Published 13:48 IST, June 27th 2020
Elon Musk calls Jeff Bezos a ‘copy cat’ after Amazon buys self-driving taxi company
Elon Musk took to Twitter and called Jeff Bezos a ‘copycat’ after Amazon reportedly acquired the self-driving-taxi company Zoox for $1.2 billion.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently took to Twitter and called Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos a ‘copy cat’ after the e-commerce giant reportedly acquired the self-driving-taxi company Zoox for $1.2 billion. Earlier this month, Amazon said that it is buying self-driving technology company Zoox, which is reportedly developing an autonomous vehicle for a ride-hailing service that people would request on their phones. As the new deal will put Amazon at a more levered playing field with Tesla in the self-driving arena, Musk took to Twitter to take a jibe at Bezos.
While the deal could drive the e-commerce company into an entirely new business of transporting people from one place to another, this is not the first time that Musk has taken a dig at Bezos. Earlier this month, the Tesla CEO slammed Blue Origin and Bezos. Musk in a tweet said that it is time to break up the e-commerce giant and end its monopoly.
Zoox takes a jibe at Tesla
According to reports, Tesla and Zoox have also traded jabs before. While Musk said that by mid-2020 his company’s self-driving cars would be fully operational without human interaction, Zoox co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Jesse Levinson reportedly said that there was no chance of that happening. While speaking to an international media outlet, Levinson said that Tesla doesn't have enough sensors or computers to go driverless, given any remotely known technology that exists that humans have created.
While Levinson reportedly called Tesla’s cars ‘great’, he also said that the company’s autopilot feature, even in its full-self driving’ options, is not yet fully autonomous. Levinson further added that Tesla’s system still requires human interaction. Meanwhile, Zoox has reportedly taken a hit from the economic fallout of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. As per reports, the company laid off nearly 120 employees in April and is struggling to raise capital.
Updated 13:49 IST, June 27th 2020