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Waymo begins robotaxi testing in Atlanta | TechCrunch

April 17, 2024 4:37 AM0


Waymo, the self-driving company under Alphabet, began testing its robotaxis in Atlanta on Tuesday, adding another city to its ever-expanding testing and deployment domain.

Over the next few months, Waymo will deploy a handful of cars driven manually by humans to gather mapping data and get familiar with Atlanta’s environment, Sandy Karp, a Waymo spokesperson, told TechCrunch. Later, Waymo aims to test its robotaxis in Atlanta without the safety driver in the front seat.

Like many other states, Georgia’s regulation of AVs is almost nonexistent, meaning Waymo can technically drop fully autonomous vehicles on the streets today without a safety driver, provided it meets the state’s minimal risk conditions.

Waymo declined to comment on whether it plans to launch commercially in Atlanta, or any of the other cities in which it has started collecting mapping data. Earlier this month, Waymo began mapping Washington, D.C., and in November 2023, the company began winter testing robotaxis in Buffalo.

“We’re laser focused on scaling our fully autonomous Waymo One ride-hailing service in the cities where we operate, as we continue safely and responsibly advancing our autonomous technology through road trips to various cities around the U.S.,” said Karp.

Atlanta is just the latest in a string of territorial gains for Waymo over the last few months. Just last week, Waymo officially launched paid robotaxi rides in Los Angeles. In March, California regulators approved Waymo to grow its commercial robotaxi service across the San Francisco peninsula and on San Francisco freeways, which unlocks a route to San Francisco International Airport. Waymo has been offering rides to and from Phoenix’s airport since November 2022, and recently expanded to include curbside dropoff and pickup.

Waymo will start testing robotaxis on Phoenix highways

Waymo also started giving driverless rides to employees in Austin in March and plans to open up the service to members of the public later this year.

Waymo’s recent wins are reminiscent of its erstwhile competitor Cruise’s increased activity last year. By August 2023, Cruise had announced initial data collection in Atlanta, alongside Seattle, Washington D.C., Las Vegas and other cities. Cruise had also begun testing its robotaxis Austin, Houston, Dallas and  Miami and operating a limited robotaxi service in Phoenix.

Cruise’s expansion plans came to a sudden halt after an October 2 incident in San Francisco that led to suspended permits and a decision to ground its entire fleet.  (The California Department of Motor Vehicles tells us Cruise is in the process of trying to get its permits in the state back.)

It’s important to note that Waymo and Cruise are not the same. Cruise has faced scrutiny for its robotaxis malfunctioning in public roads, blocking the flow of traffic, public transit and first responders. Waymo has been touted as a company that has moved slower and broken fewer things, but the company and its tech are not without their faults.

In February, Waymo recalled the software that powers its robotaxi fleet after two vehicles crashed into the same towed pickup truck in Phoenix in December. A Waymo robotaxi also hit and killed a dog in June 2023.




Software Development in Sri Lanka

Robotic Automations

Threads is finally testing a recent filter for search results | TechCrunch

April 16, 2024 9:25 AM0


Meta-owned social network Threads is finally testing a “Recent” filter to sort search results by the latest. Instagram head Adam Mosseri noted Monday that this is a limited test, and the feature is available to only a few people.

“We’re starting to test this with a small number of people, so it’s easier to find relevant search results in real-time,” he said in a reply to a user.

A user part of the test posted that they could see “Top” and “Recent” filters on the search results screen. They noted that the “Recent” filter isn’t strictly chronological, but it shows the latest posts better than the “Top” filter.

Earlier this year, the company accidentally rolled out the option to sort search results by the latest. At that time, the company said it was an “internal prototype available for a small number of people.”

Last November, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said that Threads didn’t have a feature to search for real-time results, as it could create a “safety loophole.”

“To clarify, having a comprehensive list of *every* post with a specific word in chronological order inevitably means spammers and other bad actors pummel the view with content by simply adding the relevant words or tags. And before you ask why we don’t take down that bad content, understand there’s a lot more content that people don’t want to see than we can or should take down.” Mosseri said at that time, explaining why Threads didn’t have an option to sort search results.


Software Development in Sri Lanka

Robotic Automations

Exclusive: Footage from 2020 shows Astra rocket exploding during prelaunch testing

April 13, 2024 10:01 AM0


Footage obtained by TechCrunch shows the catastrophic ending that Astra’s Rocket 3.0 suffered during prelaunch testing in March 2020.

The explosion, which occurred at Alaska’s Pacific Spaceport Complex, was simply reported as an “anomaly” at the time, an industry term for pretty much any issue that deviates from the expected outcome.

“I can confirm we had an anomaly on the launch pad,” Alaska Aerospace CEO Mark Lester told local reporters at the time. “We are executing our emergency checklist. We request everyone stay clear of the area to allow our crew to address the situation.”

Meanwhile, Astra CEO Chris Kemp told TechCrunch at the time that the rocket “suffered an anomaly following an otherwise successful day of testing in Kodiak in preparation for a launch this week.” He added that the company’s hardware “was the only thing harmed.” He told a separate publication that the company would not be attempting a launch after that week, and that it would “wait until conditions with coronavirus improve before making another attempt” — when in actuality, there was no longer a rocket to launch.

