Zoox (company)

Zoox is an American autonomous vehicle company currently headquartered in Foster City, California, United States with multiple offices of operations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. The company was founded in 2014, and then acquired by Amazon in 2020.[1]

Zoox, inc.
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryAutomotive
Founded2014 (2014)
Founder
  • Tim Kentley-Klay
  • Jesse Levinson
HeadquartersFoster City, California
Key people
Aicha Evans, CEO
ProductsSelf-driving cars
ParentAmazon.com, Inc.
Websitewww.zoox.com

Robo-taxi

Zoox is creating an entirely new autonomous vehicle targeted at the robo-taxi market.[2] The company's approach is centered around the fact that a retrofitted vehicle is not optimized for autonomy. Zoox has applied the latest techniques in automotive, robotics and renewable energy to build a symmetrical, bi-directional battery-electric vehicle that solves for the unique challenges of autonomous mobility.[3][4]

The company had previously retrofitted Toyota Highlanders with their self-driving system in final preparation for their commercial vehicle reveal in December 2020. The present-day test driving is taking place in both San Francisco's Financial District and North Beach districts, as well as Las Vegas.[5]

History

Zoox was founded in 2014 by Australian artist-designer Tim Kentley-Klay,[6][7] and Jesse Levinson, son of Apple Inc. chairman Arthur D. Levinson, who was developing self-driving technology at Stanford University.[8]

The company's name Zoox comes from the creature Zooxanthellae due to the creature's dependence on renewable energy like Zoox's production vehicle and its symbiotic relationship with coral reefs relating to the company's goal to have a symbiotic relationship with people.[9]

In December 2018, Zoox became the first company to gain approval for providing self-driving transport services to the public in California.[10][11][12]

By July 2018, according to Bloomberg, Zoox had raised $800 million in venture capital, at a valuation of $3.2 billion.[13] Draper Fisher Jurvetson is an investor in the company.

In January 2019, Zoox appointed a new CEO, Aicha Evans, who was previously the Chief Strategy Officer at Intel.[14][15]

On March 20, 2019, Tesla, Inc. filed a lawsuit against Zoox and several now-former Tesla employees (who left Tesla for employment at Zoox) alleging theft of Tesla's proprietary information and trade secrets related to warehousing, shipping, and logistics in late 2018 and early 2019.[16] The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed sum in April 2020 where Zoox "acknowledged that certain of its new hires from Tesla were in possession of Tesla documents pertaining to shipping, receiving, and warehouse procedures when they joined Zoox’s logistics team.”[17]

On June 26, 2020, Amazon and Zoox signed a "definitive merger agreement" under which Amazon will acquire Zoox for over $1.2 billion.[18][19]

In September 2020, Zoox became the fourth company in the State of California to receive permit to test driverless automobiles on public roads.[20]

References
  1. "Amazon to acquire autonomous driving startup Zoox". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  2. "Zoox's driverless cars will operate like Lyft and Uber". CNBC. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
  3. Ohnsman, Alan. "Robotaxi Startup Zoox Becomes A Big Acquirer Of Tesla-Incubated Talent". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
  4. "Zoox car: Mysterious Australian start-up worth $1.9b, but what do they do?". www.news.com.au. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
  5. Davies, Alex (2018-07-20). "Zoox Flashes Serious Self-Driving Skills in Chaotic San Francisco". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
  6. "Company Overview of Zoox Inc". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
  7. "Secretive robot-car maker Zoox opens up". San Francisco Chronicle. 2018-09-12. Retrieved 2019-02-11. Zoox sprang up in 2014 as the brainchild of Australian artist-designer Tim Kentley-Klay, who had no tech background but was excited about self-driving cars’ potential.
  8. "The Wild Ride Of Zoox". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
  9. Swisher, Kara (2020-03-06). "Aicha Evans and Jesse Levinson: Self-driving taxis will be here in 2021". Recode Decode (Podcast). Vox. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  10. "California lets self-driving startup Zoox offer autonomous rides". Reuters. 2018-12-21. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
  11. "Zoox Inc. Snags First California Permit To Transport Passengers In Self-Driving Cars". NPR. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
  12. Keck, Catie. "Self-Driving Car Company Zoox to Offer Free Rides in California". Gizmodo. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
  13. "$800 Million Says a Self-Driving Car Looks Like This". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
  14. Higgins, Tim (14 January 2019). "Autonomous Vehicle Startup Zoox Names Intel Executive Aicha Evans as CEO". The Wall Street Journal.
  15. "Zoox CEO Aicha Evans reveals what will set the company's electric, self-driving cars apart from the rest". Business Insider.
  16. "UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, Case No. 3:19-cv-01462, Document 1". 2019-03-20 – via Scribd.
  17. .
  18. Amazon acquires self-driving start-up Zoox for over $1.2bn. Financial Times.
  19. Levy, Annie Palmer,Ari (2020-06-26). "Amazon to buy self-driving technology company Zoox". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  20. "Zoox becomes fourth company to land driverless testing permit in California". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
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