Zoox

Jesse Levinson developed self-driving technology at Stanford University, where he earned his PhD in computer science and did postdoctoral research under Sebastian Thrun, building algorithms for 'Junior,' Stanford's prize-winning entry in the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. The son of Apple chairman Arthur Levinson, he co-founded Zoox in 2014 with designer Tim Kentley-Klay around a maximalist bet: rather than retrofit existing cars, build a purpose-designed, bidirectional robotaxi with no steering wheel, plus the full autonomy stack and the ride-hailing service to run it. Levinson has served as CTO throughout, staying on to lead the technology after Amazon acquired Zoox for over $1.2 billion in 2020 and kept it running as a standalone subsidiary under CEO Aicha Evans. He guided Zoox's custom robotaxi from unveiling in December 2020 through public-road testing to the launch of rider service, starting with Las Vegas — the culmination of the ground-up vehicle thesis he and Kentley-Klay set out in 2014.

Tim Kentley-Klay is an Australian designer and entrepreneur who ran a Melbourne-based design and animation studio before immersing himself in autonomous vehicles. Convinced the industry was wrong to bolt sensors onto conventional cars, he co-founded Zoox in 2014 with Jesse Levinson after connecting with him at Stanford, contributing the company's name, its purpose-built carriage-style vehicle vision, and its early fundraising swagger — Zoox reached unicorn status while still deep in R&D. Kentley-Klay served as CEO until August 2018, when the board ousted him in a move he publicly criticized; Aicha Evans took over as CEO in 2019, and Amazon acquired the company in 2020. He went on to launch a new self-driving startup in late 2020.