There was not much to see when I arrived at the entrance to the small business park in the sleepy Silicon Valley town of San Carlos. Signage for three of its units were blank but, upon closer inspection, I could just make out the word Zoox on a door. I had tracked the company to this location using visa and property records, and was hoping to get a glimpse of what it was up to.
The name Zoox probably does not mean much to its neighbors, or even to electric vehicle fans seeking the birthplace of Tesla Motors, which started in this very building in 2004. But behind these glass walls and shuttered garages is one of the most buttoned-up and most valuable autonomous vehicle startups in the world.