Waymo

Waymo picks Dallas for driverless trucking hub

Waymo recently bolstered its self-driving truck program by expanding into Texas with a new hub in Dallas.

Waymo joins a growing number of driverless tech firms locating facilities or freight operations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, including Aurora, Nuro, Kodiak Robotics and TuSimple.

“Operating in a major freight hub environment like Dallas, we can test our Waymo Driver on highly dense highways and shipper lanes, further understand how other truck and passenger car drivers behave on these...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/waymo-picks-dallas-for-driverless-trucking-hub

Former Uber exec sentenced to 18 months for trade secret theft

Judge sentences former Uber executive Anthony Levandowski to 18 months in prison.

Former Uber executive Anthony Levandowski was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Tuesday after pleading guilty in March to one count of stealing Google trade secrets.

In sentencing Levandowski, U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup said that “this is the biggest trade secret crime I have ever seen,” according to a statement issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California. “This was not small.  This was massive in scale.” 

Ex-Uber executive Anthony Levandowski was...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/former-uber-exec-sentenced-to-18-months-for-trade-secret-theft

Prosecutors recommend prison for former Uber exec who stole trade secrets

Former Uber executive Anthony Levandowski is scheduled to be sentenced on August 4.

Federal prosecutors have recommended a 27-month prison sentence for Anthony Levandowski, the former head of Uber’s self-driving division, as well as three years of supervised release.

Levandowski pleaded guilty in March to one count of stealing Google trade secrets after he was originally charged with 33 counts of intellectual theft and attempted theft of trade secrets from self-driving startup Waymo in August 2019. 

Levandowski’s attorney countered that he deserves up to one year of home...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/prosecutors-recommend-prison-for-former-uber-exec-who-stole-trade-secrets

The Daily Dash: Excess insurance; can autonomous vehicles fit in the last mile?

Truck insurance

The Daily Dash is a quick look at what is happening in the freight ecosystem. In today’s edition, fleets looking for excess insurance coverage are paying handsomely for it — if they can even find it. Plus, Landstar sees good times ahead, Waymo plans to test autonomous vehicles in the last mile, and Nikola breaks ground on a new manufacturing plant.

If you want excess insurance, you will pay for it

Many fleets turn to excess insurance to provide additional protection against claims beyond what...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/the-daily-dash-excess-insurance-can-autonomous-vehicles-fit-in-the-last-mile

Fiat Chrysler and Waymo to make commercial self-driving vehicles

Fiat Chrysler and Waymo to make commercial self-driving vehicles (Photo: Waymo)

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle unit Waymo will now move their self-driving technology into the commercial vehicle segment. The collaboration will see the companies develop and test autonomous cargo vans and associated light commercial vehicles, largely targeting the last-mile delivery segment.

Waymo’s collaboration with FCA goes back to 2016, when the companies started integrating Waymo Driver into FCA vehicles. Over the years, Waymo conducted pilot tests on...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/fiat-chrysler-and-waymo-to-make-commercial-self-driving-vehicles

Another fundraise, as self-driving startup Waymo’s investment hits $3 billion in 2020

Waymo raises another $750 million for self-driving technology development (Photo: Waymo)

Waymo, the autonomous driving unit of Alphabet, announced Tuesday that it has raised a further $750 million in external investment. This investment is right behind the $2.25 billion financing the company raised in March — its first-ever non-Alphabet investment. 

Waymo’s idea of raising $3 billion in external investment when its parent company is cash-rich Alphabet might raise some eyebrows. However, companies like Waymo and Cruise, the autonomous vehicle (AV) unit of General Motors, going for...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/another-fundraise-as-self-driving-startup-waymos-investment-hits-3-billion-in-2020

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