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☆ Waymo self-driving cars are delivering Uber Eats orders for first time
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-03 | by ( Alex Koller | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Two Waymo autonomous vehicles drive themselves down Central Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., March 18, 2024. For Uber Eats, Phoenix is the seventh site with autonomous deliveries, but the first location where the delivery app will use Waymo's vehicles. Uber Eats has already teamed up with robotics companies Cartken, Motional, Nuro and Serve Robotics to pilot autonomous deliveries in other markets . Uber Eats customers may start receiving orders delivered by a Waymo self-driving car for the first time in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Uber Eats users in areas serviced by Waymo can opt to have their items delivered by a courier.

Persons: Uber Organizations: Robotics, Waymo, CNBC, PACE Locations: Phoenix , Arizona, U.S, Phoenix, Arizona, Chandler, Mesa, Tempe, Los Angeles, San Francisco

☆ Uber Eats to begin self-driving robot deliveries in Japan
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Alex Koller | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Uber announced Tuesday that its Uber Eats business is partnering with Mitsubishi Electric and delivery robotics company Cartken to begin transporting food using self-driving robots in Japan. The sidewalk robot deliveries are set to start by the end of March in a select area of Tokyo, according to the companies. Uber Eats said Japan will be the first international site of its autonomous delivery operations, which have so far been limited to a few cities in the United States. The news out of Japan marks the latest joint effort by Uber Eats and Cartken, which already offer sidewalk robot deliveries in Miami and in Fairfax, Virginia. Uber Eats has also partnered with robotics companies Motional, Nuro and Serve Robotics to pilot autonomous deliveries in other U.S. cities.

Persons: Uber, Uber Eats, Cartken, Anjali Jindal Naik, Cartken's Organizations: Mitsubishi Electric, Google, Robotics Locations: Japan, Tokyo, United States, Oakland , California, Miami, Fairfax , Virginia, U.S

☆ Tesla's not even in the top 10 of self-driving firms, according to experts who ranked all of the leading companies working on automation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Research firm Guidehouse Insights regularly ranks companies developing automated driving tech. Tesla didn't make this year's top 10, and ranked last of 16 companies assessed. Moreover, of the 16 companies recently ranked by research and consulting firm Guidehouse Insights (which ranks some of the biggest names working on automated-driving technology each year), Tesla came in last. Tesla ranked last in similar lists in 2021 and 2020. To come up with the list, Guidehouse weighs factors such as a company's vision, go-to-market and production strategies, partners, tech, commercial readiness, and more.

☆ Cruise robotaxis now run all day in San Francisco, with public access after 10 p.m.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Kyle Vogt, CEO and founder of GM -owned autonomous vehicle company Cruise, announced Tuesday that the company's robotaxis are now running around the clock in San Francisco. The Cruise service is open to paying members of the public from 10 p.m. to 5:30am in the Northwest part of San Francisco, Cruise confirmed. People who are eligible to ride in the Cruise robotaxis during the day, and in other parts of the city, are not charged a fee. Across San Francisco, Phoenix and Austin, where Cruise is currently operating or testing its vehicles, there are around 240 driverless cars that run concurrently at night, with a majority in San Francisco. The company did not disclose how many robotaxis are in use in a typical day or night in San Francisco.

☆ Exclusive: The University of California has invested billions in venture capital firms since 2000 and it has lost hundreds of millions so far. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Ben Bergman | Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Insider obtained UC Investments' returns through a Public Records Act request. Unlike many other financial institutions, VC funds are not required to show their return on investment in startups. UC Investments, which has been managed by Jagdeep Singh Bachher since 2014, declined to comment. Though selling early produced an initial windfall, UC Investments could have ultimately missed out on substantial gains from these VC funds. By comparison, UC Investments earned a 8.3% return for its investment in public markets.

☆ Cruise robotaxis blocked a road in San Francisco after a storm downed trees and wires
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

General Motors ' self-driving vehicle unit Cruise acknowledged that some of its cars stalled out on city streets in San Francisco following rainstorms that downed trees there on Tuesday night. After that, another tree on Polk and Clay streets fell into the street. In response, he said, the San Francisco Fire Department had blocked off Clay between Polk and Jones streets with caution tape. He said the driverless Cruise vehicles did not appear to detect and avoid the caution tape and bus wires properly, and instead became "tangled in them." Cruise has permits to test and deploy autonomous vehicles in San Francisco all hours of day and night, excluding heavy rain."

