Amazon’s global consumer head Jeff Wilke unveiled his latest delivery drone at the re:MARS conference in Las Vegas on June 5, 2019.
Amazon
Amazon It does not plan to host its re:MARS conference on cutting-edge technologies like robotics and space this year, the company confirmed Friday. You’ll incorporate the themes into your existing Amazon Web Services event lineup.
The tech giant launched re:MARS, which stands for “Machine Learning, Automation, Robotics, and Space,” in 2019 as a way for startups, academics, researchers, and executives to discuss the latest developments in these technologies. It morphed from a private, invite-only version of the event called Mars, which attracted the tech elite and was hosted by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.
The decision to cancel re:MARS was not made for budgetary reasons, Amazon said.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has been taking a hard look at costs across the company as it grapples with slowing sales growth and a bleak economic outlook. The company has suffered the biggest layoffs in its history and Jassy has cut a number of initiatives, including the telehealth program Amazon Care, tour “treasure cart“Glow video conferencing device for kids and Explore the virtual tour service.
Amazon used re:MARS to highlight some of its forward-thinking innovations, like delivery drones, warehouse robots, and its first home robot. Bezos also held talks on space colonization, and tested a pair of giant remote-controlled robotic hands. At last year’s conference, Amazon proven a feature in which his digital assistant Alexa posed as a deceased relative.
An Amazon Web Services spokesperson told CNBC in a statement: “AWS hosts hundreds of thousands of customers and partners each year at hundreds of events around the world. These events provide an invaluable opportunity to connect with our customers. Your time is valuable, and we take seriously the responsibility of making every event valuable to every attendee, whether through developing new skills, identifying new solutions that will transform an organization, or creating new connections that can boost a career. with customers and the community as always, and by 2023, decided to incorporate the themes of re:MARS (machine learning, automation, robotics, and space) into a well-funded slate of existing AWS events.”
