Enlarge / A Waymo Via truck. Check out all that self-driving equipment on the front. (credit: Waymo)

Google's cost cutters are taking another bite out of Waymo. After being hit by layoffs that cut 8 percent of staff, it now looks like the self-driving truck program—Waymo Via—is dead. Waymo's announcement blog post tries to put a brave face on things, saying the company is "Doubling down on Waymo One," its ride-hailing service, but also mentions that the company will "push back the timeline on our commercial and operational efforts on trucking, as well as most of our technical development on that business unit."

Google kills product

• Waymo kills off autonomous trucking program
• Google Assistant kills off support for third-party note apps
• YouTube Stories, Google’s clone of Snapchat, is dying on June 26
• RIP to Dropcams, Nest Secure: Google is shutting down servers next year
• Google Assistant might be doomed: Division “reorganizes” to focus on Bard

View more stories Waymo says it will somehow "continue" its partnership with big rig manufacturer Daimler Truck North America (that's where the big, blue Waymo Via truck came from), but Waymo's actions paint a different picture. TechCrunch's Kirsten Korosec reports that "the vast majority of employees on Waymo’s trucking team have taken other roles within the company. A few number of individuals will be affected by the change but will be helping with the wind down of the program." Waymo's website has also been completely stripped of trucking mentions. The page for Waymo Via used to be at waymo.com/waymo-via but now 404s (archive here ), and the top-level navigation button for "Trucking" is gone.

Waymo's focus on ride-hailing makes some sense. The reliability requirements for ride-hailing are much lower than trucking, making it a more lenient business. If you have a truck full of cargo, it's a major issue if something goes wrong and it can't reach its destination on time. The truck routes are many hours long over long distances and usually have some kind of delivery time attached. Your self-driving hardware and software has to work perfectly during all that. Ride-hailing is way easier. Trips are usually measured in minutes and in a localized area where you can easily dispatch support people if something goes wrong. Because the app is a central point of customer bookings, you can easily pause and resume accepting customers anytime. That makes it easy to shut down the fleet to deal with technical difficulties or bad weather. You can also rigidly control your service area and accept or decline trips on a whim. Everyone can just use Lyft instead.

Enlarge / A Waymo Via truck. Check out all that self-driving equipment on the front. (credit: Waymo)

Google's cost cutters are taking another bite out of Waymo. After being hit by layoffs that cut 8 percent of staff, it now looks like the self-driving truck program—Waymo Via—is dead. Waymo's announcement blog post tries to put a brave face on things, saying the company is "Doubling down on Waymo One," its ride-hailing service, but also mentions that the company will "push back the timeline on our commercial and operational efforts on trucking, as well as most of our technical development on that business unit."

Google kills product

• Waymo kills off autonomous trucking program
• Google Assistant kills off support for third-party note apps
• YouTube Stories, Google’s clone of Snapchat, is dying on June 26
• RIP to Dropcams, Nest Secure: Google is shutting down servers next year
• Google Assistant might be doomed: Division “reorganizes” to focus on Bard

View more stories Waymo says it will somehow "continue" its partnership with big rig manufacturer Daimler Truck North America (that's where the big, blue Waymo Via truck came from), but Waymo's actions paint a different picture. TechCrunch's Kirsten Korosec reports that "the vast majority of employees on Waymo’s trucking team have taken other roles within the company. A few number of individuals will be affected by the change but will be helping with the wind down of the program." Waymo's website has also been completely stripped of trucking mentions. The page for Waymo Via used to be at waymo.com/waymo-via but now 404s (archive here ), and the top-level navigation button for "Trucking" is gone.

