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X (formerly Twitter) is experiencing its largest user exodus since <keyword id="6355315" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="elon-musk" source="Orion">Elon Musk</keyword> took over in 2022. The tipping point is a perfect storm of political controversy, privacy fears, and discontent with the platform’s new policies, culminating in a dramatic shift of users to alternative platforms like <keyword id="412371" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="bluesky" source="Orion">Bluesky</keyword> and <keyword id="1163500" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="threads" source="Orion">Threads</keyword>. Here’s a breakdown of the recent changes and why they’ve left users saying goodbye to X. <h2>Political backlash</h2>The day after the U.S. presidential election on November 6, X saw over 115,000 account deactivations — the most since Musk's acquisition. Many users were disillusioned by Musk's perceived alignment with newly elected President Donald Trump. Musk's vocal support for Trump during his campaign, coupled with his attendance at Republican rallies, alienated users who once trusted X as a politically neutral platform. One user, Kara Wurtz, said the election was the “final straw.” After eight years on the platform, the finance director from St. Louis decided that X was no longer delivering the content she valued. “Every time I opened it, it would throw things at me that put me in a bad mood,” she said. The political fallout didn’t just affect individuals. Prominent organisations and brands, including The Guardian and former CNN anchor Don Lemon, have also bid farewell to the platform. <h2>New terms of service spark outrage</h2>On November 15, X's updated terms of service came into effect, granting the platform a sweeping global licence to use user-generated content. This includes using posts, photos, and creative works to train artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) models. The backlash was immediate: <ul><li>Privacy Concerns: By continuing to use X, users implicitly agree to have their data — personal photos, creative work, and more — used for AI training. Artists and creators fear their intellectual property could be exploited to develop AI tools that might one day replace human creativity.</li><li>Legal Implications: Disputes over the new terms will be handled in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, home to Judge Reed O'Connor, a Tesla investor. This has raised questions about potential bias in legal proceedings related to the platform.</li></ul>Alex Fink, CEO of the AI-powered platform Otherweb, criticised X’s lack of transparency, stating, “Unlike other platforms with vague licensing terms, X removes any ambiguity about its intentions.” <h2>Changes to blocking and safety settings</h2>Safety concerns have also escalated due to alterations in X’s block feature. Users now allegedly receive notifications that even those they block can still view their posts — though they can’t interact. This tweak is particularly alarming for users who have faced harassment on the platform. Many feel their safety is compromised, prompting them to seek refuge in safer alternatives like Bluesky, which saw a surge of 500,000 new users in just one day following the policy updates. Initially developed by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Bluesky offers customizable feeds and decentralised control, which many find refreshing. With over 16 million users (and counting), it’s quickly becoming the top choice for X refugees. Threads, Instagram’s text-based app, also surpassed 275 million monthly active users by November, with 15 million new sign-ups last month alone. For many, these platforms represent a chance to escape X’s chaos while reclaiming control over their online experience. <h2>Is Fediverse the future?</h2>Experts believe the exodus from X could mark the beginning of a new era of decentralised social networks. Bluesky, built on a protocol that enables interconnected platforms, is part of the "Fediverse," which could allow users to interact seamlessly across different apps. This shift reflects growing dissatisfaction with centralised platforms that control user data, content visibility, and privacy settings. While Musk touts record-breaking engagement on X, the cracks in the platform’s foundation are evident. Critics warn that X could become a training ground for Musk’s xAI venture, leveraging user interactions to fuel lucrative AI models. Whether X can weather this storm remains uncertain, but one thing is clear: the days of Twitter’s broad appeal as a space for open, inclusive dialogue seem to be fading fast.

Mass X-odus: What are the controversial changes on X that are driving users away?

