Google's self-driving car software seen as driver by US agency

Google Inc's artificial-intelligence system will be interpreted as a driver by federal regulators, a step toward compliance that would help the tech giant's self-driving cars hit US roads. 

PHOTO: REUTERS

FEB 10, 201610:47 AM

[SAN FRANCISCO] Google Inc's artificial-intelligence system will be interpreted as a driver by federal regulators, a step toward compliance that would help the tech giant's self-driving cars hit US roads.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration agrees with Google that its cars "will not have a 'driver' in the traditional sense that vehicles have had drivers during the last more than 100 years," the agency said in a Feb 4 letter to Chris Urmson, director of the company's self-driving car project. Google asked NHTSA in a November letter for interpretation of safety standards in cars it seeks to produce without traditional controls, such as a steering wheel or throttle and brake pedals.

"If no human occupant of the vehicle can actually drive the vehicle, it is more reasonable to identify the 'driver' as whatever (as opposed to whoever) is doing the driving," Paul Hemmersbaugh, NHTSA's chief counsel, said in the letter. In Google's case, its self-driving system "is actually driving the vehicle," he wrote.

Google is examining NHTSA's letter and will come up with a plan for how it proceeds, said Johnny Luu, a company spokesman.

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"The government will have to study the capabilities of Google's autonomous tech and be convinced it doesn't represent a danger," Karl Brauer, an analyst with researcher Kelley Blue Book, said in an e-mail. "That might take a while if it involves a permanent change to the vehicle code, but the process of getting an exemption would be easier and quicker."

Alphabet Inc's Google is getting mixed signals from federal and state regulators on the path to putting its self- driving cars on the road. California has said the cars aren't smart enough yet to be sold to the public without a steering wheel, brake pedals, and a licensed driver behind the wheel. US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx last month said automakers will be allowed to apply for exemptions to certain rules as part of an approach to ensure government doesn't stand in the way of technological progress.

NHTSA sees promise in autonomous-driving technologies helping to bring down the more than 30,000 deaths from motor- vehicle crashes in the US every year. Foxx last month announced a a US$4 billion grant program over 10 years to fund pilot projects with automated vehicles.

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Facebook's India stumble could embolden other regulators

India's decision to effectively ban Facebook's pared-back free Internet service is a major blow to the social network's plans, and may prompt other regulators to demand equal online access for their users. 

PHOTO: REUTERS

FEB 10, 20167:35 AM

[SINGAPORE] India's decision to effectively ban Facebook's pared-back free Internet service is a major blow to the social network's plans, and may prompt other regulators to demand equal online access for their users.

Facebook will have to reconsider its approach in the light of India's new rules preventing Internet service providers from having different pricing policies for accessing different parts of the Web, analysts said.

"This is a major setback for Facebook," said Naveen Menon, lead analyst at A.T. Kearney in Singapore. "Not only because India was expected to be such a critical piece of the overall Internet.org success story, but more so because it has potential dangerous knock-on effects for the universal access initiative in other markets."

Internet.org is Facebook's umbrella initiative to bring Internet access to the unconnected. Part of that is the Free Basics programme, which Facebook has launched in around three dozen emerging countries.

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The service has been criticised outside India, too, with Facebook accused of infringing the principle of net neutrality - the concept that all websites and data on the Internet be treated equally.

Critics and Internet activists argue that allowing free access to a select few apps and Web services disadvantages small content providers and start-ups that don't participate.

Ram Sevak Sharma, chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), told Reuters he hoped its ruling would clarify ambiguity about net neutrality and "that India has set the record straight that will be followed world over."

In Facebook posts after Monday's ruling, founder Mark Zuckerberg said Free Basics was just one part of a larger initiative that includes solar-powered planes, satellites and lasers, and pairing with local entrepreneurs to provide wireless hotspots.

Expanding these approaches with or without the operators was one option for Facebook now, as well as legal workarounds where the service is repackaged, said Martin Geddes, a UK-based telecoms consultant.

Facebook could also challenge the ruling in the courts, but a more likely move, said Marc Einstein, Asia-Pacific director at Frost and Sullivan, would be to sit down with the TRAI "to try to come up with a solution that's deemed a little more neutral."

Facebook executives were not immediately available for comment, but India-born Karthik Naralasetty, whose blood donor matching service Socialblood is available in more than 20 countries via Free Basics, said Facebook was already re-thinking its approach.

