Page 24 - aruba-today-20181208

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Saturday 8 december 2018
Google's robotic spinoff launches ride-hailing service

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE company's Mountain View,
AP Technology Writer California, headquarters.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The minivan performed
Google's self-driving car smoothly, even stopping for
spinoff is finally ready to try a jaywalker, before abrupt-
to profit from its nearly de- ly pulling to the right side of
cade-old technology. the road. Ahead was a left-
Waymo is introducing a turning FedEx delivery truck.
small-scale ride-hailing ser- In a digital message to the
vice in the Phoenix area two human backup driv-
that will include a human ers, the van said it "detect-
behind the wheel in case ed an issue" and it would
the robotic vehicles mal- connect to a rider support
function. agent. Rider support didn't
The service debuting respond due to what the
Wednesday marks a signifi- company blamed on a
cant milestone for Waymo, dead spot in cellular phone
a company that began as coverage. The human driv-
a secretive project within ers switched to manual
Google in 2009. Since then, mode and returned to
its cars have robotically Waymo headquarters.
logged more 10 million At that time, Krafcik con-
miles on public roads in 25 ceded to the AP that Way-
cities in California, Arizona, This undated photo provided by Waymo shows its self-driving minivan. Google's self-driving car mo's self-driving vehicles
Washington, Michigan and spinoff is finally ready to try to profit from its nearly decade-old technology. were still encountering oc-
Georgia while getting into Associated Press casional problems nego-
only a few accidents — tiating left-hand turns at
mostly fender benders. area in and around Phoe- new service. use human safety drivers in complicated intersections.
The company is initially op- nix, including the neighbor- The ride-hailing service is its ride-hailing service," said "I think the things that hu-
erating the new service ing cities of Chandler, Tem- launching in the same area Navigant Research analyst mans have challenges
cautiously, underscoring pe, Mesa, and Gilbert. where a car using robotic Sam Abuelsamid. "If people with, we're challenged with
the challenges still facing Although Waymo has been technology from ride-hail- keep dying, there will be a as well," Krafcik said. "So
its autonomous vehicles as driving passengers without ing service Uber hit and bigger backlash against sometimes unprotected
they navigate around ve- any humans behind the killed a pedestrian crossing these vehicles." lefts are super challenging
hicles with human drivers wheel in its free pilot pro- a darkened street in Tem- The Uber robotic car had a for a human, sometimes
that don't always follow the gram, it decided to be less pe, Arizona seven months human safety driver behind they're super challenging
same rules as robots. daring with the new com- ago. That fatal collision at- the wheel, but that wasn't for us."
The service, dubbed Way- mercial service. tracted worldwide atten- enough to prevent its lethal Waymo eventually plans
mo One, at first will only "Self-driving technology is tion that cast a pall over accident in March. to open its new ride-hailing
be available to a couple new to many, so we're pro- the entire self-driving car Waymo's self-driving vehi- app to all comers in the
hundred riders, all of whom ceeding carefully with the industry as more people cles are still susceptible to Phoenix area, although
had already been partici- comfort and convenience began to publicly question glitches, as an Associated it won't say when. It also
pating in a free pilot pro- of our riders in mind," Way- the safety of the vehicles. Press reporter experienced wants to expand its service
gram that began in April mo CEO John Krafcik wrote "I suspect the Uber fatality during a mid-October ride to other cities, but isn't say-
2017. It will be confined to in Wednesday blog post has caused Waymo to slow in an autonomous mini- ing where. q
a roughly 100-square-mile heralding the arrival of the down its pace a bit" and van alongside Krafcik near
EKG, other heart health features come to Apple Watch

NEW YORK (AP) — Apple atrial fibrillation, a condi- the "Series 1" model in 2016.
Watch is now fulfilling its tion that can increase the It doesn't work with the
promise to let people take risk of stroke and other original, 2015 model.
EKGs of their heart and no- complications. Apple says Apple is adding medical
tify them of any irregular the watch will notify us- features to make the watch
heartbeat. ers if it detects an irregular feel more useful to people.
Apple announced the rhythm on five checks over A fall detection feature
heart features in Septem- at least 65 minutes. launched in September. It
ber, but didn't make them When symptoms appear, claims to be able to tell the
available until Thursday. users can also take an EKG, difference between a trip
The new features have or electrocardiogram, and and a fall — and when the
been given clearance by share that with doctors. latter occurs, it will suggest
the U.S. Food and Drug This feature is available calling 911 (or the equiva-
Administration and are for for the latest, Series 4 ver- lent outside the U.S.). If it
U.S. customers only.The sion of the watch. The app, receives no response with-
watch can intermittently called ECG, comes as part in a minute, the watch will
check the wearer's heart In this Sept. 12, 2018, file photo, Jeff Williams, Apple's chief of a free software update automatically place an
rhythm in the background operating officer, speaks about the Apple Watch Series 4 at the for the watch. emergency call and mes-
and send a notification if Steve Jobs Theater during an event to announce new Apple The irregular heart notifica- sage friends and family
it detects irregular heart products in Cupertino, Calif. tion is available for older designated as emergency
rhythm. That can point to Associated Press models, too, starting with contacts.q