May 5, 2022 • 34 mins
Emily Chang speaks exclusively with Zoox CEO Aicha Evans about her plan to turn the autonomous vehicle startup into a global ride hailing giant, why she left Intel to take the top job at Zoox, and how the company competes for passengers with Tesla, Waymo, and Cruise.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
So this is a lab. Yeah, this is uh, the
robot taxi of flex Line where they come in. First,
it's just a body, that's what I call it, the
body of the vehicle, and then lots of pieces that
have to be assembled, put together, tested. Now I'm told
you're not building a quote unquote car. No, I'm not.
Does this look like a car to you. Don't say
(00:22):
the word car. Don't say the word car. It's a vehicle. Yeah,
a transportation vehicle. Will sell you a ride in this vehicle.
Can we get in? Of course you can right there.
It is okay, so comfortable. That's what we want. We
don't want you to think about driving. This is why
(00:42):
it's not a car. Hi. Everyone, I'm Emily Chang and
welcome to the latest edition of Bloomberg Studio. At one
point now today, we're taking you to the Zoo's factory
floor in Fremont, California, where they believe they're building the
future of transportation. You're listening to CEO Aisha Evans, one
(01:03):
of the top ranking black women in Silicon Valley who
grew up in Senegal. After twelve years working her way
up to the top ranks at Intel, she took a
leap into the startup world to join Zooks with a
goal to transform ride hailing as we know it. Just
a year later, she sold the company to Amazon for
one point two billion dollars. How does Zouks fit into
(01:24):
the future of ride hailing and Amazon? Could a Zooks
deliver your Amazon packages one day? Here's Evan's view of
the road ahead on this episode of Bloomberg Studio one
point out, so great to be here with you. Thank
you for coming and thank you for having me. You
came to Zooks as CEO and over from Intel, and
(01:46):
just a year later you sold it to Amazon. How
did that happen so quickly? It was a journey. Um.
It takes a lot of capital to um takes this
endeavor all the way. It's a it's a worthy one.
And when we looked at the ecosystem, when we looked
at everything that was going around, we had to decide
whether to stay private or whether to get a long
(02:07):
term oriented partner like some of our fellow travelers. And
then the pandemic hit. That brought a lot of clarity,
shall we say, And so the opportunity presented itself and
we went for it. Wise, Amazon the right fit. First
of all, they are a great company. Uh. They have
created both octogonal and adjacent multibillion dollar businesses. They are
(02:32):
long term oriented and very purpose driven, so that matched
our ambitions. They've never owned a car company though. Yeah,
but we're not a car company exactly. We're a right
hailing company. Talk to me a little bit about how
you got to Silicon Valley. Your story is not the
story of a typical tex EO like Jeff Bezos or
(02:53):
Eddie Jassy. Tell us about your upbringing. I was born
in Senegal, West Africa. Hum. My parents, I thanked them
to this day. UH sort of made school um an
implicit expectation. It was an up for discussion. Very early on.
I showed an aptitude and interest uh in math, physics,
(03:14):
not so much in biology and in building things. Uh.
And so they cultivated that. And then I bounced back
between Paris and UH and Senegal, learned a lot about
what technology does to people's lives, uh, and what it
makes possible. I literally had a contrast every few months.
And so computers were coming online, not the Internet, but
(03:38):
what the Internet was going to make possible was also
coming online. The US was to the place to be
to study that, and so I came to the US
and I went to school and then very boringly, I
met an American boy who is my husband, and really
that's how I ended up staying. So you go to
computer Uh then basically, UM got jobs in the industry
(04:05):
and eventually ended up at Intel in Importlands. Through that
started interfacing with Silicon Valley, and then zooks came along.
So I don't really think of myself. I just happened
the journey led me here. I heard a story about
you hackake a phone in order to talk to your
friends long distance. Did that really happen? Oh? Yeah, I did. Um, Well,
(04:26):
when you're in France, you want to I I always
had a double life a little bit in terms of
family friends in different ecosystems. I still do to this day.
And so back then it was landlines. It was expensive
and my dad is in was intellcommunication, so if he
was not confused, so we had a rotary phone, I'm
(04:47):
dating myself and he locked it. But obviously I figured
out how to still make the phone calls. Who were
role models back then. I mean, it's so hard for
young people, especially young girls, to see themselves in the
tech industry. Um. Mary Curry was and still is a
role model. Um. In France, you study philosophy and a
(05:11):
lot of the philosophers are also mathematicians. Uh so they
were a role model, and they also forced you to think,
So those who are my main role models? At least
at the time. So after you, you know, meet this
American boy, you decide to stay. You worked your way
up to chief strategy officer at Intel, and it was
a difficult time for Intel. Intel was kind of losing
(05:34):
its way. What was it like working there at that time?
First of all, Um, I grew up there. I entered
as a sort of second third line manager and moved
up the ranks. I'll always be grateful for everything that
I've learned there. Um. Yes, it was a difficult time
in the sense that anytime you're successful, you earned the
(05:55):
opportunity to talk about what's the next phase of the journey,
and I was in the middle of that. But it
was also fun. I learned a lot. Um, I made
great funds and I'm rooting for today and I'm proud
of them and the journey there on. So what do
you think about Pat Gelsingers? Very ambitious, very grand, very expensive,
plan to turn Intel into a foundry to bring chip
(06:19):
manufacturing back to the United States at a heavy cost.
Is it going to pay off? I don't know. I
hope so I can't really. I mean, I don't work
there anymore, so I don't know the details of it.
What I can tell you is that semiconductors are in
everything in our lives, from small to big, from consumer
to enterprise. And it's almost like, um, I don't know
(06:40):
electricity in some ways, and so I'm rooting for them.
What was it like going from an established brand name,
storied tech company like Intel to a startup like Zooks.
I assume there are major differences in culture and execution there.
It was quite an awakening. Uh So I didn't tell
(07:01):
I was a little bit known as uh, not a rebel,
but um somebody who questioned things and who maybe did
the normal Oh my gosh, you know was too slow?
Is this or that or the other? An agitator of source?
An agitator, yes, a change agents, I think is the
elegant way of putting it. And so all right, when
I arrived at Zuits, yes, it was fast, Uh it was.
(07:23):
We were making decisions quickly, but from an infrastructure standpoint.
We I was like, WHOA, maybe there's a reason for
infrastructure and so, but I embrace the journey and said, okay,
we have to build one when you're doing what we're doing. Uh,
it's not just about the technology. You have to think
about the steps to get into market. You also have
(07:45):
to think about building the company so that it's ready
when you scale. If you wait until you need to
scale to actually build the infrastructure, bad things happen. I
also want to ask you a question about the founding store.
You know, one of the founders no longer works here.
