Month: March 2023
Yeah, of course, YC’s winter class is oozing with AI companies
While some startups are reinventing the wheel, most are looking to build nuanced use cases of AI. It would be weirder if they weren’t.
Yeah, of course, YC’s winter class is oozing with AI companies by Rebecca Szkutak originally published on TechCrunch
Being an artificial intelligence company has become the soup du jour of startup land. Companies are scrambling to either incorporate AI into their existing business model or change up their marketing so whatever they were already quietly using AI to do is front and center. Y Combinator’s latest class is no different.
Angel investor Gokul Rajaram tweeted recently that he had heard from a company in the latest YC cohort that half of the class was looking to use chatGPT. Now, with a letter circulating that asks AI researchers to pause development and with YC demo day next week, we decided to see if that checks out. Turns out, it’s not that far off.
Ninety-one startups, or 34%, of the current YC class list that they are an AI company or use AI in some kind of way, according to the accelerator’s handy online database. If you narrow that down to generative AI you get 54, or 20%. While not quite half, it’s still striking when compared to past cohorts. In previous years, the highest number of companies using generative AI in a single YC class was nine, and a count of more general AI usage brought the number to 44; both numbers hail from classes much larger than the current one, too.
This isn’t particularly surprising.
Yeah, of course, YC’s winter class is oozing with AI companies by Rebecca Szkutak originally published on TechCrunch
Marburg outbreak grows with concerning geographic spread in Equatorial Guinea
WHO said Equatorial Guinea is not reporting some confirmed cases, delaying responses.
Enlarge / An electron micrograph of a number of Marburg virions responsible for causing Marburg virus disease. (credit: Getty | BSIP)
Equatorial Guinea’s first outbreak of Marburg virus—a relative of the Ebola virus that causes similarly deadly hemorrhagic fever—is continuing to grow, spreading over a wide geographic area with potentially undetected chains of transmission, officials for the World Health Organization said.
As of Wednesday morning, officials in Equatorial Guinea had reported nine confirmed cases, with seven confirmed deaths across three provinces since early February.
“However, these three provinces are 150 kilometers apart, suggesting wider transmission of the virus,” WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a press conference Wednesday.
What to Know About Getting COVID Again (and Again) in 2023 – CNET
When it comes to reinfection, a lot has changed since the pandemic started. Here’s what the experts know about how long immunity lasts and more.
When it comes to reinfection, a lot has changed since the pandemic started. Here’s what the experts know about how long immunity lasts and more.
Missing Surveillance Footage, Understaffed Security Teams, A Lost Rape Kit: Passengers Say Cruise Lines Did Not Protect Them Against Sexual Assault
Numerous passengers traveling on major cruise lines such as Carnival and Disney say in court documents that they were raped and assaulted — often times by crew members.
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Numerous passengers traveling on major cruise lines such as Carnival and Disney say in court documents that they were raped and assaulted — often times by crew members.
The Framework Laptop 16 is trying to bring back snap-on removable batteries
Turns out the Framework Laptop 16’s Expansion Bay is designed to accommodate secondary batteries, too. | Image: Framework
I may have changed my mind about buying a Framework Laptop 13 this year, but I’m not done being excited about the company’s products. Heck, I’m more enthusiastic than ever — because it looks like Framework is seriously planning to let us snap a second removable battery into a laptop.
One week ago today, the modular laptop company announced a 16-inch notebook that promises to let you swap out its entire butt for one that fits a discrete graphics chip, extra fans, or a pair of SSDs — and / or swap out the Framework Laptop 16’s entire keyboard deck to add, say, a numpad or fancy LEDs or virtual piano keys. It promised more details later this year.
Image: Framework
Piano keys, DJ controls, a wireless charging pad, secondary screens — just a few of Framework’s ideas.
But Framework didn’t actually stop at that tease: it also published design specifications on its GitHub for everyone to see. Here’s what I learned from digging through it.
Extended batteries are back on the menu
If you want a graphics card you can slide right into the back of a laptop — power, data, the works — you might want a lot of pins. As you’re about to see, the Framework Laptop 16’s Expansion Bay has 148 contacts between the laptop’s motherboard and the daughterboard you’ll find in each module. And Framework has already revealed what they do.
Image: Framework
The Expansion Bay contacts as they appear in Framework’s design documents.