Waymo's focus on ride-hailing makes some sense. The reliability requirements for ride-hailing are much lower than trucking, making it a more lenient business. If you have a truck full of cargo, it's a major issue if something goes wrong and it can't reach its destination on time. The truck routes are many hours long over long distances and usually have some kind of delivery time attached. Your self-driving hardware and software has to work perfectly during all that. Ride-hailing is way easier. Trips are usually measured in minutes and in a localized area where you can easily dispatch support people if something goes wrong. Because the app is a central point of customer bookings, you can easily pause and resume accepting customers anytime. That makes it easy to shut down the fleet to deal with technical difficulties or bad weather. You can also rigidly control your service area and accept or decline trips on a whim. Everyone can just use Lyft instead.

Enlarge / A Waymo Via truck. Check out all that self-driving equipment on the front. (credit: Waymo)

Google's cost cutters are taking another bite out of Waymo. After being hit by layoffs that cut 8 percent of staff, it now looks like the self-driving truck program—Waymo Via—is dead. Waymo's announcement blog post tries to put a brave face on things, saying the company is "Doubling down on Waymo One," its ride-hailing service, but also mentions that the company will "push back the timeline on our commercial and operational efforts on trucking, as well as most of our technical development on that business unit."

Google kills product

• Waymo kills off autonomous trucking program
• Google Assistant kills off support for third-party note apps
• YouTube Stories, Google’s clone of Snapchat, is dying on June 26
• RIP to Dropcams, Nest Secure: Google is shutting down servers next year
• Google Assistant might be doomed: Division “reorganizes” to focus on Bard

View more stories Waymo says it will somehow "continue" its partnership with big rig manufacturer Daimler Truck North America (that's where the big, blue Waymo Via truck came from), but Waymo's actions paint a different picture. TechCrunch's Kirsten Korosec reports that "the vast majority of employees on Waymo’s trucking team have taken other roles within the company. A few number of individuals will be affected by the change but will be helping with the wind down of the program." Waymo's website has also been completely stripped of trucking mentions. The page for Waymo Via used to be at waymo.com/waymo-via but now 404s (archive here ), and the top-level navigation button for "Trucking" is gone.

Waymo's focus on ride-hailing makes some sense. The reliability requirements for ride-hailing are much lower than trucking, making it a more lenient business. If you have a truck full of cargo, it's a major issue if something goes wrong and it can't reach its destination on time. The truck routes are many hours long over long distances and usually have some kind of delivery time attached. Your self-driving hardware and software has to work perfectly during all that. Ride-hailing is way easier. Trips are usually measured in minutes and in a localized area where you can easily dispatch support people if something goes wrong. Because the app is a central point of customer bookings, you can easily pause and resume accepting customers anytime. That makes it easy to shut down the fleet to deal with technical difficulties or bad weather. You can also rigidly control your service area and accept or decline trips on a whim. Everyone can just use Lyft instead.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

European Union regulators have opened a formal investigation into claims that Microsoft is unfairly bundling its Teams video conferencing app with its popular Office software as Brussels intensifies its scrutiny of big technology groups.

The European Commission, the executive body of the EU, said on Thursday that it feared Microsoft “may be abusing and defending” its market dominance in productivity software “by restricting competition.”

It was concerned the US tech giant may grant Teams “distribution advantages by not giving customers the choice” over access to the product, the statement said.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

European Union regulators have opened a formal investigation into claims that Microsoft is unfairly bundling its Teams video conferencing app with its popular Office software as Brussels intensifies its scrutiny of big technology groups.

The European Commission, the executive body of the EU, said on Thursday that it feared Microsoft “may be abusing and defending” its market dominance in productivity software “by restricting competition.”

It was concerned the US tech giant may grant Teams “distribution advantages by not giving customers the choice” over access to the product, the statement said.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

European Union regulators have opened a formal investigation into claims that Microsoft is unfairly bundling its Teams video conferencing app with its popular Office software as Brussels intensifies its scrutiny of big technology groups.

The European Commission, the executive body of the EU, said on Thursday that it feared Microsoft “may be abusing and defending” its market dominance in productivity software “by restricting competition.”

It was concerned the US tech giant may grant Teams “distribution advantages by not giving customers the choice” over access to the product, the statement said.