<ul class="summary-list"><li>London-based Wayve is one of Europe's buzziest self-driving startups, attracting funding from Microsoft and SoftBank.</li><li>The company is now expanding into the US, and has started testing its vehicles in California.</li></ul>Europe's buzzy self-driving startup is about to face a new challenge — driving on the opposite side of the road.London-based Wayve has ambitious plans for global expansion after receiving backing from Microsoft, Nvidia, and SoftBank.The company announced in October that it would start testing its advanced driver assist technology in California, joining <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/waymo-ride-six-hours-longest-youtube-sf-san-francisco-robotaxi-2024-10">Waymo</a> and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-full-self-driving-mode-fsd-zoox-robotaxi-amazon-2024-10">Amazon-backed Zoox</a> in driving on public roads in the US.That will see its vehicles face a similar headache to human drivers traveling across the Atlantic — switching from UK roads, where cars drive on the left rather than the right."There's going to be some new challenges, whether it's driving on the right side of the road, four-way stop signs, or right turn on a red. These are things that we don't have in the UK," Alex Kendall, Wayve's CEO, told Business Insider in an interview.Wayve's self-driving software is trained on the streets of London and other UK cities, known for being narrower and more crowded than the wide-open roads of California.<div type="image" title="Alex Kendall, CEO of Wayve" height="1875" width="2500" msid="115141699" hostid="261" sizebytes="463596"></div>But the startup, which recently raised over $1 billion from investors including Microsoft and Nvidia, is confident that it can make the leap.Wayve's fleet of Ford Mach-Es uses an end-to-end AI model that learns how to drive from real-world testing and simulations.That's a different approach from companies like Waymo, which rely on radar systems like lidar and high-precision mapping to limit their vehicles to operating in certain areas.Tesla has shunned lidar to rely exclusively on cameras and AI for its driver-assist systems, with Elon Musk previously <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-wrong-about-self-driving-strategy-needs-lidar-experts-2018-9">calling lidar a "crutch."</a> Tesla still spent <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-lidar-technology-spending-luminar-elon-musk-comments-2024-5">at least $2 million on the technology</a> in the first quarter of 2024, though it is unclear what it was used for.Kendall said Wayve's approach allowed the company's software to generalize and adjust to new rules of the road in much the same way a human would.He told BI that Wayve was already seeing its vehicles learn to read four-way stop signs, weeks after it started testing a fleet of Ford Mach-Es with safety drivers in California."That level of behavior took us significantly more time and effort to learn in the UK. So what that shows to us is that we are generalizing," said Kendall.<h2 id="1fbecf35-04cd-448e-9e22-ef758d053a82">Big year for Wayve</h2>The expansion to the US caps a big year for Wayve, whose AI-first approach to autonomous vehicles has caught the eye of everyone from Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun to Bill Gates, who praised the company last year after taking one of Wayve's vehicles for a spin.The London-based startup has opened new offices in Vancouver and San Francisco, with Kendall saying the latter was partly to be closer to partners such as Microsoft and Nvidia.Wayve has also struck a partnership with Uber, which Kendall described as a three-way partnership that will see the two companies work with automakers to equip consumer vehicles with Wayve's driver-assist technology before gradually scaling up to fully autonomous robotaxis that will be deployed on Uber's platform.The Wayve CEO said gaining access to data from a network of millions of consumer vehicles across the globe would help Wayve's tech learn how to drive in different environments and cultures — a crucial step towards building fully autonomous vehicles."Ultimately we want this technology to be able to work anywhere around the world. That's going to require some exposure to data around the world," Kendall said.<h2 id="421bb542-72e6-4cff-b4c5-b4719abebeb4">Robotaxi wars</h2>After years of promises and false starts, autonomous vehicles seem to have taken a big step closer to breaking through to the mainstream.Alphabet-owned Waymo, which runs its robotaxi ride-hailing network in several US cities, recently said it serves<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-third-quarter-earnings-report-q3-2024-2024-10"> around 150,000 paid rides</a> a week, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alphabet-is-pouring-billions-into-waymos-self-driving-vehicles-2024-7">up from 50,000 in Q2</a>.Despite scrutiny <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-robotaxi-empire-scrutiny-fsd-full-self-driving-2024-10">over its Full-Self-Driving technology</a>, Tesla is also set to join the robotaxi wars after unveiling a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-elon-musk-fan-robotaxi-event-experiences-cybercab-2024-10">steering wheel-less "Cybercab"</a> at an event in California in October.Wayve has taken a different approach. Rather than building its own robotaxi fleet, the company plans to license its software to different automakers. Kendall said this would give Wayve a crucial advantage over firms like Waymo, which currently only operate in certain cities."I think the way that the way that autonomy will succeed at scale is through a system that has the intelligence to make decisions itself. And a geofenced approach fundamentally limits the utility of such a system," said Kendall.Ultimately, Kendall said that autonomous vehicles will only have their "ChatGPT moment" once they expand beyond specially modified robotaxis into everyday consumer vehicles."I would argue that getting this into consumer vehicles is what's going lead to that experience. It's not constrained, geofenced, affluent robotaxi models," he said.<div type="image" title="Wayve self-driving car testing in California" height="667" width="1000" msid="115141702" hostid="261" sizebytes="105528"></div>Kendall added that Wayve's "embodied" AI system's ability to understand the physical world has applications beyond self-driving cars and hinted that Wayve could one day join <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-optimus-humanoid-robots-robotaxi-day-2024-10">Elon Musk's Tesla in entering the robotics field</a>."The majority of the work we do is in the physical world. Having intelligent and trusted machines that we can delegate tasks to and free up time for what matters most is something I'd love to enable," he said."I think the first example of that we'll see is with self-driving, but longer term there's going to be a huge wealth of opportunities. I'd love Wayve to help get us into this age of autonomy," he added.

