[0] https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/12/19/21029932/amazon-logist...
Bias note: I work for Amazon, but not in that department.
(1) Inbound bandwidth will be free.
1 - https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/ma-flashback-amazon-anno...
Because warehouses and the freight terminal (truck terminal in the consumer goods case) that necessarily surrounds them have a need for things that can roll around autonomously while not colliding with things.
There are existing solutions for this but they're far behind the state of the art for self driving vehicles that aim to eventually be used on public roads and they have several weak points that make them less competitive in very dynamic warehouses (variable contents and throughput, as opposed to a warehouse that feeds a manufacturing operation which will have more fixed contents and less variable output) that mostly handle lightweight goods (which is part of why amazon uses so much human labor in its warehouses). I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon was trying to scoop up Zoox on the cheap for their own internal use. They already bought a warehouse automation company. The probably have a list of things they want to automate and figure that buying a company that already has competence in the space (even if they're not a front runner) is the best way to meet their needs.
Of course the delivery network serving the area surrounding the warehouse facility can also make use of self driving tech but self driving on public roads is a much harder and farther off problem and I don't think solving it is their primary goal for this purchase.
Ford another major Rivian investor has partnered with and invested in autonomy startup Argo AI
Rivian has said that their vehicles will have level 3 autonomy but if you look at the sensors the vehicles will include they would probably could be level 5 capable with the right software. Perhaps both Amazon and Ford are planning on bringing their own software to run on Rivian's hardware to turn the stock Rivian into a level 5 vehicle? It seems like it could be a smart play since the autonomy software will probably be the highest margin part of the vehicle.
I want that.
Scalability is a resource problem when you don't require as much human management and overhead. Its simply a resource allocation problem.
Then there's AWS, which is also used for machine learning and other purposes. I imagine this company has a lot of the right kinds of skills they'd want to tap to offer off the shelf solutions in that space. Even if they'd ditch the product that could be valid.
But of course these solutions include bespoke self driving solutions for those car manufacturers needing to catch up in a hurry. They are going to spend billions doing so and that are going to be in need of exactly the kind of services and scale that AWS provides. IMHO most of them are going to not succeed with in house solutions and are going to be looking for something off the shelf. At least, I don't see the likes of Kia, BMW, Chrysler, etc. turning into the type of software companies that can actually do this half decently any time soon. So, that means AWS offering all or most of this as a service sounds like a good idea.
Of course the theory and practice of acquihires are two things. Most of them flat out fail and are nothing more than a big corporation scratching the backs of investors (e.g. on their board) by bailing out their failed investments. A lot of exits in the startup space fall in this category. Investors hate having their investments go bankrupt. An acquihire you can still spin as a success. A bankruptcy is much harder.
Is Amazon, a company worth 1.4T dollars, trying to "pivot" into a car manufacturer? Seems unlikely, no?
Amazon has a massive logistics and delivery operation. I imagine any automation there will yield great returns.
Microsoft has done it for the browser market. Amazon has done it (more than once i might add) with online selling platform, into SaaS platform, which they now leverage into other businesses.
Monopoly laws that were used to prevent this (ostensibly unfair practise) has lost their teeth.