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GM Abruptly Shuts Down Cruise Robotaxi Program
- Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
General Motors (GM), the largest automaker in the United States, announced this Tuesday that it ended its robotaxi program Cruise. The electric vehicle startup workers found out when the press release went public.
In a Rush? Here are the Quick Facts!
- GM announced yesterday its decision to stop funding its self-driving vehicle program
- The automaker will focus on developing an autonomous advanced driving system and gasoline vehicles
- Cruise workers learned about the end of the robotaxi program through Slack after the press release was published
According to Reuters , the automaker explained that its Cruise business was losing money and would stop developing self-driving vehicles considering the competitive market and the company’s needs to scale.
GM said in its public announcement that it will prioritize the company’s autonomous driving system for personal cars and combine Cruise and GM’s technical teams. GM acquired the majority of Cruise in 2016 and now expects to increase its ownership near 100% to restructure it and lower spending.
“GM will no longer fund Cruise’s robotaxi development work given the considerable time and resources that would be needed to scale the business, along with an increasingly competitive robotaxi market,” states the document.
According to TechCrunch , workers at Cruise learned about the end of the robotaxi program when Marc Whitten, Cruise CEO, shared the press release on a Slack post yesterday. Anonymous sources working at the EV startup said they were surprised by the decision—as they expected to launch a driverless service next year in Houston— and that they expect job cuts.
Cruise has been underperforming in the market this year as it has been under investigation for car accidents, and GM has been cutting back its efforts in electric vehicle development. According to Reuters, GM recently sold its stake in a battery plant and has been focusing on gasoline trucks and large vehicles as these are more profitable.
Toyota also announced a few weeks ago that, along with Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, they will invest and focus more on Software Defined Vehicle (SDV).
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Meta Launches Trial Reels To Help Content Creators Reach Non-Followers
- Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
Meta, Instagram’s parent company, launched a new feature, trial reels, yesterday to help content creators reach non-followers without affecting their audience and account performance. The tool already started to roll out globally and will be available to eligible creators within the next few days.
In a Rush? Here are the Quick Facts!
- Meta launched a new feature called trial reels to allow content creators to reach a wider audience
- The feature offers Instagram creators the opportunity to experiment with new ideas without affecting their audience’s engagement
- It will be available to eligible in the upcoming weeks globally
Trial reels allow Instagram users to test new content and analyze performance without affecting their engaged audience.
“If you’ve ever wanted to experiment with new ideas without worrying about how your followers might react, trial reels are the tool you’ve been looking for,” wrote the company in its official announcement .
The social media giant explained that the trial reel will show first to non-followers and if the creators consider that its performance is good—metrics will show after 24 hours approximately— and want to share it with their audience, they can do it too.
“Of course, some followers may still see your trial reel in places other than your feed,” warned the company. “For example, someone might share your reel with in a direct message or on a page that shows reels with the same audio, location or filter.”
Users who want to share their trial reel with everyone will have two options: click a button to share it with all users, or wait until the trial is over, or, if the criteria previously considered for the trial are good, the app with share it with followers automatically.
Users with early access have already tested the new tool and shared feedback. Meta assures that the results were successful and encouraging and can that it be of help to many more creators.
Meta also launched recent updates for the social media platform Threads.