On GitHub, Framework shares the entire pinout, and I’d like to draw your attention to No. 41 and No. 63: the first “allows power to be fed from the Expansion Bay back into the laptop in an Extended Battery scenario,” while the second can “control 2nd battery discharge,” among other things. Oh, and pin No. 62 is specifically labeled an “I/O pin for 2nd battery.”
While the pinout also suggests that the Framework Laptop 16 may be able to use the same pathways to charge itself over a USB-C PD port built into an Expansion Bay module, it sure sounds like the company thinks you’ll be able to use two batteries with this laptop.
Major charging chops?
Speaking of USB-C PD power, another part of the pinout suggests Framework anticipates this laptop might go beyond 100W charging someday. Pin No. 39 “will be high when connected to the PD power source >=180W,” the company reveals.
Plus, pin No. 1 states that “while on AC with a high power adapter, Vsys will be 20V, with maximum current up to 10.5A,” which means Framework’s anticipating a power adapter as big as 210W could plug into this machine — though it’s possible those modules could use a barrel jack for power rather than a 240W USB-C PD 2.1 cable.
Image: Linus Tech Tips
Linus Tech Tips took this, our first and only good view of the actual connector atop Framework’s prototype swappable GPU module.
You might also be happy to hear there’s dedicated PWM speed control for two independent cooling fans — so you should theoretically be able to tune the noise level of an expansion module — and a pin that can be monitored “to put GPU in min power state.” Like many laptops, maybe you’ll be able to save battery by switching to integrated graphics even with the discrete GPU attached.
The pinout also confirms how much bandwidth to expect from Expansion Bay modules. In case you missed it in the CEO’s blog post, you get eight lanes of PCI-Express for your GPU and SSDs. It’s not the 16 lanes you’d get from a desktop, but it’s better than the PCIe x4 that held back early external GPUs.
Hey module makers: the entire keyboard deck is up for grabs
It didn’t quite hit me until I watched the Linus Tech Tips video, but the entire deck of this laptop is Input Module City. It’s a huge canvas. Here’s a screenshot from Linus’ video because (as an investor in the company) he’s the only one Framework has shown it to so far:
Image: Linus Tech Tips
From the Linus Tech Tips video showing where the “keyboard-sized,” “numpad-sized,” and “half-sized” modules fit.
On GitHub, the company explains that you can build three different types of modules, all of which use the same row of springy contacts you see in the middle.
Keyboard-sized modules (283.16mm wide)
Numpad-sized modules (67.85mm wide)
Half-sized modules (33.825mm wide)
They’re each limited to 3.7mm tall and roughly 114.35mm deep and can draw up to 500mA of 5V power and 100mA of 3.3V power. The system can tell them when the computer’s asleep and keep them minimally powered, just like how a normal laptop touchpad and keyboard are waiting for your tap to wake the machine again.
Image: Framework
One of the types of spring connector that Framework is using. This one’s rated to be compressed roughly 5,000 times.
The modules don’t need to be powered, by the way! At Framework’s event last week, I saw little strips of wood, metal, plastic, and even marble that can be slotted next to your keyboard or touchpad to make your machine look unique.
But Framework has also created a few powered example modules for those who want the juice, each running on a Raspberry Pi RP2040 chip. And Linus got to touch one that we didn’t get to try last week: an incredibly low-power secondary screen.
Image: Linus Tech Tips
Framework’s “B1 Display” could let you monitor system resources, among other things.
Framework’s calling this prototype module the B1 Display, and it’s a 4.2-inch, 300 x 400-pixel black-and-white screen, which sounds a little ho-hum at first — except this panel has no backlight and is designed to refresh just a single time per second (or optionally up to 32fps) for ultra-low power. Think original PalmPilot or Game Boy.
It can display your animated GIFs, flip into an inverted-color dark mode, and defaults to a screensaver, in part because “the current panel is susceptible to image retention,” Framework writes.
Image: Sean Hollister / The Verge
The Framework Laptop 16, with LED matrix modules flanking the keyboard.
Looking for something a little smaller or brighter? Check out Framework’s LED Matrix. The company’s GitHub reveals that it’s got nine columns and 34 rows for 306 LEDs in all, supports both greyscale and black-and-white images, and can already play animated patterns, scroll content vertically, display a clock, or even play some very basic games.
Here’s just a moment of Pong:
It can also run Tetris, Snake, and even a working copy of Conway’s Game of Life, according to the documentation. Yes, you could theoretically have multiple Turing-complete simulations running right alongside your keyboard as you type.
