Lyft and China’s Baidu look to bring robotaxis to Europe next year

Lyft’s European expansion will include Chinese-made robotaxis. The U.S. ride-hailing company announced a strategic partnership with Baidu to deploy the Chinese tech giant’s Apollo Go autonomous vehicles across several European markets. The companies aim to launch robotaxi services in Germany…

Tesla hands $29B comp package to Elon Musk amid ‘AI talent war’

Tesla’s board of directors has announced a new compensation package for CEO Elon Musk worth approximately $29 billion in shares. The company cited the intensifying competition for AI talent and Tesla’s position at a critical turning point as key reasons…

Amazon shuts down Wondery podcast studio, cuts 110 jobs

Amazon is shutting down its Wondery podcast studio, which it acquired in late 2020, and cutting 110 jobs as part of a broader reorganization of its audio business. According to reports, the company plans to move existing Wondery series under…

Spotify raises subscription prices

Spotify announced on Monday that its premium subscription prices will increase for users in multiple markets across the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region. Over the next month, affected subscribers will receive an email notifying them…

Character.AI is adding a social feed to its app

Social media apps today are flooded with AI-generated videos, and AI-native apps are eager to capitalize on the trend. The latest to join this movement is Character.AI, which announced on Monday that it is introducing a social feed to its…

OpenMind wants to be the Android operating system of humanoid robots

Many companies are focused on building robots or the hardware components that help them move, grip objects, or interact with the world around them. Silicon Valley-based OpenMind, however, is working under the hood. The company is developing a software layer…

Mastercard denies pressuring game platforms, Valve tells a different story

Recent crackdowns on games with adult content in online marketplaces have sparked controversy, with many attributing the actions to pressure from payment processors. Mastercard responded to these claims with a statement clarifying its position. The company denied evaluating games or…

Apple might be building its own AI ‘answer engine’

Apple has formed a new team to build a ChatGPT-like app, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. This team, reportedly called Answers, Knowledge, and Information, is working to develop an “answer engine” capable of responding to questions by pulling information from…

SAP is acquiring SmartRecruiters

SAP announced on Friday that it has reached an agreement to acquire SmartRecruiters, a recruiting software company. In a press release, the European software giant stated that SmartRecruiters’ powerful, user-friendly interfaces and seamless workflows will complement SAP’s existing HR tools.…