Lyft to sell autonomous driving unit for $550 million to Toyota

WASHINGTON - US ride hailing service Lyft agreed to sell its autonomous driving division to a unit of Japan's Toyota for $550 million, the companies said Monday.

The move follows a similar divestment from Uber last year as the rideshare firms focus on core operations amid struggles during the yearlong coronavirus pandemic.

The Lyft operations known as Level 5 will be folded into Woven Planet Holdings, a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation, which will create a team of some 1,200 working on self-driving technology in Japan, the United States and Britain.

Lyft will receive some $550 million in cash, with $200 million paid upfront and $350 million of payments over a five-year period, under the agreement.

"This acquisition advances our mission to develop the safest mobility in the world at scale," said Woven Planet chief executive James Kuffner.

"This deal will be key in weaving together the people, resources, and infrastructure that will help us to transform the world we live in through mobility technologies that can bring about a happier, safer future for us all."

Lyft CEO Logan Green said the transaction "brings together the vision, talent, resources and commitment to advance clean, autonomous mobility on a global scale."

Both Lyft and Uber had been working on their own technology for autonomous cars, but the firms have been hit hard by the slowdown in ridesharing during the global pandemic.

Agence France-Presse

Tech spats spark fears of ‘digital protectionism’

WASHINGTON — As American tech giants extend their global reach, fears are growing on their side of the Atlantic over trade barriers some see as “digital protectionism”.

While China has long been a difficult market for US firms to navigate, tensions have been rising with the European Union on privacy, antitrust and other issues, impacting tech firms such as Google, Facebook and Uber.

In recent weeks, Europe’s highest court struck down an agreement which allowed US firms to transfer personal data out of the region without running afoul of privacy rules.

In parallel, Brussels is looking to create a new “digital single market” simplifying rules for operating across EU borders — but which could also include new regulations for online “platforms”.

Some see this as a jab at US retailers like Amazon, “sharing economy” services like Airbnb or even news outfits.

Ed Black, president of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, said the platform proposal “has the potential to be troublesome.”

“Nobody has defined what a platform is,” Black told AFP. “It feels like a proposal to solve a non-problem.”

After the European Court of Justice invalidated the so-called “Safe Harbor” data-sharing agreement this month, Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker said Washington was “deeply disappointed.”

For the past 15 years, the key transatlantic accord allowed tech firms like Facebook to operate on both sides of the ocean without running afoul of EU privacy laws.

The ruling, Pritzker said, “creates significant uncertainty for both US and EU companies and consumers and puts at risk the thriving transatlantic digital economy.”

Undercurrent of fear

“We’re waiting to see which way Europe goes,” says Daniel Castro, vice president at the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, a Washington think tank.

Castro detects “an undercurrent of fear” in Europe because of the popularity of services such as Google and Facebook but argues that the US and EU “need to be on the same side when it comes to free trade.”

Another source of friction is Europe’s effort to enforce the “right to be forgotten,” allowing individuals to remove online content from searches that are outdated or inaccurate.

France has ordered Google to carry this out worldwide, not just in Europe — but US firms see this as a form of censorship, effectively enabling people to rewrite history to hide embarrassing data.

“You’re taking about Europe imposing its version of how the world should be on everyone else,” Castro said.

President Barack Obama expressed concerns about digital trade barriers in an interview earlier this year with Re/code.

“We have owned the Internet. Our companies have created it, expanded it, perfected it in ways that (European firms) can’t compete,” Obama said in response to a question about European actions in the digital sphere.

“And oftentimes what is portrayed as high-minded positions on issues sometimes is just designed to carve out some of their commercial interests.”

Buy time for Europe

That view was echoed by Kati Suominen, who heads the Future of Trade initiative for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank.

Europe sees it is lagging and is moving on policies in order “to buy time,” she argued.

“Europe is seeking to build its own digital economy by complicating the operations of foreign companies on European soil. In that sense, it is protectionism,” she said.

Rather than throw up new barriers, she argued, Europe should be tearing them if it wishes to foster a digital economy — notably to enable better access to venture capital.

