News recently crossed the wires that Zoox, a self-driving car startup, just raised $200MM at a $1BB valuation.
And…that’s it.
Very little else seems to be known about Zoox.
Their homepage is a black screen with a small gray logo.
Business Insider reports that Zoox is a collaboration between Tim Kentley-Klay and Jesse Levinson, the former an Australian designer and the latter a Stanford-trained autonomous vehicle engineer.
In 2013, the company debuted some splashy renderingsof the car, nicknamed “Boz,” before reverting back into stealth mode. According to IEEE, the car is designed to not have windshields or a steering wheel or break pedal. Instead, it can drive in any direction while passengers sit inside, facing each other.
The funding news only broke because of an SEC document they had to file, which shows their address as being in a small shopping center in Menlo Park where I used to shop for groceries all the time.
Presumably that’s a front? Other news sources locate the company in Palo Alto, the city next door.
I’ll go back to that Safeway to buy a few heads of lettuce and see if I can find a super-awesome car.
David Silver 