Another tweet, another catfight: Billionaire CEO Elon Musk has once again accused super-billionaire Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos of being a copycat.
This time, Musk took aim at Amazon’s $1.2 billion acquisition of Zoox, a venture focusing on self-driving cars that could compete with Tesla, the car company that Musk heads:
.@JeffBezos is a copy ? haha https://t.co/plR7uupqBG
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 26, 2020
For years, Musk and his Tesla team have been fine-tuning an autonomous driving system that could eventually reach full self-driving status, sparking controversies along the way. Several auto companies are developing their own sets of autonomous driving capabilities, but for now, Tesla is the industry leader.
California-based Zoox is seen as one of the up-and-comers. It’s currently testing a set of Toyota Highlanders that have been retrofitted with self-driving capabilities in San Francisco and Las Vegas. Before the coronavirus outbreak hit, Zoox was planning to unveil an innovative type of bidirectional vehicle later this year and begin testing its own robo-taxi service next year.
The prospect of Amazon getting involved in the market for self-driving cars is what prompted Musk to take a swipe.
It’s not the first time: Musk dragged out the same cat emoji more than a year ago when Amazon’s plans to create its Project Kuiper broadband satellite network came to light. Project Kuiper is still a long way from launching spacecraft, let alone offering service. Nevertheless, Project Kuiper a potential rival for the Starlink broadband satellite network that’s being deployed by SpaceX, the other company where Musk serves as CEO.
.@JeffBezos copy ?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 9, 2019
There’s a similar parallel between Tesla’s focus on all-electric cars and trucks on one hand, and Amazon’s investment in the Rivian electric-vehicle company on the other. Last year, Amazon announced that it’d be ordering 100,000 electric delivery vans from Rivian as part of its Climate Pledge.
Musk and Bezos have also tangled over SpaceX’s system for landing and reusing rockets vs. the reusability strategy that Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture is pursuing. And earlier this month, Musk took Amazon to task over its policies regarding online sales of literature relating to the coronavirus pandemic. “Time to break up Amazon,” Musk tweeted at the time. (Amazon quickly resolved the controversy.)
If Musk is rubbed the wrong way by Bezos’ interest in rockets, satellites, self-driving cars and electric cars, one possible recourse is for Musk to challenge Amazon in online retailing. Come to think of it, he already has a track record there — thanks to millions of dollars’ worth of not-a-flamethrowers that were sold last year through the Boring Company, his tunneling venture. Next up: Teslaquila and Boring Candy?
