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Google to pay Arizona drivers $20 an hour to test self-driving cars

May 13, 2016 Admin 0 Comments

Google is hiring people in Arizona to sit in the front seat of its self-driving cars 'collecting data for our engineering team' on how the vehicles perform in the city's hot, dry and dusty roadways.

The California technology company has posted job ads looking to hire people in the Phoenix area who are willing to work six to eight hours a day, five days a week, for roughly $20 US an hour.

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Applicants must be licensed drivers with clean records, but won't be called upon to take the wheel of four Lexus RX450h SUVs that have been equipped with Google's latest technology.

Rather, they will sit in the passenger seats of the vehicles while they drive around the city in real-world conditions, and at the end of each shift provide the company with "concise written and oral feedback to the engineering team," for how the cars performed under all conditions.

While it's unlikely to be needed, the humans selected must be able to take the wheel as circumstances warrant, because Google says its technology is not quite ready to be in control under all driving conditions. More testing in places like Phoenix could make that possible quicker, however.

Google's autonomous cars have clocked 2.4 million kilometres on U.S. roadways so far, but the company has identified the area around Phoenix as an ideal test market to take the next step.

That's because "Arizona is known as a place where research and development is welcome, innovation can thrive, and companies can set up roots," said Jennifer Haroon, head of business operations for the Google Self-Driving Car project.

"The Phoenix area has distinct desert conditions, which will help us better understand how our sensors and cars handle extreme temperatures and dust in the air."

The move toward autonomous vehicles got a shot in the arm last month when U.S. road regulator the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration declared that computer software could technically be considered a "driver" under U.S. law

Apple invests $1 billion in Chinese ride-hailing service Didi

May 13, 2016 Admin 0 Comments

In a bid to better understand China, Apple has announced a $1 billion investment in Chinese Uber-like service, Didi Chuxing. The country's homegrown ride-hailing service already has plenty of cash, and was recently valued at over $25 billion. According to Reuters, it has 87 percent of the market of private car hailing across China. Apple CEO Tim Cook said the investment would help the company better understand the Chinese market -- oh and it's about cars.

"We are making the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including a chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market," he said. "Of course, we believe it will deliver a strong return for our invested capital over time as well." In case you forgot, Apple is also looking into cars, making several moves in auto technology -- this could certainly help in that regard. A major investment by Apple in a Chinese-based company could also help ameliorate the issues it has had dealing with the country. Like this, this, or this.

Similar investments and collaborations are also underway in China. LeEco has already teased its autonomous electric car and is envisioning a fleet of autonomous taxis connected through China's car-hailing app Yidao Yongche -- the car maker is an investor.

The Chinese ride-hailing firm said it was the biggest single investment it's ever received. Didi itself is the result of China's two biggest ride-hailing services, Didi and Kuaidi, merging together. The company has also invested in Lyft.