Latest news with #GM-backed
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Zoox issues second robotaxi software recall in a month following collision
Amazon-owned autonomous vehicle company Zoox has issued its second voluntary software recall in a month, following a collision between one of its robotaxis and an e-scooter rider in San Francisco on May 8. The latest incident involved an unoccupied Zoox vehicle operating at low speed, which the company says was struck by the e-scooter after braking to yield at an intersection. Just weeks earlier, the company recalled about 270 vehicles after a Las Vegas crash between a Zoox robotaxi and a passenger car that raised concerns over the self-driving software's ability to predict the movement of other road users. That issue still seems to be a concern. 'The Zoox vehicle was stopped at the time of contact,' the company's statement on the May 8 crash reads. 'The e-scooterist fell to the ground directly next to the vehicle. The robotaxi then began to move and stopped after completing the turn, but did not make further contact with the e-scooterist.' The e-scooterist declined an offer of medical attention for minor injuries, according to Zoox. Zoox said it shared relevant information and video with regulators, and has already issued a software update to 'improve perception tracking and further prevent vehicle movement when a vulnerable road user may be very near the vehicle.' A robotaxi that continues to move after a collision could risk harming other road users that were involved in the crash. Just look at what happened to Cruise, Zoox's erstwhile competitor. The GM-backed company saw its business crumble after one of its robotaxis struck a pedestrian that was flung into its path by a human-driven vehicle, and then dragged that pedestrian some 20 feet while attempting a pullover maneuver. TechCrunch has reached out to learn if this was a top-of-mind concern for Zoox when it issued its software recall, or whether there were other factors at play, like unexpected hard braking. In March, Zoox recalled 258 vehicles due to issues with its autonomous driving system that could cause unexpected hard braking, following two reports of incidents in which motorcyclists collided into the back of Zoox test vehicles. Zoox did not respond in time to TechCrunch to confirm more details about its latest software recall, including how many vehicles were affected, and how this update is different from the update issued several weeks ago. TechCrunch has reached out to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for more information on the recall. Sign in to access your portfolio
Forbes
24-03-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Could Google Stock Triple?
GOOG Stock We believe Alphabet could be poised to more than triple its valuation from an already impressive $2 trillion, potentially becoming the world's most valuable company by a significant margin. Despite a recent 10% decline following mixed Q4 results and higher projected capital expenditures, the real growth opportunity may lie in an often-overlooked asset — the Waymo robotaxi service. Once a speculative initiative, Waymo is quickly transforming into a viable business that could revolutionize transportation and unlock significant value for Alphabet. If it scales effectively, Alphabet's stock could surpass $500. Here's why. Fact: Waymo has increased its weekly paid rides from 10,000 two years ago to around 150,000 by the end of 2024. Currently, Google reports that Waymo is providing over 200,000 paid trips per week across San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. Now, consider the broader ride-hailing market. Uber facilitated more than 230 million rides per week in Q4 alone — which adds up to approximately 12.5 billion rides annually. At an average fare of $30, that translates into an annual revenue pool of about $375 billion. Given Waymo's current volume of over 200,000 autonomous rides per week, how many additional people might opt for self-driving rides instead of driving themselves? The potential shift is significant. For every person using a ride-hailing service today, at least 10 others still drive their own vehicles. Many of them might reconsider once they observe millions enjoying a stress-free ride while watching Netflix, compared to being stuck behind the wheel. Early indicators support this trend. According to Earnest Analytics, Waymo retains users at a higher rate than Uber or Lyft. This suggests that once riders try a fully autonomous experience, they prefer it. Safety is another major benefit. Waymo's safety report last year indicated a 78% reduction in injury-causing accidents compared to human drivers. Investors will soon realize that the $375 billion current ride-hailing market could grow significantly — possibly more than threefold. A $1 trillion+ autonomous ride-hailing market isn't out of reach. Yes, but not all are making the same level of progress. Waymo has an early advantage. One of its top competitors, GM-backed Cruise, lost its driverless permits in California following a serious incident, making Waymo the only publicly accessible robotaxi service in San Francisco. Uber exited its self-driving program over six years ago and now partners with Waymo to integrate autonomous rides into the Uber app in certain cities. They recently began offering robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, just ahead of the SXSW festival. Meanwhile, Tesla — often seen as an autonomous driving leader — has not yet entered the ride-hailing space. Though it revealed a Robotaxi concept last year, the vehicle is not yet in production. Furthermore, Elon Musk's growing involvement in politics may alienate some potential customers. Waymo also leads in