One of the founder still works here and is the CTO,
And I'm curious how important it is in your view
to have a founder remaining at a company and what
(08:08):
your approach is to that as a CEO who came
in from the outside. Yes, Um, Jesse Levinson, Uh, he's
our CTEO and co founder. I think it's important to
have a founder. I'm not confused. I wasn't here at
the beginning, and especially the company Zooks has been extremely
consistent since inception. When we first said we're doing a
ground up vahicule, people said the kind and not so
(08:31):
Now people are coming around to that point of view
because it does make some some problems easier on the
AI side, plus the customer experience. Um, we worked together.
I probably talked to Jesse outside of my kids and husband.
I talked to Jessie more than I talked to anybody. Uh.
He's probably graduated to be one of the person who
knows me the most and the best. We partner. Uh,
(08:53):
that doesn't mean we agree on everything, but we talked
about it. We discussed. We went through something pretty difficult
between the pandemic make and deciding, um what to do
from a capital standpoint, and so I think that it's
important to have a founder, but even more importantly, there
has to be a really strong partnership and relationship. And
(09:13):
if you can find that, then it's the best of
both world because it's fully complimentary. How much has the
vision changed from you know, the initial founders to today
and you know, how do you how does that founder
d n A then survive? The vision hasn't changed a bit.
And both Jesse and I give actually uh credit to
(09:34):
Tim who was the other co founder, because this was
his vision. Ah, he's a designer. He came up with
this concept and so we we give credit. And we've
been consistent. We haven't literally deviated left or right. We've
argued about timelines, we've argued maybe about the idea, the
industrial design or things like that. The division absolutely consistent.
(09:55):
I'm gonna tell you something. Every we have these company
all hands every often, so often we actually play the
two thousand and fourteen pitch. It's identical, identical. That's amazing. Yes,
it's all about execution and getting there. What's it like
being a leading black female executive in such a white
(10:19):
male industry. It depends. I don't wake up in the
morning thinking I'm that. I wake up in the morning
thinking I'm Asha. I've got stuff to do, meetings, decisions
to make, kids to take care of, making sure denim
is ready. Obviously in the moment, sometimes I think about
it because you look around. But I try and turn
(10:40):
it into an opportunity because and that's just how I
have one on ones with myself, and how you think
about it and how you show up it's important. So
I try and tell myself that means that I'm bringing
a perspective that nobody else has, and that's additive. And
then I try and also figure out a way to
have what I call an inclusive environment where I see
people's point of view and they see mine, and I
(11:03):
try not to get angry when it manifests itself in
annoying ways. What are the obstacles that you've overcome to
get here? Um? I think that often people assume, both
from a gender and UH sort of ethnicity standpoint, that
it's not normal to be here, and therefore maybe you've
(11:24):
got a discount, when it's often the opposite. You have
to try much harder than than others. I've had to
work on sort of how I receive information when or
how I really ideal with behaviors that are not acceptable,
and sort of learn when you take the high road.
I've had to find my voice and not be afraid
(11:46):
of it and use it. So a lot of things
like that. As you say you grew up at Intel,
you grew up in this industry. Are you pleased with
the change you've seen or has it not changed fast enough?
I can't be pleased. I mean, I'm pleased that is change,
but absolutely not. We have to do a lot more
as an industry. Why isn't it changing faster? Why don't
we see more people like you in positions of power. Well,
(12:10):
I think that's a complicated answer. I think it starts
very early on. I think it starts. I've been public
about Lego robotics. That was eye opening for me. I
have a son who participates in Lego robotics, and we
had some observations and kids are what seven eight and
you already see differences. I think also from a social standpoint,
(12:32):
around middle school, when there's a transition for girls, maybe
having a support system to stay in math, demystifying it,
teaching it differently, and then as people come up the ranks,
making sure, especially for women, making sure that we have
a support system around them so they can traverse through
some of the some of the phases like for example,
(12:54):
marriage and childbirth and so on. You're building a ride
hailing service, not a car. Why is it important to
have a woman in the room, people of different races
in the room, Because we are about selling a ride
to a customer, and the customers they look like many
different people. I'll give you a story. We were discussing
(13:15):
pick up and drop off, and um, I'm the only
woman in the room. Yes, I'm always in jeans and
what have you. But occasionally I dressed up and have
high heels on. We're wearing high heels today, yep. I
made a comment when you arrived, right, and so I
was like, Okay, we have to think about it from
that standpoint, because if we're giving right to customers in
(13:37):
San Francisco, for example, on a Friday evening, on a
Saturday evening, maybe some folks have heels on, and maybe
we need to think about the pick up rages because
expecting them to go uphills in you know, high heels
probably not a good idea. That's why it matters, you know,
from a product perspective. Right, let's talk about the competition.
(13:57):
What is Zoox's edge over GM's crew those Googles way now,
and if you could level with us, what's their edge
over zooks um. First of all, I look at them
a little bit like fellow travelers. Yes, we're competitors because
we're in the same space and we're going after some
of the same things. But this is a big industry.
(14:19):
We are not a car company. We are transportation company
and humans since inception whenever, that was all about transportation
and always going somewhere to either have access to information,
access to more to a better livelihood or so on.
So it's a huge market. We do not expect one company.
It's not going to be a winner take on. So
(14:41):
we're fellow travelers in some ways. Second, it's a safety
critical product and therefore I think it's important to lay
that groundwork. Now. Having said that, I would say one
of the big differences is that we are going straight
to what we think is the ideal product to provide
rights to customers. We are not here to enhance your
(15:03):
driving experience. We don't even want you to think about driving.
So the customer experience is built in such a way
that you're here to be transported. You have an app
which you already know how to do today. You have
an app where you say I want to go from
point A to point B, especially in dense urban environments
think downtown San Francisco, and we show up and we
(15:25):
pick you up. Sliding doors, you step in a little
bit London cab inspired communal seating. You couldn't write alone
or with friends or basically with other people. You buckle up,
you push, start, do whatever you want to do, Relax,
meditate beyond your device. What about Tesla, which is right
down the street. Our Tesla and Elon must competition, fellow travelers.
(15:51):
I think we're in the same general industry. Um. First
of all, we have a lot of respect for for
Tesla and what they've made possible, both intrinsically meaning the company,
but also for the industry. This is Silicon Valley, were
you know, paid tribute to disruptors. Having said that, we're
not exactly in the same business. We don't sell a
(16:11):
car to people. We sell a right to people. Our
customers are not drivers. There are writers, and therefore we
use the same types of technologies, but they are in
the car selling business. So how does Zookes fit into
the future of Amazon? Well, that story is yet to
be written. First of all, we are we hope to
deliver on the promise of a new segment and uh
(16:35):
sort of a big business uh and be one of
those in the tradition of of Amazon. And then what
happens then? Who knows that? We know there's a world
of possibilities, but I tell everybody we first have to
earn it right before we talk about sort of synergies
and possibilities and opportunities together. Zero times anything is still
(16:55):
zero and it will be for a long time. So
We're focusing on building our business, getting market and then
there's a myriad of possibilities of things we could do together.