Wayve's CEO talks teaching self-driving cars to handle US roads

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Tesla stock surged as much as 8% after a report said President-elect Donald Trump plans to ease self-driving car regulations.</li><li>The incoming Trump administration is aiming to prioritize a federal framework for autonomous vehicles.</li></ul><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tsla-stock">Tesla</a> stock surged as much as 8% on Monday after a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-17/trump-team-said-to-want-to-ease-us-rules-for-self-driving-cars?srnd=homepage-americas">Bloomberg</a> report said the incoming Trump administration is seeking to relax autonomous driving regulations.That would be a boon for Tesla, which has staked its future on launching fully autonomous electric vehicles in the coming years.According to the report, President-elect Donald Trump's transition team told advisors that they plan to make implementing a federal framework for fully self-driving vehicles a top priority for the Department of Transportation.The current federal rules are strict about car manufacturers selling large quantities of vehicles without steering wheels or foot pedals.For reference, Tesla CEO and Trump ally Elon Musk recently <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-cybercab-robotaxi-details-production-earnings-call-2024-10">unveiled an autonomous vehicle</a> named the Cybercab with no steering wheel or foot pedals.Tesla said it plans to begin selling the Cybercab in 2026.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration allows manufacturers to deploy only 2,500 self-driving vehicles annually. Legislative efforts to increase the self-driving restriction to 100,000 vehicles per manufacturer a year have repeatedly failed.A request for comment from the Trump transition team was not immediately returned.According to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, if restrictions on fully self-driving vehicles are eased, Tesla will be the main beneficiary, calling it a "significant tailwind for Tesla's autonomous and AI vision heading into 2025.""Musk's significant influence in the Trump White House is already having a major influence and ultimately the golden path for Tesla around Cybercabs and autonomous is now within reach with an emboldened Trump/Musk strategic alliance playing out in real time and very in line with our thesis," Ives said in a note on Sunday.Ives estimates autonomous vehicles are a $1 trillion opportunity for Tesla, and if realized, could catapult Tesla to a $2 trillion valuation over the next 12 to 18 months, representing potential upside of 76% from current levels.Tesla stock has surged 37% since Donald Trump's election win earlier this month.

Tesla stock jumps 8% on Trump administration plan to relax self-driving car rules

Since 2013, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a> has promised that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla">Tesla</a> will have a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/09/18/business/tesla-self-drive-car/index.html">self-driving car</a>. To get there, the company has leaned on a specialized group of test drivers who are part of what's known internally as "Project Rodeo."Test drivers on Project Rodeo say they push the company's self-driving software to its limit. They work to bridge the gap between driver-assist software and fully autonomous driving. Operating on open streets with other vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians, they have tested unreleased software that will be crucial to Tesla's push into autonomous driving.Test drivers said they sometimes navigated perilous scenarios, particularly those drivers on Project Rodeo's "critical intervention" team, who say they're trained to wait as long as possible before taking over the car's controls. Tesla engineers say there's a reason for this: The longer the car continues to drive itself, the more data they have to work with. Experts in self-driving tech and safety say this type of approach could speed up the software's development but risks the safety of the test drivers and people on public roads."The idea is that you're a cowboy on a bull and you're just trying to hang on as long as you can," a former test driver who trained for the critical-intervention team in San Francisco said.Business Insider spoke with nine current and former Project Rodeo test drivers and three Autopilot engineers in states including California, Texas, and Florida. The drivers worked on training Tesla's Full Self-Driving software and its Autopilot software, which, despite the products' names, require a licensed driver at the wheel. Most asked to remain anonymous, citing a fear of professional reprisal, but their identities are known to Business Insider. Eight of the drivers described experiences that occurred over the past year, mostly between November and April.<div type="image" title="tesla cars in a parking lot" height="2827" width="4195" msid="114814069" hostid="261" sizebytes="1645262"></div>None of the test drivers who spoke with BI said they had been involved in a crash.Five who worked for the company in 2024 said they narrowly avoided collisions, including almost hitting a group of pedestrians. One former critical-intervention driver in Texas told BI that they sometimes ventured into their city's bar district late at night to see how Tesla's FSD software reacted to drunk patrons spilling out after last call. The former driver in San Francisco recalled riding around Stanford University during training, testing how close FSD would allow the vehicle to get to people at crosswalks before they had to take over. And a third critical-intervention driver said they allowed the car to speed through yellow lights and drive 35 mph under the speed limit on an expressway to avoid disengaging the system.A former Autopilot engineer told BI that while testing is done on open roads, Tesla runs hundreds of simulations and sometimes tests difficult scenarios on a closed course before rolling out new software to test drivers' vehicles.Tesla did not respond to a detailed list of questions