The video clip shows the micro launcher burst into flames. It’s clear the vehicle did not survive. It would have been Astra’s third orbital launch attempt.

At the time, Astra was taking such failures in stride. When the company emerged from stealth earlier that year, it did so with a conviction that it could build rockets at such a high volume, and at such a low price, that some amount of failure could be priced in: 100% reliability was not the end goal. That’s how Kemp summed it up in a May 2022 interview: “The expectation I think that a lot of people have is every launch has to be perfect,” he said. “I think what Astra has to do, really, is we have to have so many launches nobody thinks about it anymore.”

Astra went on to reach orbit for the first time in November 2021, and a second time in March 2022.

Astra had been one of the biggest success stories for space industry investors, with the startup going public in July 2021 at a $2.1 billion valuation after raising nearly $500 million for its ultra-low-cost launch plans. But those plans failed to materialize, and after months of burning cash, Astra’s board quietly accepted a take-private deal from Kemp and CTO Adam London at a stock price of just $0.50 per share. The deal is expected to close sometime this quarter, at which time Astra will cease trading on the Nasdaq.

Astra did not return a request for comment on the 2020 launch failure.


Software Development in Sri Lanka

Robotic Automations

X is testing NSFW adult communities, according to screenshots | TechCrunch

April 13, 2024 1:30 AM0


X is living up to its name. The platform, formerly Twitter, is working on an addition to its Communities feature that would let X users create groups for X-rated material, according to app researchers.

Researcher Daniel Buchuk of Watchful, which analyzes app development and performance, spotted the feature in development. He shared screenshots with TechCrunch exclusively that show what X’s NSFW Communities could look like.

An independent researcher, Nima Owji, also spotted the feature in development last month.

Twitter introduced its Communities feature in 2021. It allows users to post within smaller, interest-based subgroups, like a subreddit. When Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022, he enacted sweeping changes to the app’s brand identity, verification systems and creator monetization efforts — but some features, like Communities, remained stagnant.

X also hasn’t taken much initiative in working with its sizable population of online sex workers, who turn to the platform — one of few that allows adult content — to promote their paid offerings from sites like OnlyFans.

“Twitter really is the primary advertising venue at this point for sex workers,” Dr. Olivia Snow, a dominatrix and researcher at UCLA’s Center for Critical Internet Inquiry, told TechCrunch last year. So, the platform’s more lenient policy on adult content is critical for online sex workers to grow their businesses.

X did not reply to a request for comment.

Adult creators are allowed to post explicit content on X, though they can’t monetize it on the platform. But if they can create their own fan communities, this feature could give creators a more direct way to reach their audience.

Even though X seems to be working on this NSFW Communities feature, that doesn’t mean it’ll come to fruition. Shortly after Musk took control of the platform, reverse engineers uncovered possible features that would allow creators to monetize paywalled videos or charge money for DMs. These mock-ups looked similar to features on OnlyFans, which could be a strategy for Musk to recoup his $44 billion investment: monetizing “X videos.”

But as it stands, X doesn’t seem poised to reverse its stance on adult content monetization. Even before Musk’s takeover, Twitter had been working on an OnlyFans competitor, but it was shelved because Twitter could not adequately detect non-consensual content and child sexual exploitation (CSE). But X says it’s mitigating that dire problem. According to X CEO Linda Yaccarino, in 2023 the platform suspended 12.4 million accounts for violating child sexual exploitation policies, up from 2.3 million accounts removed in 2022.

Should Twitter embrace porn and compete with OnlyFans?

Sex workers explain why blue check stigma and #BlockTheBlue aren’t so straightforward




Software Development in Sri Lanka

Robotic Automations

Meta is testing an AI-powered search bar in Instagram | TechCrunch

April 12, 2024 11:35 PM0


Meta is pushing ahead with its efforts to make its generative AI-powered products available to more users. Apart from testing Meta AI chatbot with users in countries like India on WhatsApp, the company is also experimenting with putting Meta AI in the Instagram search bar for both chat with AI and content discovery.

The search query in the search bar leads you to a conversation in DM with Meta AI, where you can ask questions or use one of the pre-loaded prompts. The design of the prompt screen prompted Perplexity AI’s CEO, Aravind Srinivas, to point out that the interface uses a design similar to the startup’s search screen.

But beyond that, it could also help you discover new content on Instagram. For instance, a video on Threads posted by a user indicates that you can tap on a prompt like “Beautiful Maui sunset Reels” to search for Reels related to that topic.

Separately, a few users TechCrunch talked to were able to ask Meta AI to search for Reels suggestions.

Screenshot

This means that Meta plans to tap the power of generative AI beyond text generation and use it for surfacing new content from network like Instagram.

Meta confirmed its Meta AI experiment on Instagram with TechCrunch. However, the company didn’t specify if it is using generative AI tech in search.

“Our generative AI-powered experiences are under development in varying phases, and we’re testing a range of them publicly in a limited capacity,” a Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch.

You can find a ton of posts about the quality of Instagram search. So, it would not be surprising if Meta wants to use generative AI to improve search.

Also, Meta would want Instagram to have better discoverability than TikTok. Last year, Google introduced a new perspectives feature to surface results from Reddit and TikTok. Earlier this week, reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi noted on X that Instagram is working on an option called “Visibility off Instagram” to possibly show posts as part of search engine results.




Software Development in Sri Lanka

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