in talks to buy Californian driverless car startup Zoox in a deal that could accelerate its automation efforts.

The companies are believed to be in advanced stages of negotiating an agreement that will value Zoox at less than the $3.2bn it achieved in a 2018 funding round, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Zoox, which has raised more than $1bn, has been courting interest from buyers.

“Zoox has been receiving interest in a strategic transaction from multiple parties and has been working with Qatalyst Partners to evaluate such interest," the start-up said.

The Californian company was founded in 2014 amid a flurry of interest in driverless car technology. Initially, it had planned to develop its own robo-taxi service by building its own vehicles customised for autonomous driving.

Technology Intelligence newsletter - UK
Technology Intelligence newsletter - UK

Its custom built car would be able to drive in ways that humans cannot, such as having the ability to drive forwards or backwards with passengers facing each other. Its current test fleet includes factory-built Toyotas fitted with cameras and laser sensors.

Amazon has quietly been investing in self-driving and autonomous delivery vehicles. It already has thousands of autonomous robots that work in its warehouses, while boss Jeff Bezos has talked up its plans for an Amazon Prime Air drone fleet, which it claimed would start flights in late 2019 but as of yet has not been launched commercially.

It previously invested in Aurora, a US self-driving car start-up, and launched Amazon Scout, a six-wheeled autonomous delivery robot that travels along pavements and has made some deliveries in Washington State in the US.

It has also made steps into purchasing electric vehicles for its fleet, ordering 100,000 electric trucks from Tesla rival Rivian, which also has autonomous technology ambitions.

In 2018, Zoox removed its founder and chief executive Tim Kentley-Klay and appointed Intel's Aicha Evans as chief executive.

Mr Kentley-Klay claimed on his departure: “Rather than working through the issues in an epic start-up for the win, the board chose a path of fear, optimizing for a little money in hand at the expense of profound progress for the universe.”

Amazon declined to comment.