Amazon is in advanced talks to buy the self-driving vehicle startup Zoox Inc. according to the Wall Street Journal. The deal would value Zoox at less than $ 3.2 billion the company raised in 2018, WSJ reports. The potential acquisition could support Amazon's efforts to build an autonomous delivery infrastructure.
Zoox, based in Foster City, California, is building a platform that customers can use to call self-driving taxis using a mobile app. Amazon has been working on its own self-driving technology internally for several years. The Zoox discussions indicate that Amazon is not retreating from its acquisition strategy despite the threat of antitrust requests from regulators.
The Seattle-based technology giant has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in high-tech vehicle startups, including Aurora Innovation and Rivian Automotive. The investments signal Amazon's transport and logistics ambitions. The company's inventors released a patent in late 2019 for a system of autonomous ground delivery vehicles that work with drones to deliver packages.
