Musk calls Bezos a copycat over Zoox purchase
Amazon founder purchased a self-driving car company for more than $1B
Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk on Friday called Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos a copycat for purchasing Zoox, a self-driving car company.
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| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 210.71 | +2.82 | +1.36% |
| TSLA | TESLA INC. | 357.09 | +11.93 | +3.46% |
Seattle-based Amazon did not disclose how much it is paying for Zoox, which was founded six years ago in Foster City, California, when reporters shared news of the acquisition Thursday. Analysts pegged the purchase price at over $1 billion.
"@JeffBezos is a copy[cat] haha," Musk tweeted with a link to an article about Bezos' purchase.
All new Tesla cars produced after October 2016 include full self-driving capabilities, including surround cameras for 360-degree visibility, ultrasonic sensors and a forward-facing radar, according to the electric automaker's website.
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Amazon said Zoox will keep running as a separate business and continue to develop its own autonomous vehicle.
Zoox settled a lawsuit with Tesla in April after the company admitted to hiring employees who had access to Tesla documents that contained confidential information including "shipping, receiving, and warehouse procedures," Zoox said in a statement.
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“We’re excited to help the talented Zoox team to bring their vision to reality in the years ahead,” said Amazon’s Jeff Wilke, who runs the company’s retail business.
The deal could drive Amazon into an entirely new business: transporting people from one place to another. But some analysts think Amazon’s ultimate goal is to repurpose the Zoox vehicle for its core business, delivering packages to shoppers.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.