about Project Rodeo and its self-driving technology.The test drivers' experiences highlight the balancing act Tesla and other automakers face as they prepare their self-driving software for widespread consumer use.Experts say public testing is crucial and can help identify safety issues before the technology hits the market. Missy Cummings, a former safety advisor for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said that while practices vary, she believes many autonomous-vehicle companies likely employ tactics similar to Tesla's."In theory, these drivers have gone through training, and eventually these cars do need to be able to operate in the public domain," Cummings said. She added that clearly marked vehicles could help the public better identify test drivers.Safety experts say fragmented and limited autonomous-vehicle regulations, coupled with self-reporting by automakers, create a complex environment where companies balance public safety with getting their products ready for commercial use."There are very few rules around autonomous testing and a lot of dependency on self-reporting," said Mark Rosekind, a former NHTSA administrator and chief safety innovation officer for Zoox, an Amazon-owned autonomous-taxi firm. "If companies aren't reporting, it's hard to know what's going on."In the past decade, authorities have investigated several automakers, including Tesla, Waymo, and Cruise, over crashes involving self-driving or driver-assist software.<div type="image" title="elon musk looks at a tesla" height="3488" width="4868" msid="114814075" hostid="261" sizebytes="1020846"></div>A lot depends on Tesla's promise of autonomous driving; Musk said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-worth-basically-zero-without-self-driving-2022-6">in 2022</a> that self-driving was "really the difference between Tesla being worth a lot of money or worth basically zero." The Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote in a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-robotaxi-release-date-elon-musk-stock-price-2024-9">note</a> last month that the company's future valuation was "highly dependent on its ability to develop, manufacture, and commercialize autonomous technologies." Tesla's stock fell by 10% on October 11, the day after the company's robotaxi event. <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/tesla-stock-price-q3-earnings-elon-musk-profit-margins-guidance-2024-10">It rebounded after Tesla reported earnings on October 23</a>, and it's up by more than 3% overall in the year to date.<h2 id="e24440fb-f024-4003-b2a2-7b4d055c8c7a">Inside the day-to-day of a Project Rodeo driver</h2>Tesla went on a hiring spree this year, bringing on test drivers in at least half a dozen US cities, a review of LinkedIn profiles suggests.A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-job-openings-seasonal-test-drivers-data-capture-2023-7">job listing from 2023</a> said test drivers needed a "clean driving record, safe driving habits, and a minimum of 4 years of licensed driving experiences." Eight drivers told BI that the onboarding process included two to three weeks of hands-on training, including test drives with a trainer in the passenger seat.According to employees and internal documents, one specialty within Project Rodeo works to replicate the job of a ride-hailing driver by picking random points on a map and driving between them. Those working on a different team, known as the "golden manual" team, drive manually, without any assistance, to train FSD software on what by-the-book, error-free driving looks like.Critical-intervention test drivers, who are among Project Rodeo's most experienced, let the software continue driving even after it makes a mistake. They're trained to stage "interventions" — taking manual control of the car — only to prevent a crash, said the three critical-intervention drivers and five other drivers familiar with the team's mission. Drivers on the team and internal documents say that cars rolled through red lights, swerved into other lanes, or failed to follow posted speed limits while FSD was engaged. The drivers said they allowed FSD to remain in control during these incidents because supervisors encouraged them to try to avoid taking over.The critical-intervention drivers recalled multiple instances where they felt unsafe but believed intervening could put their jobs at risk. The former driver in Texas recalled taking over only after FSD nearly rammed the car into the side of a vehicle stopped at an intersection.Non-critical-intervention drivers said they also felt pressure to push the system as far as possible. Five current and former employees said that they were instructed to intervene if they became uncomfortable with the software's behavior but that they sometimes received feedback from their supervisors if they were considered to have disengaged too early.John Bernal, a former test driver and data analyst at Tesla, said test drivers dealt with risky situations as far back as 2022. (Bernal was terminated that year; he said he was fired for sharing videos on his YouTube channel that showed his personal Tesla malfunctioning while using FSD.) He described instances where he broke traffic laws in order to collect data. Bernal said that his supervisors never instructed him to break the law but that he sometimes felt it was the only way to get the data the company wanted.He recalled one test in 2022 that was designed to see how well the system recognized a red light."My training was to wait until the wheels touched the white line before I could slam on the brakes," Bernal said. He said he sometimes ended up in the middle of the intersection if the system didn't work correctly.He also worked to train the autonomous software on "vulnerable road users" — defined by the Department of Transportation as pedestrians, bicyclists, people on scooters or in wheelchairs, or highway workers on foot — when he manually drove the "Ground Truth Machine," a Tesla outfitted with lidar and radar sensors to help the system map and identify objects."I'd drive over double lines to get close to a bike," Bernal said. "I would go obnoxiously slow through an alleyway where drunk people were, and I would be extremely rude and get really close to people."