"Facebook is re-thinking what it's doing, coming up with better plans," he said by telephone. "Communications will have to improve. They have to get the buy-in of different governments before they go into those countries."

FIGHT GOES ON

It won't be easy.

For one thing, said Neil Shah, a director of Counterpoint Research in Mumbai, Free Basics made little headway in India before it was suspended in December, gaining 1 million users. Only 252 million of India's 1.3 billion people have Internet access.

Part of the problem, one expert said, is that Facebook implemented Free Basics in India following a playbook it has used in other developing countries without considering India's active civil society.

Indian activists and local businesses strongly opposed Facebook acting as the "gatekeeper" of the Internet, said Rebecca MacKinnon, director of the Ranking Digital Rights project at New America.

"India is not a place where Free Basics is going to be welcomed or work and (Facebook) might be better off thinking about another strategy to win over users in India," she said, such as focusing on telecommunications infrastructure or helping people access affordable devices with Internet connections.

Opponents of the service said they would continue to fight.

"Facebook is not going to take it lying down and they will try and figure out a way for it to happen one way or the other,"said Sachin Bhatia, co-founder of Indian dating app TrulyMadly."Our job is to keep at it non-stop to ensure Internet freedom is not threatened."

Regional telecoms operators which partner with Facebook, such as Indonesia's PT Indosat, controlled by Qatar's Ooredoo, and Globe Telecom in the Philippines, said the ruling would not lead them to reconsider the partnerships. "The Indian experience is very isolated," said Vicente Froilan Castelo, general counsel of Globe Telecom.

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Qualcomm wants to quote its foe Samsung as it defends licensing

FEB 10, 20169:07 AM

[SAN FRANCISCO] Qualcomm Inc is asking a US judge to let it use Samsung Electronics Co's words against it in a South Korea licensing fee fight.

The chipmaker wants to counter Samsung's complaints about its patent licensing practices to a South Korean regulator by showing that the handset manufacturer has defended identical conduct in multiple legal battles. Qualcomm on Tuesday asked a federal magistrate judge in San Jose, California, to order Samsung to turn over information it called essential to its defence before South Korea's Fair Trade Commission.

Qualcomm gets the majority of its profit from licensing patents that cover some of the fundamental technology of modern phone networks. The chipmaker has faced regulatory challenges across the globe and earlier this year paid a fine and agreed to charge a smaller percentage on locally sold handsets in China. The company also is the subject of regulatory investigations in the US and Europe.

Information from prior matters will show that Samsung "is taking inconsistent positions" depending on whether it is the licensor of standard-essential patents or the licensee, according to a January filing in the San Jose court by Qualcomm.

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The San Diego-based chipmaker said it needs a US court order for access to documents because there are no procedures under South Korean law to compel Samsung to turn over the information it seeks.

Qualcomm is also trying to obtain records from MediaTek USA Inc, Intel Corp, Apple Inc and Texas Instruments Inc, all of which have opposed the company's requests.

Without the information the chipmaker now seeks through subpoenas, the Korean agency is "operating at the same information deficit that we are," Qualcomm lawyer Gary Bornstein argued at a hearing Tuesday.

US Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal expressed concern about interfering in the investigation of a foreign investigatory body. Mr Bornstein said an examiner for the Korean fair trade commission has asked the court to refuse the company's request. The judge said he'd issue a ruling soon.

At the heart of the dispute is an attempt to rein in Qualcomm's dominance of the mobile phone chip business and devalue its intellectual property which it has successfully asserted as being fundamental to all modern phone networks.

In fiscal 2015 Qualcomm got US$7.95 billion in technology licensing revenue. It turned that into US$6.88 billion of pretax profit.

Qualcomm's licensing revenue is crucial to funding its industry-leading research and design efforts. Rivals such as Intel Corp, which has failed to make a dent in Qualcomm's dominance, may see themselves benefiting from cutting into its spending on improving products.

For handset makers such as Apple Inc and Samsung - which also competes with Qualcomm in chips - reducing the basis for Qualcomm's license revenue calculation would help improve their profitability. Handset makers pay Qualcomm licensing whether they use its chips or not.

South Korea is home to Samsung and LG Electronics Inc, among the world's biggest phone makers and two of Qualcomm's top three customers.

Qualcomm charges fees based on the selling price of handsets, which South Korea is now challenging. The commission argues that the fee should be based on the price of the semiconductor component that uses the technology.

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