Latest news with #Amazon-owned
Fashion United
2 days ago
- Business
- Fashion United
Amazon to host first-ever four day Prime Day event
Online marketplace giant Amazon is set to bring back its Prime Day sales event, extending the discount offer to four days for the first time. Running from July 8 to July 11, the summer sale shopping event offers Prime members access to limited deals across a range of categories, from apparel to personal care and books. Another new addition to this year's sales event is 'Today's Big Deals,' a curated series of themed daily offers spotlighting some of the event's most compelling discounts, available exclusively to Prime members. "New this year, we're offering exclusive deals, including fuel discounts for summer travel, alongside some of our lowest prices of the year from top brands," said Jamil Ghani, vice president of Amazon Prime, in a statement. "We're also excited about our enhanced Prime for Young Adults membership, giving 18–24-year-olds the ability to enjoy new exclusive perks like 5 percent cash back for a limited time, plus new shopping features that make discovering personalized savings easier than ever." Ahead of Prime Day, Prime members will also gain early access to significant savings across key categories—from home tech and fashion to groceries and everyday essentials. These pre-event offers provide strong value well before the official kickoff. Additional early deals include up to 30 percent off select Amazon-owned brands. From July 1, Prime members can also shop school supplies and household staples from Amazon Basics starting at 3 dollars, along with seasonal fashion from Amazon Essentials, including dresses and swimwear from 12 dollars. "Prime Day is about celebrating our members by providing them with exceptional savings and convenient delivery, and now is an excellent time to save."
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Amazon's Zoox Opens Robotaxi Production Site in California
(Bloomberg) -- Inc.'s Zoox autonomous driving unit opened a robotaxi production facility in California in the latest move by a deep-pocketed tech company to expand the nascent industry. Security Concerns Hit Some of the World's 'Most Livable Cities' JFK AirTrain Cuts Fares 50% This Summer to Lure Riders Off Roads How E-Scooters Conquered (Most of) Europe Taser-Maker Axon Triggers a NIMBY Backlash in its Hometown The site in the San Francisco Bay area city of Hayward will be able to churn out 10,000 purpose-built robotaxis a year once it reaches full scale, Zoox said in a statement on Wednesday. The company expects the plant will create hundreds of jobs in the region as it grows. 'The reality is we are just ready,' Zoox Chief Executive Officer Aicha Evans said in an interview on Bloomberg Tech on Wednesday. The strategy is to start 'putting the capacity in place and then turning it on little by little as we go city by city' with commercial launches, she said. Zoox is one of several companies vying to secure a foothold in the market for autonomous ridehailing. Competitors include Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo unit and Tesla Inc., which plans to begin offering rides in Austin with no driver behind the wheel as early as Sunday. The Amazon-owned company's purpose-built robotaxi is akin to a shuttle and has no steering wheel or pedals, with four inward-facing seats. Zoox would need an exemption from US auto safety rules that require vehicles to have driver controls, though the Trump administration has said it's working on changes to provide those approvals faster. Zoox is 'very grateful' to the administration's work in preparing the US for robotaxis and talks with regulatory bodies are 'going well', Evans said. Zoox is testing or operating robotaxis on a limited basis in San Fransisco and Las Vegas, where it plans to launch its service. Waymo, which uses vehicles made by other automakers that it rigs with self-driving software and sensors, is seen as the market leader and charges fares for rides in multiple US markets. To start, Zoox has a dozen of its robotaxis driving on the Las Vegas Strip, Evans said. The commercial service will launch later in the year and pricing will be competitive with traditional ride-hailing services. (Updates with Bloomberg Television interview starting in the third paragraph.) Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros Is Mark Cuban the Loudmouth Billionaire that Democrats Need for 2028? How a Tiny Middleman Could Access Two-Factor Login Codes From Tech Giants American Mid: Hampton Inn's Good-Enough Formula for World Domination The Spying Scandal Rocking the World of HR Software ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Amazon's Zoox opens its first major robotaxi production facility
Amazon-owned autonomous vehicle company Zoox has opened its first full-fledged production facility, where it expects to one day build 10,000 robotaxis per year. The facility marks the latest step in Zoox's evolution out of the development phase. The company is currently testing vehicles in multiple U.S. cities and offering rides to employees in Las Vegas and San Francisco. Public access is expected to begin with an early-rider program in 2026. The 220,000-square-foot factory is located in Hayward, California, near Zoox's Foster City headquarters. This is the company's second production facility in the Bay Area, adding to the assembly warehouse in nearby Fremont. Zoox says the new factory will be used for engineering, software and hardware integration, assembly, storage, and testing. The Hayward production facility will assemble the custom-built Zoox robotaxis for multiple commercial markets, beginning with Las Vegas and then San Francisco. Zoox plans to roll out commercial robotaxi operations in Austin and Miami in the next few years. The company says the facility's 'unique layout and building equipment' will be able to adapt to different vehicle designs as its robotaxi lineup expands in the future. The facility will be operated by a mix of human workers and robots. Human workers will handle the bulk of the work, according to Zoox, which said robots will be used for specific tasks, such as applying adhesive for glass installation and transporting the robotaxi down the assembly line. Sign in to access your portfolio
San Francisco Chronicle
3 days ago
- Automotive
- San Francisco Chronicle
Zoox is opening a Bay Area factory to build and train its robotaxis
A Silicon Valley robotaxi company that's angling to compete with Waymo opened a second East Bay factory on Wednesday, aiming to jolt production and pave the way for passenger service in San Francisco and other cities. Zoox, known for its buggy-shaped robotaxis and self-driving modified Toyota Highlanders, has for months been testing its vehicles in the wilderness of San Francisco traffic. The Amazon-owned company has reached an inflection point with its new manufacturing plant in Hayward, which will supply fleets 'at scale' for a commercial launch. While Waymo has built a business by installing its software into retrofitted vehicles that are manufactured by traditional automotive companies — the Waymo robotaxis that have become ubiquitous on San Francisco streets are electric Jaguar I-Pace crossover SUVs — Zoox is vying to be the first company to manufacture robotaxis in-house for commercial use. In addition to the Hayward factory, Zoox runs a small plant in Fremont. Workers there mostly assemble the Toyota testing fleet, along with the cameras and sensors that allow self-driving cars to navigate a complex environment. By contrast, the sprawling facility will encompass 220,000 square feet and serve a variety of functions. Among them: robotaxi engineering, parts storage, shipping, hardware and software integration. Vehicles will glide off the production line and roll through a series of testing stations, including a simulated rain storm, a dynamometer to measure force and torque at speeds up to 75 miles per hour, a light tunnel to check for scratches and an outdoor track to check 'pick-up and drop-off behaviors,' on a sample road with a bumpy stretch. Once Zoox starts offering rides to the public, the company anticipates a spike in demand for vehicles, and a need to rapidly accelerate production. With the new factory, Zoox will have flexibility to respond to market conditions.