Zoo is going to be dropping off my boxes. Is
that what I should expect potentially, if that's the right
thing to do and if it makes sense to do so.
But first we're going to make sure to take you
everywhere you need to go without having to worry about parking,
(17:16):
having a car and so on. What's it like having
Amazon as your boss? It's been good. I get that
question a lot, by the way, It's been really good.
It's been about a year and I don't know, nine
ten months. So well, you know, Amazon is it's often
know more as an overlord, especially when it comes to investments.
(17:39):
You know that they're very involved. Is that the case? Um,
we're an independent subsidiary of of Amazon, So yes, they
are involved, but I don't know, No, they are not
an overlord or anything like that. We agree on what's
going to happen, why it's going to happen, and then
we basically we've we've run pretty independently. They're very available
(17:59):
though if we have a question or if they have
a question. There as communication going on, but we know,
we don't feel like swamp or anything like that. How
often did you talk to Jeff Bezos or do you
talk to Andy Jassy or maybe it's Dave limp Um.
I don't talk to them that often. I mean we
have a monthly business review or quality business review or
(18:21):
or just but no, this is that I know a
lot of people ask me that question to know. It's
not like I'm besties with them and we're on the
phone and wrapping and channing. Now, so well, you must
know what their expectations are of you? What what what
are their expectations of you? What is Amazon expecting of
zoos execute get to market scale? And do you have
the funding to do that? Gm? Google very well funded
(18:45):
competitors or fellow travelers. As you say, are you getting
what you need? Yes? More than what I need. I'm
funding is not something I even worry about. So what's
it like to operate in that environment where money is
not an issue? Well, I mean you have to be careful,
right because you also don't want to be a drunken
sailor and be like, oh now I have you still
have to be uh, very disciplined. You have to manage
(19:09):
the phases of the business. We don't sit here and
talk about Amazon a lot, or talk about even fellow
travelers a lot. We're like, Okay, how do we execute?
How do we make our mouthstones? How do we get
to market where things organized properly? How do we hire?
How do we retain and so on and so forth?
How do we stay mission driven? The public seems to
have lost interest in waiting around for self driving cars.
(19:32):
I wrote in Google self Driving Car in twenty eleven,
and I'm still waiting to be able to buy or
just ride a self driving car on demand. Why is
it taking so long? I think in self driving First
of all, the opportunity is so clear. Um the so
the beach is so broad. We forgot that big things
(19:55):
do start small. One second, it's a hard problem to solve.
We talk a lot about safety, uh, and we talked
talk a lot about human error when it comes to driving,
But we also forget that collectively, at least in the
United States of America, humans collectively drive a hundred million
miles before having a fatality. That's a lot of mouths.
(20:17):
So humans are also pretty good. And the thing humans
are good at, which is hand I call it exception handling.
We all know how to drive. If we're all fully autonomous,
would be deployed already. But we're driving amongst human and
you have to deal with so many little scenarios. There
are so many things that you've been learning about driving
since births and codifying that using AI sensors and computers
(20:41):
is turning out to be a lot harder. Last, but
not least, it's a safety critical system. None of us
should deploy until unless we have closed loop evidence that
we're safe. So what is the AI need to learn
how to do at this point? What are the challenges
left to solve? It needs to know how to deal
with unexpected things as they as they happen. And is
(21:03):
that possible that it can? Can? I learned that, of
course it's possible. I mean I'm one of I'm an
optimist when it comes to technology. I saught it in wireless.
So you have to think from switchboards all the way
to today. Quite a journey. Um. I'm fascinated by flying airplanes.
The right brothers, if they were trying to solve what
is being sold in aviation today, they wouldn't have tried.
(21:25):
We we just let let it marinate, let it take
its time. The algorithms will get better. Uh, compute gets
better all the time, censors get better all the time.
It will happen. What about security challenges? We've reported on
how Tesla's have been hacked. What can happen when AI
gets behind the wheel. So you have to design security
(21:49):
in your into your product from the beginning, and for us,
we look at all the scenarios of what could happen
from a security standpoint. We have a road map around
that we developed around that. Now, these these robots or
these robot taxes are also recording all the time, so
they sort of know what's happening inside of them and
around them, So that gives us a little bit of
a of an edge. And then you look at access.
(22:10):
But this is something you just have to pay attention
to understand what's going on in that world and make
sure that you design against it. How many rights have
you taken? A lot our employees, Actually it's not fair, right,
I take a lot of rights both in our L
three testing fleet as well as in the ground up
ROBOTAXI where I was really it was around Christmas time,
(22:34):
you know, the pandemic. It's been hard and we're finally
able to offer some of our employees ride. Over two
hundred people have taken rides, and now it's going to
be part of just you know, the operation to offer
rides on a continuous basis and that's really cool. Yes,
oh no, not yet, no no no. So on the
(22:54):
L three fleet around San Francisco within our GEO fans
and for the ground a robot taxi around here as
well as UM we have a private campus we operate on.
So in so when you take a ride, what's your
report like generally afterwards? Well, okay, so two different things
(23:15):
on the test fleet because and this is a big
difference between us and our fellow travelers. I mean our
L three fleet, the Toyota Highlanders that are outfitted with
the same center, architecture, placement and compute. They are purely
engineering test vehicles. So when I it's called drive review.
When I take a ride, it is with understanding what
(23:36):
progress we're making, what issues were still having. I'm fascinated
by the scenarios we can't handle, how fast was teleopts
able to step in and so on and so forth.
So then I have a long report and the app
and this and that. When I'm in the robot taxi,
it's more like I'm excited. I'm usually giggly. Uh. And
then after five minutes on board and I'm on my device,
(23:58):
which is what you want. Yeah, and you know are
you After you take a ride, you send a note
back to your team and say, all right, you need
to work on a few things or you know, good
job of this, good job at that. Oh the ways.
But usually after drive review, there's a team that gets
a summary and dispatches. Um. And then when it comes
to the robot taxi often we talk about it at
weekly all hands, How is it navigating supply chain challenges?
(24:22):
Has the chip crisis impacted you? Yes, it has. It's
impacted everybody. Um. Look, first of all, some things are
just more expensive than they should be. Uh. Second, but
you accept that it's the same for everybody. You have
to get a lot more crisp around your needs because
lead times are longer. And uh, that's really when it
(24:42):
pays off to have had a good relationship with your
suppliers and treated them as partners so you can talk
about your problem statement and arrived to solutions. But it
hasn't like slowed us down. It's just been an extra
vector to manage. Do you see an end in sight
for the chip crisis? There will be, and we will
get back to reason and frequency, but it's going to
take a while. It's also coming at a at an
(25:03):
incredible demand time, so we'll figure it out now. Some
of your competitors have been very loud, making a lot
of noise about testing on public roads, commercial opportunities. Zoos
has been generally a little bit more quiet. Why is
that we tend to be on the quiet side? Um,
we everybody knows what we're up to. I hope. If not,
(25:25):
I'm happy to talk about that. You're talking to us
about it now, there you go. We feel that putting
points on the boards is really where it's at. One
of the advantages of not having to fundraise means that
demos are not that important to us. We don't feel
that kind of pressure. We have a roadmap to execute
two and let's just get to public roads and we
(25:45):
think we're with with a ground up built for riders,
robot taxi and that's what we're focusing on. In between,
when we have important things to say, we'll say that,
but we don't feel like engaging in you know, PR scuffles.