<div type="image" title="tesla showroom with autopilot posters" height="2939" width="4200" msid="114814073" hostid="261" sizebytes="255868"></div>Two years later, test drivers were asked to train the system near pedestrians, test drivers said. Five recalled a bug with FSD that made vehicles brake too early at crosswalks. To improve its performance, they were instructed to interact with pedestrians as frequently as possible.Sometimes, the drivers said, the software would slam on the brakes when no one was at the crosswalk; other times, it wouldn't stop at all. According to Tesla employees and internal documentation, FSD's performance depended heavily on its software version, and the versions appeared to operate at different levels of caution.The former San Francisco driver said that as they drove around Stanford University, their trainer, another test operator with more experience on the team, chastised them for braking too early. They recalled that at one point they came within three feet of hitting a bicyclist at a roundabout."I vividly remember this guy jumping off his bike. He was terrified," the driver told BI. "The car lunged at him, and all I could do was stomp on the brakes." They said the trainer was pleased by the incident. "He told me, 'That was perfect.' That was exactly what they wanted me to do."The driver added that "it felt like the goal was almost to simulate a hit-or-miss accident and then prevent it at the last second."The former Autopilot engineer said it was better for training to see whether the software could correct itself. They also said that not intervening when the car acted abnormally — including veering into another lane or doing something that confuses another driver — was important for training. Human motorists don't always drive rationally, they explained, and the software needs to know how to respond. It's also easier to parse the data if there are fewer driver interventions, they said."At the critical juncture where it's about to make the key decision," they said, it's helpful to see whether the software makes the right or wrong call. "We want the data to know what led the car to that decision," the engineer said. "If you keep intervening too early, we don't really get to the exact moment where we're like, OK, we understand what happened."<h2 id="52098605-f887-4702-a6ab-cf47e173ce28">A 'Wild West' with little regulation</h2>Tesla is one of many automakers attempting to make autonomous vehicles a reality. Waymo, backed by Alphabet, launched the first driverless taxi service in Phoenix in 2020."In many ways, it's like the Wild West out there," said Cummings, the former NHTSA safety advisor. "There is very little regulation around training or informing the public about testing."The stakes of data collection on public roads are high. In 2018, a self-driving Uber with a person behind the wheel struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona. Cruise paused testing after one of its driverless vehicles hit a pedestrian in October 2023. Another vehicle had already hit the pedestrian when the Cruise car struck her, dragging her 20 feet before stopping. It <a target="_blank" href="https://www.getcruise.com/news/blog/2024/cruise-resumes-manual-driving-as-next-step-in-return-to-driverless-mission/">resumed testing</a> with safety drivers in some cities in May.<div type="image" title="waymo self driving taxi interior with pedestrians outside" height="4000" width="6000" msid="114814077" hostid="261" sizebytes="568560"></div>Two former Waymo employees said that they had a team similar to Tesla's critical-intervention team but that Waymo's version of critical-intervention testing was limited to closed tracks with dummies. Two former Cruise employees said that they had mapping teams and teams that tested on closed courses and public roads but that, unlike at Tesla, those teams were instructed to take over as soon as the software went off track, and they typically tested with at least two people in the car.A Waymo spokesperson said the company's safety framework included rigorous testing in controlled environments and on public roads. A Cruise spokesperson said the company's vehicles were designed as fully autonomous systems and were therefore fundamentally different from Tesla's driver-assistance technologies.Philip Koopman, an autonomous-driving expert at Carnegie Mellon University, said that Tesla's critical-intervention approach, as described to him by BI, was "irresponsible" and that the company should be playing out all "critical scenarios" on a closed course."By allowing the software to continue misbehaving to the point a test driver needs to avoid a crash, Tesla would be imposing a risk on other road users who have not agreed to serve as test subjects," Koopman said.Alex Roy, a general partner at NIVC and a former director of operations at the autonomous-driving startup Argo AI, said companies should be correcting the software as soon as it strays from the course, particularly on public roads."You should play those mistakes out in a simulation, not on an open road," Roy said. "Real-world testing is necessary, but real-world mistakes are not." The former Tesla engineer said they doubted that computer simulations are sophisticated enough to replicate the data generated by real-world driving. The former engineer said that, to help the software improve, it was best for test drivers to avoid intervening whenever possible."If you have a parent that's holding the bike the entire time, it never gets to learn," the engineer said.Test drivers on Project Rodeo felt this keenly."You're pretty much running on adrenaline the entire eight-hour shift," one former test driver in the Southwest said. "There's this feeling that you're on the edge of something going seriously wrong."Do you work for Tesla or have a tip? Reach out to the reporter via a non-work email and device at <a target="_blank" href="mailto:gkay@businessinsider.com">gkay@businessinsider.com</a> or <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link">248-894-6012</a>.

