Self-driving vehicle startup Zoox has raised $200 million in a new convertible note, marking its first financial growth since co-founder and CEO Tim Kentley-Klay was fired in August 2018.
The company has promoted one of the more radical approaches to autonomous vehicle (AV) design. It wants to build the vehicles from scratch, instead of adding sensors and other components to existing vehicles from established car makers.
It isn’t clear who the investors are, and Zoox couldn’t be reached for further comment. Axios.com first reported the funding and Forbes confirmed it with an unnamed source.
The Foster City, California, company was founded in 2014 and is now headed by CEO Aicha Evans, Intel’s former chief of strategy. Kentley-Klay was suddently fired in August 2018 just after raising $465 million in a Series B funding round.
Zoox’s vision of a self-driving car has no dedicated front or rear end, no steering wheel, brake or accelerator and no dashboard controls. It fits into the emerging definition of a robo-taxi, which would be operated by fleet managers for use in communities where mostly shorter trips are needed and where car ownership isn’t a priority.
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