Amazon’s robot cars have been on the talks for a really long time. It seems like the company is finally taking steps to make that a reality. The delivery service that Amazon has is impeccable.
No matter how hard its competitors try, their market is unbreachable. The company had its eye on autonomous cars for quite a while now.
If Amazon could create a revolution with human workers, imagine how it could perform with robots. Although it might cost a lot for the company to get it going, it would bring in enormous profits in the future.
Zoox Inc. – The Pioneer
The market giant has huge interests in acquiring Zoox Inc. Zoox has been a pioneer in the research of self-driving cars. Amazon made a $3.2 Billion dollar offer to the firm which was its actual worth back in 2018.
Zoox is a company based out of California and their research in the field has shown promising results. The field of autonomous vehicles and robots is a crowded one.
Zoox still manages to stand alone with their downright new ideas for an Electric Vehicle. It has a lot of competition including General Motors, Ford and Volkswagen and Argo AI.
But these companies are trying to develop a technology which could fit into a vehicle and make it autonomous. Whereas, Zoox seems to be having a whole new proposal in mind.
The Interesting Proposition
Zoox aims to come up with a design which could unite three use cases into one. It wants its autonomous vehicles to function like Tesla, Waymo and Uber combined.
When it made this proposition in 2015, it was surprising and promising. Electric vehicles are one thing, but making them autonomous and renting them is a dream that seems too big.
After all, there were huge expectations for 2020 as people believed that autonomous taxies would become a reality. But as the idea of Automatic EVs looked promising, the funds started pouring in.
The Downside
Even after having abundant funds, the companies were still struggling. There were various stages in the process with complete automation being the fifth stage.
The companies that jumped straight to the fourth and fifth levels started went down. New Energy Finance of Bloomberg says that we cannot expect complete automation at least till 2034.
Even the companies perceived as to be rich sought after funds to keep their projects going.
What Amazon Needs From Zoox
We will not be seeing completely autonomous vehicles for a while. Then what does it want out of Zoox? Amazon’s robot cars may not be carrying around people.
But there are numerous areas in which they might help Amazon. Their Shipping Service needs a whopping $90 Billion dollars to operate.
Amazon’s robot cards might save at least $20 Billion for the company. The company has been acquiring various other firms in recent times.
The reason for the same is still unclear. But Zoox’s self-driving cars might completely change the delivery and distribution system of Amazon.
Conclusion
No company would want to throw its cash into something which doesn’t yield profits. The plans which the company has for its future is still unclear.
But with what we know, we can safely say that self-driving cars have a huge potential. Acquiring Zoox might now pay immediate returns to Amazon, but someday it will change the world.