CNBC
3 days ago
- Automotive
- CNBC
Amazon's Zoox boosts robotaxi production ahead of first commercial launch in Las Vegas
Amazon-owned autonomous vehicle startup Zoox on Wednesday opened a sprawling new manufacturing facility in the San Francisco Bay Area, paving the way for more robotaxi production as it plans a commercial rollout of its fleet later this year. The company will use the site in Hayward, California, to increase its robotaxi fleet significantly. The facility is currently producing one robotaxi per day, but Zoox said it expects to accelerate production over the coming year. At full scale, it will have the capacity to assemble 10,000 robotaxis a year, with roughly three robotaxis being produced per hour, the company said. Zoox did not provide a timeline for reaching that production level. "We don't need to crank out a vehicle every minute because we're not selling these things," Zoox CEO Aicha Evans said on the facility's production floor during a tour. Zoox needs more of its toaster-shaped robotaxis to roll off the assembly line in order to fulfill its mission of deploying a commercial ride-hailing service in the U.S. Zoox, founded 11 years ago and purchased by Amazon for $1.3 billion in 2020, began testing its robotaxis on public roads in 2023. The company currently has a few dozen robotaxis on public roads in Foster City, California, San Francisco and Las Vegas. Zoox is racing to catch up to Alphabet's Waymo, which operates the only fully public driverless ride-hailing service in the U.S. Waymo has aggressively expanded into new U.S. markets in recent years, and provides more than 250,000 paid trips each week across Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin. Evans said Zoox is "very proud" of Waymo's progress, adding that it helps validate the work that Zoox and others are doing to deploy an autonomous ride-hailing service. Elon Musk's Tesla is poised to launch its robotaxi service in Austin on June 22, though Musk cautioned that date could shift as the company is "being super paranoid about safety." Zoox is gearing up to launch public rides in Las Vegas, its first commercial market, later this year. San Francisco is expected to follow in 2026, with additional locations in Austin and Miami coming in the next few years. Similar to other rideshare services such as Uber and Lyft, Zoox riders will be able to hail a robotaxi via an app. Unlike Waymo, which uses Geely Zeekr minivans, Zoox has developed its own custom-built "carriage-style" vehicles, where up to four passengers face each other and there's no steering wheel. Evans called the robotaxis "high-end computers on wheels." Zoox CTO Jesse Levinson has said previously that the cost of developing Zoox's bespoke robotaxis is "significant." The cost of each vehicle should come down as Zoox scales up its fleet, Levinson said during the tour. Zoox said the new facility, spanning roughly 3.5 football fields, is the first site "dedicated solely to producing purpose-built robotaxis" in the U.S., a well-timed move given President Donald Trump's aggressive tariff policies. The facility was occupied by bus manufacturer Gillig prior to Zoox's arrival. About half of the company's suppliers are based in the U.S., but it also sources some parts from countries including China and Italy. Zoox may open additional manufacturing facilities elsewhere in the U.S. and internationally over time, Evans said. The facility is located just across the bay from Zoox's headquarters in Foster City, California. The company also operates a small manufacturing facility in Fremont, California, which will now be used to assemble its test fleet of retrofitted Toyota SUVs and to configure the sensor pods that sit atop its robotaxis, enabling them to see in all directions. The Hayward facility currently employs about 100 technicians. Zoox also uses robots for specific tasks on the floor like applying adhesive for glass installation and transporting the robotaxi from station to station down the assembly line. Once the vehicle is assembled, it goes through end-of-line testing. This includes a calibration bay to ensure all cameras and sensors work properly, a station that stress tests the powertrain at high speeds and then the vehicle takes a "shower" in a simulated rainstorm to check for any leaks. The robotaxis take several laps around a test track located behind the facility before they're considered "fit for the road," Zoox said. Zoox has ramped up marketing as it prepares to open its service to the public. "Because the vehicle looks so different, we need to announce ourselves," Evans said.