☆ Former Domino's CEO bought nearly $4,000 worth of pizza in a year
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Grace Mayer | Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Former Domino's CEO Ritch Allison bought $3,919 worth of pizza in 2021, the Financial Times found. The former CEO was compensated for a nearly $4,000 personal pizza expense, the Financial Times reported, citing Domino's proxy filing from last year. As FT points out, the previous proxy shows Allison's nearly $4,000 in pizza in 2021 was relatively tame. During his tenure as CEO, Allison pushed innovation and a culture of risk-taking at the tech-forward company. Curious what $3, 919 gets you in Domino's pizza pies?

☆ Experts ranked the leading self-driving companies. Tesla didn't even crack the top 10.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Research firm Guidehouse Insights regularly ranks companies developing automated driving tech. Tesla didn't make this year's top 10, and ranked last of 16 companies assessed. That's despite CEO Elon Musk's confidence in his Full Self-Driving tech. Moreover, of the 16 companies recently ranked by research and consulting firm Guidehouse Insights (which ranks some of the biggest names working on automated-driving technology each year), Tesla came in last. Tesla ranked last in similar lists in 2021 and 2020.

☆ Uber, Motional launch robotaxi service in Las Vegas
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 7 (Reuters) - U.S. ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) and driverless tech-maker Motional have launched their public robotaxi service in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Tough regulatory scrutiny and delayed commercial adoption of autonomous vehicle technology have delayed deployment of robotaxi services, leaving investors worried. The launch is part of a non-exclusive 10-year agreement between both the companies for driverless vehicles, with a rollout in Los Angeles expected to follow. In the multi-market deal, Motional's autonomous vehicles would also ferry both passengers and delivery items for Uber and its Uber Eats division. Last month, rival Lyft (LYFT.O) said it would launch the robotaxi service in Los Angeles after it had rolled out in Las Vegas earlier this year.

☆ Another tech bubble bursts: 2022 has been brutal for Silicon Valley workers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( David Ingram | David Ingram Covers Tech For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +28 min

Gem: 100A maker of recruiting software, the startup cut a third of its workforce Nov. 1, The Information reported. HealthCare.com: 149The health insurance marketplace announced the job cuts Aug. 3, Miami Inno reported, citing state regulatory filings. Fabric: 120The robotics startup said July 13 that it was layoffing off 40% of them, TechCrunch reported, citing company confirmation. It affected about 300 people, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported, citing company confirmation. Policygenius: 170The online insurance company cut about 25% of its staff, Axios reported June 6, citing company confirmation.

☆ Your next Domino's delivery may arrive in a GM Chevy Bolt as pizza chain pushes EVs nationally
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Ian Thomas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Domino's will roll out 800 custom-branded 2023 Chevy Bolt electric vehicles at locations across the U.S. in the coming months. "Domino's was founded in 1960 as a delivery company, and we go to bed every night and wake up every morning saying 'how can we get better?'" "This is a way we can get better; better service for our customers and better for the environment." The adoption of this fleet of EVs is not the first time Domino's has looked to optimize how pizza is delivered. Other start-ups, such as Refraction AI, have been testing autonomous vehicles suited for pizza delivery.

☆ U.S. autonomous delivery vehicle startup Nuro cuts staff by 20%
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 18 (Reuters) - Autonomous delivery vehicle maker Nuro is laying off about 20% of its workforce after admitting that rapid hiring in the past year was a mistake, the company's co-founders wrote in an email to employees on Friday. "Laying off team members is always the last resort, but unfortunately it was needed after other options were exhausted," the email said. Nuro's founders, Dave Ferguson and Jiajun Zhu, both worked on Google's self-driving car project, later spun out as Waymo, before launching Nuro. The layoffs will affect about 300 employees; impacted workers will be offered three months severance pay and other benefits, according to the email. Reporting by Ann Maria Shibu in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

In August, we spent a day driving around with Mr. Cook and his Tesla to assess the progress of this experimental technology. Tesla is driving But watch as the Tesla struggles to make sense of its environment, veering from the road into a motel parking lot. The experiences of beta testers like Mr. Cook are a window into the enormously ambitious and expensive bet that Tesla is making on self-driving technology. Guided by Tesla’s self-driving technology, the car drove along the river and over a bridge before reaching an intersection lined with trees. These companies are now preparing self-driving car services that will operate without backup drivers in places like San Francisco and Austin, Texas.

