INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Zoox, the self-driving car startup worth a reported $3.2 billion post-money valuation, is offering autonomous rides this week as part of
the Global Climate Action Summit.The Global Climate Action Summit convenes state and local leaders, scientists, non-profits and others to
discuss climate action opportunities.
In partnership with the Fairmont hotel in San Francisco, Zoox will transport select summit guests
between the Fairmont and Moscone Center in its self-driving Toyota Highlander test cars
Zoox says it working with the Fairmont and the Summit to determine guests.
Zoox was born to improve safety, congestion, and pollution in our
increasingly dense cities,& says Zoox co-founder, President and CTO Jesse Levinson said in a press release
&We are proud to demonstrate our state-of-the-art autonomous technology, partner with the Fairmont, and show private enterprise support of
Governor Brown and Mayor Bloomberg Global Climate Action Summit right here in our hometown.
The goal of these tests is to show guests the
potential of Zoox zero-emission autonomous technology, though, this is not the full realization of it.This advancement comes on the heels of
Zoox co-founder Tim Kentley-Klay ouster from the company in late August
His firing came about a month after Zoox closed a $500 million funding round led by Mike Cannon-Brookes of Grok Ventures, which brought its
total amount of funding to $800 million.
Zoox ultimately aims to commercially deploy autonomous vehicles by 2020 in the form of its own
The cars themselves will be all-electric and fully autonomous
Meanwhile, ride-hail companies like Uber and Lyft are also working on autonomous vehicles, as well as a number of other large players in the
