In today’s Bulldog wrapup of technology news:
- Google defends its driverless cars experiment
- Sensus unveils a “Smart Gateway” for utilities
- Showtime joins the streaming trend
- Yahoo wins rights to stream an NFL game
- Tesla co-founder wants to electrify trucks
The details:
- Google founder defends accident records of self-driving cars
Google co-founder Sergey Brin says he sees little reason to release the accident reports involving the Internet company’s self-driving cars because he believes there’s nothing new in documents withheld to protect the privacy of other motorists.
Brin, who oversees Google’s fleet of self-driving cars, outlined his rationale Wednesday during a sometimes-testy exchange with a long-time critic at the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Mountain View, California.
As part of his effort to show Google has nothing to hide, Brin disclosed that one of the company’s self-driving cars was rear-ended at a traffic signal during the past week. With that collision, Google’s self-driving cars have now been involved in 12 accidents while covering more than 1.7 million miles over the past six years, according to the company.
The self-driving cars have never been at fault, according to Google, though a company employee was in control at the time of one crash.
“We don’t claim that the cars are going to be perfect,” Brin said. “Our goal is to beat human drivers.”
- Sensus launches Smart Gateway for utilities
Raleigh-based Sensus is offering utilities a battery-powered means of monitoring networks in distant places with its new “Smart Gateway” product.
“Public service providers need to monitor more than just meters,” said Dan Pinney, global water marketing director at Sensus. “Smart Gateway helps our customers reach farther by monitoring distribution lines, pump stations, vaults and pressure gauges, and minimizing the need to deploy crews to detect issues.”
The device “helps utilities receive data on water pressure and leaks in areas of the network that were once only accessible by sending out professional crews. It also sends security alerts if doors or valves are opened,” the company says.
- Showtime follows HBO into the streaming game
Showtime will join rival HBO with an online streaming service for those that don’t want to pay for cable.
The cable channel said Wednesday that it will begin streaming in July for $10.99 a month on all Apple devices, including the iPad, iPhone and Apple TV. CBS Corp., which owns Showtime, said it will be available on non-Apple devices soon.
There’s been a shift to more online viewing. More cable company customers subscribe for Internet service than their TV offerings, according to data provider SNL Kagan.
HBO rolled out a stand-alone streaming channel as the new season of its blockbuster “Game of Thrones” began in April and Showtime has followed suit, seeking the same audiences that have flocked to Netflix, Hulu and Amazon.com.
Networks and cable channels have begun to create stand-alone streaming services as a way to reach people who don’t subscribe to traditional cable packages that have dozens of channels.
“Going over-the-top means Showtime will be much more accessible to tens of millions of potential new subscribers,” said CBS President and CEO Leslie Moonves, in a printed statement.
HBO Now can be had for $14.99 per month for anyone owning an Apple device and it will be available on Android devices this summer. CBS already has a streaming service for its network, where customers can watch “The Big Bang Theory” and other CBS shows for $5.99 a month. And Noggin, owned by Viacom Inc., lets users stream “Blue’s Clues” and other children’s shows for $5.99 a month.
- Yahoo lands rights to show NFL game on Internet this fall
The NFL is teaming up with Yahoo to show a game live on the Internet this fall.
The alliance announced Wednesday follows up on the NFL’s previously announced plan to stream the Oct. 25 matchup between the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars. Thegame, which will be played in London, is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. EDT.
It will be the first time that the NFL has allowed one of its games to be streamed live in its entirety by an Internet outlet. The Bills-Jaguars game will still be televised, like all other NFL games, in the local markets of the two teams playing each other.
Landing the rights to show the game represents a coup for Yahoo, which is trying to widen its audience and sell more advertising after more than six years of little or no revenue growth.
Yahoo Inc. declined to say how much it is paying the NFL to stream the game.
NFL games are among the most-watched events on TV, making them a valuable commodity. The NBC, CBS, ESPN and Fox networks signed long-term deals in 2011 calling for them to pay the NFL an average of about a combined $5 billion per season through this decade. That works out to an average of almost $19 million per game, including the playoffs and Super Bowl.
- Tesla Motors co-founder wants to electrify commercial trucks
Twelve years ago, Ian Wright and some fellow engineers launched Tesla Motors, a Silicon Valley company that has helped jumpstart the market for electric cars.
Now, the Tesla co-founder wants to electrify noisy, gas-guzzling trucks that deliver packages, haul garbage and make frequent stops on city streets.
His latest venture, Wrightspeed, doesn’t make the whole truck. Rather it sells electric powertrains that can be installed on medium-and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, making them cleaner, quieter and more energy-efficient.
“We save a lot on fuel. We save a lot on maintenance, and we make the emissions compliance much easier,” said Wright, a New Zealand-born engineer who left Teslawhen it was still a small startup in 2005.
Wrightspeed is one of a growing number of companies that are trying to transform the market for commercial trucks that consume billions of gallons of fuel while spewing tons of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and other pollutants.