When the laptop goes to sleep, it’s programmed to slowly transition the LEDs to off. Here’s the back of the prototype LED Matrix module so you can see how it’s all laid out:
Image: Framework
The back of Framework’s LED Matrix module.
Mind you, it’s not clear how many modules Framework will build itself or which it might actually decide to sell. The 40-person company hasn’t historically thrown its money into every possibility and hasn’t released all that many modules yet itself. The reason it publicly released the documentation and revealed the Framework Laptop 16 early is because it doesn’t want to go it alone. It wants everyone — from big companies to individual hackers — to build cool new parts for this ecosystem.
The Framework Laptop 16 is the coolest computing concept I’ve seen in years, so I really hope it works out. We’ll bring you the full official specs, price, and more later this year.
Turns out the Framework Laptop 16’s Expansion Bay is designed to accommodate secondary batteries, too. | Image: Framework
I may have changed my mind about buying a Framework Laptop 13 this year, but I’m not done being excited about the company’s products. Heck, I’m more enthusiastic than ever — because it looks like Framework is seriously planning to let us snap a second removable battery into a laptop.
One week ago today, the modular laptop company announced a 16-inch notebook that promises to let you swap out its entire butt for one that fits a discrete graphics chip, extra fans, or a pair of SSDs — and / or swap out the Framework Laptop 16’s entire keyboard deck to add, say, a numpad or fancy LEDs or virtual piano keys. It promised more details later this year.
Image: Framework
Piano keys, DJ controls, a wireless charging pad, secondary screens — just a few of Framework’s ideas.
But Framework didn’t actually stop at that tease: it also published design specifications on its GitHub for everyone to see. Here’s what I learned from digging through it.
Extended batteries are back on the menu
If you want a graphics card you can slide right into the back of a laptop — power, data, the works — you might want a lot of pins. As you’re about to see, the Framework Laptop 16’s Expansion Bay has 148 contacts between the laptop’s motherboard and the daughterboard you’ll find in each module. And Framework has already revealed what they do.
Image: Framework
The Expansion Bay contacts as they appear in Framework’s design documents.
On GitHub, Framework shares the entire pinout, and I’d like to draw your attention to No. 41 and No. 63: the first “allows power to be fed from the Expansion Bay back into the laptop in an Extended Battery scenario,” while the second can “control 2nd battery discharge,” among other things. Oh, and pin No. 62 is specifically labeled an “I/O pin for 2nd battery.”
While the pinout also suggests that the Framework Laptop 16 may be able to use the same pathways to charge itself over a USB-C PD port built into an Expansion Bay module, it sure sounds like the company thinks you’ll be able to use two batteries with this laptop.
Major charging chops?
Speaking of USB-C PD power, another part of the pinout suggests Framework anticipates this laptop might go beyond 100W charging someday. Pin No. 39 “will be high when connected to the PD power source >=180W,” the company reveals.
Plus, pin No. 1 states that “while on AC with a high power adapter, Vsys will be 20V, with maximum current up to 10.5A,” which means Framework’s anticipating a power adapter as big as 210W could plug into this machine — though it’s possible those modules could use a barrel jack for power rather than a 240W USB-C PD 2.1 cable.
Image: Linus Tech Tips
Linus Tech Tips took this, our first and only good view of the actual connector atop Framework’s prototype swappable GPU module.
You might also be happy to hear there’s dedicated PWM speed control for two independent cooling fans — so you should theoretically be able to tune the noise level of an expansion module — and a pin that can be monitored “to put GPU in min power state.” Like many laptops, maybe you’ll be able to save battery by switching to integrated graphics even with the discrete GPU attached.
The pinout also confirms how much bandwidth to expect from Expansion Bay modules. In case you missed it in the CEO’s blog post, you get eight lanes of PCI-Express for your GPU and SSDs. It’s not the 16 lanes you’d get from a desktop, but it’s better than the PCIe x4 that held back early external GPUs.
Hey module makers: the entire keyboard deck is up for grabs
It didn’t quite hit me until I watched the Linus Tech Tips video, but the entire deck of this laptop is Input Module City. It’s a huge canvas. Here’s a screenshot from Linus’ video because (as an investor in the company) he’s the only one Framework has shown it to so far:
Image: Linus Tech Tips
From the Linus Tech Tips video showing where the “keyboard-sized,” “numpad-sized,” and “half-sized” modules fit.
On GitHub, the company explains that you can build three different types of modules, all of which use the same row of springy contacts you see in the middle.
