Mar 28, 2017

Hot in Silicon Valley: Uber's woes

After a bad start of the weekend with crash in Tempe, Ariz. on Friday night, Uber put its self-driving cars back on the road on Monday. Local police determined Uber's self-driving car (which was in autonomous mode) was obeying the law and the other driver was at fault for the crash. Still, the accident was ill-timed—Uber's self-driving car division is in a "mini civil war," according to Recode, and it's still working to fight off an IP theft lawsuit from Alphabet's self-driving car unit.

Meanwhile: Didi Chuxing, China's ride-hailing giant (which acquired Uber's Chinese business last year), is said to be considering a $6 billion investment from SoftBank, according to Bloomberg. Didi is somewhat of a "frenemy" of Uber—the companies are financially intertwined since the merger, but Didi's global aspirations mean it will face off with Uber soon enough. And it has already begun to poach some of Uber's brightest minds, like Charlie Miller, a well-known car hacker who recently jumped ship to join Didi's new Silicon Valley research center. An additional $6 billion for Didi can't be good news to Uber.

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Rashaan Ayesh
43 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Pelosi, Schumer demand postmaster general reverse USPS cuts ahead of election

Schumer and Pelosi. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on Thursday calling for the recent Trump appointee to reverse operational changes to the U.S. Postal Service that "threaten the timely delivery of mail" ahead of the 2020 election.

Why it matters: U.S. mail and election infrastructure are facing a test like no other this November, with a record-breaking number of mail-in ballots expected as Americans attempt to vote in the midst of a pandemic.

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Alison Snyder
1 hour ago - Science

CRISPR co-discoverer on the gene editor's pandemic push

Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photos: Brian Ach/Getty Images for Wired and BSIP/UIG via Getty Images

The coronavirus pandemic is accelerating the development of CRISPR-based tests for detecting disease — and highlighting how gene-editing tools might one day fight pandemics, one of its discoverers, Jennifer Doudna, tells Axios.

Why it matters: Testing shortages and backlogs underscore a need for improved mass testing for COVID-19. Diagnostic tests based on CRISPR — which Doudna and colleagues identified in 2012, ushering in the "CRISPR revolution" in genome editing — are being developed for dengue, Zika and other diseases, but a global pandemic is a proving ground for these tools that hold promise for speed and lower costs.

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Axios
Updated 1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 5 p.m. ET: 18,912,947 — Total deaths: 710,318— Total recoveries — 11,403,473 — Map.
  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 5 p.m. ET: 4,867,916 — Total deaths: 159,841 — Total recoveries: 1,577,851 — Total tests: 58,920,975 — Map.
  3. Politics: Pelosi rips GOP over stimulus negotiations: "Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn" — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine tests positive.
  4. Public health: Majority of Americans say states reopened too quickly — Fauci says task force will examine aerosolized spread.
  5. Business: The health care sector imploded in Q2 — More farmers are declaring bankruptcy — July's jobs report could be an inflection point for the recovery.
  6. Sports: Where college football's biggest conferences stand on playing.
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