Amazon agreed to acquire Zoox, a start-up developing purpose-built, zero-emissions vehicles designed for autonomous ride-hailing, along with an end-to-end autonomy software stack. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Zoox’s ground-up vehicle focuses on the ride-hailing customer, with tightly integrated features designed “to provide a revolutionary passenger experience.”
Zoox, which was founded in 2014, is based in Foster City, California. The company raised over $950 million in venture funding.
“Zoox is working to imagine, invent, and design a world-class autonomous ride-hailing experience,” said Jeff Wilke, Amazon’s CEO, Worldwide Consumer. “Like Amazon, Zoox is passionate about innovation and about its customers, and we’re excited to help the talented Zoox team to bring their vision to reality in the years ahead.”
“This acquisition solidifies Zoox’s impact on the autonomous driving industry,” said Aicha Evans, CEO of Zoox. “We have made great strides with our purpose-built approach to safe, autonomous mobility, and our exceptionally talented team working every day to realize that vision. We now have an even greater opportunity to realize a fully autonomous future.”
“Since Zoox’s inception six years ago, we have been singularly focused on our ground-up approach to autonomous mobility,” said Jesse Levinson, Zoox co-founder and CTO. “Amazon’s support will markedly accelerate our path to delivering safe, clean, and enjoyable transportation to the world.”
Zoox appoints former Intel exec as CEO — Aicha Evans
Zoox, a start-up developing autonomous vehicle systems, named Aicha Evans as its new CEO and a member of its Board of Directors.
Evans most recently served as Intel’s Chief Strategy Officer, where she oversaw Intel’s transformation from a PC-centric to a data-centric company. Previously, Evans was General Manager of the Communication and Devices Group, where she led a team of over 7,000 people across multiple continents and was responsible for driving wireless engineering for multi-comm products and Intel platforms.
“Our team has made incredible progress since we started in 2014,” said Jesse Levinson, Zoox co-founder, CTO, and President. “We believe now more than ever that the full realization of autonomous mobility is a radical departure from last century’s car architecture, and that requires a completely reimagined vehicle and AI solution. I’m excited to partner with Aicha as we forge our own path and show the world what the next generation of mobility looks like.”
