Amazon has acquired Zoox, a startup specializing in the production of electric robot cabs that “promise” to revolutionize urban mobility
Amazon enters the green urban mobility sector. The e-commerce giant has recently formalized the acquisition of Zoox, an American start-up specializing in the production of self-driving electric vehicles. Zoox’s “piece de resistance” is a two-way driving robot cab equipped with four steering wheels. This means that the vehicle can change direction without reversing, kind of like trains do along the tracks. Bi-directional driving is very useful in the narrow spaces of metropolises and can be a real revolution for urban mobility. The robot cab is also equipped with a fully autonomous driving system. All the four passengers have to do is sit on the seats equipped with cup holders and wireless charging station. The vehicle calculates the route by itself and you can control or modify the route through four touchscreen displays. Zoox is 3.56 meters long and has a 133 kWh battery – one of the most powerful in the field of electric cars – with a range of 16 hours.
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Zoox: the robot electric cab of Amazon
In addition to being a real concentration of technology, Amazon’s robot cab is equipped with safety systems never seen before. The seats are equipped with special bidirectional airbags that provide 360-degree protection. On the external body, a sophisticated system of cameras, radars and LIDAR sensors (a laser technology that measures with extreme accuracy the distance between the point of measurement and the point of destination) is installed, allowing for a 270-degree field of view on all four corners of the vehicle. The system constantly tracks objects surrounding the robot cab and detects the presence of pedestrians, cyclists or other vehicles in real time. In this way, the blind spots present in any traditional car, cab or truck are totally eliminated. During the vehicle’s unveiling, Aicha Evans, CEO of Zoox, said, “We are transforming the driver experience to provide a superior mobility service for cities. And as we see from the alarming statistics on carbon emissions and traffic accidents, it’s more important than ever to build a sustainable and safe solution that allows everyone to get from point A to point B.”
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