Important Innovations

  Eye-Catching ZOOX Wins California Testing Permit                                                   Source:  ZOOX ZOOX On the Road With No Human Drivers Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, is aggressively expanding and investing in self-driving technology.  And, it just scored a big win in California. Amazon acquired the autonomous car maker ZOOX in June.  ZOOX just was awarded permission by California state authorities a test permit to drive its self-driving cars on the roads without a human, backup driver onboard.  As you can see in the image, the ZOOX is an eye-catching autonomous vehicle. Next Steps For ZOOX ZOOX will be testing two self-driving vehicles with no human drivers onboard on designated streets near its Foster City, California headquarters.  Other major players like Google's Alphabet parent company's Waymo, China startup AutoX and Nuno have received similar test permits that they are using to test their vehicles.  Self-driving vehicles with no human

Amazon Buys Autonomous Mobility Startup Zoox Source:  Zoox Amazon Moving People and Packages Amazon has purchased self-driving startup Zoox of Foster City, CA for more than $1.2 billion.  It's the e-commerce giant's biggest investment yet in the self-driving, autonomous category.  And, it's the second biggest acquisition that Amazon has ever made after purchasing Whole Foods.  This catapults Amazon into potentially another new business category.  It may not be just moving packages but also people.  Zoox's expertise is designing a world-class autonomous ride-hailing service, also known as RoboTaxis.  Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is always on the move for new avenues of business. Zoox's Approach Zoox's approach to self-driving is different.  It's not retrofitting existing cars with self-driving technology.  It's developing a whole new, purposed, self-driving vehicle with no steering wheel that can move in any direction.  Some analysts say that Zoox&#