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Edison Motors: Amazon billionaire announces EV play, driven by Alexa (April Fool!)

Bezos confirms Alexa will run his vehicles, promises dramatically reduced charging costs.


UPDATE, midday: The jig is up! And, of course, many of you were wise to the gag before you'd gotten past the first line.


In a surprise announcement Monday morning, Amazon founder and the world's wealthiest man, Jeff Bezos, revealed he is launching a car company named Edison Motors.

Bezos, a rival to fellow billionaire Elon Musk in the space industry, said his aim wasn't to compete with Musk's Tesla Motors. Rather, he said, "I was just tinkering with one of my rockets when I had this lightbulb moment".

During the morning's press conference, Bezos said Edison Motors will make use of patents previously put into the public domain by Tesla Motors, and will create "electrified vehicles that are actually practical".

One incentive for new customers is that the vehicles can double as Amazon Prime delivery vehicles. Drivers will be able to opt-in to take detours on their journey to deliver Amazon packages for a reduction in electrical charging costs.

Bezos also stated the vehicles would not be equipped with traditional steering wheels, rather drivers will instruct Alexa on where to go with directions.

Curiously, Alexa will only take these directions as suggestions, and instead may take you on to other "recommended destinations".

Some recommendations will reportedly be aimed at "increasing journey efficiency". One demonstration showed a driver asking Alexa to find the nearest public toilet en-route. Instead, Alexa provided a water bottle to use, suggesting it will "save time".

When asked what the first vehicle will look like, Bezos answered "we are currently working our way through 10,000 designs, and we expect to have something by the end of that process."

He did however confirm that the initial vehicle line up will be: Model F, Model Ox2 and the Model L.

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