Elon Musk calls Jeff Bezos a copy cat after Amazon acquires self-driving-car startup Zoox (TSLA, AMZN)

The tweet read ".@JeffBezos is a copy haha" with a yellow cat icon instead of the word cat.
Amazon's acquisition is a step forward into the autonomous-driving, an arena that Musk's Tesla has been seeking to dominate.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk made a jab at Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Twitter Friday just a day after The Financial Times reported the Seattle tech giant's reported $1.2 billion acquisition of self-driving taxi firm Zoox.

In the tweet, Musk called Bezos a copy cat, but useda yellow cat icon instead of the word "cat."

The comment comes as Amazon's acquisition puts the company at a more leveled playing field with Tesla in the self-driving arena.

As Business Insider's Mark Matousek reported in late May, Amazon's interest in Zoox was piqued to help round out its package-delivery process.

Zoox's vehicles are designed for ride-hailing, unlike Tesla's, which are designed to go directly to consumers.

Tesla and Zoox have traded jabs before. Musk claimed in 2019 that by mid-2020, his company's self-driving cars would be fully operational without human interaction, meaning drivers wouldn't have to look at the road while driving. At Business Insider's 2019 IGNITION conference, Zoox co-founder and CTO Jesse Levinson said there's no chance of that happening .

"They don't have enough sensors or computers to do that given any remotely known technology that exists that humans have ever created," Levinson said at the conference. "And by the way they're great cars, the [Tesla autopilot system ] on the freeway is I think the best out there ... I think if [Musk] focused on that aspect it would be better received."

Tesla's autopilot feature, even in its "Full Self-Driving" options, are not yet fully autonomous and still require human interaction.

Zoox was recently valued at $3.2 billion. Like many in the autonomous-driving world, Zoox has taken a hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and laid off 120 employees in April. The company has reportedly struggled to raise capital recently, and this deal could help it stay afloat .

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