Uber and lifts seemed like they would be obvious partners.
(26:06):
Could we talked to them? We in this industry, there
are no secrets, and we're all friends. We all talked
to each other at some level on another, So, yes,
we all have talked to each other. Look, I don't know,
it depends maybe maybe not. Uh. I do know that
we've done a lot of hard work to get to
the promised land. One thing that is important is the
(26:26):
customer channel um and having access to that. However, you
never say never, but our goal right now is to
go all the way. Who do you imagine would be
your first customers? Well, first of all, Las Vegas. We've
been public that that's our our first lounge. A lot
of people on the road there too that Yes, it's
a yeah, but it's it's a good driving environment. It's
I call it a sort of affectionately one street dance
(26:49):
urban environment. How's that with a lot of demands? Uh?
And then we really think that in starting at least
at the beginning, big cities that have a very dense,
uh urban sort of landscape where people are going to work,
people are going to museums, people are going to restaurants.
They don't want to worry about parking. We think that
(27:10):
will be the first customer. So commercialization is on the
horizon in Las Vegas and also San Francisco that would
be next. Um, how do you stay motivated on that
road to commercialization given that there are still, as you say,
these hard problems to solve because every day literally either
something happens in terms of progress, and it's really important
(27:33):
to not just look at the ultimate success. But I
call it like kind of along the way, the little celebration.
I mean even when I do drive review, yes, I
have a long list of you know, what about this,
what about that? But the vehicle will do something new
or something awesome and you're like, oh my gosh, it
does something wonderful and I'm like, you go awesome. So
(27:53):
there are so many things that happen on a daily basis,
weekly basis that you see advancement. I I talk it's
like climbing, right, It's like you get to a certain
element or certain place, you appreciate the journey, you turn around,
you look down, you see what you've done. Then you're like,
all right, let's go for the next week. So as
you put points on the board, what does I sha
(28:16):
evans see as the future of zook. Do you see
a global mobility giant or do you see something more modest?
I see, I want and I hope to lay the
foundation for a global mobility giant. We talked about human
being need transportation everywhere. It opens up access to economic mobility,
(28:39):
It opens up access to knowledge, it opens up access
to inclusion. Uh, not to mention safety, the environment and
frankly humans, which is too valuable to spend. Also, four
hundred billion hours worldwide driving and as more people come
up the ladder, that means we need more housing, We
(29:01):
need so many different things, and we think that this
is at the center of that puzzle. So that is
the goal, all right, So we're gonna do this is
a little rapid fire section now. Um so just quick answers.
Um what a zooks stand for? The word zoos is
basically a marine um uh sort of species that is
(29:22):
solar powered and self moving in the ocean. Interesting. Best
piece of advice for your twenties, take a shell pill
It'll be okay. What about your forties. Enjoy the journey
you've made it. Um. I hear you're under restaurant at
some point? Is that true? I confuse the love of
(29:43):
cooking and running a restaurant. What's your favorite thing to cook?
Chebujan which is a Senegalese dish. Biggest guilty pleasure? Trashy books?
What bos not telling? Um? Speaking of fellow travelers, what's
your favorite travel destination? Hawaii? Me too? Which island Hawaii?
(30:06):
I'm from Hawaii? Kauai all the way? Or sure? Last
TV show you binged? I'm in the middle of it.
A bridgeton same so good. What's your view on work
life integration. I don't use the word balance, neither do
I work life choices, setting expectations on all sides. Um,
(30:27):
how do your kids fit into your life? They are everything?
They are the beginning and the end. Our driver list
future is always right around the corner or ten years away.
Give us a realistic timeline. When can we ride in
a zooks? If you're life's Vegas, much sooner than you think,
But then it will be an evolution year by year.
(30:47):
I think a better way to answer the question is
a lot of people ask me, when can I tell
my kids they can't have a they shouldn't get a
driver's license. And I think it's going to be probably
my kids kids. Really, that's a little farther off than
I would. I thought, Well, let's scale and ubiquitous. Remember
we're very conservative study Eddie or realistic, that's what I think.
(31:07):
Thank you for saying it. It's a few decades at
scale when anybody can be in one. Obviously, if you're
in Las Vegas, if you're in San Francisco or Frankly,
fellow travel, if you're in Arizona right now, that's a
different story. But that's the beginning small things to become
big things. So when I answer that question, I think
about big things, meaning the majority of people can speaking
(31:29):
of another big thing. Arguments for and against going public
against definitely focus. Um, the quarterly pressure is something I
understand and know, and this is a long term journey,
so focus is important for it seems to be everybody's
dream in this valley, Is it yours? My dream is
(31:52):
to to get this uh, this robot taxi out there
and to see it delivered the promise that I know
it well. So paint the bigger picture picture of the
future of transportation, whether it's zooks or self driving cars
or self flying taxis or hyper loops. Do you see
this Jetson's like vision in the future or is it
(32:14):
something different? Oh? I think it's coming and it's necessary
because I'm an optimist again. I want more people participating
in the economy at the sweet spots of the economy.
And when you look at that and you look at
the numbers, Uh, we just need to make transportation a
service as opposed to anything else. What does success look
(32:35):
like for zooks this year? We have a big milestone
that we need to accomplish on our way arms like
within arms reach of putting it on a public road.
And there's a lot of work to happen, and so
making that happen and doing it in a way that
the team is not the team is not exhausted, that's
(32:57):
success for me. Is zooks get going to be on
public quotes this year? I don't know. We'll have to see.
What about ten years? What a success look like for
zoos in ten years several cities and there, I say, Hey,
I'm going to zooks my way over there? What about
for you? What a success for Asia? I think, first,
my kids are productive adults, whatever that means for them.
(33:21):
Our kinds and good humans are responsible people. That's step
one and choose wisely with whom they pair up with,
and then second built a foundation here that when it
comes to scale, it will be a rapid fire and automatic.
So what do you imagine the zoo's presentation will be
in would be the same, It will be well, there
(33:46):
will be a reminiscing part about people moving that will
be the same. But I'm realistic. I mean, well we'll
probably do other things too, and so there will be
maybe a second or third line of business. Oh what
could those be? I don't know yet. All right, we
will have to catch up in twelve years. That sounds
(34:06):
like a plan. Misha Evans, thank you so much for
joining us. Great to have you my pleasure. I appreciate
you coming over. Hopefully we can we can zooks to
our next interview. And that's it for this edition of
Bloomberg Studio. At one point out thanks for joining us.
