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.
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will testify before the Senate on Wednesday. Tony Romm, technology reporter at The Washington Post, explains what to expect and weighs in on what the absence of a Google executive could mean. Meanwhile, President Trump's Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh faces lawmakers Tuesday as his confirmation hearings begin. And Samsung is looking to unveil a foldable phone by the end of this year.
The DC Universe is getting its own streaming service starting Sept. 15. Alan Wolk, co-founder of TV{R}ev, believes niche services will continue to grow as cord-cutting proliferates and customers build their own bespoke bundles.
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will face the Senate Intelligence Committee Wednesday on Capitol Hill to discuss a variety of topics like hate speech and election interference. Tony Romm, Technology Reporter for the Washington Post, says Google's refusal to send a high-level exec could result in "huge PR hits" for the company.
To finish out August, Elon Musk changed his mind about taking his company private, sending shares down 6.5 percent this week. Reports also emerged that investor BlackRock voted to remove Musk as chairman.
Yext allows companies to control the information being sent to systems such as Apple's Siri or Amazon's Alexa, and manage that content just as they would their own websites, said CEO Howard Lerman. Yext shares rose Friday after it posted a smaller loss than expected for the latest quarter. The stock has about doubled since the company went public in April 2017.
Skip was one of two scooter companies chosen for San Francisco's pilot program for dockless rentals. While larger competitor Lime, whose application was rejected, criticized the decision, Skip CEO Sanjay Dastoor said his company actually has more experience than Lime and alluded to the slew of complaints levied against his rival.
Maryann Turcke, the COO of the NFL, is the highest ranking woman in professional sports leadership. She talks to Cheddar about gender inequality in the industry and what she's doing to reach a younger audience that's cutting the cord.
Amazon put out a statement refuting Bernie Sander's position that its workers were underpaid and overworked. Brian Heater, a hardware editor at TechCrunch, thinks the nearly $1 trillion company can withstand it.
In its pick of two small start-ups over Bird, Lime, Uber, and Lyft, San Francisco sent a signal that the most valuable mobility companies' "launch first, ask questions later" approach is catching up to them. Scoot Global and Skip were chosen because they said they would keep riders off the sidewalks and would provide services to low-income residents. Meanwhile, Santa Monica announced that it would open its shared mobility pilot program to e-scooters from Uber, Lyft, Bird, and Lime.
Paul Johnson, partner at Harbor Peak, said regulators are nervous about being interpreted as backing crypto investing. But Bitcoin and Ethereum continue to benefit from widespread user adoption, while other platforms will likely fade away.
