Cruise is already autonomously shuttling employees in SF, Google takes out the trash and don't count on a Kalanick comeback. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for August 8, 2017. 1. GM's Cruise is already running an autonomous ride hailing service Cruise, the self-driving startup acquired by GM last year, has already deployed a self-driving ride hailing service in San Francisco. It's limited to employees for now, but it provides service 7 days a week, picking up and dropping off members anywhere in the city, for whatever they want to do. The service deployment shows that Cruise is about more than just underlying autonomous technology: It wants to build a full user experience, including the ride hailing app itself, so that it has as many options as possible when it comes to go-to-market strategy. 2. Google fires the engineer behind sexist memo Google has fired the engineer that penned the exit memo criticizing the company's approach to diversity and asserting harmful stereotypes about gender. The engineer's memo violated the company's Code of Conduct, resulting in the dismissal. Predictably, he's actually receiving support from unsavory quarters. 3. Uber co-founder says Kalanick will not regain CEO spot Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick won't get his Steve Jobs moment – at least not in the short term. Co-founder Garrett Camp, who also leads Uber's board, says Kalanick won't be returning despite his reported attempts to win back favor. 4. Apple TV with 4K likely on the way A 4K HDR-capable Apple TV is likely en route, as indicated by more evidence found in that HomePod firmware that's generating so many leaks. It's not a surprise, but still welcome news for 4K fans hoping for future Apple TV hardware support. 5. Lonely Planet launches Instagram clone Instagram is a great route for travel and product marketing, so it's no surprise that specific players in those spaces are building versions of the app's photo feed tailor-made to their products. These niche networks aren't likely to ever exceed the real thing in terms of appeal, however. 6. Spin takes South San Francisco dockless Dockless bike sharing is a huge deal in Asia already, and Spin is among the startups trying to replicate that success in North America. It launched with city approval in South San Francisco today, the first service of its kind officially blessed to operate in the Bay Area. 7. Uber discloses Kalanick deposition In the ongoing lawsuit with Waymo, Uber's former CEO Travis Kalanick was deposed. His provided testimony that backed up Uber's narrative that it never wanted or received any confidential info from Google, unsurprisingly. |