GM: you won’t buy self-driving cars at dealerships for a while

Do you dream of having a self-driving car in your driveway, ready to whisk you away at a moment’s notice? You might have to keep dreaming for a while. GM president Dan Ammann tells Business Insider that he doesn’t expect autonomous vehicles at dealerships until sometime “much farther in the future.” You’re more likely to see them used in ridesharing fleets at first, he says. GM clearly has a vested interest in that business between its partnership with Lyft and its own car-sharing efforts, but Ammann has some practical reasons for tamping down expectations.

Much of it has to do with pure geography, he explains. It’s relatively easy to have self-driving cars navigate the relatively small and orderly world of a city, but it’s another for them to venture across the country. They’d have to consider a much larger area with varying terrain and weather conditions.

We’d add that varying signs and rules of the road could complicate matters. And there’s the question of whether or not you’d need a personal car — if you can regularly summon a robotic ride within a few minutes, why buy your own and go through all the hassle of maintaining it? Companies like Lyft and Uber might be highly optimistic about a future of widespread autonomous ridesharing, but their vision has some basis in logic.

Source: Business Insider

Today only, save $50 off the Honor 8

Today only, you can save an additional $50 on the Honor 8, bringing the total price to just $350. Unfamiliar with the Honor 8? Here’s Andrew Martonik said in our review:

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If you’re looking for a great phone at a great value, today is your day. Grab the Honor 8 today and save $50. Hurry, this offer is valid for Columbus Day only!

See at Amazon

UK networks weigh in on latest Note 7 battery fire reports

EE and Vodafone halt Galaxy Note 7 exchanges, while O2 and Three consider options.

After a weekend of dire press for the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, with reports of battery fires in replacement units in the U.S. and Asia, and Samsung apparently suspending production of the phone, the UK’s major network operators have weighed in.

While new Galaxy Note 7 sales have yet to begin in the UK, pre-order customers who had picked up their phones before the September 2 street date had been participating in the official exchange program through Samsung and its carrier and retailer partners. Today EE and Vodafone confirmed to Android Central that they’re halting exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7. Voda notes that it isn’t aware of any of its customers being affected by battery fires, adding that it’s also suspended pre-orders for the phone.

In statements given to AC, Three and O2 say they haven’t taken any direct action yet, but that they’re in communication with Samsung over the issue.

So far Samsung UK has confirmed that it’s adjusting its Note 7 production schedule in light of the reported battery fires in some replacement Notes, but has yet to comment or take any action beyond this. It’s worth noting that significantly fewer Note 7s will be in customers hands in the UK and other parts of Europe, because the launch was halted before the main September 2 street date.

Official statements from the major carriers follow:

EE statement

EE considers the safety of its customers to be of the utmost importance. Following recent media reports of further Note 7 issues in the US and Canada, we have suspended Note7 exchanges and are currently in direct contact with Samsung regarding next steps on the matter.

Vodafone statement

Vodafone UK is aware of media reports suggesting that a small number of people have had problems with the replacement Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Quality and customer safety are absolute priorities for Vodafone, so we are in close communication with Samsung, which is undertaking tests on affected devices. We are not aware of incidents involving Vodafone customers who had an original Note 7 and who have received a replacement device. However, we have paused pre-orders of the Note 7 as well as our device replacement programme until such time that we receive satisfactory assurances from Samsung about the safety of the Galaxy Note 7.

O2 statement

Safety of our customers is of upmost importance for us. We have not been selling the Note 7 since Samsung advised O2 in September that there would be an exchange programme for the phone. We are currently in discussions with Samsung and reviewing our options.

Three statement

We are currently assessing the situation with Samsung and we will be seeking guidance from them as to the next steps as the safety of our customers is paramount.

Cyanogen Inc. switching up software strategy, shuffling executive ranks

Cyanogen Inc. is embarking on a new strategy.

In a long and winding blog post, we got a pretty comprehensive update pointing to big changes to Cyanogen Inc. in terms of its new business strategy but also executive leadership team. The post is written by Lior Tal, the former COO who is now assuming the role of CEO. His predecessor Kirt McMaster is moving to take on the role of Executive Chairman of the Board. Steve Kondik, the long-time face of Cyanogen, is now the Chief Science Officer at the company.

More important in the near term is a large shift in strategy for Cyanogen Inc. After partnering with several smartphone makers to launch well over a dozen phones running a complete build of Cyanogen OS, selling millions of phones running the software, Cyanogen Inc. is moving to what it calls the “Cyanogen Modular OS program.”

This new program will let smartphone manufacturers pick and choose individual portions of Cyanogen OS, and integrate them into its own current software stack. From today’s news it’s unclear if the complete Cyanogen OS is still available to partners, or if the new Modular OS program is the only way to go. This seems to backtrack a bit from the vehement assertion back in July that Cyanogen Inc. would remain an OS company.

It’s a big switch, but moves Cyanogen Inc. into a broader market.

With the new setup, potential manufacturer partners will have the flexibility to integrate specific features or technologies from Cyanogen OS without giving up any previous work or control they have with their own in-house software. Think about it in the same way Samsung or HTC will license keyboard prediction technology, or security software, from a third party and integrate it into their own software rather than build it from scratch themselves.

This will presumably give Cyanogen Inc. a broader base of companies to work with going forward. Rather than simply focusing on small upstart companies that really had no other option but to go with Cyanogen OS, it can now go after more established companies that simply want to license one or two main modules. It also frees up Cyanogen Inc. from continued software support for individual phones — it can instead focus on supporting the particular modules that the companies request.

How this strategy will play out in reality will take some time to see, and depending on how the licensing deals work out we may never even know which manufacturers have integrated some of the technology from Cyanogen OS. It’s all a tad bit opaque at this point, and one question left unanswered is how this will affect current Cyanogen OS devices out in the wild today. That will likely come with time, as will a better understanding of how Cyanogen Inc. will execute on this new direction.