Well folks, it finally happened. The screen in your pickup truck… your last bastion of peace from the chaos of unskippable advertisements… now plays popup ads. Not even subtle ones. We’re talking full-dash, head-unit-commandeering infomercial panels in your RAM 1500, like you’re driving a Times Square billboard on wheels. It all kicked off with a […]
It was, until I found out that Slate was created by an ex-Amazon manager and their prime investor is Jeff Bezos.
Slate was founded in 2022, and operated in stealth mode until it revealed the Slate Truck on April 24, 2025.[4] It was originally called “Re:Car”, as a project within Re:Build Manufacturing, a domestic manufacturing incubator co-founded by Jeff Wilke, the former CEO of Amazon’s consumer division.
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Slate raised at least $111 million in Series A financing, including an undisclosed amount from Bezos. Several other wealthy individuals also invested, including Walter, the controlling owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and CEO of Guggenheim Partners, and Tull, who is a lead investor of Re:Build Manufacturing.
I was concerned about that too, so I did some digging. I don’t think it’s anything beyond angel investment currently. No stocks (slate is private), and no obvious strings.
My guess is, it’s to ensure slate sticks around long enough to be a target for future plans. Maybe an amazon slate fleet?
Could also be the billionaire class equivalent of trying to start a pissing match with the existing auto makers.
Pissing match. Elon and Beez are famously pricks to each other. Beez often is an angel investor into any credible threat to Tesla or SpaceX, presumably, because pissing match.
It was, until I found out that Slate was created by an ex-Amazon manager and their prime investor is Jeff Bezos.
[…]
Per their Wikipedia page.
I was concerned about that too, so I did some digging. I don’t think it’s anything beyond angel investment currently. No stocks (slate is private), and no obvious strings.
My guess is, it’s to ensure slate sticks around long enough to be a target for future plans. Maybe an amazon slate fleet?
Could also be the billionaire class equivalent of trying to start a pissing match with the existing auto makers.
Pissing match. Elon and Beez are famously pricks to each other. Beez often is an angel investor into any credible threat to Tesla or SpaceX, presumably, because pissing match.