Seeking Alpha’s roundup of statements, announcements, and remarks that could impact the technology sector.
- Alphabet’s (GOOG) (GOOGL) Waymo said that it plans to upgrade software for its robotaxis to enable them to better navigate power outages following a major outage in the San Francisco area earlier this week that resulted in several of the vehicles stalling at intersections.
In a blog post on Wednesday, Waymo said the sheer number of darkened traffic lights “presented a unique challenge for autonomous technology.”
“While the Waymo Driver is designed to handle dark traffic signals as four-way stops, it may occasionally request a confirmation check to ensure it makes the safest choice. While we successfully traversed more than 7,000 dark signals on Saturday, the outage created a concentrated spike in these requests,” Waymo explained in its post.
“We established these confirmation protocols out of an abundance of caution during our early deployment, and we are now refining them to match our current scale. While this strategy was effective during smaller outages, we are now implementing fleet-wide updates that provide the Driver with specific power outage context, allowing it to navigate more decisively,” Waymo added.
Other leading developers of robotaxi services include Amazon’s (AMZN) Zoox, Tesla (TSLA), and Baidu’s (BIDU) Apollo Go.
- Nvidia (NVDA) recently tested whether it would make chips with Intel’s (INTC) advanced 18A process, but has “stopped moving forward,” according to Reuters, which cited people close to the matter.
When approached for comment, an Intel spokesperson told Reuters that the company’s 18A production technologies were “progressing well” and that it continued to see “strong interest” for its 14A production technology.
Nvidia did not respond to a request for comment. The chip titan announced a $5 billion investment in Intel in September, Reuters noted.
- Alphabet-backed Motive (MTVE), which provides AI-powered logistics and safety software for heavy equipment and trucking operations, has filed for an IPO.
According to the company’s SEC filing, Motive hopes to list its shares on the NYSE under the symbol MTVE. The filing didn’t specify the size or pricing of the potential deal.