This episode is produced by Lauren Ellis, edited by Brian
(34:26):
Carter Gainer, and executive produced and hosted by Yours truly
Emily Jay. We'll see you next time.
So this is a lab. Yeah, this is uh, the
robot taxi of flex Line where they come in. First,
it's just a body, that's what I call it, the
body of the vehicle, and then lots of pieces that
have to be assembled, put together, tested. Now I'm told
you're not building a quote unquote car. No, I'm not.
Does this look like a car to you. Don't say
(00:22):
the word car. Don't say the word car. It's a vehicle. Yeah,
a transportation vehicle. Will sell you a ride in this vehicle.
Can we get in? Of course you can right there.
It is okay, so comfortable. That's what we want. We
don't want you to think about driving. This is why
(00:42):
it's not a car. Hi. Everyone, I'm Emily Chang and
welcome to the latest edition of Bloomberg Studio. At one
point now today, we're taking you to the Zoo's factory
floor in Fremont, California, where they believe they're building the
future of transportation. You're listening to CEO Aisha Evans, one
(01:03):
of the top ranking black women in Silicon Valley who
grew up in Senegal. After twelve years working her way
up to the top ranks at Intel, she took a
leap into the startup world to join Zooks with a
goal to transform ride hailing as we know it. Just
a year later, she sold the company to Amazon for
one point two billion dollars. How does Zouks fit into
(01:24):
the future of ride hailing and Amazon? Could a Zooks
deliver your Amazon packages one day? Here's Evan's view of
the road ahead on this episode of Bloomberg Studio one
point out, so great to be here with you. Thank
you for coming and thank you for having me. You
came to Zooks as CEO and over from Intel, and
(01:46):
just a year later you sold it to Amazon. How
did that happen so quickly? It was a journey. Um.
It takes a lot of capital to um takes this
endeavor all the way. It's a it's a worthy one.
And when we looked at the ecosystem, when we looked
at everything that was going around, we had to decide
whether to stay private or whether to get a long
(02:07):
term oriented partner like some of our fellow travelers. And
then the pandemic hit. That brought a lot of clarity,
shall we say, And so the opportunity presented itself and
we went for it. Wise, Amazon the right fit. First
of all, they are a great company. Uh. They have
created both octogonal and adjacent multibillion dollar businesses. They are
(02:32):
long term oriented and very purpose driven, so that matched
our ambitions. They've never owned a car company though. Yeah,
but we're not a car company exactly. We're a right
hailing company. Talk to me a little bit about how
you got to Silicon Valley. Your story is not the
story of a typical tex EO like Jeff Bezos or
(02:53):
Eddie Jassy. Tell us about your upbringing. I was born
in Senegal, West Africa. Hum. My parents, I thanked them
to this day. UH sort of made school um an
implicit expectation. It was an up for discussion. Very early on.
I showed an aptitude and interest uh in math, physics,
(03:14):
not so much in biology and in building things. Uh.
And so they cultivated that. And then I bounced back
between Paris and UH and Senegal, learned a lot about
what technology does to people's lives, uh, and what it
makes possible. I literally had a contrast every few months.
And so computers were coming online, not the Internet, but
(03:38):
what the Internet was going to make possible was also
coming online. The US was to the place to be
to study that, and so I came to the US
and I went to school and then very boringly, I
met an American boy who is my husband, and really
that's how I ended up staying. So you go to
computer Uh then basically, UM got jobs in the industry
(04:05):
and eventually ended up at Intel in Importlands. Through that
started interfacing with Silicon Valley, and then zooks came along.
So I don't really think of myself. I just happened
the journey led me here. I heard a story about
you hackake a phone in order to talk to your
friends long distance. Did that really happen? Oh? Yeah, I did. Um, Well,
(04:26):
when you're in France, you want to I I always
had a double life a little bit in terms of
family friends in different ecosystems. I still do to this day.
And so back then it was landlines. It was expensive
and my dad is in was intellcommunication, so if he
was not confused, so we had a rotary phone, I'm
(04:47):
dating myself and he locked it. But obviously I figured
out how to still make the phone calls. Who were
role models back then. I mean, it's so hard for
young people, especially young girls, to see themselves in the
tech industry. Um. Mary Curry was and still is a
role model. Um. In France, you study philosophy and a
(05:11):
lot of the philosophers are also mathematicians. Uh so they
were a role model, and they also forced you to think,
So those who are my main role models? At least
at the time. So after you, you know, meet this
American boy, you decide to stay. You worked your way
up to chief strategy officer at Intel, and it was
a difficult time for Intel. Intel was kind of losing
(05:34):
its way. What was it like working there at that time?
First of all, Um, I grew up there. I entered
as a sort of second third line manager and moved
up the ranks. I'll always be grateful for everything that
I've learned there. Um. Yes, it was a difficult time
in the sense that anytime you're successful, you earned the
(05:55):
opportunity to talk about what's the next phase of the journey,
and I was in the middle of that. But it
was also fun. I learned a lot. Um, I made
great funds and I'm rooting for today and I'm proud
of them and the journey there on. So what do
you think about Pat Gelsingers? Very ambitious, very grand, very expensive,
plan to turn Intel into a foundry to bring chip
(06:19):
manufacturing back to the United States at a heavy cost.
Is it going to pay off? I don't know. I
hope so I can't really. I mean, I don't work
there anymore, so I don't know the details of it.
What I can tell you is that semiconductors are in
everything in our lives, from small to big, from consumer
to enterprise. And it's almost like, um, I don't know
(06:40):
electricity in some ways, and so I'm rooting for them.
What was it like going from an established brand name,
storied tech company like Intel to a startup like Zooks.
I assume there are major differences in culture and execution there.
It was quite an awakening. Uh So I didn't tell
(07:01):
I was a little bit known as uh, not a rebel,
but um somebody who questioned things and who maybe did
the normal Oh my gosh, you know was too slow?
Is this or that or the other? An agitator of source?
An agitator, yes, a change agents, I think is the
elegant way of putting it. And so all right, when
I arrived at Zuits, yes, it was fast, Uh it was.
(07:23):
We were making decisions quickly, but from an infrastructure standpoint.
We I was like, WHOA, maybe there's a reason for
infrastructure and so, but I embrace the journey and said, okay,
we have to build one when you're doing what we're doing. Uh,
it's not just about the technology. You have to think
about the steps to get into market. You also have
(07:45):
to think about building the company so that it's ready
when you scale. If you wait until you need to
scale to actually build the infrastructure, bad things happen. I
also want to ask you a question about the founding store.
You know, one of the founders no longer works here.
One of the founder still works here and is the CTO,
And I'm curious how important it is in your view
to have a founder remaining at a company and what
(08:08):
your approach is to that as a CEO who came
in from the outside. Yes, Um, Jesse Levinson, Uh, he's
our CTEO and co founder. I think it's important to
have a founder. I'm not confused. I wasn't here at
the beginning, and especially the company Zooks has been extremely
consistent since inception. When we first said we're doing a
ground up vahicule, people said the kind and not so
(08:31):
Now people are coming around to that point of view
because it does make some some problems easier on the
AI side, plus the customer experience. Um, we worked together.
