Earlier this year, reports surfaced that Alphabet had closed the book on its ag-tech robotics spinout, Mineral. The news arrived amid larger money crunches at Google’s parent. Citing a crowded market and profit concerns, Mineral ceased operation and pivoted to technology licensing. This month, Mineral CEO Elliott Grant reprinted the leaked memo, while confirming that […]
Alphabet X’s latest spinout brings computer vision and AI to salmon farms
Over the course of Alphabet X’s existence, the self-proclaimed “moonshot factory” has been notable for the variety in both its technological solutions and the problems it’s attempting to solve. The combination research facility/accelerator has produced balloons for rural internet and energy-producing kites. Tidal, which quietly spun out of the department in mid-July, has its own […]
Alphabet X spinoff Skip partners with Arc’teryx to bring ‘everyday’ exoskeleton to market
Skip exited stealth this week to announce a partnership with outdoor clothing specialist Arc’teryx. The deal is the first to bring Skip’s MO/GO technology to market: “powered pants” that utilize a soft exoskeleton technology, developed in-house at Alphabet’s X Labs moonshot factory. MO/GO, short for “mountain goat,” is a hybrid soft/rigid exoskeleton system designed to […]
Alphabet pours $5B into Waymo, Cruise scraps the Origin and Elon’s bet on autonomy
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! I don’t know about you, but for me, the past few days have offered up even more evidence that our world is vulnerable to software bugs. Yep, […]
Alphabet to invest another $5B into Waymo
Alphabet will spend an additional $ 5 billion on its self-driving subsidiary, Waymo, over the next few years, according to Ruth Porat, the company’s chief financial officer. Porat announced the commitment to a new “multi-year investment” Tuesday during Alphabet’s second-quarter earnings call. “This new round of funding, which is consistent with recent annual investment levels, […]