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.
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Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, who launched the photo-sharing app in 2010, have resigned and will leave the company in the coming weeks, according to the New York Times. The news is the latest blow for Facebook, which bought Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion. The app has been a bright point for the company, with a billion monthly active users as of June.
Tune in to Cheddar Tuesday morning for the latest.
Mezu is joining the growing list of money-transfer apps by staking out a niche for privacy-conscious consumers. CEO Yuval Brisker said Mezu's selling point is the ability to transfer money without the use of personal information, like email or phone numbers.
Warren Schlichting, president of Sling TV, spoke to Cheddar from Denver Startup Week Monday about the changing media landscape. "I don't want to pay for things I'm not watching," he said, channeling the mantra of the 2.3 million cord-cutters who make up Sling's customer base.
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Comcast's $38.8 billion winning bid for British satellite broadcaster Sky was a "shocking price" to pay for international expansion, said Rich Greenfield, media and tech analyst at BTIG.
Shares of Pandora surged Monday after the satellite radio company announced an all-stock deal to acquire the streaming service. Sirius made a $480 million investment in the company last year, taking about a 15 percent stake in it. BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield says the deal is probably bittersweet for Pandora which "really failed as a public company."
The blockchain has made its way into a slew of industries. Next at bat ー the sports world. The Los Angeles Dodgers are moving away from traditional promotions and have begun using crypto tokens to give away digital bobbleheads to fans. Ralph Esquibel, VP of information technology for the team, said this is the first giveaway of its kind and could lead to more experiments with cryptocurrencies.
GSTV, which delivers content across thousands of fuel retailers in the U.S., reaches 75 million unique visitors and hopes to reach one in two adults in the next few years. Sean McCaffrey, president and CEO of GSTV, said that the scale of the company is increasing daily.
GSTV recently partner with Cheddar to distribute content through its outlets.
The Canadian cannabis company has seen exponential growth with shares doubling since just mid-August, when Corona-maker Constellation Brands upped its stake with a $4 billion investment. CEO Bruce Linton said interest is now coming from pharma giants, which will rely on companies like Canopy for research, patented technology, and formulas.