I probably talked to Jesse outside of my kids and husband.
I talked to Jessie more than I talked to anybody. Uh.
He's probably graduated to be one of the person who
knows me the most and the best. We partner. Uh,
(08:53):
that doesn't mean we agree on everything, but we talked
about it. We discussed. We went through something pretty difficult
between the pandemic make and deciding, um what to do
from a capital standpoint, and so I think that it's
important to have a founder, but even more importantly, there
has to be a really strong partnership and relationship. And
(09:13):
if you can find that, then it's the best of
both world because it's fully complimentary. How much has the
vision changed from you know, the initial founders to today
and you know, how do you how does that founder
d n A then survive? The vision hasn't changed a bit.
And both Jesse and I give actually uh credit to
(09:34):
Tim who was the other co founder, because this was
his vision. Ah, he's a designer. He came up with
this concept and so we we give credit. And we've
been consistent. We haven't literally deviated left or right. We've
argued about timelines, we've argued maybe about the idea, the
industrial design or things like that. The division absolutely consistent.
(09:55):
I'm gonna tell you something. Every we have these company
all hands every often, so often we actually play the
two thousand and fourteen pitch. It's identical, identical. That's amazing. Yes,
it's all about execution and getting there. What's it like
being a leading black female executive in such a white
(10:19):
male industry. It depends. I don't wake up in the
morning thinking I'm that. I wake up in the morning
thinking I'm Asha. I've got stuff to do, meetings, decisions
to make, kids to take care of, making sure denim
is ready. Obviously in the moment, sometimes I think about
it because you look around. But I try and turn
(10:40):
it into an opportunity because and that's just how I
have one on ones with myself, and how you think
about it and how you show up it's important. So
I try and tell myself that means that I'm bringing
a perspective that nobody else has, and that's additive. And
then I try and also figure out a way to
have what I call an inclusive environment where I see
people's point of view and they see mine, and I
(11:03):
try not to get angry when it manifests itself in
annoying ways. What are the obstacles that you've overcome to
get here? Um? I think that often people assume, both
from a gender and UH sort of ethnicity standpoint, that
it's not normal to be here, and therefore maybe you've
(11:24):
got a discount, when it's often the opposite. You have
to try much harder than than others. I've had to
work on sort of how I receive information when or
how I really ideal with behaviors that are not acceptable,
and sort of learn when you take the high road.
I've had to find my voice and not be afraid
(11:46):
of it and use it. So a lot of things
like that. As you say you grew up at Intel,
you grew up in this industry. Are you pleased with
the change you've seen or has it not changed fast enough?
I can't be pleased. I mean, I'm pleased that is change,
but absolutely not. We have to do a lot more
as an industry. Why isn't it changing faster? Why don't
we see more people like you in positions of power. Well,
(12:10):
I think that's a complicated answer. I think it starts
very early on. I think it starts. I've been public
about Lego robotics. That was eye opening for me. I
have a son who participates in Lego robotics, and we
had some observations and kids are what seven eight and
you already see differences. I think also from a social standpoint,
(12:32):
around middle school, when there's a transition for girls, maybe
having a support system to stay in math, demystifying it,
teaching it differently, and then as people come up the ranks,
making sure, especially for women, making sure that we have
a support system around them so they can traverse through
some of the some of the phases like for example,
(12:54):
marriage and childbirth and so on. You're building a ride
hailing service, not a car. Why is it important to
have a woman in the room, people of different races
in the room, Because we are about selling a ride
to a customer, and the customers they look like many
different people. I'll give you a story. We were discussing
(13:15):
pick up and drop off, and um, I'm the only
woman in the room. Yes, I'm always in jeans and
what have you. But occasionally I dressed up and have
high heels on. We're wearing high heels today, yep. I
made a comment when you arrived, right, and so I
was like, Okay, we have to think about it from
that standpoint, because if we're giving right to customers in
(13:37):
San Francisco, for example, on a Friday evening, on a
Saturday evening, maybe some folks have heels on, and maybe
we need to think about the pick up rages because
expecting them to go uphills in you know, high heels
probably not a good idea. That's why it matters, you know,
from a product perspective. Right, let's talk about the competition.
(13:57):
What is Zoox's edge over GM's crew those Googles way now,
and if you could level with us, what's their edge
over zooks um. First of all, I look at them
a little bit like fellow travelers. Yes, we're competitors because
we're in the same space and we're going after some
of the same things. But this is a big industry.
(14:19):
We are not a car company. We are transportation company
and humans since inception whenever, that was all about transportation
and always going somewhere to either have access to information,
access to more to a better livelihood or so on.
So it's a huge market. We do not expect one company.
It's not going to be a winner take on. So
(14:41):
we're fellow travelers in some ways. Second, it's a safety
critical product and therefore I think it's important to lay
that groundwork. Now. Having said that, I would say one
of the big differences is that we are going straight
to what we think is the ideal product to provide
rights to customers. We are not here to enhance your
(15:03):
driving experience. We don't even want you to think about driving.
So the customer experience is built in such a way
that you're here to be transported. You have an app
which you already know how to do today. You have
an app where you say I want to go from
point A to point B, especially in dense urban environments
think downtown San Francisco, and we show up and we
(15:25):
pick you up. Sliding doors, you step in a little
bit London cab inspired communal seating. You couldn't write alone
or with friends or basically with other people. You buckle up,
you push, start, do whatever you want to do, Relax,
meditate beyond your device. What about Tesla, which is right
down the street. Our Tesla and Elon must competition, fellow travelers.
(15:51):
I think we're in the same general industry. Um. First
of all, we have a lot of respect for for
Tesla and what they've made possible, both intrinsically meaning the company,
but also for the industry. This is Silicon Valley, were
you know, paid tribute to disruptors. Having said that, we're
not exactly in the same business. We don't sell a
(16:11):
car to people. We sell a right to people. Our
customers are not drivers. There are writers, and therefore we
use the same types of technologies, but they are in
the car selling business. So how does Zookes fit into
the future of Amazon? Well, that story is yet to
be written. First of all, we are we hope to
deliver on the promise of a new segment and uh
(16:35):
sort of a big business uh and be one of
those in the tradition of of Amazon. And then what
happens then? Who knows that? We know there's a world
of possibilities, but I tell everybody we first have to
earn it right before we talk about sort of synergies
and possibilities and opportunities together. Zero times anything is still
(16:55):
zero and it will be for a long time. So
We're focusing on building our business, getting market and then
there's a myriad of possibilities of things we could do together.
Zoo is going to be dropping off my boxes. Is
that what I should expect potentially, if that's the right
thing to do and if it makes sense to do so.
