Amazon.com Inc. is in advanced talks to acquire self-driving car startup Zoox Inc., according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

The valuation on the possible deal is said to be less than the $3.2 billion at which the company was valued as of its last round of funding in 2018, with an agreement possibly weeks away. The report added that discussions could still fall apart.

Founded in 2014, Zoox describes itself as an “autonomous mobility” firm that’s designing technology for self-driving vehicles. Where the company differs from others in the business is that it’s not simply designing autonomous vehicle technology but “a symmetrical, bidirectional, zero-emissions vehicle from the ground up.”

The exact plans for Zoox’s vehicle design have been subject to some speculation, since the company has at times been secretive in its plans. It’s believed that Zoox is not attempting to build vehicles for sale to the public but is attempting to take on Uber Technologies Inc. and Waymo LLC by delivering a sizable fleet of self-driving custom-built vehicles designed specifically for the role. On its website the company notes in its mission that it’s creating a “purpose-built vehicle” with “on-demand mobility.”

That said, Zoox tests its self-driving car technology retrofitted on existing vehicles, suggesting that although the company’s longer-term goal may be to design its own transport, it’s some way off from doing so.

Zoox hasn’t been without issues in recent years, with its Chief Executive Officer Tim Kentley-Klay ousted in a somewhat bloody coup in 2018. Kentley-Klay took to Twitter at the time to slam the decision as being “Silicon Valley up to its worst tricks,” among other claims.

For Amazon, the acquisition would be its first in a pure-play autonomous vehicle company but not its first foray into the market. The e-commerce giant was reported to have established a self-driving car team in 2017 and is also an investor in autonomous driving startup Aurora Innovation Inc. In addition, Amazon offers autonomous delivery robots, which were first rolled out to make deliveries Aug. 6 in Irvine, California.

Amazon was also reported to have been in talks to acquire Chinese self-driving truck startup TuSimple in May 2019. That acquisition did not take place and TuSimple instead raised money from United Parcel Service Inc. Aug. 15.

Zoox has raised $955 million from investors that include Alium Capital, Grok Ventures, Visionnaire Ventures, AID Partners Capital, Composite Capital Management, Blackbird Ventures and Threshold.

Photo: Zoox/Instagram