Enlarge / The Lotus Elise is an archetypal lightweight sports car. Now, it has inspired a showcase for new battery technology, courtesy of Nyobolt. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)

Polestar provided a flight from Washington, DC, to London and back and two nights in a hotel so we could visit its UK R&D center and attend the Goodwood Festival Of Speed. While we were there, we also spoke to Nyobolt about its battery technology. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.

GOODWOOD, England—When is a Lotus Elise not a Lotus Elise? When it's the Nyobolt EV—which, to be accurate, is actually a stretched Lotus Exige chassis with new bodywork designed by Julian Thompson, who styled the original Elise in 1996. Delightful though the little sports car is, what's under the skin is even more intriguing. The concept showcases a new battery technology that promises more rapid DC charging than any electric vehicle currently on sale.

As just about everyone who has driven one knows, EVs really are better at almost everything. They're three to four times more efficient than vehicles that burn gasoline, there are fewer moving parts to break, they're quieter and smoother, and they offer near-instant torque.

But it still takes longer to recharge a battery than refill a gas tank, and EV charging locations don't shout their presence with 50-foot ad displays along highways. That's engendered a general sense of range anxiety among many car buyers, leading car makers to pack their EVs with bigger batteries in an effort to beef up their range numbers. And that, in turn, makes those EVs heavy and expensive.

Enlarge / The Lotus Elise is an archetypal lightweight sports car. Now, it has inspired a showcase for new battery technology, courtesy of Nyobolt. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)

Polestar provided a flight from Washington, DC, to London and back and two nights in a hotel so we could visit its UK R&D center and attend the Goodwood Festival Of Speed. While we were there, we also spoke to Nyobolt about its battery technology. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.

GOODWOOD, England—When is a Lotus Elise not a Lotus Elise? When it's the Nyobolt EV—which, to be accurate, is actually a stretched Lotus Exige chassis with new bodywork designed by Julian Thompson, who styled the original Elise in 1996. Delightful though the little sports car is, what's under the skin is even more intriguing. The concept showcases a new battery technology that promises more rapid DC charging than any electric vehicle currently on sale.

As just about everyone who has driven one knows, EVs really are better at almost everything. They're three to four times more efficient than vehicles that burn gasoline, there are fewer moving parts to break, they're quieter and smoother, and they offer near-instant torque.

But it still takes longer to recharge a battery than refill a gas tank, and EV charging locations don't shout their presence with 50-foot ad displays along highways. That's engendered a general sense of range anxiety among many car buyers, leading car makers to pack their EVs with bigger batteries in an effort to beef up their range numbers. And that, in turn, makes those EVs heavy and expensive.

Enlarge / The Lotus Elise is an archetypal lightweight sports car. Now, it has inspired a showcase for new battery technology, courtesy of Nyobolt. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)

Polestar provided a flight from Washington, DC, to London and back and two nights in a hotel so we could visit its UK R&D center and attend the Goodwood Festival Of Speed. While we were there, we also spoke to Nyobolt about its battery technology. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.

GOODWOOD, England—When is a Lotus Elise not a Lotus Elise? When it's the Nyobolt EV—which, to be accurate, is actually a stretched Lotus Exige chassis with new bodywork designed by Julian Thompson, who styled the original Elise in 1996. Delightful though the little sports car is, what's under the skin is even more intriguing. The concept showcases a new battery technology that promises more rapid DC charging than any electric vehicle currently on sale.

As just about everyone who has driven one knows, EVs really are better at almost everything. They're three to four times more efficient than vehicles that burn gasoline, there are fewer moving parts to break, they're quieter and smoother, and they offer near-instant torque.

But it still takes longer to recharge a battery than refill a gas tank, and EV charging locations don't shout their presence with 50-foot ad displays along highways. That's engendered a general sense of range anxiety among many car buyers, leading car makers to pack their EVs with bigger batteries in an effort to beef up their range numbers. And that, in turn, makes those EVs heavy and expensive.