But first we're going to make sure to take you
everywhere you need to go without having to worry about parking,
(17:16):
having a car and so on. What's it like having
Amazon as your boss? It's been good. I get that
question a lot, by the way, It's been really good.
It's been about a year and I don't know, nine
ten months. So well, you know, Amazon is it's often
know more as an overlord, especially when it comes to investments.
(17:39):
You know that they're very involved. Is that the case? Um,
we're an independent subsidiary of of Amazon, So yes, they
are involved, but I don't know, No, they are not
an overlord or anything like that. We agree on what's
going to happen, why it's going to happen, and then
we basically we've we've run pretty independently. They're very available
(17:59):
though if we have a question or if they have
a question. There as communication going on, but we know,
we don't feel like swamp or anything like that. How
often did you talk to Jeff Bezos or do you
talk to Andy Jassy or maybe it's Dave limp Um.
I don't talk to them that often. I mean we
have a monthly business review or quality business review or
(18:21):
or just but no, this is that I know a
lot of people ask me that question to know. It's
not like I'm besties with them and we're on the
phone and wrapping and channing. Now, so well, you must
know what their expectations are of you? What what what
are their expectations of you? What is Amazon expecting of
zoos execute get to market scale? And do you have
the funding to do that? Gm? Google very well funded
(18:45):
competitors or fellow travelers. As you say, are you getting
what you need? Yes? More than what I need. I'm
funding is not something I even worry about. So what's
it like to operate in that environment where money is
not an issue? Well, I mean you have to be careful,
right because you also don't want to be a drunken
sailor and be like, oh now I have you still
have to be uh, very disciplined. You have to manage
(19:09):
the phases of the business. We don't sit here and
talk about Amazon a lot, or talk about even fellow
travelers a lot. We're like, Okay, how do we execute?
How do we make our mouthstones? How do we get
to market where things organized properly? How do we hire?
How do we retain and so on and so forth?
How do we stay mission driven? The public seems to
have lost interest in waiting around for self driving cars.
(19:32):
I wrote in Google self Driving Car in twenty eleven,
and I'm still waiting to be able to buy or
just ride a self driving car on demand. Why is
it taking so long? I think in self driving First
of all, the opportunity is so clear. Um the so
the beach is so broad. We forgot that big things
(19:55):
do start small. One second, it's a hard problem to solve.
We talk a lot about safety, uh, and we talked
talk a lot about human error when it comes to driving,
But we also forget that collectively, at least in the
United States of America, humans collectively drive a hundred million
miles before having a fatality. That's a lot of mouths.
(20:17):
So humans are also pretty good. And the thing humans
are good at, which is hand I call it exception handling.
We all know how to drive. If we're all fully autonomous,
would be deployed already. But we're driving amongst human and
you have to deal with so many little scenarios. There
are so many things that you've been learning about driving
since births and codifying that using AI sensors and computers
(20:41):
is turning out to be a lot harder. Last, but
not least, it's a safety critical system. None of us
should deploy until unless we have closed loop evidence that
we're safe. So what is the AI need to learn
how to do at this point? What are the challenges
left to solve? It needs to know how to deal
with unexpected things as they as they happen. And is
(21:03):
that possible that it can? Can? I learned that, of
course it's possible. I mean I'm one of I'm an
optimist when it comes to technology. I saught it in wireless.
So you have to think from switchboards all the way
to today. Quite a journey. Um. I'm fascinated by flying airplanes.
The right brothers, if they were trying to solve what
is being sold in aviation today, they wouldn't have tried.
(21:25):
We we just let let it marinate, let it take
its time. The algorithms will get better. Uh, compute gets
better all the time, censors get better all the time.
It will happen. What about security challenges? We've reported on
how Tesla's have been hacked. What can happen when AI
gets behind the wheel. So you have to design security
(21:49):
in your into your product from the beginning, and for us,
we look at all the scenarios of what could happen
from a security standpoint. We have a road map around
that we developed around that. Now, these these robots or
these robot taxes are also recording all the time, so
they sort of know what's happening inside of them and
around them, So that gives us a little bit of
a of an edge. And then you look at access.
(22:10):
But this is something you just have to pay attention
to understand what's going on in that world and make
sure that you design against it. How many rights have
you taken? A lot our employees, Actually it's not fair, right,
I take a lot of rights both in our L
three testing fleet as well as in the ground up
ROBOTAXI where I was really it was around Christmas time,
(22:34):
you know, the pandemic. It's been hard and we're finally
able to offer some of our employees ride. Over two
hundred people have taken rides, and now it's going to
be part of just you know, the operation to offer
rides on a continuous basis and that's really cool. Yes,
oh no, not yet, no no no. So on the
(22:54):
L three fleet around San Francisco within our GEO fans
and for the ground a robot taxi around here as
well as UM we have a private campus we operate on.
So in so when you take a ride, what's your
report like generally afterwards? Well, okay, so two different things
(23:15):
on the test fleet because and this is a big
difference between us and our fellow travelers. I mean our
L three fleet, the Toyota Highlanders that are outfitted with
the same center, architecture, placement and compute. They are purely
engineering test vehicles. So when I it's called drive review.
When I take a ride, it is with understanding what
(23:36):
progress we're making, what issues were still having. I'm fascinated
by the scenarios we can't handle, how fast was teleopts
able to step in and so on and so forth.
So then I have a long report and the app
and this and that. When I'm in the robot taxi,
it's more like I'm excited. I'm usually giggly. Uh. And
then after five minutes on board and I'm on my device,
(23:58):
which is what you want. Yeah, and you know are
you After you take a ride, you send a note
back to your team and say, all right, you need
to work on a few things or you know, good
job of this, good job at that. Oh the ways.
But usually after drive review, there's a team that gets
a summary and dispatches. Um. And then when it comes
to the robot taxi often we talk about it at
weekly all hands, How is it navigating supply chain challenges?
(24:22):
Has the chip crisis impacted you? Yes, it has. It's
impacted everybody. Um. Look, first of all, some things are
just more expensive than they should be. Uh. Second, but
you accept that it's the same for everybody. You have
to get a lot more crisp around your needs because
lead times are longer. And uh, that's really when it
(24:42):
pays off to have had a good relationship with your
suppliers and treated them as partners so you can talk
about your problem statement and arrived to solutions. But it
hasn't like slowed us down. It's just been an extra
vector to manage. Do you see an end in sight
for the chip crisis? There will be, and we will
get back to reason and frequency, but it's going to
take a while. It's also coming at a at an
(25:03):
incredible demand time, so we'll figure it out now. Some
of your competitors have been very loud, making a lot
of noise about testing on public roads, commercial opportunities. Zoos
has been generally a little bit more quiet. Why is
that we tend to be on the quiet side? Um,
we everybody knows what we're up to. I hope. If not,
(25:25):
I'm happy to talk about that. You're talking to us
about it now, there you go. We feel that putting
points on the boards is really where it's at. One
of the advantages of not having to fundraise means that
demos are not that important to us. We don't feel
that kind of pressure. We have a roadmap to execute
two and let's just get to public roads and we
(25:45):
think we're with with a ground up built for riders,
robot taxi and that's what we're focusing on. In between,
when we have important things to say, we'll say that,
but we don't feel like engaging in you know, PR scuffles.