Inside 'Project Rodeo,' the Tesla effort pushing the limits of self-driving technology

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Nvidia's stock surged 25% since September, nearing its all-time high.</li><li>OpenAI's $6.6 billion funding last week preceded the stock's ascent.</li></ul>A steady flow of news has added up to a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-stock-price-blackwell-ai-market-value-costco-jensen-huang-2024-10#:~:text=It's%20now%20more%20valuable%20than,is%20worth%20less%20than%20that.">banner month</a> for <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-details-ai-infrastructure-roi-goldman-sachs-2024-9">Nvidia</a>, as investors seem to have let go of some of their trepidation around generative AI — at least for now.By Wednesday's market close, Nvidia's stock was up nearly 25% since September, bringing it closer to once again being the most valuable company in the world. The climb contrasts with<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-today-nvidia-huang-rally-consumer-confidence-emerging-market-2024-9"> late summer</a> when even solid earnings released by the company in August could not move investors. So what happened?Since the start of October, investors and Nvidia watchers have gained a few new numbers to add to their models.<h2 id="b98fce24-91ea-455b-84f6-ea85465b7516">$6.6 Billion to OpenAI</h2>Despite the recent high rate of high-ranking <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-power-players-at-openai-2024-9">staff turnover</a> at OpenAI, the company finalized a long-anticipated <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-investors-latest-funding-round-2024-10">$6.6 billion funding round,</a> which valued the company at $157 billion.The funding is the clearest sign that investors are still willing to back the biggest bet on generative AI available. Most of OpenAI's funds funnel down to Nvidia via the companies that operate the immense data center capacity OpenAI uses and will continue to use from Microsoft and others.OpenAI announced the fresh funding last week, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-investors-latest-funding-round-2024-10">led by Thrive Capital</a> with Microsoft, Nvidia, Softbank, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-vinod-khosla-fixing-ai-image-2024-10">Khosla Ventures</a>, and others participating. Billionaire <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-vinod-khosla-fixing-ai-image-2024-10">Vinod Khosla told Business Insider</a> that though the AI space is overhyped, OpenAI isn't. Nvidia's stock price climbed for six days before leveling out on Wednesday.<h2 id="c9e829e3-1172-473e-92b5-31b2221a5356">2 Blackwell deliveries</h2>News that Nvidia's next-generation Blackwell chips wouldn't make it to market as planned due to manufacturing challenges shook markets back in August and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-ai-chip-blackwell-delay-new-annual-product-launch-2024-8">cast doubt</a> on the company's ability to keep up its promised pace.On his August 28 earnings call, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang assured listeners several billion dollars in Blackwell revenue would ship in the fourth quarter, but the market didn't respond.Last week, Huang said on CNBC that the demand for Blackwell is <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/nvidia-stock-price-jensen-huang-blackwell-gpu-demand-ai-tech-2024-10?utm_campaign=business-sf&amp;utm_source=facebook&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;fbclid=IwY2xjawFzmM9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHd6ewVmJJ7Bpk0uMTsZm21vjYTpGJg2Tie2NnbEChHlWa5VIzYrUKcfrPw_aem_b2GesG3tcio9shqNAe9MQg">"insane"</a>. And on Tuesday, two key customers announced they had received their Blackwell systems in social media posts that were quickly shared by Nvidia as well. The <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/microsoft-azure_microsoft-azure-is-the-1st-cloud-running-activity-7249403479151030273-js85?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop">Microsoft Azure</a> team posted on multiple platforms that the company had the first cloud running Blackwell.Additionally, the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/OpenAI/status/1843704848753283356">OpenAI team posted</a> "Look what showed up at our doorstep. Thank you to Nvidia for delivering one of the first engineering builds of the DGX B200 to our office."<h2 id="98fa129b-022e-4112-93f9-b47b7e854bc8">$23.5 billion TSMC blowout</h2>Though there's a sea of component suppliers below Nvidia on the generative AI supply chain, the most important and coincidentally easiest one to watch is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tsmc-power-players-14-execs-leading-worlds-biggest-chipmaker-2024-9">TSMC</a> reports earnings monthly instead of quarterly and therefore, as Nvidia's largest supplier, offers more frequent confirmation that demand for graphics processing units remains robust. Though the company doesn't officially announce its third-quarter earnings until next week, the monthly results show $23.5 billion in revenue for the third quarter, which is ahead of analyst expectations.TSMC's revenue gains bolster the view that we are still in the early days of AI computing demand.