The Daily Crunch 12/5/16

Uber gets some big brains, Volkswagen bets on alternative transportation and Google builds a mobile safety net. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for December 5, 2016. And if you're in London like me, come say 'Hi.'

1. Uber sets up an AI lab

Uber is starting its own artificial intelligence lab in SF, with a founding team culled from the acquisition of Geometric Intelligence, a two-year old startup made up of academics in the field.

The new lab should have broad applications for Uber, fed by basic research into how to make smarter AI using ever-smaller data sets. It's a big, smart bet on what's likely to be its most important competitive advantage in the future. Good timing, since Devin just put up an awesome primer on AI.

2. Google's giving you a way to share your own data when you need to most

Google is letting users take control of their own data for once. The new Trusted Contacts apps for Android lets people pick a selection of contacts that they want to provide with their location information in case of emergency, which means whenever you don't decline their request for info within five minutes of receiving one. Pretty cool, but potentially also very worrying if used too often by over-anxious friends and family.

3. Leap Motion finds its virtual footing

Leap Motion was a solution in search of a problem if ever one existed. The hand-tracking tech debuted before consumer VR was any kind of thing, but now that it is the company is back with some impressive demos of VR hand tracking, which is really what it was always made for. Now we just have to see if VR actually catches on with any kind of volume.

4. The future of cyber is assuming you've already been hacked

Hey does your org think you may have been breached by nefarious data security actors? You have. Or so should you assume, according to Darktrace co-founder Poppy Gustafsson. She was at Disrupt London talking to Natasha Lomas about the state of modern cybersecurity, and why there's so much opportunity out there for a team like hers made up of ex-spies and data scientists.

5. VW now has its own mobility services company

Volkswagen Brand's latest new sub company is Moia, a brand new group dedicated not specifically to making cars, but instead to providing "mobility solutions." To start, this is going to take the shape of shuttle-based on-demand commuter rides, beginning in European cities. VW wants to own every piece of this, from the hailing platform, to the design and build of the tailor-made vehicles used. It's a big bet by VW on a mobility future that isn't so reliant on ownership.

6. Your flying car might be here sooner than you think

Okay it's not really a car. It's a VTOL, or vertical take-off and landing craft. But Lilium is closer than you'd expect, according to investor Niklas Zennström of Atomico. Please let me fly soon.

7. Watch Disrupt London

As I said above, I'm actually in London at Disrupt right now. It's a great show, and it might be a bit off for you timezone wise, but you can check this out and rewatch what happened earlier in the day, including flying cars and robots and more.