technology. Its fleet features a robust mix of high-resolution cameras, LiDAR, and radar systems, enabling a comprehensive view of its surroundings. And let's not forget Google's secret weapon — its vast user base, which helps crowdsource annotated data like CAPTCHA codes to train its AI models. This offers a major advantage in understanding complex driving conditions. These are self-driving vehicles — no human drivers, no unions, no employment-related complications, and no labor costs. Although software development and battery costs remain, eliminating driver wages could result in very high profit margins. Margins of 50% are not unrealistic, considering how much driver pay eats into traditional ride-hailing revenues. If Waymo captures roughly one-third of a $1 trillion autonomous ride-hailing market, it could generate about $300 billion in annual revenue. With 50% margins, that equates to $150 billion in profit. At a 30x earnings multiple, this could translate into an additional $4.5 trillion valuation for Alphabet. Given Alphabet's current valuation of around $2.1 trillion, this could boost the company's total market cap to over $6.5 trillion, or more than $500 per share. Admittedly, reaching this scale will take time — unlike signing up for services like Google or Netflix. Investors need to take a long-term view. Think 2030, or even 2035. The key takeaway is that Alphabet is scaling Waymo rapidly, has the technology and strategic advantage, and is addressing a massive potential market, making this lofty valuation possible. GOOG stock performance over the past four years has been notably inconsistent, with annual returns showing more volatility than the S&P 500. Returns were 65% in 2021, -39% in 2022, 59% in 2023, and 35% in 2024. The Trefis High Quality Portfolio, which includes 30 stocks, has shown significantly less volatility. Over the past four years, it has outperformed the S&P 500 comfortably. Why is that? As a group, the HQ Portfolio stocks have provided better returns with lower risk compared to the benchmark index — less of a roller-coaster ride, as shown in the HQ Portfolio performance metrics. Considering today's uncertain macroeconomic environment — rate cut expectations, ongoing conflicts — could GOOG experience a similar underperformance as in 2022 over the next 12 months, or will it see another surge? Investors may be underestimating not just Waymo's promise but also Alphabet's overall Internet business, which continues to perform well. In Q4 2024, Google's cloud segment revenue jumped 30% to $11.96 billion. Google search revenue rose 12.5% to $54 billion, and YouTube ad revenue climbed 13.8% to $10.5 billion. Overall, Google's revenues for the quarter reached $96.5 billion, up 12% year-over-year. In addition to revenue growth, Alphabet's operating margin expanded by 500 basis points year-over-year to 32% in Q4. The combination of increased revenue and margin expansion led to a 31% increase in earnings per share to $2.15. The stock remains attractively valued, trading at just 19x consensus 2025 earnings and 17x consensus 2026 earnings. GOOG Return Compared With Trefis Reinforced Portfolio Invest with Trefis Market Beating Portfolios | Rules-Based Wealth
NBC News
07-03-2025
- Automotive
- NBC News
Formula 1 officially approves Cadillac as new American team starting in 2026
It's official: The Cadillac Formula 1 Team will join the grid next year, gaining final approval from F1 and its governing body on Friday. The GM-backed American team secured conditional approval last fall. Now, the sport says it has met the necessary requirements to become the 11th team competing on the racetrack. 'The FIA Formula One Championship's expansion to an 11th team in 2026 is a milestone. GM/Cadillac brings fresh energy,' FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem said in a statement. 'The Cadillac Formula 1 Team's presence in the paddock will inspire future competitors and fans. Their entry strengthens our mission to push motorsport's boundaries at the highest level.' The team is a product of a partnership between GM and Cadillac, which will build the power unit, and TWG Motorsports, the parent company of Andretti Global, to build the cars. In a statement, Cadillac F1 said the veteran Formula 1 team executive Graeme Lowdon will serve as its team principal. Russ O'Blenes has been announced as CEO of TWG GM Performance Power Units which is tasked with making Cadillac F1 a 'full-works team' in the coming years. The team struck a deal to use Ferrari engines when it launches. The 2025 Formula 1 season begins next week. The entry of Cadillac F1 will align with a new set of regulations starting in 2026 that is expected to scramble the field, with each team effectively starting from scratch when building their challengers. 'For the past years, we have worked hand in hand with GM, to lay a robust foundation for an extraordinary F1 entry,' said Dan Towriss, the CEO of TWG Motorsports. 'Now, with 2026 in our sights after today's final approval from the FIA and Formula 1, we're accelerating our efforts — expanding our facilities, refining cutting-edge technologies and continuing to assemble top-tier talent.' GM President Mark Reuss said in a statement that the move brings the Michigan-based manufacturer 'closer to showcasing GM's engineering expertise on the prestigious global stage of F1.' Mario Andretti, the former F1 world champion, was announced earlier as an adviser to the new team on driver selection and technical issues, among other things. 'From our standpoint, I think the play at the beginning would be to have one experienced driver — nationality doesn't matter — and then a young American talent,' Andretti Andretti told NBC News in November. 'These are the objectives at the moment.'
