Uber Freight launches on-demand app
SAN FRANCISCO -- Uber Technologies inched closer to becoming a logistics company last week with the launch of the Uber Freight app, offering an on-demand freight service for trucking carriers.
Similar to the Uber app, through which drivers find passengers in need of a paid ride, the Uber Freight app connects truck drivers with cargo that needs to be hauled long distances. But unlike the passenger ride-hailing app, which relies largely on drivers unaffiliated with taxi fleets, the commercial trucking app is only available to drivers working for approved carriers. And its service is less instantaneous and requires a more rigorous vetting process.
Carriers that sign up must have a Motor Carrier number, a satisfactory safety rating and insurance. Drivers must also drive either a 53-foot-long box trailer or refrigerated truck, although Uber plans to expand to more types of vehicles in the future.
Customers looking to ship goods with Uber Freight must contract directly with Uber by contacting the company. Shipments can be booked weeks in advance with deliveries as prompt as same-day.
Drivers are paid within seven days and have their rate confirmed ahead of time. Uber did not immediately respond to a question about the way it splits fares with drivers and carriers.
-- Los Angeles Times
Texas Instruments touts car-radar chip
DALLAS -- Texas Instruments Inc., one of the largest suppliers of semiconductors to the automotive industry, said a new range of radar chips is going to shake up the way that cars and industrial equipment see the world around them.
The current radar systems in vehicles -- systems that stop cars from running into those ahead of them -- are an integral part of attempts to build self-driving systems. Typically, they are boxes measuring inches across that house multiple components and require watts of power.
A new range of chips from Texas Instruments, nine years in development, reduces that to a postage-stamp sized part, according to the Dallas-based company.
Texas Instruments, the largest maker of analog chips, rarely publicly touts the capabilities of its products, trying instead to focus investors' attention on the company's variety of offerings and how that broad range lessens its dependence on any one customer or market. Automotive customers contribute about 18 percent of its sales, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The parts, which will sell for the "low tens of dollars each," will provide tough competition for rival technologies such as pressure sensors and lidar, said Greg Delagi, a senior vice president. The company has a 6.9 percent stake of the market for automotive chips, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
-- Bloomberg News
Google developing standalone VR gear
SAN FRANCISCO -- Alphabet Inc.'s Google plans to push virtual reality to more people by working with hardware partners on standalone headsets.
At its Input/Output developer conference, the company said last week that it's working with Qualcomm Inc. on a sample design so other manufacturers can build headsets that don't require a connection to a smartphone or high-powered computer.
Current virtual reality headsets, including Facebook Inc.'s Oculus Rift and Google's own Daydream system, require a computer or smartphone. Google is working on standalone headsets with Lenovo Group Ltd. and HTC Corp., the company said. The headsets are expected to begin hitting the market later this year.
The company also will expand its Daydream headset, which was announced last year alongside the Pixel smartphone. Support for the virtual reality system on Samsung Electronics Co.'s new Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus phones will be coming this summer, Google said. LG Electronics Inc.'s next flagship smartphone, expected this fall, will also support the Daydream device, Google said.
Virtual reality immerses users in an artificial world and initially has been taken up most actively for gaming.
-- Bloomberg News
Samsung expands phone-pay service
LONDON -- Samsung Electronics Co. made its Android and Apple Pay competitor available in the U.K. last week, as it attempts to play catch-up in one of the major markets for contactless payments.
Three British banks -- Santander U.K.,, MBNA Corp. and Nationwide -- will support Samsung Pay, with American Express Co., First Direct and HSBC Bank PLC arriving within "weeks," said Kyle Brown, head of technology, content and launch management at Samsung U.K.
Contactless payments are extremely popular in the U.K. A quarter of all card transactions are made using the technology, according to a January report from the U.K. Cards Association, an industry body. More than 100 million contactless cards are in circulation within the population of 65 million people.
Samsung Pay is late to the game in the U.K., however. Apple Inc.'s offering, which opened in the U.K. in 2015, and Android Pay, by Alphabet Inc.'s Google, launched in 2016. Both of Samsung's rivals let users authorize purchases using their fingerprint. Samsung says that users of its Galaxy S8 will also be able to use a scan of their iris in the U.K., using the phone's front-facing camera.
Samsung Pay is supported by the Galaxy S8, S7 and S6, all of which will be compatible with standard contactless payment terminals in the U.K. Other Samsung devices, including its Gear series of smartwatches, are due to support Samsung Pay in the near future, Brown said.
-- Bloomberg News
Instagram adds Snapchat-style filters
MENLO PARK, Calif. -- Facebook Inc.'s photo-sharing application Instagram is adding another signature feature from Snap Inc.'s Snapchat: the ability for people to digitally add animal ears and flower crowns to their selfies.
Instagram is the latest Facebook property to add such functionality to its Stories feature, and also the most popular. The company's Stories tool, also borrowed from Snapchat, allows people to post photos or videos of their lives that last for only 24 hours. More than 200 million people use Instagram stories daily, compared with Snapchat's 166 million users total.
Snap shares fell earlier this month after the company added fewer users than projected in the first quarter, and as quarterly revenue fell short of analysts' estimates. Facebook has copied Snapchat's features broadly across its social apps.
Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has said camera tools like face filters will be a major strategy this year as a steppingstone to an augmented reality world. When asked about Facebook's competition on an earnings call earlier this month, Snap's chief executive officer, Evan Spiegel, said the app's creativity sets it apart from the competition.
-- Bloomberg News
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