Keyboard-sized modules (283.16mm wide)
Numpad-sized modules (67.85mm wide)
Half-sized modules (33.825mm wide)
They’re each limited to 3.7mm tall and roughly 114.35mm deep and can draw up to 500mA of 5V power and 100mA of 3.3V power. The system can tell them when the computer’s asleep and keep them minimally powered, just like how a normal laptop touchpad and keyboard are waiting for your tap to wake the machine again.
Image: Framework
One of the types of spring connector that Framework is using. This one’s rated to be compressed roughly 5,000 times.
The modules don’t need to be powered, by the way! At Framework’s event last week, I saw little strips of wood, metal, plastic, and even marble that can be slotted next to your keyboard or touchpad to make your machine look unique.
But Framework has also created a few powered example modules for those who want the juice, each running on a Raspberry Pi RP2040 chip. And Linus got to touch one that we didn’t get to try last week: an incredibly low-power secondary screen.
Image: Linus Tech Tips
Framework’s “B1 Display” could let you monitor system resources, among other things.
Framework’s calling this prototype module the B1 Display, and it’s a 4.2-inch, 300 x 400-pixel black-and-white screen, which sounds a little ho-hum at first — except this panel has no backlight and is designed to refresh just a single time per second (or optionally up to 32fps) for ultra-low power. Think original PalmPilot or Game Boy.
It can display your animated GIFs, flip into an inverted-color dark mode, and defaults to a screensaver, in part because “the current panel is susceptible to image retention,” Framework writes.
Image: Sean Hollister / The Verge
The Framework Laptop 16, with LED matrix modules flanking the keyboard.
Looking for something a little smaller or brighter? Check out Framework’s LED Matrix. The company’s GitHub reveals that it’s got nine columns and 34 rows for 306 LEDs in all, supports both greyscale and black-and-white images, and can already play animated patterns, scroll content vertically, display a clock, or even play some very basic games.
Here’s just a moment of Pong:
It can also run Tetris, Snake, and even a working copy of Conway’s Game of Life, according to the documentation. Yes, you could theoretically have multiple Turing-complete simulations running right alongside your keyboard as you type.
When the laptop goes to sleep, it’s programmed to slowly transition the LEDs to off. Here’s the back of the prototype LED Matrix module so you can see how it’s all laid out:
Image: Framework
The back of Framework’s LED Matrix module.
Mind you, it’s not clear how many modules Framework will build itself or which it might actually decide to sell. The 40-person company hasn’t historically thrown its money into every possibility and hasn’t released all that many modules yet itself. The reason it publicly released the documentation and revealed the Framework Laptop 16 early is because it doesn’t want to go it alone. It wants everyone — from big companies to individual hackers — to build cool new parts for this ecosystem.
The Framework Laptop 16 is the coolest computing concept I’ve seen in years, so I really hope it works out. We’ll bring you the full official specs, price, and more later this year.
Crypto wallet startup Ledger raises additional $108M in funding to secure your crypto and NFT assets
With the recent collapse of high-profile crypto exchanges like FTX, the race among crypto investors to secure critical digital assets is growing fiercer by the day. While some crypto exchanges have introduced measures such as “proof-of-reserves” to reassure jittery customers,
With the recent collapse of high-profile crypto exchanges like FTX, the race among crypto investors to secure critical digital assets is growing fiercer by the day. While some crypto exchanges have introduced measures such as “proof-of-reserves” to reassure jittery customers, […]
Github ordered to identify user who leaked Twitter source code
When portions of Twitter’s source code appeared on Github earlier this year, the social media company asked the court to compel the collaborative programming network to reveal the identity of the user who posted it. Now, Twitter is getting it: the US District Court for the Northern District of California has issued a subpoena to Github compelling it to identity GitHub user “FreeSpeech Enthusiast,” including “name(s), address(es), telephone number(s), , email address(es), social media profile data, and IP address(es), for the user(s) associated with.”
According to the New York Times, sources within the company say that Twitter executives suspect a disgruntled former employee is responsible for the leak. Depending on what information Github provides, Twitter will be able to determine if the source code was posted by one of the thousands of workers that were laid off following Elon Musk’s purchase of company last year.
