You might not think of self-driving technologies and politics having much in common, but at least in one way, they overlap meaningfully: yesterday’s enemy can be tomorrow’s ally. Such was the message we gleaned Thursday night, at a small industry event in San Francisco, where we had the chance to sit down with Chris Urmson, the cofounder… Continue reading Aurora cofounder and CEO Chris Urmson on the company’s new investor, Amazon, and much more
Author: Tech Crunch Online News
Waymo CTO on the company’s past, present and what comes next
A decade ago, about a dozen or so engineers gathered at Google’s main Mountain View campus on Charleston Road to work on Project Chauffeur, a secret endeavor housed under the tech giant’s moonshot factory X. Project Chauffeur — popularly know as the “Google self-driving car project” — kicked off in January 2009. It would eventually… Continue reading Waymo CTO on the company’s past, present and what comes next
Uber’s JUMP bikes are seeing high utilization rates
In the past year, more than 63,000 people took 625,000 rides on JUMP bikes in San Francisco, JUMP announced today. Each JUMP bike in San Francisco saw an average of seven rides per bike per day compared to the docked-bike industry average of one to two per day. JUMP initially launched 250 bikes at the… Continue reading Uber’s JUMP bikes are seeing high utilization rates
Meet the tiny startup that helped build Amazon’s Scout robot
When Amazon unveiled a six-wheeled urban delivery robot called Scout a couple of weeks ago, its website was pretty definitive about who was behind it. “These devices were created by Amazon,” the page reads. “We developed Amazon Scout at our research and development lab in Seattle.” But that is only part of the story, TechCrunch… Continue reading Meet the tiny startup that helped build Amazon’s Scout robot
Lime raises $310 million Series D round led by Bain Capital Ventures and others
Lime just announced it has raised a $310 million Series D round. Led by Bain Capital Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity Ventures, GV and IVP, the round values Lime at $2.4 billion. “This new investment demonstrates the fundamental strength of our business and the increasingly rapid adoption of Lime,” Lime CEO Toby Sun wrote in a… Continue reading Lime raises $310 million Series D round led by Bain Capital Ventures and others
UK moves towards driverless car tests without safety drivers
The UK government has announced it’s working on a process to support so-called ‘advanced trials’ of autonomous vehicles — i.e. trials without human safety drivers. It also says it will be beefing up the existing Code of Practice for testing driverless cars to provide a framework to support the evolution of the tech, saying it’s on… Continue reading UK moves towards driverless car tests without safety drivers
Uber Freight co-founders and top dealmakers join logistics startup Turvo
Last year, Charlie Bergevin and Brian Cristol, co-founders of Uber’s trucking logistics business Uber Freight, heard Reid Hoffman say Turvo had some of the best technology he had ever seen. Frustrated with the direction Uber Freight had taken, they called up Turvo’s founder and chief executive officer Eric Gilmore. It wasn’t long before offers were on… Continue reading Uber Freight co-founders and top dealmakers join logistics startup Turvo
SF also denies JUMP’s electric scooter appeal
A neutral hearing officer in the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has denied Uber-owned JUMP’s appeal regarding the SFMTA’s decision to not provide JUMP a permit to operate shared electric scooters in the city. “We are pleased the hearing officer validated our permitting process, which above all, prioritized the public interest,” SFMTA Communications Manager Ben… Continue reading SF also denies JUMP’s electric scooter appeal
Self-driving truck startup Ike raises $52 million
Ike, the autonomous trucking startup founded by veterans of Apple, Google, and Uber Advanced Technologies Group’s self-driving truck program, has raised $52 million in a Series A funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures. Redpoint Ventures, Fontinalis Partners, Basis Set Ventures, and Neo also participated in the round. Bain Capital Ventures partner Ajay Agarwal has joined… Continue reading Self-driving truck startup Ike raises $52 million
Toyota’s new car subscription company Kinto is gamifying driving behavior
Toyota has officially launched Kinto, a company first revealed late last year that will manage a car subscription program and other mobility services in Japan, including the sale and purchase of used vehicles as well as automotive repair and inspection. Kinto is jointly funded by Toyota Financial Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyota, and Sumitomo Mitsui… Continue reading Toyota’s new car subscription company Kinto is gamifying driving behavior