Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving car unit, on Monday debuted a public education campaign about self-driving cars and their benefits — "Let's Talk Self-Driving." The company teamed up with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the National Safety Council, the Foundation for Blind Children, the East Valley Partnership, and the Foundation for Senior Living.
Why it matters: When companies share timelines for when their self-driving cars will arrive, they're actually speaking about when the technology will be ready. But social acceptance is a big factor that will determine how quickly the self-driving car future arrives. Waymo has ambitions to roll out its ride-hailing services beyond its current small test in Arizona, so is trying to help consumers get ready.
"More than a dozen wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through California wine country Monday," per the AP. The fires have so far destroyed at least 1,500 homes and businesses and forced 20,000 people to flee for safety.
CNN reports that Google will join Facebook and Twitter in testifying before the House and Senate intelligence committees at hearings on Russian election interference. A Google spokesperson declined to confirm the report.
Why it matters: More information is coming out about Russian ads on Google products as the company conducts an internal investigation on an issue that has already become a major challenge for rival Facebook.
Go deeper: News broke earlier today that Google had found ads from Russian actors on its services.
General Motors' self-driving car unit Cruise has acquired Strobe, a startup developing LiDAR, which is one of the main sensors used by most self-driving car systems. No financial terms were disclosed, though 11 employees from the startup will be joining GM.
Why it matters: LiDAR—or light detection and ranging—is commonly used to function as a car's "eyes." It shoots laser beams all around and maps out the distance and shapes of the environment based on how fast the light bounces off objects. But while it's used by most self-driving car companies (with some exceptions like Tesla and Comma.ai), it's still relatively expensive. According to Cruise co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt, Strobe is able to cut the cost down by 99% because it "collapses LiDAR down into a single chip." Severalothers are working to bring down the cost of LiDAR sensors by improving its chips.
Microsoft is giving up on its effort to convince people to run Windows on their smartphone, at least for now. In a series of tweets, Windows executive Joe Belfiore said that the company will continue to fix bugs and security issues but won't add new features to Windows 10 Mobile. Plus, he said, he has personally moved to an Android phone.
Why it matters: The phone versions of Windows have been a virtual nonentity for a while now, but this announcement confirms that Microsoft is moving on as well.
