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Google’s parent company, Alphabet (GOOGL), was a big winner on Wall Street this week, delivering first-quarter earnings that largely surpassed expectations — and highlighted momentum across its search, cloud, and AI businesses. The report sent investors a strong signal that the company is weathering macroeconomic…
Tesla’s (TSLA) first-quarter earnings report was less about profits and more about pivots. The automaker and its CEO, Elon Musk, didn’t want to talk as much about the numbers — maybe for good reason — as much as they wanted to talk about the future.
Waymo’s autonomous cars are about to appear on streets outside of the U.S. for the first time.
The company on Wednesday announced on social media that its autonomous cars will be driving onto the streets of Tokyo, Japan, “soon,” with some reports suggesting the rollout will begin as early as next week.
Waymo is already testing paid robotaxi services in a bunch of U.S. cities, including San Francisco, Phoenix, Austin, and Los Angeles. If everything goes smoothly in Japan, there’s a chance its robotaxi service could launch there, too, though such a service is likely to be a ways off.
Alphabet-owned Waymo said that at first, its Tokyo cars will be driven manually by humans while the vehicles map key areas of the Japanese capital, including Minato, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Chiyoda, Chūō, Shinagawa, and Kōtō. The experience will also enable Waymo’s autonomous software to learn and adapt to left-hand traffic, as well as a range of new driving nuances present in one of the world’s most densely populated urban environments.
When the American company first announced its Japan plan last December, it said it’ll be outsourcing servicing and management of its autonomous cars to local firm Nihon Kotsu, Tokyo’s largest taxi operator, while also partnering with GO, Japan’s popular taxi-hailing app.
“Our upcoming road trip to Tokyo gives us the chance to work alongside local partners, government officials, and community groups to understand the new landscape,” Waymo said when it announced its international expansion. “We’ll learn how Waymo can serve Tokyo’s residents and become a beneficial part of the city’s transportation ecosystem. And every step of the way, we’ll take a rigorous approach to validating our technology’s safety and performance.”
It added that it’s also working with local policymakers, regulators, and safety officials “to ensure a responsible and seamless implementation of Waymo’s technology to Tokyo’s streets.”
Japan is currently experiencing a shortage of taxi drivers, so Waymo could be eyeing the market and playing the long game, hoping that in the years ahead it may be able to gain permission to launch a fully fledged robotaxi service in a potentially lucrative sector. But there is much work to be done before then.
In an iconic scene from the 2002 sci-fi film Minority Report, on-the-run Agent John Anderton, played by Tom Cruise, struggles to walk through a mall as he’s targeted by a multitude of personalized ads from the likes of Lexus, Guinness and American Express, everytime hidden detectors identify his eyes.
It was clearly meant as a warning about a not-so-desirable dystopian future.
Yet, 23 years later that future is at least partlially here in the online world and threatens to spread to other areas of daily life which are increasingly ‘connected’, such as the inside of cars. And the new testing grounds, according to online security researcher Jane Manchun Wong, might very well be automated-driving vehicles, such as Waymo’s robotaxis.
On X, Wong unveiled an unreleased version of Waymo’s privacy policy that suggests the California-based company is preparing to use data from its robotaxis, including interior cameras, to train generative AI models and to offer targetted ads.
“Waymo may share data to improve and analyze its functionality and to tailor products, services, ads, and offers to your interests,” the Waymo’s unreleased privacy statement reads. “You can opt out of sharing your information with third parties, unless it’s necessary to the functioning of the service.”
Asked for comments about the unreleased app update, Waymo told The Verge that it contained “placeholder text that doesn’t accurately reflect the feature’s purpose”.
Waymo’s AI-models “are not designed to use this data to identify individual people, and there are no plans to use this data for targeted ads,” spokesperson Julia Ilina said.
Waymo’s robotaxis, which are operating on the streets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin, do contain onboard cameras that monitor riders. But Ilina says these are mainly used to train AI models for safety, finding lost items, check that in-car rules are followed, and to improve the service.
The new feature is still under development and offers riders an opportunity to opt out of data collection, Ilina says.
But as we all get used to ads targeting based on everything that’s somehow connected to the web, it seems a once-distant vision of the future may be just around the corner.
Target has announced it will reduce bonuses for salaried employees due to weak consumer spending and inflationary pressures.
The first ever fatal crash involving a fully driverless vehicle occurred in San Francisco on January 19. The driverless vehicle belonged to Waymo, but the crash was not Waymo’s fault.
Here’s what happened: A Waymo with no driver or passengers stopped for a red light. Another car stopped behind the Waymo. Then, according to Waymo, a human-driven SUV rear-ended the other vehicles at high speed, causing a six-car pileup that killed one person and injured five others. Someone’s dog also died in the crash.
Another major Waymo crash occurred in October in San Francisco. Once again, a driverless Waymo was stopped for a red light. According to Waymo, a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction crossed the double yellow line and crashed into an SUV that was stopped to the Waymo’s left. The force of the impact shoved the SUV into the Waymo. One person was seriously injured.
Waymo (GOOGL), the self-driving startup backed by Alphabet, is sending its robotaxis to Washington, D.C.
