Google's self-driving charitable donation
Hey Snackers,
Awkward PSA here. Apple's fancy new titanium credit card has a warning: Don't let it touch leather. Or denim. Just thought we should share.
Stocks bounced back Wednesday powered by Target's shocking 20% surge.
Waymo gives away a key advantage — its gigantic dataset — to competitors
10M... That's how many test miles of pavement Waymo has pounded without a driver gripping the wheel. And it just opened up its memory for all its competitors to see in. The self-driving car division of Alphabet, Waymo is making its dataset free for researchers in order to make the self-driving revolution happen ASAP. No charge. It's a big leadership move.
Why did the schnauzer cross the road?... To see if the robocar would stop. Waymo's street smarts lie in this intensely labeled dataset that converts real-life scenarios into code that sensors and processors can understand and react to. Here’s how this public good will be used:
- The competition: The key for autonomous driving is machine learning — teach the car what to do when it encounters as many street scenarios as possible. Waymo's divulging its lifetime of self-driven experiences for Uber, GM, or Ford to play with.
- Researchers: PhD candidates are fist-pumping for “the impact of level 4 autonomous driving on hopscotch in semi-gentrified neighborhoods” thesis this dataset just made possible.
Reveal your secret sauce to save yourself... It's a paradox. And it's Waymo's bold new strategy. Waymo's greatest challenge isn't rivals — it's the self-driving dream failing. GM indefinitely postponed its robot-taxi launch date, and Uber's self-driving tests killed someone. Waymo thinks cooperating-over-competing is the fastest way for the industry to start making $$$ while you Netflix-and-drive.
SnackFact: Some investors think Waymo is worth over $100B — that's more than Ford and GM's valuations. Combined.
JPMorgan pulls a key tech move with its payment app: #FailFast
Fetch isn’t going to happen, Gretchen... And neither is “Chase-Pay me.” JPMorgan is shutting down its Chase Pay app next year (small caveat: the online shopping version will survive as an easy checkout option). The simple reason is not enough people were using it — 70% of online merchants accept PayPal, but less than 1% accept Chase Pay.
It's not a tech company... JPMorgan doesn't realize that. It's pouring $11B into tech initiatives, but its bets on payments aren't paying off quite like tech companies' are. Let's go back to 2015, the magical time just after Apple launched Apple Pay. Since then, Apple Pay's been adopted by 43% of iPhone users — JPM hasn't. Google Pay and PayPal's Venmo are beating Mr. Morgan, too.
“Failing fast” is a muscle — and JPMorgan is flexing it… The nation’s most valuable bank recognized that instead of wasting big time and money on an expensive failing project, it’s best to end things. Quickly. And this isn’t JPMorgan’s only fail fast moment:
What else we’re Snackin’
- New-nicorn: Knotel, a WeWork competitor, finally passes a $1B valuation with its latest fundraise — and claims it'll pass WeWork in 2 years
- Heard: SiriusXM launches a $4/month student subscription to try snagging young ears from Spotify
- ETA: DoorDash acquires an autonomous driving startup because it wants to get your pad thai delivery ASAP (and robots don't accept tips)
- Angels: Victoria's Secret's sales plummeted 6% and dragged down its owner L Brands' stock
- Delayed: Alibaba is postponing its stock offering plans in Hong Kong as the pro-democracy protests hit their 11th week
- Recalibrate: The Fed's minutes show it's not planning a bunch more interest rate cuts
Thursday
- The annual Fed meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming (not too shabby)
- Earnings from Gap, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Salesforce
Disclosure: Authors of this Snacks own shares of Alibaba.
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