I don't know if Zoox is vaporware horseshit, but it sure looks like it. And that's the whole point - right?
The alternative is the Magic Leap approach: Stay stealth and take yourself too seriously. When everyone's super excited about what you might do, what you actually do is destined to be a universal disappointment.
Zoox seems to be going for the opposite approach, an impressive sleight-of-hand. This article is hard to categorize as "positive" or "negative." It seems like they're stoking skepticism and disappointment up front. That way we all think it's a big joke/gamble/moonshot and when they do have something - anything! go carts! - everyone's all OMG IT'S REAL!
We're living in an era where "cult of personality" is an effective political and corporate leadership method. I'm equal parts impressed and not at all a fan. The CEO is straight-up bragging about some obscene behavior. That plus unheard-of levels of insiderism -- your dad "mentored Steve Jobs"?? -- is apparently enough to get Bloomberg to take drone footage of your prototypes in (pretend) action.
Overall, though, this says more about the state of VC than anything else. This is how the richest people in the world (1) have fun (2) search for meaning in their lives. For the cost of a yacht, you can legitimately delude yourself into thinking that you're pioneering the future.
Without doing any outside digging, I think they are probably more on the spectrum of non-vaporware horseshit based purely on the amount of funding they've been able to receive. Which, to me, says a lot about the ability to be valued over a billion dollars without have any revenue (not just that they aren't profitable, they literally have no sales of any type), and they don't plan to do so until at least 2020.
I'm a huge fan of autonomous vehicles, and it will no doubt be the way of the future. However, I do believe it will be generations before people are not learning to drive, and thus, will not require the option of being able to control the vehicle.
I agree funding = success. However, they've more than doubled Theranos funding and have some of the top minds in the field. Plus, Theranos defrauded people. Again, not that Zoox isn't doing this, but I would again fall on the side of optimism rather than pessimism in relation to their future outlook.
Regarding the generations piece - I just can't see my parents who are entering their 60s giving up complete control over a vehicle. Also, economically speaking how a great leap forward impact the hundreds of thousands (if not more) of Americans (insert any country with a large blue collar workforce in the auto industry - Germany would be another example) in the auto industry? Just throwing that out there, though I recognize it's a new take on the long term outlook of Zoox that the article did not address.
I don't know if Zoox is vaporware horseshit, but it sure looks like it. And that's the whole point - right?
The alternative is the Magic Leap approach: Stay stealth and take yourself too seriously. When everyone's super excited about what you might do, what you actually do is destined to be a universal disappointment.
Zoox seems to be going for the opposite approach, an impressive sleight-of-hand. This article is hard to categorize as "positive" or "negative." It seems like they're stoking skepticism and disappointment up front. That way we all think it's a big joke/gamble/moonshot and when they do have something - anything! go carts! - everyone's all OMG IT'S REAL!
We're living in an era where "cult of personality" is an effective political and corporate leadership method. I'm equal parts impressed and not at all a fan. The CEO is straight-up bragging about some obscene behavior. That plus unheard-of levels of insiderism -- your dad "mentored Steve Jobs"?? -- is apparently enough to get Bloomberg to take drone footage of your prototypes in (pretend) action.
Overall, though, this says more about the state of VC than anything else. This is how the richest people in the world (1) have fun (2) search for meaning in their lives. For the cost of a yacht, you can legitimately delude yourself into thinking that you're pioneering the future.
Without doing any outside digging, I think they are probably more on the spectrum of non-vaporware horseshit based purely on the amount of funding they've been able to receive. Which, to me, says a lot about the ability to be valued over a billion dollars without have any revenue (not just that they aren't profitable, they literally have no sales of any type), and they don't plan to do so until at least 2020.
I'm a huge fan of autonomous vehicles, and it will no doubt be the way of the future. However, I do believe it will be generations before people are not learning to drive, and thus, will not require the option of being able to control the vehicle.
We shouldn't assume that a startup isn't "VH" because they're raising tons of money. (Theranos, for example, raised hundreds of millions.)
I too am a huge fan of AV. I like anything that's a big leap (versus a small step) forward.
"Generations" feels like forever to me. The internet is only a half a generation old. Smartphones are a quarter of a generation old.
I agree funding = success. However, they've more than doubled Theranos funding and have some of the top minds in the field. Plus, Theranos defrauded people. Again, not that Zoox isn't doing this, but I would again fall on the side of optimism rather than pessimism in relation to their future outlook.
Regarding the generations piece - I just can't see my parents who are entering their 60s giving up complete control over a vehicle. Also, economically speaking how a great leap forward impact the hundreds of thousands (if not more) of Americans (insert any country with a large blue collar workforce in the auto industry - Germany would be another example) in the auto industry? Just throwing that out there, though I recognize it's a new take on the long term outlook of Zoox that the article did not address.