The future of AI on wheels, according to Jesse Levinson from Zoox

Equity

TechCrunch

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4.2 • 365 Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today on Equity, we're taking you on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt for Kirsten Korosec's conversation with Zoox co-founder and CEO Jesse Levinson. The pair discuss building custom robotaxis, how Zoox's approach compares to that of Tesla, and the 'current and future landscape' of AI on wheels. It's also worth noting that Amazon-owned Zoox recently scooped up some of Tesla’s top talent, bringing on Zheng Gao late last month to lead hardware engineering. Equity will be back on Friday with a full CES recap, so don't miss it! Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes here. Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. We'd also like to thank our illustrator, Bryce Durbin, and the TechCrunch audience development team.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is presented by Invest Puerto Rico.
0:03.4	If you believe your business can go anywhere, Puerto Rico is the place.
0:07.0	Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch's flagship podcast about the business of
0:23.0	startups. I'm Rebecca Boulon, and as most of our listeners are probably aware, it's CES
0:27.5	week, and our team is BizZ. While I'm still here in New York managing remote coverage, my co-host
0:32.5	Kirsten is out in Vegas in the heart of the action, but she'll be back on Friday with a full CES scoop,
0:38.2	including her trip in one of Zook's robotaxies. So ahead of that, we decided to refresh Kirsten's
0:43.4	interview with Zook's co-founder and CTO Jesse Levinson from TechCrunch Disrupt. The two talked about
0:48.6	Tesla, Robotaxis, and the future landscape of AI on wheels. And just to give you a bit of
0:53.6	additional context,
0:54.8	it's worth noting that Amazon-owned Zooks recently swooped up some of Tesla's top talent,
0:59.6	bringing on Zhang Gao late last month to lead hardware engineering. Okay, let's hear what Levinson
1:04.4	had to say. Hello, everyone. It's great to see you all. And Jesse, it's good to see you again. I feel like every couple of years we go on a stage and we talk about what's happening with Zooks. So thanks.
1:17.3	Here we are again. Yeah, here we are again. We still exist. Yes. Well, actually, that's a pretty considerable feat in the world of AVs to still be existing. Zooks was found 10 years ago.
1:29.4	Four years ago, Amazon acquires Zooks.
1:33.4	Also four years ago, and a few months after the acquisition, you unveil the custom-built
1:39.8	Robotaxi.
1:41.2	Here we are a decade in.
1:42.8	And so I have to ask, first question, what is taking so long?
1:47.6	It's hard, right? It's a really, really hard problem. And when we started Zooks 10 years ago,
1:53.2	it's not like we thought it was easy, especially given that our strategy has always been to
1:57.7	build our own vehicle from scratch that is truly a robo-taxie with no steering
	...

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