Last month Guenther Oettinger, the EU commissioner for the digital economy and society, brushed aside suggestions of protectionism.

“Our rules on a European level are relevant for everybody, for European producers and players, for Asian players, and for American players as well,” he said during a visit to San Francisco.

Snowden impact

While Google has been the target of a contentious EU anti-trust probe among other issues, Facebook has been especially impacted by privacy rules, with Ireland become the latest to examine the legality of its transfer of user data across the Atlantic.

Belgian officials have also sought to prevent Facebook from using a data “cookie” that gathers information about users. The social media giant says the tool helps verify legitimate accounts and combat spam.

A key element in the US-EU row over privacy has been the fear that US Internet firms are handing over data to the National Security Agency, in light of revelations from former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

To address those concerns, US lawmakers have moved to pass a bill allowing non-citizens to enforce their data protection rights in US courts under the Privacy Act.

Berin Szoka, president of the activist group TechFreedom, said the bill was a step toward “repairing America’s tarnished image on data privacy.”

He noted that the failure until now to address the issue in Washington “has provoked an international crisis — one that could lead to a European blockade of American Internet companies.”

Suominen argued that the US and EU have an chance to foster a flourishing digital economy — with appropriate rules — as part of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) currently being negotiated.

But she warned that policymakers need to bring their thinking up to date.

“Policymakers are struggling to understand what these technologies are and what they can do, and we have archaic policies from the 20th century,” she said. “I worry that we are not on the right path for the 21st century.”

source: interaksyon.com

Microsoft hands display ads to AOL, maps to Uber

SEATTLE — Microsoft Corp said on Monday it will hand over its display advertising business to AOL Inc and sell some map-generating technology to ride-hailing app company Uber, as it slims down its money-losing online operations.

The moves mean Microsoft will focus on its growing search advertising business based on its Bing search engine, and displaying maps on its Windows devices rather than generating the maps themselves.

Microsoft, which employs hundreds of people in its display ad business around the world, said those employees would be offered the chance to transfer to AOL and that it was not making any layoffs.

The world’s largest software company no longer breaks out results for its online operations, chiefly its MSN web portal and Bing, but they have lost more than $10 billion over the past five years. Chief Executive Satya Nadella has said Bing will turn a profit next fiscal year.

“Today’s news is evidence of Microsoft’s increased focus on our strengths: in this case, search and search advertising and building great content and consumer services,” said Microsoft in a statement.

Under a 10-year deal struck with AOL, now a unit of Verizon Communications Inc, AOL will sell display ads on MSN, Outlook.com, Xbox, Skype and in some apps in major countries. As part of the deal, Bing will become the search engine behind web searches on AOL starting next year.

Microsoft also struck a multi-year extension to its existing deal with AppNexus, which provides the tech platform for buyers to purchase online ads.

Microsoft and Uber did not disclose financial terms of their deal, under which Uber will take over the part of Microsoft’s mapping unit that works on imagery acquisition and map data processing. Uber will offer jobs to the 100 or so Microsoft employees working in that area, according to a source familiar with the deal.

Fast-growing Uber, which is shaking up established taxi services worldwide, already uses a combination of map services from Google Inc, Apple Inc and China’s Baidu and the source said it will continue to do so.

Although Microsoft will no longer collect mapping imagery itself, Microsoft said it will continue to work with imagery providers for underlying data on its own maps. Microsoft already gets much of its map data from Finland’s Nokia.

source: interaksyon.com

Uber-heated battle as mobile apps rattle Asia’s taxis

SINGAPORE — Southeast Asia’s notorious taxi market is undergoing a shakeout as Uber and homegrown mobile booking applications gain popularity in a region that has long endured inefficient cartels and price-gouging drivers.

San Francisco-based Uber, which allows customers to hail taxis or private vehicles via smartphones and pay with a credit card, is expanding rapidly in the region while fending off legal and regulatory challenges in various markets across the world.

Founded in 2009 and backed by Google Ventures, the investment arm of the Internet giant, Uber now operates in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam after first entering Southeast Asia in Singapore last year.