Uber and lifts seemed like they would be obvious partners.
(26:06):
Could we talked to them? We in this industry, there
are no secrets, and we're all friends. We all talked
to each other at some level on another, So, yes,
we all have talked to each other. Look, I don't know,
it depends maybe maybe not. Uh. I do know that
we've done a lot of hard work to get to
the promised land. One thing that is important is the
(26:26):
customer channel um and having access to that. However, you
never say never, but our goal right now is to
go all the way. Who do you imagine would be
your first customers? Well, first of all, Las Vegas. We've
been public that that's our our first lounge. A lot
of people on the road there too that Yes, it's
a yeah, but it's it's a good driving environment. It's
I call it a sort of affectionately one street dance
(26:49):
urban environment. How's that with a lot of demands? Uh?
And then we really think that in starting at least
at the beginning, big cities that have a very dense,
uh urban sort of landscape where people are going to work,
people are going to museums, people are going to restaurants.
They don't want to worry about parking. We think that
(27:10):
will be the first customer. So commercialization is on the
horizon in Las Vegas and also San Francisco that would
be next. Um, how do you stay motivated on that
road to commercialization given that there are still, as you say,
these hard problems to solve because every day literally either
something happens in terms of progress, and it's really important
(27:33):
to not just look at the ultimate success. But I
call it like kind of along the way, the little celebration.
I mean even when I do drive review, yes, I
have a long list of you know, what about this,
what about that? But the vehicle will do something new
or something awesome and you're like, oh my gosh, it
does something wonderful and I'm like, you go awesome. So
(27:53):
there are so many things that happen on a daily basis,
weekly basis that you see advancement. I I talk it's
like climbing, right, It's like you get to a certain
element or certain place, you appreciate the journey, you turn around,
you look down, you see what you've done. Then you're like,
all right, let's go for the next week. So as
you put points on the board, what does I sha
(28:16):
evans see as the future of zook. Do you see
a global mobility giant or do you see something more modest?
I see, I want and I hope to lay the
foundation for a global mobility giant. We talked about human
being need transportation everywhere. It opens up access to economic mobility,
(28:39):
It opens up access to knowledge, it opens up access
to inclusion. Uh, not to mention safety, the environment and
frankly humans, which is too valuable to spend. Also, four
hundred billion hours worldwide driving and as more people come
up the ladder, that means we need more housing, We
(29:01):
need so many different things, and we think that this
is at the center of that puzzle. So that is
the goal, all right, So we're gonna do this is
a little rapid fire section now. Um so just quick answers.
Um what a zooks stand for? The word zoos is
basically a marine um uh sort of species that is
(29:22):
solar powered and self moving in the ocean. Interesting. Best
piece of advice for your twenties, take a shell pill
It'll be okay. What about your forties. Enjoy the journey
you've made it. Um. I hear you're under restaurant at
some point? Is that true? I confuse the love of
(29:43):
cooking and running a restaurant. What's your favorite thing to cook?
Chebujan which is a Senegalese dish. Biggest guilty pleasure? Trashy books?
What bos not telling? Um? Speaking of fellow travelers, what's
your favorite travel destination? Hawaii? Me too? Which island Hawaii?
(30:06):
I'm from Hawaii? Kauai all the way? Or sure? Last
TV show you binged? I'm in the middle of it.
A bridgeton same so good. What's your view on work
life integration. I don't use the word balance, neither do
I work life choices, setting expectations on all sides. Um,
(30:27):
how do your kids fit into your life? They are everything?
They are the beginning and the end. Our driver list
future is always right around the corner or ten years away.
Give us a realistic timeline. When can we ride in
a zooks? If you're life's Vegas, much sooner than you think,
But then it will be an evolution year by year.
(30:47):
I think a better way to answer the question is
a lot of people ask me, when can I tell
my kids they can't have a they shouldn't get a
driver's license. And I think it's going to be probably
my kids kids. Really, that's a little farther off than
I would. I thought, Well, let's scale and ubiquitous. Remember
we're very conservative study Eddie or realistic, that's what I think.
(31:07):
Thank you for saying it. It's a few decades at
scale when anybody can be in one. Obviously, if you're
in Las Vegas, if you're in San Francisco or Frankly,
fellow travel, if you're in Arizona right now, that's a
different story. But that's the beginning small things to become
big things. So when I answer that question, I think
about big things, meaning the majority of people can speaking
(31:29):
of another big thing. Arguments for and against going public
against definitely focus. Um, the quarterly pressure is something I
understand and know, and this is a long term journey,
so focus is important for it seems to be everybody's
dream in this valley, Is it yours? My dream is
(31:52):
to to get this uh, this robot taxi out there
and to see it delivered the promise that I know
it well. So paint the bigger picture picture of the
future of transportation, whether it's zooks or self driving cars
or self flying taxis or hyper loops. Do you see
this Jetson's like vision in the future or is it
(32:14):
something different? Oh? I think it's coming and it's necessary
because I'm an optimist again. I want more people participating
in the economy at the sweet spots of the economy.
And when you look at that and you look at
the numbers, Uh, we just need to make transportation a
service as opposed to anything else. What does success look
(32:35):
like for zooks this year? We have a big milestone
that we need to accomplish on our way arms like
within arms reach of putting it on a public road.
And there's a lot of work to happen, and so
making that happen and doing it in a way that
the team is not the team is not exhausted, that's
(32:57):
success for me. Is zooks get going to be on
public quotes this year? I don't know. We'll have to see.
What about ten years? What a success look like for
zoos in ten years several cities and there, I say, Hey,
I'm going to zooks my way over there? What about
for you? What a success for Asia? I think, first,
my kids are productive adults, whatever that means for them.
(33:21):
Our kinds and good humans are responsible people. That's step
one and choose wisely with whom they pair up with,
and then second built a foundation here that when it
comes to scale, it will be a rapid fire and automatic.
So what do you imagine the zoo's presentation will be
in would be the same, It will be well, there
(33:46):
will be a reminiscing part about people moving that will
be the same. But I'm realistic. I mean, well we'll
probably do other things too, and so there will be
maybe a second or third line of business. Oh what
could those be? I don't know yet. All right, we
will have to catch up in twelve years. That sounds
(34:06):
like a plan. Misha Evans, thank you so much for
joining us. Great to have you my pleasure. I appreciate
you coming over. Hopefully we can we can zooks to
our next interview. And that's it for this edition of
Bloomberg Studio. At one point out thanks for joining us.
This episode is produced by Lauren Ellis, edited by Brian
(34:26):
Carter Gainer, and executive produced and hosted by Yours truly
Emily Jay. We'll see you next time.
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