Skip to main content

Some Google self-driving-car experts were paid so much that they quit

Steve Kovach 

Chris Urmson, Google's former head of self-driving cars.Reuters/Stephen Lam

GOOG Alphabet-C

 819.24

5.57 (+0.70 %)

DisclaimerGet real-time GOOG charts here »

Google's parent company, Alphabet, lost some of its leading self-driving-car experts because they were offered large payouts based on the valuation of the company's self-driving-car division, according to a new Bloomberg report.

The large payouts gave the employees little incentive to stay at the company, and some left to begin their own self-driving-car startups and initiatives. Essentially, the staff members were paid so much that they quit, the Bloomberg report says.

To be clear, it's likely the large payouts weren't the only factor that caused the employees to quit, but it appears to be a significant reason.

A spokesperson for Waymo, the self-driving-car company that launched under Alphabet, declined to comment on the report.

It's unclear how much the payouts were or who received them, but the division has lost several key employees over the last year or so, including Chris Urmson, the former head of the division, and Bryan Salesky, who started a company called Argo AI that received a $1 billion investment from Ford last week.

Waymo was spun out of the Alphabet X subsidiary, which focuses on ambitious "moonshot" projects, in December. Waymo's goal is to partner with third-party car manufacturers to add self-driving capabilities to vehicles. It already has a partnership with Chrysler and is said to be in talks with Honda. There's also a possibility Waymo could offer a self-driving ride-hailing service that competes with Uber.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Bitcoin Laundering” Study: Where Do Criminals Turn to Mask Illicit Cryptoassets?

A recent study ( PDF ) from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance and blockchain analytics company Elliptic explored the “bitcoin laundering” ecosystem. In the study, Elliptic’s forensic analysis of the Bitcoin blockchain and other publicly available data were used to track the flows of illicit funds from 2013 to 2016. “This study aimed to identify where individuals turn in order to cash out or transmit bitcoins (BTC) acquired from illicit entities and to discover typologies for criminals ‘laundering’ bitcoins,” the report says. The study describes bitcoin laundering as a special type of money laundering that exists within the Bitcoin network where a user moves some bitcoins to a new address in a manner that obscures the original source of funds. The conversion of bitcoins into fiat currency on exchanges that lack adequate anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) policies can also fall under the category ...

Bitcoin Brokers Reviews for Learning Trustworthy Brokerage Firm

When you are trading the cryptocurrency it is necessary to have accessibility to a relied on brokerage company. Though there are lots of brokerage companies available that can be counted upon, figuring out the one that can additionally ensure you attractive returns are essential. Undeniably with Bitcoin brokers’ testimonials you could do it fairly precisely. Bitcoinbrokers are services provider that allow you to buy Bitcoin anonymously for buyers, and also market Bitcoin at a premium. For customers of Bitcoin you will be provided a financial institution account with name, account number and directing information. You transfer loan right into the account to obtain Bitcoin in return. This is lot even more easier now than a pair of years ago. It goes without saying delving into Bitcoin profession is not as very easy as it seems. You require to do research, have an enough understanding of how the profession goes. Additionally, you should understand the sort of people that you are g...

How to cancel an unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction

Crypto Beginners Guide / Bitcoin Beginners Guide   When sending  Bitcoin , it can be easy to make a small mistake causing you to want to cancel your Bitcoin transaction. Oftentimes, funds can become stuck if the miner fee you enter isn’t high enough for any miner to confirm your transaction. Unfortunately, the steps to cancel a Bitcoin transaction are a little more complicated than just pressing an “Undo” button. In this brief guide, I’ll walk you through the process to cancel an unconfirmed  Bitcoin  transaction. Has your transaction been confirmed? The first step in canceling your Bitcoin transaction is to  check whether or not it has any confirmations . When you made your transaction, you should have gotten a  transaction ID  that looks something like this: 240615b6ab59a5adb19ba52cb969aeb16ff82d2082b7a72cb2912c5d38c297cf Take your transaction ID and enter it into a block explorer.  Blockchain.info  is a great option. On the ...