Lyft has “no plans to slow down [its] self-driving programs,” said David Baga, Chief Business Officer of the ride-hailing app.
“We remain focused on our self-driving program, so we continue to develop, and test, and eventually deploy self-driving,” he told Cheddar Thursday.
His comments come in light of Uber’s fatal driverless car crash in Arizona last week, which forced that company to hit the brakes on all its autonomous testing. Nvidia and Toyota paused their programs, too.
The Uber incident, thought to be the first involving a self-driving vehicle, also sparked a wide-ranging debate about whether the entire industry needs more oversight.
Ironically, though, Waymo, the self-driving unit of Google parent Alphabet, took the opportunity to jump further into its autonomous business, announcing a collaboration with Jaguar Land Rover this week to roll out driverless SUVs by 2020.
Jaguar’s Product Planning Manager Dave Larsen [reiterated](https://cheddar.com/videos/jaguar-exec-waymos-technology-would-have-avoided-ubers-fatal-crash) his faith that Waymo’s technology and software “would’ve been able to avoid” the tragedy that involved Uber’s car.
- **Related:** [Watch](https://cheddar.com/videos/first-look-at-the-waymo-powered-jaguar-i-pace-suv) Jaguar’s Dave Larsen give Cheddar a first look at the Waymo-powered I-PACE at the New York International Auto Show.
For its part, Lyft dove into the autonomous industry last year when it announced it will start creating the technology in-house. Prior to that, the company was working with third-parties like Ford and Boston-based nuTonomy, essentially offloading the larger costs of the projects.
Driverless tech aside, Lyft is also gaining ground on its main rival in the core ride-hailing business. As Uber has faced one scandal after another, Lyft is picking up the slack.
Its Business unit saw share of the corporate travel space rise to more than 18 percent in the fourth quarter, compared to 7.7 percent the year before. It also expects to hit a $1 billion run rate for revenue by the end of the year.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/lyft-cbo-no-plans-to-slow-down-self-driving-technology).
An independent watchdog within the IRS reports that while taxpayer services have vastly improved, the agency is still too slow to resolve identity theft cases. And National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins says those delays are “unconscionable.” Erin M. Collins said in the report released Wednesday that overall the 2024 filing season went smoothly, though IRS delays in resolving identity theft victim assistance cases are worsening. It took nearly 19 months to resolve self-reported identity theft cases as of January, and Wednesday's report states that now it takes 22 months to resolve these cases.
Amazon.com Inc. surpassed $2 trillion in market value for the first time in afternoon trading on Wednesday. The push higher for Amazon’s stock market valuation comes a little more than a week after Nvidia hit $3 trillion and briefly became the most valuable company on Wall Street. Nvidia’s chips are used to power many AI application and its valuation has soared as a result. Amazon has also been making big investments in AI as global interest has grown in the technology. Most of the company’s focus has been on business-focused products.
Climate change doesn’t just mean more extreme weather – it also leads to billions of dollars in lost productivity, tourism, and stresses infrastructure.
It’s an annual tradition: the Fed’s banking ‘stress test.’ A year after the regional banking crisis, there are good reasons to make sure they’re prepped.
Summer is upon us, which means weddings, trips overseas, and trips to see Taylor Swift. Avoid a “Cruel Summer” with these budget-friendly tips and tricks.
While Nvidia's meteoric rise led it to briefly dethrone Microsoft as the world's biggest public company, there's a lot more going on in this market than A.I.
