Some of the world's leading automakers are all turning to the same company to help bring past the self-driving finish line. Aurora CEO and Co-Founder Chris Urmson joins Cheddar at CES to discuss his firm's newly-announced partnership with Volkswagen Group. He describes his company's goal as providing the "drivers," by way of software, for autonomous vehicles.
The partnership is focused on developing "mobility as a service" initiative in major cities. Urmson describes how Aurora will help Volkswagen Group's fleet of self-driving cars, known as Sedric, connect people in urban communities. He explains how the service initiative will help people with mobility issues of their own, as well as making transportation easier for commuters.
Urmson reveals how his company spent the past year working with Volkswagen Group to integrate its system into the automaker's fleet. He breaks down Aurora's high-pedigree founding team, including himself, a veteran of Google's self-driving initiative, and Sterling Anderson, one of the minds behind the launch of Tesla's Model X.
Petco will phase out dog and cat food containing artificial ingredients and preservatives entirely by May 2019. Petco CEO Ron Coughlin told Cheddar Tuesday that the decision to move to a wholly natural-ingredient line was part of a corporate strategy to become a full-service "partner to pet parents." It also reflects broader consumer trends toward healthier, organic foods ー that now includes the diets of their pets.
Hybrid cloud computing is now the name of the game at IBM, thanks to the company's recent acquisition of Red Hat. "We are going to be the company that is providing enterprise-ready hybrid cloud solutions and actually create the foundation of the infrastructure of the future," IBM's chief digital officer Bob Lord told Cheddar on Tuesday.
The backlash was swift after Amazon announced on Tuesday morning that it will split its second unbuilt headquarters and up to 50,000 full-time jobs between two locations: Long Island City, in Queens, N.Y., and the Crystal City neighborhood of Arlington, Va, just outside the nation's capital.
The Food and Drug Administration plans to restrict the sale of flavored e-cigarettes that might appeal to teens, according to a Washington Post report. But some worry a ban will only further entice young users. "Some people say it will just make it more attractive. That's one of the problems ー the more you restrict it, the more enticing it can be," USA Today health care policy reporter Jayne O'Donnell told Cheddar on Monday.
From the makers of the dating app, Bumble, the newest dating app exclusively for gay men is here. Chappy caters gay men and Adam Cohen-Aslatei, managing director of Chappy, said the app not only wants to help make meaningful relationships, but combat the discrimination seen in other dating apps.
The subject of gambling and esports has become a point of serious tension for gamers. For companies like Unikrn, which built its platform on the practice of esports betting, battling that stigma is a central, implicit part of the operation. According to CEO and co-founder Rahul Sood, the company is determined to make betting on esports a “safe, legal, and relegated” space.
Mike Masserman, head of global policy and social impact at Lyft, spoke with Cheddar about several initiatives the ridesharing company is taking to put its values front and center. Lyft's "Round Up & Donate" feature lets riders make a small charitable donation with each ride. Its first partner in the initiative, the USO, just topped $1 million in donations from the program. The ridesharing company has also activated its "Relief Rides" program to help victims of the California wildfires get to shelters and hospitals.
Nick Bell, Snap’s longtime VP of Content, is leaving the company. He is the latest in a long string of executives to depart the embattled company since its initial public offering in early 2017.
SAP is acquiring survey software maker Qualtrics just before its planned IPO for $8 billion. Could Qualtrics be for SAP what Instagram was for Facebook? Dan Primack, business editor at Axios, joined Cheddar to analyze the deal.
SoftBank Founder Masayoshi Son is reportedly seeking $21 billion for the new entity that will be called SoftBank Corp. and begin trading Dec. 19
