Alphabet’s Waymo to test latest self-driving tech in Seattle area

Autonomous driving company to hit the road in Seattle area: Waymo, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet, wants to put its self-driving technology through the paces in the region’s wet and wild winter weather. Waymo will test the fifth generation of its technology in distinctive, all-electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles in Bellevue, Wash. Read the story.

Jeff Bezos spars with professor over queen’s death: The Amazon founder was among those who took issue with a tweet by Carnegie Mellon University’s Dr. Uju Anya in which she wished the dying British monarch an “excruciating” death.

More layoff news: Nearly 400 workers will be laid off in Washington state as a result of Amazon’s decision to shut down its Amazon Care primary healthcare services. Read more. 

Peter Thiel backs Seattle software vetting startup: QA Wolf landed $20 million to fuel growth of its software that helps other companies vet lines of code.

Protection from smoke: Air quality may worsen this weekend as winds bring wildfire smoke into the Seattle area. Here are some tips from PNNL on how to protect yourself when indoors.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend. — GeekWire managing editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com, and GeekWire reporter Kurt Schlosser, kurt@geekwire.com.