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were 12% of gross merchandise And by the way, the car- to be reckoned with in the AV
value, and expected to reach sharing services are not the race,” he writes. “In a post-Covid
$90 billion by 2023. He thinks an only companies that could be world, we believe fewer and more
effective autonomous delivery threatened by an Amazon dive into powerful players will be in position
network eventually could save the autonomous driving, in Nowak’s to deploy capital and talent to
company more than $20 billion in view. solving autonomy with a ‘play
recurring shipping costs. to win’ mindset. We see Amazon
“If confirmed, we see this as (and other tech players) as clear
Three, also related to the other further evidence that the ‘teracap’ competitors, not partners, versus
two, he thinks autonomous platforms [companies with market the likes of Tesla and General
technology is a natural extension caps over $1 trillion] are a force Motors.”
of the company’s plans to build
a third-party logistics network in
competition with United Parcel
Service, FedEx, and the U.S. Postal
Service—he sees a multibillion-
dollar opportunity at play. HOW TO LOOK OUT
FOR A WORKMATE
Not least, he asserts that Amazon’s IN 4 STEPS
“innovation focus, capital to invest,
and leading shipping volumes (and
the miles driven along with them)
make it one of the few companies
that could build a product to
compete with Waymo, Uber, Lyft 1. Ask ‘R U OK?’
and others” in autonomous driving.
2. Listen without
And here’s the kicker: “Over judgement
time, this acquisition would also
open the door for Amazon to
potentially begin to compete in
the ride sharing and food-delivery
industries,” he writes.

Nowak theorises that Amazon 3. Encourage action
could offer discount ride-sharing
to Prime members—a move he
thinks would be “a meaningful
driver of Prime growth, retention 4. Check-in
and pricing power.” He sees ride-
sharing as a $60 billion bookings Visit ruok.org.au for more info on how to
opportunity in the U.S. alone by be the kind of person to ask ‘R U OK?’
2023.

Uber and Lyft didn’t immediately
respond to requests for comment.

DRIVE A2B magazine · www.drivea2b.com.au · June 2020 35