You may have believed that cars were the one area in your life safe from the clutches of The Big A. The company that started selling books now sells appliances, furniture, creme brulee’ mix, and hair growth systems. But, not cars and trucks. At least not…yet? Say it ain’t so, Joe? Alas, Gildshire cannot “say it ain’t so,” because that day is coming, too. Amazon is reaching into the automotive market.
First of all, Amazon is not building assembly lines and starting up brick and mortar car dealerships (“What will it take for you to drive that car home today?”), they are getting into automotive concerns. Here is what Gildshire knows so far. Reuters helped with some of the research.
What makes you think I should be concerned?
From 2016 through July 2019, Amazon amassed an astonishing 201 patents having to do with automotive concerns. They covered everything in transportation from drones to automotive delivery vehicles. One was even a scheme to transport passengers in a fleet of self-driving vehicles. By comparison, in that same period, Apple was granted 105 transportation-related patents, and Google received 140 transportation patents. That number for Google is not surprising, given its heavy involvement with its sister company, Waymo.
But 201 patents, for a company that has, thus far, showed little interest in the over-the-road aspect of product delivery? That got everyone’s attention, and not everyone is smiling about the fact that Amazon is reaching again.
In fact, companies used to working closely with Amazon risk losing business to the massive online retailer if its transportation expertise grows. Ford’s John Ellis had this to say:
“Corporate customers should be very {afraid} of Amazon’s move into the dashboard. If consumers pay less attention to horsepower, and more to streaming content and services, they won’t really care whether you’re in a Ford or a Chrysler or a Chevrolet or a BMW.”
Amazon is reaching. What does that mean for the partners who work with them today?
Amazon says that they are “always looking for ways to more closely integrate Amazon services if we think {we can} bring value to the customer.”
Does this mean Amazon has 201 new things to send into the marketplace?
No, because not every patent application becomes a business plan. Amazon said as much when asked about that large number of patents for which they filed.
“Like many companies, we file many forward-looking 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,” an Amazon spokesman said in a statement.
That is true, of course. But, the patent push comes in concert with the ongoing increase in transportation-related investments. Since February of this year, Amazon joined other investors in providing almost $2 billion in funding to three startups. These include electric truckmaker Rivian, self-drive developer Aurora, and food delivery company Deliveroo. In just the past two years, Amazon built out its transportation ecosystem with the acquisition of Dispatch, Canvas, and Tapzo.
So, what is happening inside Amazon to bring about these seismic events? We know they are interested in expanding Alexa’s role from the house to the car, but is there more? When Amazon is reaching out, the answer to “is there more” is almost always, “Yes.”
