Alphabet's autonomous driving technology company reaches an important milestone, Apple TV + extends the free subscription period and Affirm files go public. This is your Daily Crunch for October 8, 2020.
The Big Story: Waymo opens the driverless guideWaymo reached a major milestone today: offering fully driverless rides to (some) members of the public.
Although the Alphabet-owned company has already offered many driverless rides, they usually came with a human in the driver's seat for safety. Early Rider program members who had signed nondisclosure agreements were able to experience fully driverless rides, but again had to sign nondisclosure agreements first.
Today, the company said members of its more open Waymo One program in Phoenix will be able to go completely driverless and bring friends and family with them. And in the coming weeks, the program will open to even more passengers.
The tech giantsApple is extending some Apple TV + subscriptions for free until February 2021 - Apple gifted a free year of Apple TV + to new device buyers last year; is now bringing those subs to February.
Amazon introduces its first fully electric delivery vehicle, created in partnership with Rivian. Unique features of the van include sensor-based highway driving and traffic assistance capabilities.
IBM plans to spin off infrastructure services as a separate $ 19 billion business - The company said this will allow it to focus on new opportunities in hybrid cloud applications and artificial intelligence.
Startups, financing and venture capitalInstacart Raises An Extra $ 200 Million With A Valuation Of $ 17.7 Billion - It's Not Hard To Draw A Connection Between COVID-19 And Instacart business results.
Affirm the files confidentially to make them public - The news comes after the upcoming debut was reported in July.
Delivery startup goPuff raises $ 380 million at a valuation of $ 3.9 billion: GoPuff offers products such as over-the-counter medicines, baby food and alcohol (basically, the stuff you'd buy in a convenience store) in 30 minutes or less.
Tips and analysis from Extra CrunchInvestors and founders report a hot market for API startups: Startups providing their service via an API are having a moment.
The Role of Technology in the COVID-19 Response: Assist, Don't Reinvent - Disrupt speakers explained how tech companies have taken a back seat to frontline workers, rather than trying to "fix" problems on their own .
These 3 factors are holding back the monetization of podcasts: fundamental fixes could unleash the revenue potential of the channel.
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All the restGeneral Motors Finally Takes In-Car Technology Seriously, Chooses Unreal Engine for Next-Generation Interface - Matt Burns writes that GM's current crop of in-car UIs is among the worst on the market.
Consumers spent a record $ 28 billion on apps in Q3, aided by the pandemic - According to a new report from App Annie, consumers downloaded 33 billion new apps globally in Q3.
The US Space Force is getting an immersive space simulation training tool built in part by the VFX studio behind 'The Mandalorian' - The US Space Force obviously won't be able to train most service personnel in real space, so the new arm of The US Defense Forces have tasked Slingshot Aerospace to create a VR space simulator.
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