Looking at the field of autonomous driving, the head effect has already appeared.
Recently, Zoox, a self-driving startup owned by Amazon, launched the first self-driving car Pod for Robotaxi operation, which is a completely unmanned and electrified vehicle specially designed for the self-driving scene.
build a product from scratch
according to Zoox, the Pod is equipped with two battery packs, which can last for 16 hours on a single charge and the top speed can reach 75 miles per hour. It is worth noting that this car is not based on the transformation of the traditional car foundation. It has no throttle, brake pad and steering wheel, and has two-way driving ability and four-wheel steering function. It can move in any direction, and there is no such thing as reversing.
at the live broadcast conference, Aicha, CEO of Zoox? Evans personally demonstrated Zoox? How to use Robotaxi: Use Zoox's Application app to summon Pod outside fairmont Hotel and take a ride nearby. In order to commercialize this technology, Zoox plans to take the lead in launching Robotaxi service based on App in cities such as San Francisco and Las Vegas.
for this company, which was established in 214 and has been committed to developing self-driving passenger cars, the official launch of mass-produced self-driving cars marks an important step. Aicha? Evans said at the live broadcast conference that the release of self-driving cars is an exciting milestone, and we are building a sustainable and safe solution to enable riders to change their travel experience from point A to point B. In an interview, Jesse, chief technology officer of Zoox? Levinson stressed that unlike many concept cars displayed by other companies in the past few years, this car passed all the crash tests of FMVSS.
however, Zoox is not the first company to introduce fully-automatic passenger cars. In January of this year, GM Cruise? This paper shows a pure electric self-driving car Origin, which has no many control devices that traditional cars have, such as pedals, steering wheel and rearview mirror.
Zoox's self-driving car is similar to Origin, but smaller, and it is planned to carry one or two passengers (although the maximum capacity is four passengers). The sensor is integrated with the vehicle, and there is a "sensor Pod" in every corner of the POD, which is equipped with a rotating laser sensor, a laser radar and a camera to assist navigation. A pair of front-facing cameras are installed on the top of Zoox, and other inconspicuous sensors are installed on both sides of the car body. Each corner can provide a 27-degree field of view, allowing the car to see more than 36 degrees at a time.
In addition, the car has some safety functions. Once a collision occurs, a cocoon-shaped airbag will be formed around each passenger. The company also provides remote manual operation of vehicles and real-time communication with passengers. For those who are worried about privacy, Zoox said that passengers will be able to choose to blur the images taken by car cameras.
Zoox has the ambition of Zoox, and Amazon has the ambition of Amazon.
Zoox is also one of several companies committed to pushing fully-automatic cars onto the road, but it took longer than expected to achieve this goal. Up to now, the self-driving test cars running on public roads are all modified from traditional cars, and there are almost no self-driving cars for commercial use. In October last year, Waymo launched a fully self-driving taxi service in the suburbs of Phoenix, while Cruise also tested self-driving taxis in San Francisco and recently removed safe drivers.
although it will take several years to deploy this self-driving car, Zoox has already put into production several mint green self-driving cars in a factory in fremont, California. According to company executives, the annual production capacity of the factory can reach 1, to 15, vehicles. Suppliers can assemble the main components such as drive unit, body and battery pack in advance, and then Zoox? Complete the subsequent assembly work.
The company also compared the production process with a pile of Lego bricks, but the executives refused to disclose the names of its battery suppliers. "We have a huge global first-class supply chain to manufacture auto parts. Think of it simply, it's like a huge Lego-a Lego weighing several tons."
in June this year, Zoox was acquired by Amazon for $1.2 billion, but the former remained independent. Having said that, it is necessary to supplement the background knowledge about Zoox: it has worked with Waymo, Cruise, Argo? AI and Aurora are also known as the "five major families" of autonomous driving in Silicon Valley. However, compared with a number of autonomous driving companies in the United States, Zoox itself is also the most radical startup company for autonomous driving.
first of all, Zoox is the first unmanned service provider approved by California. According to regulatory data, although 62 companies have obtained permission to test self-driving vehicles in California, Zoox? It is the first company to be allowed to carry ordinary passengers.
secondly, the development goals and products of Zoox are quite different from those of other enterprises. Not only does Zoox develop its own autonomous driving system, but it also builds a platform for self-driving cars and calling cars. It can be seen that no matter which project is a huge pit of burning money. Although they had raised about $1 billion before being acquired by Amazon, it was not enough to burn. Coupled with the huge impact of this year's epidemic, Zoox's dilemma became more and more obvious. In April, it began to lay off employees. In May, foreign media broke the news that it was looking for potential buyers, and it was finally won by Bezos, the world's richest man.
At that time, Amazon acquired Zoox, and industry observers speculated that Amazon would eventually plan to deploy an unmanned distribution fleet. After all, human logistics delivery is one of the biggest costs in operation. According to Amazon's Q1 financial report in 22, its revenue is $75.5 billion, its net income is $2.5 billion and its earnings per share is $5.1. And in 219? In Q1, Amazon's revenue was $59.7 billion, net income was $3.6 billion and earnings per share was $7.9. Combined with other public information, it can be seen that Amazon's revenue has increased, but its profit has decreased, mainly because of its high transportation costs.
Bloomberg intelligence analyst? Jitendra? Waral and April? Kim said in a research report that the acquisition of Zoox will help Amazon control rising transportation costs. It is estimated that by 225, Amazon's transportation costs will exceed 6 billion US dollars. Obviously, to a large extent, Amazon hopes to create synergies on the basis of its existing business.
Evans said in an interview that there is no plan to do so at present, but he admitted that "at some point, we may enter the field of automatic delivery." No matter which segment you work in later, Amazon's hidden strength cannot be underestimated. According to Reuters, from December 216 to May 219, Amazon had more than 21 patents in logistics-related fields such as drones and self-driving cars, which was significantly higher than that of Apple and Google.
in a word, Zoox has the ambition of Zoox, and Amazon has the ambition of Amazon. Up to now, although driverless vehicles have not yet entered the reality, e-commerce giants from the technology and automobile industries and even like Amazon are paying close attention to the layout and the competition is becoming increasingly fierce.
for Zoox, although it already has certain hardware and software conditions, whether autopilot technology is suitable for practical use is not only a technical issue, but also a topic related to law, society, ethics and many other aspects. Therefore, what achievements players including Zoox can make in autonomous driving, the final answer may be difficult to settle in a year or two.
Wen/Sun Lili
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This article comes from the author of Chejia, car home, and does not represent car home's standpoint.