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- đ Self-Driving Cabs Are Here (check the video)
đ Self-Driving Cabs Are Here (check the video)
PLUS: South Korea fines Google & Meta $72M. An 18-year-old hacks Uber. Lululemon's owner gives CAD $100M to protect the environment, and more.
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 youâre an Uber driver.
Self-driving cars are rolling in U.S cities (for real). Welcome to the ârobotaxiâ industry.
Answer the question: âshould drivers be worried?â
Korea fines Google and Meta for privacy infringement.
Letâs get into it
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes & 59 seconds.
Passengers Lose it When Thereâs no Driver.
The worldâs been talking about self-driving cars for years. While Tesla hasnât 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 Americaâs 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:
1/ last night a fully driverless @Cruise rolled up with no humans in the car and gave us a ride home. Pure magic.
â Talia Goldberg (@TaliaGold)
9:32 PM ⢠Sep 18, 2022
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.
Hereâs the summary:
Hours of operation are 10pm to 6am.
Only when âtraffic is light.â
Limited to specific areas without heavy rail crossing or streets with light rail transit.
The carâs max speed is 30 mph. Theyâre using a modified Chevrolet Bolt.
Should Drivers Be Worried? Investment Activity Says F Yes.
Just follow the money.
GM purchased Cruise for an âundisclosed amount,â 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).
Microsoft to invest and partner with Cruise to the tune of $2B.
Thatâs just for Cruise. Itâs not the only company chasing self-driving cars.
Fortunes are going into developing self-driving vehicles. This list didnât 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 (thatâs 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 donât appreciate all tech giants.
Google especially.
Googleâs 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. Itâs serious.
Alternatives to Google Analytics
If youâre in Europe and looking for other options, thereâs some hope.
These are great ways to show customers you care about their privacy. Just be warned. They donât have nearly the same marketing capabilities as Google Analytics đ.
Final Four:
This is a new section. Quick hits. Letâs go.
An 18-year-old hacked Uber. He then announced it in Uberâs Slack and told them they have awful security.
Ethereum finished The Merge, and prices tanked when they were supposed to go up.
Remember Patagoniaâs owner Yvon? Giving his company to the Earth got him out of a $700M tax bill. Iâm not upset. Itâs still billions to the environment.
Lululemonâs 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.
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