<h2 id="877fba5b-d521-4b01-877e-c1907c9dbef1">1 underlying fear</h2>Huang takes every opportunity to profess the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-swift-returns-on-ai-infrastructure-2024-8">money-making capabilities</a> of the technology his GPUs enable. He told <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-details-ai-infrastructure-roi-goldman-sachs-2024-9">David Solomon</a> last month that companies that rent GPU capacity make back $5 for every $1 they spend.The market has shown however, that Huang isn't the source investors need to hear it from. But, anecdotal evidence of companies finding value in generative AI may be starting to penetrate the investor class as well, according to a new survey from Morgan Stanley.The bank conducted a survey of 400 companies across six industries in five countries and 90% of the companies adopting generative AI found that the technology met or exceeded their expectations.The bank also predicted that spending on cloud capacity buildout in 2025 will be equal to the entire Apollo space program, nearing $275 billion.Nvidia's early October climb may be due to investors waking back up to the fact that Nvidia, though highly dependent on the growth of generative AI, is pretty close to the base of the supply chain.More data centers mean more GPUs and more optimism about what companies can do with them only adds to Nvidia's opportunity. Fears about Nvidia "are overdone," Morgan Stanley analysts wrote.Got a tip or an insight to share? Contact Senior Reporter Emma Cosgrove at <a target="_blank" href="mailto:ecosgrove@businessinsider.com">ecosgrove@businessinsider.com</a> or use the secure messaging app Signal: 443-333-9088

Nvidia is nearing a record high. This is what's driving it.

Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle subsidiary, <keyword id="20448705" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Waymo" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Waymo" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Waymo">Waymo</keyword>, is reportedly in discussions with South Korean automaker <keyword id="19906087" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Hyundai" source="keywords">Hyundai</keyword> Motor to delegate the production of its next-generation <keyword id="19967698" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="self-driving-cars" source="keywords">self-driving cars</keyword>. According to a Reuters report originally attributed to South Korea's Electronic Times, the two companies have already met multiple times to explore the possibility of using Hyundai’s <keyword id="21666250" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ioniq-5" source="keywords">Ioniq 5</keyword> electric cars as the platform for Waymo’s sixth-generation <keyword id="21167728" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="autonomous-technology" source="keywords">autonomous technology</keyword>. The report further adds that if these talks move forward, Hyundai’s vehicles could potentially replace Waymo’s current test models, which are being built by China-based Zeekr. This shift in suppliers comes at a critical time as the United States government recently implemented significantly higher tariffs on Chinese imports, including a 100 percent duty on <keyword id="19895203" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="electric-vehicles" source="keywords">electric vehicles</keyword>, set to take effect on September 27. The tariff hikes were confirmed by the Biden administration last week, which could lead to strategic moves for companies reliant on Chinese manufacturing. When Reuters approached for a comment on this potential collaboration, Waymo declined to address the speculation directly. However, the company did confirm to Reuters that it is actively testing and refining its sixth-generation self-driving system on the Zeekr platform and plans to introduce the vehicles to its fleet once they are fully validated. Hyundai, on the other hand, has remained non-committal regarding its involvement in the reported talks. A spokesperson for Hyundai Motor Group told Reuters, "At this point, no final decisions have been made about new ventures." The automaker, however, is no stranger to autonomous technology. Hyundai has its own self-driving arm, Motional, which had previously announced plans to launch a robotaxi service using Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric vehicles. However, the introduction of this service was postponed until 2026, with Motional also laying off hundreds of employees in the U.S. earlier this year, according to a report by TechCrunch. This potential partnership between Waymo and Hyundai marks a significant step in the race to expand autonomous driving services. Waymo has a history of collaborating with established automakers for its fleet. The company has already integrated its autonomous technology into vehicles from Stellantis and Jaguar Land Rover, offering self-driving ride-hailing services in major U.S. cities like Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Although Zeekr has been a key partner for Waymo's latest technology trials, the looming U.S. tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles might force the company to rethink its supply chain and partner strategy. Zeekr, a brand under China’s Geely Automobile Holdings, has been an important player in Waymo's testing of its autonomous driving systems, but the changing regulatory environment could encourage a shift to a more geographically diverse manufacturing base, such as Hyundai in South Korea. In light of these developments, the potential collaboration between Waymo and Hyundai could be a game-changer, not just for the companies involved but also for the broader autonomous vehicle industry. The partnership could give Waymo an edge in securing a more stable supply chain while also tapping into Hyundai’s expertise in electric vehicle production as the company navigates the challenges posed by new trade regulations and technological advancements.

