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The Star
3 days ago
- Automotive
- The Star
Waymo to launch autonomous ride-hailing in Dallas next year
FILE PHOTO: Waymo driverless vehicles charge at a Waymo charging station in Santa Monica, California, U.S., May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Daniel Cole/File Photo (Reuters) -Alphabet's Waymo said on Monday it will roll out its autonomous ride-hailing service in Dallas in 2026, accelerating its U.S. expansion as electric vehicle maker Tesla pushes to grow its recently launched robotaxi business. After years of cautious growth, Waymo has recently increased its pace, launching in new cities through partnerships with ride-hailing platforms and fleet operators. In Dallas, Waymo will operate through a new multi-year partnership with car rental company Avis Budget Group, which will manage fleet operations, including maintenance and depot infrastructure, Waymo said in a blog. Waymo currently serves more than 250,000 paid trips every week with about 1,500 vehicles in cities such as Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin. This year, Waymo began its service in Austin exclusively on the Uber platform, months before Tesla started a limited robotaxi trial in the city with about a dozen Model Y SUVs and a human safety monitor in the front passenger seat. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said the company will rapidly expand its robotaxi services to other U.S. cities and is seeking regulatory approval from California, Nevada, Florida, and Arizona. Commercializing autonomous vehicles has been challenging, with several companies such as GM's Cruise shutting down after collisions, recalls, and federal investigations. Amazon-backed Zoox is among the few still operating, preparing to launch commercial services later this year. Until Tesla's Austin trial, Waymo was the only company to operate paid driverless taxis in the United States. Rides will be available through the Waymo app. The company is also planning launches in Miami and Washington, D.C., in 2026 as part of its broader national rollout. The collaboration is part of Avis' broader strategy to evolve from a traditional rental car company into a mobility services provider. (Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru and Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
The Star
23-07-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Olympics-US Olympic & Paralympic Committee bars transgender women from competing in women's sports
FILE PHOTO: Workers pack up a space used for a press conference held by the International Olympic Committee Coordination Commission for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, U.S., November 14, 2024. REUTERS/Daniel Cole/File Photo (Reuters) -The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) has updated its policy to align with an executive order signed earlier this year by U.S. President Donald Trump barring transgender women from competing in women's sports. "The USOPC will continue to collaborate with various stakeholders with oversight responsibilities, e.g., IOC, IPC, NGBs, to ensure that women have a fair and safe competition environment consistent with Executive Order 14201 and the Ted Stevens Olympic & Amateur Sports Act," the USOPC said in an update to its Athlete Safety Policy. The USOPC did not respond to a request for comment on the change. USOPC President Gene Sykes and CEO Sarah Hirshland referenced Trump's executive order in a memo to the Team USA community sent out this week, ABC News reported, which said, "As a federally chartered organization, we have an obligation to comply with federal expectations." Trump signed the "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" order in February in a bid to exclude transgender girls and women from female sports, a directive that supporters said will restore fairness but critics argue it infringes on the rights of a tiny minority of athletes. The order directs the Department of Justice to make sure all government agencies enforce a ban on transgender girls and women from participating in female school sports under Trump's interpretation of Title IX, a law against sex discrimination in education. Trump's order goes beyond high school and college sports, calling for the U.S. government to deny visas for transgender females seeking to compete in the United States. Trump also said he would not allow transgender athletes to compete in the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. The executive order instructed the State Department to pressure the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to change its policy, which allows trans athletes to compete under general guidance preventing any athlete from gaining an unfair advantage. The order is expected to affect only a small number of athletes. The president of the National Collegiate Athletics Association told a Senate panel in December he was aware of fewer than 10 transgender athletes among the 530,000 competing at 1,100 member schools. (Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Chris Reese)
The Star
15-07-2025
- Automotive
- The Star
Alphabet's Waymo picks up speed as Tesla robotaxi service expands
FILE PHOTO: Waymo driverless vehicles wait at a traffic light in Santa Monica, California, U.S., May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Daniel Cole/File Photo SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Alphabet's Waymo robotaxis have driven more than 100 million miles without a human behind the wheel, doubling the mileage in about six months, a top company official said, as it speeds up deployment in U.S. cities amid rising competition. Waymo's push comes as Tesla expands its self-driving taxi service after a small trial with about a dozen of its Model Y SUVs in a limited area of Austin, Texas last month. While Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said Tesla will scale up the service rapidly and launch in several U.S. cities by the end of 2025, Waymo with about 1,500 vehicles has been expanding its service cautiously for years. It is currently available in San Francisco and some other Bay Area cities, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin and Atlanta. "Reaching 100 million fully autonomous miles represents years of methodical progress now accelerating into rapid, responsible scaling," said Waymo's chief product officer, Saswat Panigrahi. "As we expand to serve more riders in more cities, we'll encounter new challenges that will continue strengthening our service," Panigrahi added. Waymo had logged about 71 million