User Forum

(1) It is amazing to see which companies are getting involved in the electric car revolution and one notable firm is Amazon. It seems to be expanding its transportation prowess to do virtually everything short of building a car. While the Amazon CEO has said little publicly about the company's ambitions in the sector, the strategy is aimed at leveraging Amazon's strengths in logistics, cloud computing, and digital services together with new interests in related fields from robotics to manufacturing.
(2) With these new investments and alliances up and down the auto supply chain and by hiring key auto industry veterans and amassing a robust patent portfolio, Amazon is positioning itself to challenge corporate customers and partners ranging from United Parcel Service Inc. to Uber Technologies Inc. Businesses such as Amazon Web Services and Fulfillment by Amazon started as internal efforts to cut costs and improve efficiency in serving consumers, and later expanded to corporate customers.
(3) Recent Reuters analysis shows at least 210 recent patents have been applied for covering transportation-related topics from drones to automated ground vehicles. The auto-related patent push outpaced tech rivals Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google, whose sister company Waymo is a selfdriving pioneer. Amazon has been granted several patents that involve the transport of passengers, including a 2017 patent to provide an on-demand transportation service through a network of self-driving vehicles A spokesperson for Amazon said. "Like many companies, we file a number of forwardlooking patent applications that explore the full possibilities of new technology. Patents take multiple years to receive and do not necessarily reflect current developments to products and services."
(4) The patent push comes with a boost in Amazon's transportation-related investments. Since February, it has joined other major investors in providing nearly $2 billion in funding to three high-profile startups: electric truck maker Rivian Automotive, self-driving systems developer Aurora and food delivery firm Deliveroo. In the past two years, Amazon has built out its transportation ecosystem further with the acquisition of three startups: Dispatch, Canvas and Tapzo, while investing hundreds of millions of dollars in at least nine others, including Shuttl, an Indian company developing an app to help commuters find seats on buses.