Self-driving car company Zoox raises $500 million

Zoox's plans: The company, which now has 500 employees, plans to have a commercially available car by 2020.

• Zoox won't be selling its cars to others — instead, it plans to deploy and operate its own ride-hailing service with its cars, the company tells Axios.
• At first, it will operate its service in a limited geofenced area that will increase over time. The company declined to say where it will roll out but it is looking at several cities, including San Francisco.
• Currently, its test cars can drive fully on their own from Stanford University to the company's office in San Francisco, says Zoox — a distance of about 40 miles.

The money question: Building an entire car takes several billions of dollars, and Zoox has only raised $800 million in total so far. Tim Kentley-Klay tells Axios this latest round will last the company until the end of next year, but declined to comment on its fundraising plans.