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Top chipmakers, new robotaxis, and Sam Altman vs. Elon Musk: Tech news roundup
Chip foundries are responsible for producing a critical part of every piece of technology in the world. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM) is perhaps the most well-known chip manufacturer, known for fabricating advanced chips designed by Nvidia (NVDA) and Apple (AAPL). The Taiwan-based chipmaker has a 92% share in advanced AI chip production, according to data from Boston Consulting Group, cited by JPMorgan (JPM). Read More Most Americans aren't sold on driverless cars or robotaxis, but they're coming anyways; Tesla (TSLA), Uber (UBER), and Lyft (LYFT) are betting on it. The last big driverless-car hype cycle centered on rollouts from Waymo (GOOGL) and Cruise (GM) in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their fleet of robotaxis dominated headlines, as the sudden influx of autonomous vehicles divided residents over pedestrian safety and job automation. A deadly collision with a GM-backed Cruise robotaxi in Oct. 2023 heightened regulatory scrutiny and the company eventually exited the robotaxi business altogether Read More OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has responded to Elon Musk's offer to buy the artificial intelligence startup's assets by saying it's not for sale. 'OpenAI is not for sale,' Altman told Axios during the AI Action Summit in Paris. 'OpenAI's mission is not for sale — to say nothing of the fact that, like, a competitor who is not able to beat us in the market and you know, instead is just trying to say, like, 'I'm gonna buy this' with total disregard for the mission is a likely path there.' Read More T-Mobile's (TMUS) direct-to-cell (DTC) satellite messaging service powered by Elon Musk's Starlink is now free for anyone in the U.S., at least for a limited time, as the company looks to draw in customers. Read More Apple (AAPL) just launched a new major health study looking at how technology can help improve users' physical and mental health, as well as overall well-being. Read More Like the broader artificial intelligence sector, OpenAI relies on Nvidia's (NVDA) costly training chips to build tools like ChatGPT, but that could change — if OpenAI's in-house chip design somehow pans out. Read More Despite rattling global tech stocks with competitive artificial intelligence models, Chinese AI startup DeepSeek didn't introduce anything new, a Google (GOOGL) executive said. Read More Google Maps (GOOGL) has updated the name for the 'Gulf Of Mexico,' now calling it the 'Gulf of America' following President Donald Trump's order changing the name recognized by the U.S. government. Read More Apptronik said Thursday that it had closed its Series A fundraise at roughly $350 million, with plans to use the funding to scale production of its artificial intelligence-powered humanoid robots. Read More Arm (SFTBY) is reportedly making its first chip — and counting on Meta (META) to be one of its first customers. The British chip designer could launch its first in-house chip by the summer, the Financial Times reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. Producing its own chip would be a massive change to Arm's business of licensing its chip designs to companies such as Nvidia (NVDA) and Apple (AAPL). Read More For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
The next big robotaxi push is nearly here
Most Americans aren't sold on driverless cars or robotaxis, but they're coming anyways; Tesla (TSLA), Uber (UBER), and Lyft (LYFT) are betting on it. The last big driverless-car hype cycle centered on rollouts from Waymo (GOOGL) and Cruise (GM) in the San Francisco Bay Area. They were accompanied by Google's Firefly, Tesla's driver-assist tech, Apple's (scrapped) car project, and Uber's and Lyft's (jettisoned) in-house efforts. The fleet of robotaxis dominated headlines, as the sudden influx of autonomous vehicles divided residents over pedestrian safety and job automation. A deadly collision with a GM-backed Cruise robotaxi in Oct. 2023 was followed closely by the company exiting exiting the business. Now, nearly two years later, another robotaxi push is under way. This time, Tesla, Uber, Lyft, and others are gearing up for battle in Texas — where autonomous-vehicle regulations are loose. The industry is awaiting favorable nationwide rules, courtesy of Elon Musk's relationship with President Donald Trump. On Jan. 29, Musk told investors that Tesla would debut 'autonomous ride-hailing for money in Austin, in June.' Crucially, the executive did not offer specifics on the scale of the rollout. Critics have long accused Musk of overstating Tesla's self-driving tech, and Tesla often misses its own product-launch deadlines. Regardless of how Tesla's push pans out, Uber and Lyft are forming separate alliances to gain a foothold in Texas. Ex-rivals Uber and Waymo said in September that they would team up to offer robotaxis in Austin and Atlanta in early 2025. On Feb. 5, Uber started promoting its waitlist for the service and shared a teaser of the co-branded autonomous vehicles. According to TechCrunch, the deal has Waymo handling the driverless tech, while Uber oversees fleet management and maintenance. Waymo started piloting robotaxis in Austin in Oct. 2024 — the company already offers robotaxi services in Los Angeles and Phoenix, along with the Bay Area. One early Waymo user posted a screenshot to Reddit showing a 31-minute wait for an autonomous ride in Austin. 'Can't imagine how bad it will be under Uber,' they said, adding that the cars were 'already poorly cleaned.' Lyft chimed in with its own plans on Monday, Feb. 10, telling TechCrunch that it will bring its own robotaxi service to Dallas 'as soon as 2026,' powered by Mobileye's (INTC) autonomous-vehicle tech and financed by Japan's Marubeni Corporation (MARUY). In a statement shared with Quartz, Royal Bank of Canada (RY) Capital Markets analyst Tom Narayan explained how Tesla's autonomous tech differs from the tech Lyft and Uber will use. 'A key difference between this [Mobileye] service and Waymo versus Tesla's service, concerns hardware,' said Narayan.'Unlike Tesla, [Mobileye] and Waymo utilize cameras, radars, and lidars. Tesla is seeking to only use its camera-based FSD system.' For Mobileye, Narayan called the Lyft deal 'incrementally positive' and said it signals 'an increasing interest in Level 4 robotaxi efforts, across the industry.' For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