autonomous miles as of March, up from 50 million miles at the end of 2024 and 25 million miles through July 2024. It had completed its first million miles in January 2023. Commercializing autonomous vehicles has been harder than anticipated with high costs, tight regulations and federal investigations forcing many, including General Motors' Cruise, to shut down. Among the few still in the race are Amazon's Zoox, which is testing a vehicle without manual controls such as a steering wheel and pedals, and plans to launch the commercial services in Las Vegas this year. Until Tesla's robotaxi roll out last month, Waymo was the only U.S. firm to operate uncrewed taxis with paying passengers. Waymo, Tesla and Zoox and others have faced federal investigations and recalls following collisions. Despite multiple traffic problems and driving mistakes as Tesla tiptoed into the robotaxi business after years of missed promises, Musk expanded the service area in Austin and said last week it will roll out services in the San Francisco Bay Area within two months. Waymo in March said it aims to launch fully autonomous ride-hailing in Washington, D.C. next year. It has applied for a permit to operate autonomous vehicles in New York, with a trained specialist behind the wheel in Manhattan, and said last month it will start by manually driving in the city until it gets the permit. Robotaxis from Waymo, which started as Google's small self-driving project in 2009 and spun out seven years later, now cover more than two million miles per week autonomously. As of May, the company has completed more than 10 million autonomous trips, up from 5 million trips at the end of 2024. (Reporting by Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
Japan Today
14-07-2025
- Business
- Japan Today
EU threatens countermeasures over U.S. tariffs; Trump says he is open to talks
A U.S. flag flutters in front of shipping containers at the Port of Long Beach in Long Beach, California, U.S., July 11, 2025. REUTERS/Daniel Cole By Philip Blenkinsop and David Lawder The European Union on Monday accused the U.S. of resisting efforts to strike a trade deal and warned of countermeasures if no agreement is reached to avoid the punishing tariffs President Donald Trump has threatened to impose starting on August 1. Trump, meanwhile, said he was open to further discussions with the EU and other trading partners before new 30% tariffs kick in next month and that EU officials would be coming to the United States for negotiations. "They would like to do a different kind of a deal and we're always open to talk, including to Europe," he told reporters in the Oval Office. "In fact, they're coming over. They'd like to talk." Trump stepped up his trade war on Saturday, saying he would impose a 30% tariff on most imports from the EU and Mexico next month, following similar warnings for other countries including Asian economic powerhouses Japan and South Korea. The EU has so far held off on retaliatory measures to avoid a spiraling tit-for-tat escalation while there remains a chance of negotiating an improved outcome. But EU ministers emerging from a meeting in Brussels on Monday appeared closer to striking back. Speaking at a news conference following the meeting, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen called the tariff threat "absolutely unacceptable." EU Trade Chief Maros Sefcovic said he believed there was "still a potential to continue the negotiations" but voiced frustration with Washington's failure to agree to a deal with its largest trading partner. "As I said before, it takes two hands to clap," he said, adding that EU member states agreed that the 27-nation bloc would need to take countermeasures if the trade negotiations with the U.S. fail. Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani earlier said the EU had already prepared a list of tariffs worth 21 billion euros ($24.5 billion) on U.S. goods if the two sides fail to reach a deal. Meanwhile, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday that she believed the two sides would reach a deal on security ahead of the August 1 deadline. The White House has clarified that the 30% tariffs on Mexico, which Trump has blamed for not doing more to stem the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., would not apply to goods shipped under the USMCA trade agreement, which covers the vast majority of goods shipped from Mexico to the U.S. Sheinbaum said any agreement would not involve U.S. forces entering Mexican territory, as previously floated by Trump. EUROPEAN STOCKS DIP White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said trade talks were still under way with the European Union, Canada and Mexico. Canada is facing a tariff of 35% starting in August. The threatened duties have sounded alarm bells in Europe, notably in Germany, the EU's biggest economy. After Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday that a 30% tariff would "hit the German export industry to the core", the head of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry called for swift action. "The escalating tariff conflict with the USA poses a serious threat to many German companies," Volker Treier said on Monday. "Tough negotiations are now needed to avert a collapse of transatlantic trade." European industries, meanwhile, are preparing for the worst. Producers of Italy's renowned Chianti wine in Tuscany, for example, have demanded a new export strategy backed by the EU targeting alternative markets such as South America, Asia and Africa. Since returning to the White House earlier this year, Trump has sought to use an array of tariffs to boost the U.S. economy, push companies to invest in the United States and revitalize manufacturing. His initial "Liberation Day" tariff announcement in April, which set a baseline tariff of 10% on all imports and higher duties on certain products or countries, raised fears of global supply chain disruptions, sending shockwaves through markets. But subsequent U-turns and delays, including a 90-day pause on most duties aimed at allowing time for trade deal negotiations, have left investors largely inured to Trump's chaotic policy rollouts. European stocks fell on Monday, while U.S. indices were little changed in response to the latest salvo. European autos and alcohol stocks were among those hardest hit. SCRAMBLE FOR DEALS The looming August 1 deadline has set off a scramble by governments around the world to seal trade agreements. South Korea's top trade envoy said on Monday it may be possible to strike a deal "in principle" by the deadline and signaled that Seoul may be open to allowing the U.S. greater access to its agriculture markets, local media reported. Minister for Trade Yeo Han-koo, who held high-level talks with U.S. officials last week, said South Korea was seeking to avoid "unfair" U.S. tariffs on key sectors that would undermine industrial cooperation with its main security ally and trading partner, media reports said. "I believe it's possible to reach an agreement in principle in the U.S. tariff negotiations, and then take some time to negotiate further," the Newsis news agency quoted Yeo as telling local media reporters. "Twenty days are not enough to come up with a perfect treaty that contains every detail," he added. South Korea is in a race to reach a compromise trade pact in the hope of avoiding a 25% tariff slapped on its exports, the same level faced by Japan. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Straits Times
