🚗 Self-Driving Cabs Are Here (check the video)

Welcome to The Level Ups. Modern business news for the future business leader (in plain-Jane English).

This might brighten up your Monday morning. Maybe not if you’re an Uber driver.

• Self-driving cars are rolling in U.S cities (for real). Welcome to the “robotaxi” industry.

• Answer the question: “should drivers be worried?”

• Korea fines Google and Meta for privacy infringement.

Let’s get into it

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes & 59 seconds.

Passengers Lose it When There’s no Driver.

The world’s been talking about self-driving cars for years. While Tesla hasn’t delivered as promised, another company has brought the concept to life.

Cruise, based in San Francisco, has been developing the technology since 2013 and is America’s robotaxi leader.

• GM owns Cruise and operates it as one of their divisions.

• They develop their own chips and AI (which drives the cars),

• All vehicles are fully electric.

• Operating in Austin, Phoenix, and San Francisco (SF).

• Cruise is biggest in SF and the city recently gave them permission to start charging fares.

Curious? See how it works:

What's The Catch? 

No surprise, there are limits on what Cruise can and cannot do from the California Public Utilities Commission's (CPUC) driverless deployment permit.

Here’s the summary:

• Hours of operation are 10pm to 6am.

• Only when “traffic is light.”

• Limited to specific areas without heavy rail crossing or streets with light rail transit.

• The car’s max speed is 30 mph. They’re using a modified Chevrolet Bolt.

Should Drivers Be Worried? Investment Activity Says F Yes.

Just follow the money.

• GM purchased Cruise for an “undisclosed amount,” but reports suggest it was anywhere from $500M - all the way up to $1B.

• Softbank announces $2.25B to Cruise (plus another $1.1B from GM).

• Honda to invest $2.75B in Cruise.

• Microsoft to invest and partner with Cruise to the tune of $2B.

That’s just for Cruise. It’s not the only company chasing self-driving cars.

• Argo AI raised $1.7B from Volkswagon. Ford owns it.

• Uber’s self-driving unit raised $1B from a Japanese consortium.

• Aurora raised $530M from Amazon.

• Waymo (Google) raises $2.5B.

Fortunes are going into developing self-driving vehicles. This list didn’t even mention Tesla.

The reality is that removing the drivers boosts profit by massive amounts. 

No matter what the government, the media, or executives tell you, drivers need to figure things out. Quick.

Who knows how far robotaxis will go in 3-5 years.

South Korea Fines Google and Meta Over Policy Law Infringements.

When it comes to tech companies taking over the world, Google and Meta are #1 and #1 (that’s not a typo).

South. Korea issued $72M in fines to the two giants (Google got $50M, Meta $22M).

These are not the first fines, but they do set records.

While technology may be the future of taxis, it looks like countries don’t appreciate all tech giants.

Google especially.

Google’s International Issues

The tech giant was first issued bans back in 2010 when Tech Crunch reported the story. 25 of the 100 countries in which Google offers services (at the time) banned them.

It gets worse.

Google Analytics, the product that tracks internet activity, is becoming a bigger issue with time.

Many countries have already banned Analytics including: France, Holland, Austria, and Italy (the most recent addition) who deemed Google Analytics is unconstitutional.

Using Analytics in these countries can warrant fines up to 20 million Euros. It’s serious.

Alternatives to Google Analytics

If you’re in Europe and looking for other options, there’s some hope.

• Fathom

• Plausible

• Simple Analytics

These are great ways to show customers you care about their privacy. Just be warned. They don’t have nearly the same marketing capabilities as Google Analytics 🙃.

Final Four:

This is a new section. Quick hits. Let’s go.

• An 18-year-old hacked Uber. He then announced it in Uber’s Slack and told them they have awful security.

• Ethereum finished The Merge, and prices tanked when they were supposed to go up.

• Remember Patagonia’s owner Yvon? Giving his company to the Earth got him out of a $700M tax bill. I’m not upset. It’s still billions to the environment.

• Lululemon’s Chip Wilson gives CAD 100M to the British Columbia Parks Foundation to protect nature in British Columbia. It looks like a lot of money, but when you see Patagonia, it makes you realize that Chip might be kinda stingy (as a %).

Happy Monday!

Thanks for reading.