Fri. 06/26 - Amazon Buys Self-Driving Startup Zoox

Tech Brew Ride Home

Amalgamated Internets, LLC

Technology, News, Tech News

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 26 June 2020

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Amazon is officially in the self-driving car game. Microsoft is officially keeping its retail stores closed… forever. Verizon had joined the Facebook ad boycott. And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Links: TinyCapital.com Tovala.com/ride Links: Amazon to buy self-driving technology company Zoox (CNBC) Microsoft is permanently closing its retail stores (CNBC) Verizon is pulling advertising from Facebook and Instagram (CNBC) TikTok says it will stop accessing clipboard content on iOS devices (The Verge) Weekend Longread Suggestions: How India’s Jio Won Facebook’s Heart (The Information) How a “crazy Dutch guy” won the online food delivery war (Silicon Canals) How Uber Turned a Promising Bikeshare Company Into Literal Garbage (Vice) The Credit-Card Fees Merchants Hate, Banks Love and Consumers Pay (WSJ) Top composers used to head to Hollywood. Now they’re into games (Wired) Reddit turns 15: The dramatic moments that shaped the internet's front page (Mashable) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Tech Meme Ride Home for Friday, June 26, 2020.
0:07.0	I'm Brian McCullough today.
0:08.6	Amazon is officially in the self-driving car game.
0:12.1	Microsoft is officially keeping its retail stores closed forever.
0:16.0	Verizon has joined the Facebook ad boycott
0:19.0	and of course the weekend long read suggestions.
0:22.0	Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. Amazon has signed an agreement to acquire self-driving car startup Zooks
0:36.8	reportedly for 1.2 billion dollars or so. As I think we said when the
0:41.5	rumors about this first hit,
0:43.0	Uber always looked down the road and saw a future without the labor cost of drivers.
0:49.0	But really, similar calculus has to be obvious to Amazon as well and perhaps automation would be easier to achieve for delivery vehicles.
0:58.5	And if anyone has a track record for making automation and robots work. It's Amazon, quoting
1:04.4	cambec. Zooks is working to imagine, invent, and design a world-class autonomous
1:09.2	ridehailing experience, said Jeff Wilkie, Amazon CEO of Global Consumer in a statement.
1:15.0	Quote, like Amazon, Zooks is passionate about innovation and about its customers and we're excited to help the
1:20.3	talented Zooks team to bring their vision to reality in the years ahead."
1:24.2	End quote.
1:25.2	Shares of Amazon move slightly higher following the news.
1:28.0	It's a large deal for Amazon, which acquired Whole Foods for 13.7 billion dollars in 2017, but as otherwise generally made
1:35.3	acquisitions of less than a billion dollars, with regulators bearing down on
1:39.4	Amazon's every move because of its dominance in e-commerce and treatment of
1:42.6	warehouse workers during the coronavirus pandemic. The purchase of
	...

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