In addition to information about the leaker themselves, the order asks Github to identify users who “posted, uploaded, downloaded or modified the data.” Github has until April 3 to produce the data.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/github-ordered-to-identify-user-who-leaked-twitter-source-code-181504256.html?src=rss
When portions of Twitter’s source code appeared on Github earlier this year, the social media company asked the court to compel the collaborative programming network to reveal the identity of the user who posted it. Now, Twitter is getting it: the US District Court for the Northern District of California has issued a subpoena to Github compelling it to identity GitHub user “FreeSpeech Enthusiast,” including “name(s), address(es), telephone number(s), , email address(es), social media profile data, and IP address(es), for the user(s) associated with.”
According to the New York Times, sources within the company say that Twitter executives suspect a disgruntled former employee is responsible for the leak. Depending on what information Github provides, Twitter will be able to determine if the source code was posted by one of the thousands of workers that were laid off following Elon Musk’s purchase of company last year.
In addition to information about the leaker themselves, the order asks Github to identify users who “posted, uploaded, downloaded or modified the data.” Github has until April 3 to produce the data.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/github-ordered-to-identify-user-who-leaked-twitter-source-code-181504256.html?src=rss
BuzzFeed is using AI to write SEO-bait travel guides
Image: Hugo Herrera / The Verge
BuzzFeed has taken its next step into AI-written content and started publishing AI-generated travel guides, as reported by Futurism. The publisher’s first AI-generated articles were ad-lib quizzes that were largely innocuous, but the travel guides appear to be a more brazen play to attract search traffic about different destinations.
You can see the full list of travel articles from BuzzFeed’s “Buzzy” AI tool right here. Right now, there are 44 posts covering destinations like Morocco, Stockholm, and Cape May, New Jersey. The articles are “written with the help of Buzzy the Robot (aka our Creative AI Assistant) but powered by human ideas,” BuzzFeed says on Buzzy’s profile. The top of each story I’ve seen includes a line noting that an article was “collaboratively written” by a human and Buzzy.
“Now, I know what you’re thinking”
For the travel articles, it seems that Buzzy the robot and its human editors have a few writing crutches. As observed by Futurism, many of the articles include some common phrases. They often include “now, I know what you’re thinking” ahead of a rhetorical question about that specific place, for example. Futurism also found that “almost everything” from Buzzy uses the phrase “hidden gem.”
When I looked up a few of the collaborators attached to the articles, I saw that they weren’t BuzzFeed editorial staffers but were instead business and sales staffers at the company. That’s because this first set of travel articles was made with input from noneditorial BuzzFeed employees, BuzzFeed spokesperson Juliana Clifton tells The Verge.
I also noticed that quiz writer Buzzy has a separate author page than does travel writer Buzzy, which is specifically bylined “As Told to Buzzy.” That language choice is intentional: the human contributors responded to a questionnaire about travel, and BuzzFeed’s AI tools used those responses to build articles, which were then reviewed by a human editor, Clifton says. Down the line, BuzzFeed’s AI tools could be used to help write articles based on reader contributions that could be similar to its “Add Yours” format.
“We’re experimenting with new formats that allow anyone (with or without a formal background in writing or content creation) to contribute their ideas and unique perspectives on our site,” Clifton says in a statement. Clifton says human editors are involved, and as the company continues to develop its AI-assisted formats, they will have “built-in ways for humans to be in the loop” as collaborators and editors.
The thing is, the travel articles just aren’t that good right now. Sure, they have some nice pictures and generic advice about the destinations. But if I wanted to go to any of these places, I don’t think BuzzFeed’s guides would give me the information I’d need to actually plan a detailed trip.
BuzzFeed’s experiment with AI-written travel guides is the next step from its announcement in January that it would be using tools from OpenAI to personalize content. CNET was also using AI to help generate stories, but it paused that practice soon after it came to light.
Image: Hugo Herrera / The Verge
BuzzFeed has taken its next step into AI-written content and started publishing AI-generated travel guides, as reported by Futurism. The publisher’s first AI-generated articles were ad-lib quizzes that were largely innocuous, but the travel guides appear to be a more brazen play to attract search traffic about different destinations.
You can see the full list of travel articles from BuzzFeed’s “Buzzy” AI tool right here. Right now, there are 44 posts covering destinations like Morocco, Stockholm, and Cape May, New Jersey. The articles are “written with the help of Buzzy the Robot (aka our Creative AI Assistant) but powered by human ideas,” BuzzFeed says on Buzzy’s profile. The top of each story I’ve seen includes a line noting that an article was “collaboratively written” by a human and Buzzy.
