Alphabet Inc. (formerly: Google)

[weijian]

There has been some talk in the CDG thread on some of the decision making/ethical issues with regards to safety/accidents of self driving technology. Alphabet's self driving unit Waymo recently released a report that doesn't provide a full solution but it seems to address some of the concerns indirectly - In essence, it's top priority seems to be first try to prevent accidents/crashes first by anticipating/predicting and the optimizing the decision making, via a "defensive driving mentality (sounds familiar for those who still remember their driving lessons?). 2ndly, the "driver" (ie the software itself) will continue to learn together with the entire fleet and become an experienced driver to minimize such occurrences.

The US Dept of Transportation has defined different levels of self driving. Maybe more specifications will be added with regards to the safety and ethics portion. 1 noticeable thing to note is that estimates believe ~80% of accidents would reduce and this would reduce insurance premiums. All auto insurance companies would then have a new paradigm to work with.

Waymo Safety Report (an overview of how their cars work): https://storage.googleapis.com/sdc-prod/...017-10.pdf

Different levels of self driving: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/auto...fferences/

[Wildreamz]

Google parent Alphabet sees shares pop after earnings beat
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/26/alphabet...2017-.html

[cyclone]

Alphabet Launches the First Taxi Service With No Human Drivers

By Mark Bergen
November 8, 2017, 12:00 AM GMT+8
From Climate Changed

For almost a decade, self-driving cars have graced public roads -- but always with a person behind the wheel. Now Waymo is yanking the driver.

The autonomous car unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc. said on Tuesday it will soon start chauffeuring people in minivans without “safety drivers,” staffers that man the steering wheel. Waymo is doing so in a limited region of Phoenix, where it is running a pilot program with volunteer passengers. The move, a first for any company, is a major milestone for the internet giant’s bid to lead the crowded pack trying to commercialize driverless technology.

“We want the experience of traveling with Waymo to be routine, so you want to use our driver for your everyday needs,” John Krafcik, Waymo’s chief executive officer, said at the Web Summit conference in Portugal. “Fully self-driving cars are here.”

More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...aking-test

[cyclone]

Eric Schmidt, who helped build Google into a US$741billion behemoth, is stepping down
Schmidt ends role as Executive Chairman of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, in January

Reuters
PUBLISHED : Friday, 22 December, 2017, 12:24pm
UPDATED : Friday, 22 December, 2017, 12:28pm

Alphabet Inc said on Thursday its Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt will step down in January, ending a 17-year-run in which he played a central role in building a promising start-up called Google into a global technology powerhouse.

He will continue to serve on the Alphabet’s board of directors and act as an adviser on focused on technical and science issues, the company said.

“The time is right in Alphabet’s evolution for this transition,” Schmidt said in a statement.

More details in http://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-st...741billion

[cyclone]

Google, Temasek coming in as new investors in Indonesia's Go-Jek: sources

Anshuman Daga
January 18, 2018

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc’s Google (GOOGL.O), Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings and Chinese online platform Meituan-Dianping are investing in a fundraising round of Indonesian ride-hailing start-up Go-Jek, sources familiar with the matter said.

Go-Jek’s existing investors such as global private equity firms KKR & Co LP (KKR.N) and Warburg Pincus LLC are also participating in the funding round, which is raising about $1.2 billion in total, the sources said.

They said the funding round opened last year and is expected to close in a few weeks.

The funding by prominent investors including Google gives Go-Jek greater firepower to tackle competition at home from Grab and Uber Technologies Inc which are viewing Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s most populous country, as a large potential market.

More details in https://www.reuters.com/article/us-go-je...F70GS?il=0

[Wildreamz]

Go-Jek is the real deal. Great move.

(vested)

[weijian]

Waymo's self-driving tests in California have fewest human interventions

[SAN FRANCISCO] Waymo, the self-driving arm of Alphabet Inc, is out ahead of rivals based on a key measure of autonomous driving performance, according to a report released on Wednesday by the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

California requires automakers, technology companies and startups that test their self-driving vehicles on public roads to provide an annual compilation of miles traveled in autonomous mode and the number of "disengagements." Disengagements occur when the self-driving system is deactivated with control handed back to humans because of a system failure or a traffic, weather or road situation that required human intervention.

The metric is one way to measure the reliability of any self-driving system, although regulators have not yet determined how safe autonomous vehicles must be before they are introduced in large numbers, a timeframe that could be a decade or more away.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/transpor...erventions

[Wildreamz]

Report: Google Captures Nearly 80% Of All Retail Search Ad Spend
MAR 9, 2018 @ 12:38 PM
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsie...a77c2e6c38

American retailers now spend 76.4% of their search ad budgets on Google Shopping ads. They also generate 85.3% of their clicks there, according to a new report from Adthena that analyzed 40 million ads from 240,000 advertisers in the U.S. and UK.

Essentially, Google is the new storefront.

No wonder Amazon is doubling down on its advertising platform.

---

IMHO, Amazon can't have the cake and eat it too. They can't aim to compete with everyone and make everyone their customers at the same time.

Case in point, if they aim to compete with all retailers, brands, and businesses in the world, don't expect them to use Amazon to sell their products, use Amazon to advertise, or host their backend on AWS cloud services.

(vested in Google)

[cyclone]

Google to invest $550 million in Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com

Reuters Staff
June 18, 2018

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Google will invest $550 million in Chinese e-commerce powerhouse JD.com, part of the U.S. internet giant’s efforts to expand its presence in fast-growing Asian markets and battle rivals including Amazon.com.
...
JD.com’s investors include Chinese social media powerhouse Tencent Holdings Ltd, the arch-rival of Chinese e-commerce leader Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, and Walmart Inc.

Google is stepping up its investments across Asia, where a rapidly growing middle class and a lack of infrastructure in retail, finance and other areas have made it a battleground for U.S. and Chinese internet giants. Google recently took a stake in Indonesian ride-hailing firm Go-Jek, and sources have told Reuters that it may also invest in Indian e-commerce upstart Flipkart.

Google declined to comment on the rumored Flipkart deal. The JD.com investment is being made by the operating unit of Google rather than one of parent company Alphabet’s investment vehicles.

Google will get 27.1 million newly issued JD.com Class A ordinary shares as part of the deal. This will give them less than a 1 percent stake in JD, a spokesman for JD said.

More details in https://www.reuters.com/article/us-jd-co...SKBN1JE079

[cyclone]

Google CEO: We're 'not close' to launching search in China

Jillian D'Onfro
August 17, 2018

At an internal meeting on Thursday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai expressed interest in continuing to expand the company's services in China, but told employees that the company was "not close" to launching a search product there and that whether it would — or could — "is all very unclear."

Pichai's remarks, shared with CNBC by a Google employee, come in the of wake of internal and external backlash following a report from The Intercept in early August that the company was secretly building a censored version of its search engine to launch in China. The effort, dubbed "Project Dragonfly" internally, reportedly included blocking search results for sensitive queries, like "peaceful protest," or suppressing certain search results off of the first page.

Google initially withdrew its search service from China in 2010 due to increased concerns about censorship and cyber attacks, subsequently losing access to the enormous market of 772 million internet users there. Earlier on Thursday, hundreds of employees signed a letter saying that the reported plans raised "urgent moral and ethical issues" and calling for more transparency.

At the company meeting, Pichai said that Google has been "very open about our desire to do more in China," and that the team "has been in an exploration stage for quite a while now" and "exploring many options."

To launch a censored search app in China, Google would face both regulatory and technical hurdles.

More details in https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/17/google-c...china.html