Amazon is stepping up its presence in the self-driving vehicle space with a $1 billion-plus purchase of California company Zoox.
According to The Financial Times, the deal is worth more than $1.2 billion and will be announced on Friday. Zoox was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Foster City, California, which is situated in the San Francisco Bay Area.
It's unclear whether the online retail giant would use the cars and their technology to deliver packages or if it plans to focus solely on Zoox's plan of operating a robotaxi service to compete with Waymo, another autonomous vehicle company.
Zoox has 1,000 employees spread across multiple offices in the Bay Area. The Financial Times noted that in 2018, the company was valued at $3.2 billion.
The purchase marks one of Amazon's largest investments. It bought Whole Foods in 2017 for $13.7 billion and online shoe retailer Zappos in 2009 for $1.2 billion.
The Wall Street Journal reported in late May that Amazon was likely to purchase Zoox, which is developing the vehicles and the self-driving technology, and also plans to operate a fleet of robotaxis. The news outlet noted that Amazon has made some investments in the self-driving vehicle arena as it explores ways of improving its delivery process.
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