FORD PLANS TO LAUNCH ITS SELF-DRIVING BUSINESS IN 2022 Spotlight on Innovation Head lines
MICROSOFT PARTNERS WITH SPACEX M icrosoft is partnering with SpaceX to connect the tech giant’s Azure cloud computing network to the growing Starlink satellite internet service offered by Elon Musk’s company. Starlink is SpaceX’s ambitious plan to build an interconnected internet network with thousands of satellites, designed to deliver high-speed internet to anywhere on the planet. NASA CONFIRMED OSIRIS-REX SPACE- CRAFT TOUCHED THE ASTEROID To date, SpaceX has launched over 800 Starlink satellites which is only a fraction of the total needed for global coverage. A NASA spacecraft touched the surface of the asteroid Bennu, in a mission that aims to return rocky pieces for examination on Earth in 2023. Called OSIRIS-REx – an acronym that stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identi- fication, Security, Regolith Explorer – the NASA spacecraft represents the culmination of years of work. The mission launched in Sept. 2016, with a total cost of about $1 billion. The mission marks the first time NASA has attempted to return materials from an asteroid, a feat that only Japan has pulled off before but in smaller quantities. While NASA confirmed that the spacecraft touched the asteroid, the space agency will not know for several more hours if it collected materials successfully.
ZOOM TO START LETTING PEOPLE HOST ONLINE PAID EVENTS Ford initially planned to launch a commercial self-driving vehicle business in 2021 but delayed it until 2022, citing delays due to the coronavirus pandemic. V ideo-calling software provider Zoom announced a way for users to put on live virtual events that people can pay to attend. The company’s OnZoom option makes Zoom more than just a competitor to the likes of Google and Microsoft. This option shows that Zoom is building on the exposure it has enjoyed this year with the onset of the coronavirus and encroaching on the territory of companies that sell tickets to live events, including Eventbrite and Live Nation. Ford and German automaker Volkswagen AG split an 80%majority stake in the company earlier this year. The Ford Motor Company announced plans to launch its self-driving commercial business in 2022 with vehicles based on the Ford Escape Hybrid crossover. The vehicles are the automaker’s fourth-genera- tion self-driving test vehicles in partnership with Argo AI, a Pittsburgh-based autonomous vehicle start-up. Initially Zoom is not taking a cut of these pro- cessed however, the company will look at whether it should start charging next year.
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SEPTEMBER 2020 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2020
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