Late last week, we announced the schedule for April 18’s TC Sessions: Robotics + AI event at U.C. Berkeley, including some heavy hitters like Marc Raibert, Melonee Wise and Ken Goldberg. At the time, we noted that still had some big names left to reveal — and we weren’t joking. Today we’re excited to announce […]
View More Anthony Levandowski will be speaking at TC Sessions: Robotics + AI April 18 at UC BerkeleyCategory: X
Sebastian Thrun initiates aggressive plan to transform Udacity
“I’m a fighter. I believe in our people, I believe in our mission, and I believe that it should exist and must exist.” Sebastian Thrun is talking animatedly about Udacity, the $1 billion online education startup that he co-founded nearly eight years ago. His tone is buoyant and hopeful. He’s encouraged, he says over an occasionally […]
View More Sebastian Thrun initiates aggressive plan to transform UdacityWaymo plans to open a self-driving car factory in Michigan
Waymo and Magna plan to build thousands of self-driving cars at a factory in southeast Michigan, including autonomous versions of the all-electric Jaguar I-Pace and Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan. Waymo, the former Google self-driving project that spun out to become a business under Alphabet, announced Tuesday that the Michigan Economic Development Corporation voted to approve […]
View More Waymo plans to open a self-driving car factory in MichiganGoogle is closing its Schaft robotics unit after failing to find a buyer
Sad news for anyone into giant robots: Google is closing down Schaft, its secretive unit that develops bipedal robots aimed at helping out in disaster efforts and generally looking badass. The news was first reported by Nikkei, but Google confirmed to TechCrunch that the business will be shuttered. It said it is helping staff find new roles, […]
View More Google is closing its Schaft robotics unit after failing to find a buyerVishal Makhijani steps down as chief executive of Udacity
Vishal Makhijani, the long time chief executive of online education company Udacity, is stepping down as its chief executive officer, TechCrunch has learned. Makhijani first joined the company in 2013 as chief operating officer under Sebastian Thrun, the company’s founder and chief executive at the time. In 2016, Thrun, the original architect of Alphabet’s self-driving […]
View More Vishal Makhijani steps down as chief executive of UdacityGoogle Street View cars will be roaming around the planet to check our air quality with these sensors
Aclima, a San Francisco-based startup building Internet-connected air quality sensors has announced plans to integrate its mobile sensing platform into Google’s global fleet of Street View vehicles. Google uses the Street View cars to map the land for Google Maps. Starting with 50 cars in Houston, Mexico City and Sydney, Aclima will capture air quality […]
View More Google Street View cars will be roaming around the planet to check our air quality with these sensorsAlphabet spins two moonshot projects into independent companies
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is letting two of its pet projects fly free.
The company announced today in a Medium post that its internet-delivery balloon project Loon and delivery drone project Wing will become independent companies.
Both…
Kitty Hawk begins certifying its self-flying taxis for service in New Zealand
The flying car company led by Udacity CEO Sebastian Thrun and backed by Google co-founder Larry Page is breaking cover with a new deal that will see it test its autonomous electric air taxis with the New Zealand government, with the aim of having a commercial network ready to carry passengers within as little as three years, the New York Times reports.
Kitty Hawk, which has so far only… Read More
Waymo and Google launch a self-driving truck pilot in Atlanta
Waymo’s autonomous trucking program is coming along – though we haven’t heard much about it since discovering it was a real thing last year, Waymo today announced that it’s launching a pilot program in Atlanta to focus specifically on self-driving trucks and automated logistics. The pilot is being done in partnership with Google, another Alphabet company and… Read More
Waymo heads to Atlanta to test its self-driving cars
Waymo continues to expand the pool of locations where it’s testing its autonomous vehicle tech, and the latest destination is metro Atlanta. The former Google self-driving car company revealed the news on Twitter, noting that it’s expanding considerably its geographic testing footprint now that it’s got fully driverless test vehicles on the road in Phoenix. Its test cars… Read More
Shernaz Daver, the CMO who helped to turn around Udacity, is leaving the company
Shernaz Daver, the chief marketing officer for Udacity, who company founder Sebastian Thrun credits with architecting the company’s dramatic revitalization four years ago, is stepping down from her position with the company. While Udacity has become a dominant force in online education, with over 53,000 students enrolled in the company’s nanodegree programs, over 18,000 graduates… Read More
Waymo’s first product will be its own on-demand ride hailing service
Waymo is firming up some of its plans around its initial go-to-market strategy for its autonomous driving technology. The company has talked about a number of potential applications of self-driving that it might explore in terms of future product…
View More Waymo’s first product will be its own on-demand ride hailing service