For the travel articles, it seems that Buzzy the robot and its human editors have a few writing crutches. As observed by Futurism, many of the articles include some common phrases. They often include “now, I know what you’re thinking” ahead of a rhetorical question about that specific place, for example. Futurism also found that “almost everything” from Buzzy uses the phrase “hidden gem.”
When I looked up a few of the collaborators attached to the articles, I saw that they weren’t BuzzFeed editorial staffers but were instead business and sales staffers at the company. That’s because this first set of travel articles was made with input from noneditorial BuzzFeed employees, BuzzFeed spokesperson Juliana Clifton tells The Verge.
I also noticed that quiz writer Buzzy has a separate author page than does travel writer Buzzy, which is specifically bylined “As Told to Buzzy.” That language choice is intentional: the human contributors responded to a questionnaire about travel, and BuzzFeed’s AI tools used those responses to build articles, which were then reviewed by a human editor, Clifton says. Down the line, BuzzFeed’s AI tools could be used to help write articles based on reader contributions that could be similar to its “Add Yours” format.
“We’re experimenting with new formats that allow anyone (with or without a formal background in writing or content creation) to contribute their ideas and unique perspectives on our site,” Clifton says in a statement. Clifton says human editors are involved, and as the company continues to develop its AI-assisted formats, they will have “built-in ways for humans to be in the loop” as collaborators and editors.
The thing is, the travel articles just aren’t that good right now. Sure, they have some nice pictures and generic advice about the destinations. But if I wanted to go to any of these places, I don’t think BuzzFeed’s guides would give me the information I’d need to actually plan a detailed trip.
BuzzFeed’s experiment with AI-written travel guides is the next step from its announcement in January that it would be using tools from OpenAI to personalize content. CNET was also using AI to help generate stories, but it paused that practice soon after it came to light.
Waymo’s driverless taxi fleet will soon be completely electric
You won’t have to worry about burning fossil fuels if you hail a Waymo One ride in the near future. Waymo is phasing out its hybrid Chrysler Pacifica vans in the Phoenix East Valley area in favor of the Jaguar I-Pace EV, making its autonomous ride-hailing fleet completely electric as of late April. The company’s fifth-generation Driver AI is coming to the region at the same time.
The Alphabet-owned brand is unsurprisingly eager to tout the environmental perks. As Waymo’s cars are much more active than the typical personally-owned ride, the switch to EVs should have a noticeable impact on emissions. Waymo adds that it exclusively uses renewable energy to power the EVs.
There are also practical advantages, Waymo claims. The move to rely solely on the I-Pace helps “optimize” operational and technical support while the company prepares to add future EVs like Geely’s custom-built Zeekr. The consistency should also improve the trustworthiness of Driver as Waymo grows.
Waymo launched One in Phoenix in 2018, and went completely driverless in the area in 2019. Service didn’t start expanding in earnest until 2021, when the company started offering rides in San Francisco using the I-Pace. It began testing service in Los Angeles just last month. The switch to an all-EV fleet now provides a familiar experience regardless of where Waymo operates — Phoenix-area passengers won’t feel left behind.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/waymos-driverless-taxi-fleet-will-soon-be-completely-electric-180526724.html?src=rss
You won’t have to worry about burning fossil fuels if you hail a Waymo One ride in the near future. Waymo is phasing out its hybrid Chrysler Pacifica vans in the Phoenix East Valley area in favor of the Jaguar I-Pace EV, making its autonomous ride-hailing fleet completely electric as of late April. The company’s fifth-generation Driver AI is coming to the region at the same time.
The Alphabet-owned brand is unsurprisingly eager to tout the environmental perks. As Waymo’s cars are much more active than the typical personally-owned ride, the switch to EVs should have a noticeable impact on emissions. Waymo adds that it exclusively uses renewable energy to power the EVs.
There are also practical advantages, Waymo claims. The move to rely solely on the I-Pace helps “optimize” operational and technical support while the company prepares to add future EVs like Geely’s custom-built Zeekr. The consistency should also improve the trustworthiness of Driver as Waymo grows.
Waymo launched One in Phoenix in 2018, and went completely driverless in the area in 2019. Service didn’t start expanding in earnest until 2021, when the company started offering rides in San Francisco using the I-Pace. It began testing service in Los Angeles just last month. The switch to an all-EV fleet now provides a familiar experience regardless of where Waymo operates — Phoenix-area passengers won’t feel left behind.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/waymos-driverless-taxi-fleet-will-soon-be-completely-electric-180526724.html?src=rss