ZooxAmazo AMZN n may be preparing to make a big move into the self-driving vehicle world as the logistics giant is said to be in “advanced” talks to acquire Zoox, a stealthy developer of robotaxi technology, according to the Wall Street Journal. Along with Amazon, other interested parties are considering offers for the Silicon Valley startup, a person familiar with the matter tells Forbes. “Zoox was likely to be bought by a large tech company and face a revaluation given the startup’s tenuous financial position due to its capital-intensive approach to developing self-driving technology,” Hussain said. “Acquiring Zoox should enable Amazon to expand its autonomous logistics capabilities.”Although Amazon has made a significant investment into electric vehicle maker Rivian, committing $440 million of funding and announcing plans to buy 100,000 delivery vehicles from the startup, it’s moved more cautiously when it comes to self-driving vehicle technology. It participated in a $530 million investment round in Aurora Innovation, another autonomous tech startup created by self-driving stars from Google GOOGL , Tesla TSLA and Uber UBER , though hasn’t announced plans to deploy Aurora’s tech.

Source: Forbes May 27, 2020 01:43 UTC