The firm, whose valuation was placed at $18.2 billion after an investment drive in June, employs smartphone and satellite technology to match taxi supply and demand.

A list of the world’s 10 worst cities to hail a taxi compiled by industry website tourism-review.com in March included Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Phnom Penh and Bangkok.

In Singapore, locals grumbled in pre-Uber days about vanishing taxis during peak periods, with cabbies refusing to pick up roadside passengers while waiting to earn extra fees from reservations made via antiquated phone-in booking systems.

In some cities, it was not uncommon for cabbies to demand exorbitant fares before taking passengers at peak periods, during heavy rain and floods, or at times of day when taxis are scarce.

Regulatory tangles

Uber executives say they welcome competition and are more than ready to go head to head with the likes of Malaysia-based GrabTaxi, Indonesia’s Blue Bird, and Easy Taxi, a regional player backed by German startup incubator Rocket Internet.

“As long as people are giving people options, that’s a good thing,” Michael Brown, Uber’s Southeast Asia general manager, told AFP in an interview.

“What makes Uber bristle is when special interests try to protect monopolies and keep new entrants and new competitors out,” said Brown, who is based in Singapore.

Despite threats to have it banned in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur, Uber continues to operate there.

The firm is also facing legal threats in San Francisco and other major cities including New York and Frankfurt.

It is has also run into opposition in Seoul, where officials believe it should follow South Korean laws regulating taxi or rental car companies.

“Uber insists that it is acting as an online broker connecting drivers and customers rather than acting as a rental car company,” a Seoul city official told AFP.

“We do not agree with their characterisation of their business.”

Authorities in Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta also say its car-hailing service makes use of private vehicles that do not comply with strict regulations that traditional taxi operators come under.

Uber has vehemently denied the accusations.

The firm does not own its own limousine or taxi fleet. Instead, its app allows customers to summon cars in its network, usually from a private car company.

It takes a cut of the total fare from the driver, which is paid electronically. Other taxi app players allow their members to take cash.

“Up to this day our principle remains that this taxi service is illegal,” Muhammad Akbar, head of Jakarta’s transport authority, told AFP.

In Malaysia, authorities say they began a crackdown on private cars using Uber on October 1, fining drivers up to 10,000 ringgit ($3,070).

Giving people options

Commuters and market analysts say unyielding bureaucrats are not seeing how taxi apps like Uber have the potential to significantly improve the standard of living of city dwellers.

Jakarta resident Winda Rezita said the arrival of Uber in the Indonesian capital was a relief.

“When I am too lazy to drive in Jakarta’s heavy traffic jams or when there’s a long taxi queue at the mall, I just switch on the app,” the e-commerce business founder told AFP. “It’s so much better than waiting outside a building or standing in a long queue.”

Daphne Kasriel-Alexander, a consumer trends consultant at research firm Euromonitor International, said “inadequate and overburdened public transport systems” coupled with the emergence of more middle-class consumers have boosted the usage of taxi-hailing apps in Southeast Asia.

Expansion plans

GrabTaxi, which first launched in Malaysia in 2012 and has since expanded to Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, is aiming for further growth.

Unlike Uber, the firm, backed by Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings, has so far avoided regulatory difficulties.

Its app mainly matches customers with registered taxis. A recently launched function called GrabCar allows for booking of private vehicles just like Uber, but so far it has not been flagged by authorities.

“We’re the leading taxi booking app in Southeast Asia including Singapore, and we are well-positioned to extend our lead,” Lim Kell Jay, GrabTaxi’s general manager in Singapore, told AFP.

The firm says it gets one taxi booking every two seconds in the whole region, with more than 300,000 people using it at least once a month.

Taxi drivers say they hope the intense rivalry between the apps will continue.

A Singaporean taxi driver who only wanted to be known as Tan said his revenue has increased by 20 to 30 percent since he signed up with UberTaxi last month.

The service connects Uber users to registered taxis, just like rival GrabTaxi.

“With the apps like Uber, it’s like a win-win. You (passengers) wait around less, and we drivers don’t have to roam around hunting for passengers, saving time and petrol,” he told AFP.

source: interaksyon.com