Daily Tech Snippet: Friday, August 19, 2016

• Uber Aims for an Edge in the Race for a Self-Driving Future: On Thursday, Uber said that it would begin testing self-driving cars in Pittsburgh in a matter of weeks, allowing people in the city to hail modified versions of Volvo sport utility vehicles to get around the city. Uber also said it had acquired Otto, a 90-person start-up including former Google and Carnegie Mellon engineers that is focused on developing self-driving truck technology to upend the shipping industry. Those moves are the most recent indications of Uber’s ambitions for autonomous vehicles that can provide services to both consumers and businesses. And they come after Ford Motor’s announcement this week that it would put fleets of self-driving taxis onto American roads in five years. As part of that effort, Ford said it had acquired an Israeli start-up, Saips, that specializes in computer vision, a crucial technology for self-driving cars. Ford also announced investments in three other companies involved in major technologies for driverless vehicles. Suddenly, it seems, both Silicon Valley and Detroit are doubling down on their bets for autonomous vehicles. And in what could emerge as a self-driving-car arms race, the players are investing in, or partnering with, or buying outright the specialty companies most focused on the requisite hardware, software and artificial intelligence capabilities.

• When Google quietly began working on cars that drive themselves, über was just a German word. Now, nine years later, Uber the ride-hailing company looks set to get regular people inside autonomous vehicles first — a move that’s critical for Uber, and dispiriting for the audacious project hatched inside of Google. Uber said on Thursday that, along with Volvo, it will test a fleet of on-demand autonomous cars in Pittsburgh later this month. An Uber driver will still be in the car. But, more importantly, so will a customer. That’s something that Google has yet to do. When the search giant first unfurled its self-driving plans, it was the only company tackling the advanced tech. Not anymore: All the major car companies have joined the fray — and shown a willingness to cut big checks for the tech behind it. Google is well ahead on the technical challenges of driverless vehicles, according to most in the industry. But those same people, in recent months, have begun asking why, nearly a decade after hiring top roboticists to build its project, Google has not delivered something to market. There are a number of reasons why Google has been a laggard to new rivals in the field. One is its devotion to going fully driverless, a far more difficult feat. That’s partially because, unlike the car companies and Uber, the Google self-driving cars don’t need an immediate revenue stream. They have search ads to bankroll them. Yet other forces may be holding back Google’s cars — like internal dynamics at the project, now within the X subsidiary under Google parent Alphabet. Alphabet has kept its revenue strategy for the unit under wraps. Some sources say that is because they have not settled on one yet. “They went back and forth all the time,” said one person who recently left X. Still, frustration with the inertia of Google’s self-driving car looks to be hitting its own ranks. Chris Urmson, the CTO and former director of the car unit, recently departed, along with two early engineers. Earlier this year, several members of the project, including co-founder Anthony Levandowski, decamped to form Otto, an autonomous trucking startup. With its announcement this morning, Uber also said it had acquired Otto.

• Applied Materials forecast beats on chip, display demand: Applied Materials Inc forecast current-quarter revenue and profit far above analysts' estimates as the company benefits from demand for newer technology to make displays and smartphone memory chips. Shares of the world's largest supplier of tools used to make semiconductors rose 5.7 percent to $29.25 in after-hours trading on Thursday. If the current gains hold, the stock is set to open at a 15-year high on Friday. The rising popularity of mobile devices has fueled demand and investments in 3D NAND memory chips, which can store data without using up power. Applied Materials is considered an bellwether and its results are seen as an indicator for the overall chip industry. The company has also gained from growing demand for displays using organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology, where its products help manufacture displays used in televisions, phones and computer screens. Orders in the business surged 153 percent to $803 million in the latest quarter. Applied Materials' net sales rose 13.3 percent to $2.82 billion in the third quarter. The company's net income rose to $505 million, or 46 cents per share, from $329 million, or 27 cents per share, a year earlier.Up to Thursday's close, the company's stock had gained about 48 percent this year.