☆ Self-driving cars were supposed to take over the road. What happened?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Matt Mcfarland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Caitlin O'Hara/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesGeneral Motors bought a self-driving company in 2016. Big talk, smaller resultsUrmson, while leading Google’s self-driving car project before founding Aurora, talked of his preteen son never needing to get a driver’s license. A self-driving car, without a steering wheel or pedals, would have to be able to drive itself in literally every situation possible. “It’s really, really hard,” Waymo’s then-CEO John Krafcik said in 2018 of self-driving technology. Companies developing lidar, widely seen as a key component for self-driving vehicles, as well as self-driving companies, have seen their stocks plummet recently.

☆ The newest investor at Toyota's mobility VC arm shares her plans to use an $800 million fund to power startups making cities more sustainable
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

She's looking for startups and founders racing to build sustainable cities. What LeBlanc is looking forCompanies working on multimodal transportation, software, and more fit into LeBlanc's idea of a sustainable city. How do we need mobility to be sorted in order to build sustainable cities? "There's lots of solutions out there that can really make our cities more sustainable. "Being able to crack that nut is really what's inhibiting us from having global sustainable cities."

☆ A merger with Albertsons could bring Kroger's tech initiatives, like automated warehouses and smart carts, to over 5,000 locations
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Alex Bitter | Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Kroger is building its own tech infrastructure, including automated warehouses for delivery orders. Here are Kroger's biggest e-commerce and technology initiatives:A ClusterTruck ghost kitchen inside a Kroger in the Midwest. The delivery-focused ghost kitchen touts a Cheesecake Factory-inspired menu of 80 to 100 food items. Over the last few years, ClusterTruck opened locations inside Kroger stores in Indiana and Ohio. Another partnership, this one with the autonomous-car startup Nuro, has stationed self-driving vehicles to deliver grocery orders in certain cities since 2018.

☆ A wave of restaurant operators and high-profile chains like Chipotle and Burger King are investing millions in innovation amid a slowdown in food-tech funding. Here are 10 investing in ghost kitchens,
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

"My dad says I'm taking the joy out of a restaurant," Frischling said. "If this industry doesn't keep up, we're not going to have so many restaurants," Frischling told Insider. Frischling is part of a wave of restaurant operators and high-profile chains investing millions in the industry's future. Over the years, Chipotle, Inspire Brands, and Restaurant Brands International — the owner of Burger King and Popeyes — have invested in autonomous-delivery vehicles, ghost kitchens, and digital-ordering software. IGC HospitalityThe New York restaurant company, also known as In Good Company Hospitality Group, invested in the restaurant-tech firm MarginEdge in 2021, according to PitchBook.

☆ Kroger is doubling down on its subscription delivery business as it weans itself off of Instacart. Here's a rundown of its other initiatives, from ghost kitchens to smart carts
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Alex Bitter | Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Here are Kroger's biggest e-commerce and technology initiatives:A ClusterTruck ghost kitchen inside a Kroger in the Midwest. ClusterTruckGhost kitchensIn December 2019, Kroger began improving its prepared meals offering by partnering with ghost kitchen startup ClusterTruck. The delivery-focused ghost kitchen touts a Cheesecake Factory-inspired menu of 80 to 100 food items. Over the last few years, ClusterTruck opened locations inside Kroger stores in Indiana and Ohio. But the firm, which tracks where consumers shop, said Kroger stores with the ghost kitchens are seeing an uptick in visits compared to neighboring Kroger branches.

☆ California va avea primul serviciu de livrare fără șofer
▼ + stars: | 2020-12-25 | by ( Publika.Md - Aici Sunt Știrile | ) www.publika.md time to read: +1 min

California a aprobat pentru prima dată un serviciu comercial de livrare fără șofer, startup-ul Nuro urmând să înceapă operațiunile comerciale de anul viitor. Vehiculele R2 au fost testate în luna aprilie a acestui an, însă de acum, ele pot taxa clienții pentru serviciile sale, anunță BBC. Nuro a fost fondată de doi foști ingineri Google, iar startup-ul a ajuns să valoreze peste 5 miliarde de euro. În luna octombrie, în Phoenix, Arizona, au început să opereze taxiuri care nu au șofer, ca parte a serviciului Waymo, ce aparține de Google. Un alt serviciu similar este în prezent în teste în orașul Shanghai din China și este susținut de gigantul online de tehnologie și comerț cu amănuntul, Alibaba.

Persons: Nuro Organizations: BBC, Google Locations: California, SUA, Phoenix, Arizona, Shanghai, China

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