AVS

Southern Skeptics

Despite self-driving pilots fanning out across Southern states like Texas, Florida, and Georgia, our March 2021 Morning Brew-Harris Poll survey found that the region is far more skeptical of autonomous vehicles than elsewhere. You can read our high-level survey findings here.

The big finding: Compared with those in other regions, US adults living in the South are less likely to ride in an AV if available, less willing to pay for them, and less likely to feel safe if they somehow wind up in one. 

• It’s the only region where the majority of respondents (57%) said they’re not very likely or not at all likely to ride in a self-driving car if given the chance. 

Florida-based AV consultant Grayson Brulte told us this is likely because of a lack of exposure among residents of the South who live outside of regional tech hubs like Austin, Miami, and Atlanta. 

“Perhaps they've never met anyone who has been for a ride, or they have a skepticism of Big Tech,” Brulte said. “And it’s the industry’s fault for not engaging with these individuals and saying, ‘This technology is going to impact your life, we’d like to demonstrate it for you, we’d like to learn from you.’”

Reaching out 

Brulte said in general the industry has done a good job connecting with residents of tech hubs—he cited Argo’s involvement in community programs in Miami as an example—but that they’ve done little outside of urban bubbles. 

From Brulte’s POV, outreach doesn’t need to be more complicated than demoing an AV in a parking lot, because, “The magic in all this is when they see the steering wheel move,” and no one is driving. The Society of Automotive Engineers did something like this between 2017 and 2019 called “Demo Days.” 

• SAE gave rides to 1,395 participants across Detroit, LA, Tampa, and Babcock Ranch, FL, and found that 88% of riders were enthusiastic about self-driving cars after riding in one, up from 82% pre-ride. 

Bottom line: Last week, Waymo’s new co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana told us that, “At a national level, we’re seeing more interest in autonomous driving technology.” But there are still many skeptics who aren’t on board. 

+ While we’re here: Check out our new guide to autonomous vehicles. —DM

CRYPTO

Dogecoin Goes Parabolic

If you didn’t know about dogecoin before last week, you almost definitely do now.

About the meme cryptocurrency: Dogecoin was created in 2013 as a form of crypto satire, a riff on the explosion of altcoins (non-bitcoin tokens). The dogecoin protocol is based on luckycoin. $Doge has no intrinsic value, underlying fundamentals, or supply cap. 

• There will only ever be 21 million bitcoins, whereas there could theoretically be an infinite supply of dogecoins.

But that doesn’t matter to ~very online~ traders. At its all-time high, $doge had posted a gain of 9,200% year-to-date. The coin’s market cap maxed out above $50 billion, for those keeping score at home. 

• Dogecoin’s trading volume even eclipsed that of ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency. 

Bottom line: The meme is the message?

The rise of $doge shows the power of online communities and reminds us of GameStop. If $doge comes crashing down to Earth, we just hope that a bunch of unwitting retail traders aren’t caught holding the bag. —RD

SPONSORED BY EDEN WORKPLACE

Office Re-entry is in the Bag with this Desk Booking Software

And we mean that literally. Just for booking a meeting to learn about Eden Workplace's desk booking software for your hybrid office, you'll get a free Black Hole duffel bag from Patagonia. 

Eden Workplace’s desk-booking software allows employees to collaborate with their colleagues and book a desk for the day. They make the software for modern office management—with other products including visitor management, room scheduling, internal ticketing, and more.

So who do you need to be to score that sweet duffel? A decision maker for workplace software, or someone who can refer one at your office.

Schedule your call with Eden Workplace today. 

AI

Amazon's New Algorithms

Amazon has come under constant fire lately for its treatment of workers, from the pee bottle tweetstorm to warehouse injury rates. Starting this year, the company will lean on algorithms to address the latter. 

Recap: In September, The Center for Investigative Reporting analyzed records from 150+ Amazon warehouses spanning 2016 to 2019, and found that injury rates increased each of those years. They were 50% higher at warehouses with robots. 

In Jeff Bezos’s latest and final shareholder letter as CEO, he announced that Amazon is automating staffing schedules for warehouse workers. The algorithm-powered program will roll out this year and “rotate employees among jobs that use different muscle-tendon groups” to help avoid musculoskeletal risks like strains or sprains. 

But, but, but: While the repetitive motions that make up many warehouse workers’ jobs are a main injury driver, there’s a lurking variable here, too—overly aggressive expectations. 

• Warehouse employees are often subjected to new quotas when robots join the team (for example, being expected to scan 400 items per hour vs. ~100 pre-robot). 

Bottom line: The new scheduling algorithms Amazon is introducing should help somewhat with muscle strain, but they don’t address too-high expectations—or the fact that, for some workers, Amazon’s software is always looking over their shoulder. —HF

BITS & BYTES

Stat: Sales of fab tools—machinery used in semiconductor plants—reached an all-time high of $71.2 billion last year. 

Quote: “We decided we weren’t going to write a manual of what we expected of people. It was fairly simple: We wanted to hire the brightest people we could find.”—Charles Geschke, cofounder of Adobe, who passed away on Friday

Read: MIT Tech Review has a tongue-in-cheek guide to AI ethics.  

Learn: In collaboration with Esme Learning, MIT is offering two online courses aimed to help entrepreneurs and executives level-up their careers. Put your smarty pants on and register—they’re giving one lucky Brew reader free tuition.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• NASA flew the first helicopter on Mars this morning. 
• A Tesla in Spring, TX, crashed over the weekend with no one driving. Both passengers were killed. 
• Clubhouse is now worth $4 billion. 
• Facebook is announcing a suite of audio products today, Recode reports. 
• Squarespace filed to go public.
• Zoom announced the $100 million Zoom Apps Fund, which could incentivize developers to build services on top of the videoconferencing tool.

SPONSORED BY HPE

Building a digitally inclusive world must start now. HPE believes everyone deserves access to quality and affordable education, healthcare, and tools to participate and prosper in the digital economy. We must create a digital infrastructure that supports all organizations – from rural hospitals in Uganda to farms in Kansas. HPE's CEO Antonio Neri outlines three steps to create a more digitally inclusive world. Read about it here.

THREE THINGS WE'RE WATCHING

Tuesday: Apple’s “Spring Loaded” event. 

Wednesday: Facebook is holding the first Oculus Gaming Showcase, which will be streamed on Twitch, YouTube, and its own services. Wednesday is also the start of the 19th Shanghai Auto Show. We’ll be keeping an eye out for automakers announcing new EV models. 

Thursday: Intel earnings. The company’s had its ups and downs this year—being dropped by Apple, announcing its own semiconductor foundry, and, of course, the global chip shortage.

TECH THROWBACK

In 2006, Internet Explorer was the leading web browser, snagging ~90% of internet users in Q1. Ten years later, Microsoft gave up on it—and fifteen years later, it’s the butt of a lot of jokes. 

ICYMI

• Coinbase’s president on its plans after going public
• Q&A with Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana
• New ripple effects from the global chip shortage