Waymo ordered "up to" 82,000 vehicles in 2018. Today, it has "well over 600." John Krafcik, the former auto industry exec who took over Google's self-driving car project in 2015, is stepping down as CEO of Waymo. Waymo, which spun off as a separate Alphabet subsidiary in 2016, accomplished a lot during Krafcik's 5.5-year tenure. … Continue reading Waymo CEO John Krafcik steps down
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Cruise lays off 8% of workforce amid COVID-19, puts resources toward engineering
Cruise, the self-driving car subsidiary of GM that also has backing from SoftBank Vision Fund, automaker Honda and T. Rowe Price & Associates, is laying off nearly 8% of its more than 1,800-member workforce today as it tries to reduce costs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The layoffs will affect employees in Cruise’s product, marketing and … Continue reading Cruise lays off 8% of workforce amid COVID-19, puts resources toward engineering
After Baidu tie-up, BMW taps Tencent for autonomous driving in China
China is BMW’s largest market, and the German automaker knows in order to capture the country’s demanding consumers, its future models must support robust autonomous driving capability. But to build it itself in China is hardly possible. The success of autonomous driving relies in part on high-definition mapping, a process that requires an expansive collection … Continue reading After Baidu tie-up, BMW taps Tencent for autonomous driving in China
“Anyone relying on LIDAR is doomed,” Elon Musk says
Today at Tesla’s first Autonomy Day event, Elon Musk took questions from the press but didn’t have time for questions about Lidar. Historically, he’s been vocal about the technology, and this time he put it as clear as he could. “LIDAR is a fool’s errand,” Elon Musk said. “Anyone relying on LIDAR is doomed. Doomed! … Continue reading “Anyone relying on LIDAR is doomed,” Elon Musk says
Tesla vaunts creation of ‘the best chip in the world’ for self-driving
At its “Autonomy Day” today, Tesla detailed the new custom chip that will be running the self-driving software in its vehicles. Elon Musk rather peremptorily called it “the best chip in the world…objectively.” That might be a stretch, but it certainly should get the job done. Called for now the “full self-driving computer,” or FSD … Continue reading Tesla vaunts creation of ‘the best chip in the world’ for self-driving
Uber’s self-driving car unit was burning $20 million a month
Uber thought it would have 75,000 autonomous vehicles on the roads this year and be operating driverless taxi services in 13 cities by 2022, according to court documents unsealed last week. To reach those ambitious goals, the ridesharing company, which hopes to go public later this year, was spending $20 million a month on developing … Continue reading Uber’s self-driving car unit was burning $20 million a month
Google’s Waymo seeks outside investment and a sky-high valuation
Alphabet’s self-driving vehicle subsidiary Waymo may raise outside capital for the first time at a valuation “at least several times” that of Cruise, the General Motors-owned autonomous vehicle business worth nearly $15 billion, according to a report published by The Information on Monday. We’ve reached out to our sources to confirm. Waymo didn’t immediately respond … Continue reading Google’s Waymo seeks outside investment and a sky-high valuation
A day in the life of a Waymo self-driving taxi
In a nondescript depot in suburban Arizona, the future of transportation is getting a tune-up. This is where Waymo, the self-driving unit of Google parent Alphabet, houses its growing fleet of self-driving cars: hundreds of Chrysler Pacifica minivans fitted with highly advanced hardware and software that enables them to safely ride on public roads without … Continue reading A day in the life of a Waymo self-driving taxi
Anthony Levandowski is back with a new self-driving startup, called Kache.ai
Anthony Levandowski, the former Google engineer and serial entrepreneur who was at the center of a trade secrets lawsuit between Uber and Waymo, is back. And he is connected to an autonomous trucking company that is still in stealth mode, TechCrunch has learned. The company, called Kache.ai (pronounced like cache), has kept a low profile … Continue reading Anthony Levandowski is back with a new self-driving startup, called Kache.ai
Luminar puts its lidar tech into production through acquisitions and smart engineering
When Luminar came out of stealth last year with its built-from-scratch lidar system, it seemed to beat established players like Velodyne at their own game — but at great expense and with no capability to build at scale. After the tech proved itself on the road, however, Luminar got to work making its device better, … Continue reading Luminar puts its lidar tech into production through acquisitions and smart engineering
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