Alex Webb is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Europe's technology, media and communications industries. He previously covered Apple and other technology companies for Bloomberg News in San Francisco.
April 12, 2019
If you’ve bought a new car lately, chances are it has some basic communication skills. One day, cities and highways could be full of self-driving vehicles, all talking directly with each other to coordinate traffic and prevent accidents. Do they …
August 16, 2018
Whenever Amazon.com Inc. eyes expansion into a new industry, the stalwarts of that space shudder. A Reuters report on Thursday that the e-commerce giant has been talking to insurers about introducing a price comparison website in the U.K. was no …
February 24, 2017
Spacecraft use it to measure distance. Farmers use it to work out which fields need fertilizer. Archaeologists use it to map topography. And, crucially for Uber Technologies Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo, self-driving cars use lidar to navigate. As carmakers …
October 25, 2016
A tractor trailer full of beer drove itself down Colorado’s I-25 last week with nobody behind the wheel. Uber Technologies Inc. and Anheuser-Busch InBev NV teamed up on the delivery, which they said is the first time a self-driving truck …
September 28, 2016
Aetna Inc. will give some customers and employees discounts on Apple Inc.’s smartwatch, offering the potential that incentives from the insurance industry could boost sales of the technology giant’s wearable device. The health insurer, which covers about 23 million people …
July 20, 2016
Cybersecurity is the biggest concern for companies evaluating risk in the nascent self-driving vehicle industry, according to a survey conducted by Munich Re. The world’s second-biggest reinsurer found that 55 percent of corporate risk managers surveyed named cybersecurity as their …
January 15, 2015
The world’s biggest security provider, G4S Plc, is fielding more inquiries from prospective clients after terrorists killed 17 people in Paris last week. Companies are seeking advice on how to protect their employees following attacks at the weekly magazine Charlie …
September 12, 2013
Josef Ackermann will step down from Siemens AG’s supervisory board, two weeks after he resigned as chairman of Zurich Insurance Group AG following his naming in the suicide note of finance chief Pierre Wauthier. The decision of the former Deutsche …