Waymo Forges Robot Truck Alliance With Daimler
Waymo is seeking to expand its alliances, announcing a new partnership with Daimler Inc.’s truck division to begin working on self-driving trucks. The Google autonomous vehicle branch has been working with Freightliner big rigs for over a decade, according to the announcement. The alliance will mainly focus on installing Waymo’s
Waymo Restarts Robotaxi Service Without Human Safety Drivers
Waymo, Google’s robotaxi service, is resuming operations without drivers for the first time since its launch. Autonomous rides will be provided within a 50 square mile area near Chandler, Arizona, where the company primarily operates. The robot minivans will now be dispatched with no backup human safety driver, marking a
Waymo’s Self-Driving Vans Ready To Roll After COVID-19 Shutdown–But No Robotaxi Rides
Waymo has announced that it plans to restart its road tests in Phoenix next week after two months of standstill due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company will resume the self-driving van testing, however, robotaxi operations for local riders will not pick back up for the time being. On May
Waymo Halts All Automated Ride, Delivery And Trucking Services Over Coronavirus Concerns
Waymo, a self-driving tech unit that operates under Alphabet Inc., has announced that it is shutting down all of its current automated ride, delivery, and trucking systems until at least April 1. The move is reflective of a widespread movement of businesses shutting down to protect employees and curb the
Former Waymo Executive Passed Trade Secrets to Uber
A former Waymo executive has admitted to stealing trade secrets and sharing them with Uber, a rival company. The former employee, Anthony Scott Levandowski, has agreed to plead guilty to stealing secret information from the self-driving car technology company Waymo regarding its projects. The former executive is accused of downloading
Waymo Steps Up Cleaning, Adds Sanitizer To Keep Coronavirus Out Of Robotic Ride Service
Waymo is a self-driving ride service created by Alphabet Inc., which currently offers its services solely in Arizona. New pandemic, Coronavirus, has forced Waymo to initiate new hygiene actions to ensure that all 1,500 registered riders remain safe. Alphabet Inc. hopes to set the minds of their suburban Phoenix riders
Waymo’s $30 Billion Valuation Shows The New Reality Of Automated Driving Is Sinking In
Waymo is an automated driving company created by Google in 2009. Before 2020, Waymo had not received any investments outside of Google or Alphabet. However, this week Waymo released a surprise announcement that they had received an outside investment of $2.25 billion dollars. For many, this investment constituted a newfound
Waymo Raises $2.25 Billion In First Funding Round With Non-Alphabet Backers
Alphabet’s self-driving car unit, Waymo, announced that it has raised $2.25 billion from investors, including Silicon Valley private equity and venture firms Silver Lake Partners and Andreessen Horowitz. Other investors include the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Mubadala Investment, which is based in Abu Dhabi. Waymo is emerging as
Waymo And Cruise Vie For Supremacy In Murky California Self-Driving Data
Waymo, Google’s self-driving car initiative, boasts the best annual statistics for how infrequently humans need to interact with self-driving vehicles throughout tests but is competing with Cruise, General Motor’s equivalent program. Cruise reported numbers just behind Waymo in 2019 and seemed to have increased its capabilities greatly throughout the second
Uber Pays Google $9.7 Million To Settle Legal Beef In Tangled Self-Driving Car Fight
This week, Uber agreed to pay Google nearly $10 million to settle accusations that Uber executives had improperly recruited Google engineers, which resulted in a complex legal fight sparked by Uber’s attempt to keep up with Google’s self-driving car program. The commercial successor to the tech giant’s self-driving car project,