Autonomous Technology
Zoox/Amazon
Ushering in the Future of Autonomous Vehicles
Autonomous Technology
Zoox/Amazon
Ushering in the Future of Autonomous Vehicles
372
Patent References to IEEE
$3.2B
Business Valuation
372
Patent References to IEEE
$3.2B
Business Valuation
Zoox has patents in many technology areas (artificial intelligence, robotics, software, etc.) but is most accurately described as an autonomous vehicle firm.
Unlike many of its competitors, Zoox's approach involves building self-driving cars from scratch, rather than providing sensory technology for traditional, human-controlled vehicles.
In 2018, Zoox closed a $500 million funding round at a $3.2 billion post-money valuation.2 The firm has been in the news recently because Amazon acquired Zoox in June 2020, for approximately $1.3 billion.
Its original business plan was to create a ride-hailing service to compete with Uber and Lyft. As a result of its acquisition from Amazon, analysts now believe the new direction will be towards autonomous delivery vehicles.
The key autonomous vehicle technology patents from Zoox highlighted in this study are all highly cited and very dependent on IEEE science. Most of the patents have more than 10 IEEE references and, collectively, reference IEEE a combined 372 times.
Frequently Referenced IEEE Publication
The Zoox patents frequently reference the below paper from ICRA, an influential IEEE conference on robotics.
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in 2011.
2 Korosec, Kirsten. (2018) "Zoox CEO and co-founder Tim Kentley-Klay is out." Techcrunch.com. August 22, 2018. https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/22/zoox-ceo-and-co-founder-tim-kentley-klay-is-out/ Last accessed June 9, 2020.