Latest Google Headlines

All the headlines from our Google Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Insurance Industry Analyzes Google’s Failed Online Insurance Experiment

Feb 23 2016 // The insurance industry had a lot to say about what Google did wrong a day after the search engine giant said it would be pulling the plug on its year-long Google Compare experiment selling auto insurance online. Many...

Exclusive: Google to Shut Down Online Insurance Site, Partners Say

Feb 22 2016 // It appears Google Compare’s grand experiment in online comparison shopping for auto insurance is dead – for now at least. Insurance Journal has learned that two of Google Compare’s major partners were told...

U.S. Safety Agency to Google: Software Qualifies as a Driver

Feb 22 2016 // U.S. vehicle safety regulators have said the artificial intelligence system piloting a self-driving Google car could be considered the driver under federal law, a major step toward ultimately winning approval for...

Should Google’s Parent Buy AIG?

Feb 16 2016 // It’s an “audacious” idea, and Citigroup Inc. acknowledges as much. Google’s parent, Alphabet Inc., should buy American International Group Inc. to expand into financial services, and turn the...

U.S. Safety Rules Key to Driverless Car Future: Google

Feb 12 2016 // Alphabet Inc.’s Google unit told U.S. auto safety regulators that the government’s interpretation of motor vehicle safety rules is “extremely important” to its further development of fully...

Software Qualifies as a Driver, Says U.S. Safety Agency on Google Self-Driving Car

Feb 10 2016 // U.S. vehicle safety regulators have said the artificial intelligence system piloting a self-driving Google car could be considered the driver under federal law, a major step toward ultimately winning approval for...

Why Google’s Not So Smart or Fast and Insurance Agents Aren’t Dead… Yet

Feb 2 2016 // Insurance agents aren’t dead yet, but even underwriters participating in the personal automobile insurance market may be looking for another line of work within the next two decades, industry observers said at a...

Self-Driving Cars Still Need Human Help in California Tests

Jan 14 2016 // Futuristic self-driving cars traveling along California roads have needed plenty of old-fashioned human intervention to stay safe. California’s Department of Motor Vehicles this week released reports filed by seven...

Expect Urban Deliveries by Drones within Few Years: Google

Jan 13 2016 // Product delivery-by-drone in urban areas may be possible within a few years if the U.S. government and the aviation industry agree to work cooperatively on the new technology, the chief of Google Inc.’s drone cargo...

Crash Rates Lower for Self-Driving Cars: Virginia Tech Study

Jan 11 2016 // Crash rates for self-driving cars are lower than the national crash rate of conventional cars, according to a new report out of Virginia Tech Transportation Institute that was commissioned by self-driving car developer...

Top 10 Property/Casualty Insurance News Stories of 2015

Dec 30 2015 // The year 2015 was a year during which the property/casualty insurance industry worried and learned about disruptive forces, new competitors, new leaders and emerging risks. Also, some of the industry’s news revived...

Driverless Cars Give Lawyers Bottomless List of Defendants

Dec 22 2015 // Imagine a robot car with no one behind the wheel hitting another driverless car. Who’s at fault? The answer: No one knows. But plaintiff’s lawyers are salivating at the prospects for big paydays from such...

A Look at the Highest Paid U.S. Corporate Director Posts

Dec 21 2015 // Outsize pay for chief executive officers has been a bone of contention among shareholder activists for years. What’s less known is that the directors on board-compensation committees — the very people who...

The Top Insurance News Stories of the Year 2015

Dec 21 2015 // The year 2015 was a year during which the property/casualty insurance industry got a glimpse at its future in the form of disruptive forces, new competitors, new leaders and emerging risks. Also, some of the news revived...

Opinion: California DMV Rules Would Slow Driverless Car Development

Dec 18 2015 // The home state of Google Inc., the pioneering company in driverless cars, has just taken steps to make life more difficult – not just for Google, but for all of us who would like to see driverless cars hit the road as...

Driverless Car Accidents Pile Up As They Obey Laws, Humans Don’t So Much

Dec 18 2015 // The self-driving car, that cutting-edge creation that’s supposed to lead to a world without accidents, is achieving the exact opposite right now: The vehicles have racked up a crash rate double that of those with...

Federal Transportation Officials Want Self-Driving Cars Sooner

Nov 25 2015 // Federal transportation officials are rethinking their position on self-driving cars with an eye toward getting the emerging technology into the public’s hands, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of...

Google Compare for Mortgages Launched in California, Other States to Follow

Nov 23 2015 // Google has officially launched the newest addition to its suite of Google Compare products: mortgages. Google Compare for Mortgages was announced​ earlier this year, and is now being made available in California with...

California DMV’s Pedestrian Pace on Self-Driving Car Rules Makes Google Antsy

Nov 17 2015 // Hustling to bring cars that drive themselves to a road near you, Google finds itself somewhere that has frustrated many before: Waiting on the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The tech titan wants the freedom to...

Appeals Court Rules Google Book Copying Is Legal ‘Fair Use’

Oct 16 2015 // Google Inc. can go ahead and create a digital library of millions of books without paying authors, a U.S. appeals court said, ruling the company’s plan is a “fair use” under copyright law. The company has...