Narrative: Tech Disrupts Transportation

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    ★ Alphabet Signs Deal with Avis to Manage Phoenix Self-Driving Fleet (Jun 26, 2017)

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    Waymo Hires Former Tesla Autonomous Hardware Lead to Run its Own Hardware Efforts (Jun 23, 2017)

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    Nissan-Renault Plans to Combine Electrification, Automation and Mobility Within 10 Years (Jun 23, 2017)

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    Uber Adds Tipping and Makes Other Driver-Friendly Changes (Jun 20, 2017)

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    Ex-Apple Engineer Chris Lattner Leaves Tesla After 5 Months (Jun 20, 2017)

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    ★ Tim Cook Confirms Apple is Working on Autonomous Driving Systems (Jun 13, 2017)

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    Uber Looks Set to Acquire Assets, Hire Staff from Valet Parking Startup Luxe (Jun 8, 2017)

    While ride sharing companies like Uber and Lyft continue to grab the majority of attention in the transportation tech space, with autonomous driving technology companies getting most of the rest, it’s worth remembering that there are various other transportation tech startups out there, not all of them doing all that well.  It appears that Uber is in the process of trying to acquire assets and hire staff from valet parking service Luxe, which is one of those services that appears to have struggled to make its business model work. It had recently announced a pivot of sorts to a new model, but it now seems as though all that will remain is a shell once Uber has snapped up the parts it wants. That may or may not mean that Uber expands into the valet parking space – in fact, I’d say it’s at least as likely that Uber simply sees this as a way to get a number of competent staff with relevant skills quickly and easily while also acquiring some relevant technology.

    via WSJ

    BlackBerry Debuts New QNX Version Which Partitions Critical and Other Car Systems (Jun 7, 2017)

    BlackBerry’s QNX division already makes the operating systems that power many cars today, and it’s just announced a new version of its OS for cars titled QNX Hypervisor 2.0. The key selling point of the new version is that it better partitions the safety-critical and non-safety-critical elements of the OS and the services they support in order to both prevent localized glitches from crippling the whole car and also insulate safety-critical functions from hacks that penetrate, say, the infotainment system. The implication of both of those, of course, is that there could be glitches or hacks that would penetrate certain systems, which seems a realistic if not a heartening concession. But as Android and other operating systems make their way into cars, being able to separate functions relating to driving tasks from those that merely deal with infotainment and other elements of the in-car experience is going to be increasingly important, and BlackBerry/QNX is emphasizing that element. I also wonder if it means QNX will be more able to operate as part of a hybrid operating system environment within cars, where infotainment features might be powered by the new version of Android for center consoles while driving features are still powered by QNX.

    via Axios

    Lyft Partnering with nuTonomy on Self-Driving Car Trial in Boston (Jun 6, 2017)

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    Waymo Exploring Expansion into Self-Driving Truck Technology (Jun 2, 2017)

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