Amazon Agrees to Acquire Zoox and Waymo Unveils New Alliance with Volvo

Once upon a time, CEOs expected we'd be regularly hailing autonomous rides by now. Instead, companies have faced serious tech hurdles, which have led to missed deadlines and (mostly) far more level-headed autonomous vehicle (AV) predictions.

But those road bumps don’t faze the world’s biggest tech companies, which are plowing forward with their self-driving strategies.

Amazon gets serious

On Friday, the company agreed to acquire self-driving startup Zoox for more than $1.2 billion, the FT reported. This is Amazon’s largest investment in the AV space to date. Last year, the company participated in the $530 million Series B of Aurora, a startup developing a virtual driver for vehicles.

• Amazon is also piloting Scout, its autonomous delivery robot, in Washington and California.

A bit more about Zoox: The six-year-old company is designing a bidirectional AV from scratch, which it would eventually use in a robotaxi ride-hailing service. It’s a neat but expensive concept, and Zoox’s runway was shrinking. Amazon’s deep pockets will take some pressure off.

• Amazon says Zoox CEO Aicha Evans and CTO/cofounder Jesse Levinson will continue to run the company.

As for Amazon, the company said it’s drawn to Zoox’s robotaxi ride-hail vision. I suspect there’s also an autonomy play for logistics/fulfillment centers and last-mile delivery.

Alphabet is building alliances left and right

Last week, Alphabet’s Waymo and Volvo announced they’re partnering to build an electric robotaxi fleet. Waymo will contribute the virtual driver, while Volvo will supply an “all-new mobility-focused electric vehicle platform for ride-hailing services.”

Waymo is becoming the de facto self-driving vendor for automakers that don’t have an independent go-to-market AV strategy. Other Waymo partners include Fiat Chrysler, Jaguar Land Rover, and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance.

Bottom line: The AV field continues to consolidate via acquisitions and alliances. While everyone’s thinking about robotaxis, I'm convinced the first commercial AV fleets will carry packages, not people.