14-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
EU threatens countermeasures over US tariffs, Trump says he is open to talks
Find out what's new on ST website and app. A U.S. flag flutters in front of shipping containers at the Port of Long Beach in Long Beach, California, U.S., July 11, 2025. REUTERS/Daniel Cole BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON - The European Union on Monday accused the U.S. of resisting efforts to strike a trade deal and warned of countermeasures if no agreement is reached to avoid the punishing tariffs President Donald Trump has threatened to impose starting on August 1. Trump, meanwhile, said he was open to further discussions with the EU and other trading partners before new 30% tariffs kick in next month and that EU officials would be coming to the United States for negotiations. "They would like to do a different kind of a deal and we're always open to talk, including to Europe," he told reporters in the Oval Office. "In fact, they're coming over. They'd like to talk." Trump stepped up his trade war on Saturday, saying he would impose a 30% tariff on most imports from the EU and Mexico next month, following similar warnings for other countries including Asian economic powerhouses Japan and South Korea. The EU has so far held off on retaliatory measures to avoid a spiralling tit-for-tat escalation while there remains a chance of negotiating an improved outcome. But EU ministers emerging from a meeting in Brussels on Monday appeared closer to striking back. Speaking at a news conference following the meeting, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen called the tariff threat "absolutely unacceptable." EU Trade Chief Maros Sefcovic said he believed there was "still a potential to continue the negotiations" but voiced frustration with Washington's failure to agree to a deal with its largest trading partner. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. 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Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani earlier said the EU had already prepared a list of tariffs worth 21 billion euros ($24.5 billion) on U.S. goods if the two sides fail to reach a deal. Meanwhile, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday that she believed the two sides would reach a deal on security ahead of the August 1 deadline. The White House has clarified that the 30% tariffs on Mexico, which Trump has blamed for not doing more to stem the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., would not apply to goods shipped under the USMCA trade agreement, which covers the vast majority of goods shipped from Mexico to the U.S. Sheinbaum said any agreement would not involve U.S. forces entering Mexican territory, as previously floated by Trump. EUROPEAN STOCKS DIP White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said trade talks were still under way with the European Union, Canada and Mexico. Canada is facing a tariff of 35% starting in August. The threatened duties have sounded alarm bells in Europe, notably in Germany, the EU's biggest economy. After Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday that a 30% tariff would "hit the German export industry to the core", the head of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry called for swift action. "The escalating tariff conflict with the USA poses a serious threat to many German companies," Volker Treier said on Monday. "Tough negotiations are now needed to avert a collapse of transatlantic trade." European industries, meanwhile, are preparing for the worst. Producers of Italy's renowned Chianti wine in Tuscany, for example, have demanded a new export strategy backed by the EU targeting alternative markets such as South America, Asia and Africa. Since returning to the White House earlier this year, Trump has sought to use an array of tariffs to boost the U.S. economy, push companies to invest in the United States and revitalise manufacturing. His initial "Liberation Day" tariff announcement in April, which set a baseline tariff of 10% on all imports and higher duties on certain products or countries, raised fears of global supply chain disruptions, sending shockwaves through markets. But subsequent U-turns and delays, including a 90-day pause on most duties aimed at allowing time for trade deal negotiations, have left investors largely inured to Trump's chaotic policy rollouts. European stocks fell on Monday, while U.S. indices were little changed in response to the latest salvo. European autos and alcohol stocks were among those hardest hit. SCRAMBLE FOR DEALS The looming August 1 deadline has set off a scramble by governments around the world to seal trade agreements. South Korea's top trade envoy said on Monday it may be possible to strike a deal "in principle" by the deadline and signalled that Seoul may be open to allowing the U.S. greater access to its agriculture markets, local media reported. Minister for Trade Yeo Han-koo, who held high-level talks with U.S. officials last week, said South Korea was seeking to avoid "unfair" U.S. tariffs on key sectors that would undermine industrial cooperation with its main security ally and trading partner, media reports said. "I believe it's possible to reach an agreement in principle in the U.S. tariff negotiations, and then take some time to negotiate further," the Newsis news agency quoted Yeo as telling local media reporters. "Twenty days are not enough to come up with a perfect treaty that contains every detail," he added. South Korea is in a race to reach a compromise trade pact in the hope of avoiding a 25% tariff slapped on its exports, the same level faced by Japan. REUTERS