Hyundai is reportedly in talks with Waymo to build self-driving cars, all details

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Waymo's robot taxis debuted to the public in San Francisco in June.</li><li>An engineer set up a livestream of a Waymo parking lot after being woken up by the cars' honking.</li></ul>On an early July morning, Sophia Tung woke up to the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/waymo-robotaxis-waking-neighbors-nightly-honking-2024-8">incessant honking of Waymos</a>, the self-driving robot taxis built by Alphabet, outside her apartment in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco.In a video she posted on YouTube, the Waymos can be seen slowly finding their parking space in a depot of other parked Waymos — driving in reverse, driving forward, and honking at no one.As she watched the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/waymo-robot-taxis-weird-san-francisco-traffic-parking-cars-2024-9">Waymos</a>, Tung, an SF resident of about eight years, thought it'd be funny to livestream the self-driving cars clumsily navigating their way in the parking lot. A tech-savvy software engineer, Tung had the wherewithal to set up a stream using an old Logitech camera, a mini PC, and a cereal box to enclose the camera in darkness so it wouldn't capture the glare coming from the apartment window.<div type="image" title="Bird's eye view of Waymo parking lot" height="3779" width="5038" msid="113570114" hostid="261" sizebytes="616068"></div>The engineer added some lo-fi hip-hop beats to the backdrop, and on August 5, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h53xlXu_6C4">"LoFi Robotaxi Hip Hop Radio Waymo Depot Shenanigans To Relax/Study To"</a> was born.For San Francisco residents like myself, the sight of the white self-driving Jaguar I-PACE automobiles, with<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/waymo-to-sell-lidar-2019-3"> clunky cameras and sensors</a> around the body, is not new."It's almost sort of like — when I go somewhere else, I feel like something is missing on the street," Tung, 28, told Business Insider in an interview.Tung's livestream cuts to the core of that disenchanting effect: Years of innovation and billions of dollars come together at an inconspicuous parking lot against the sound of calming, lo-fi beats.Someone told Tung that her livestream has become their digital "fish tank." A German IT company sent Tung a photo of her livestream playing on a TV in its office.Comparing the past's expectations of a utopian future against what we have today might inspire ennui. Still, if anything illustrates the unrealized promises of technology's trajectory, it's that we may have been promised jetpacks, but instead, we got a robot parking lot.To be clear, Waymo's cars are impressive. A few of my colleagues and I have ridden in a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/waymo-robotaxi-test-drive-san-francisco-2024-6">Waymo</a>. The autonomous driver is smooth, safe, and pretty damn smart. As Waymo gathers more data, it's likely to get better.But as BI's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/waymo-self-driving-robotaxi-cars-without-drivers-amazing-tech-review-2024-4">Peter Kafka</a> noted, at some point, you stop noticing."The very definition of it working is that it is going to feel normal," Tung said. "It's going to feel like a normal person driving."<div type="image" title="A living room with surveillance equipment" height="4284" width="5712" msid="113570115" hostid="261" sizebytes="1475880"></div>Since it went up on YouTube, Tung's livestream has received a few upgrades. After The Verge wrote about Tung's stream, Verkada, a security camera company, reached out and upgraded Tung's DIY set-up with high-tech surveillance equipment that allows her to zoom in on license plates. The company also gave her a Mac Mini."It's basically the scariest camera I've ever seen," she said.All that high-tech equipment is being put to good use. Tung can provide a better close-up of each Waymo's entrance and exit, and the clarity of the video feed allows Tung to track each Waymo.Viewers soon got the option to name a Waymo for $10."People anthropomorphized them. Somebody named one 'Christine,' after the killer car," Tung said, referring to John Carpenter's 1983 <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stephen-king-on-how-to-write-2014-8">Stephen King</a> adaptation about a bloodthirsty Plymouth Fury. "When Christine doesn't show up in the lot for two or three days, people are like, 'Oh, she must be hiding.'"Some people started to get competitive in the comment section about whose car was showing up more, Tung said, so the engineer put up a leaderboard.Every hour, a digital goose will also pop up somewhere on the screen — an homage to the once-honking cars, the engineer said.Tung's neighbors told NBC Bay Area that the cars would honk as early as four in the morning. Tung said Waymo has since resolved the problem.The <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/waymo-self-driving-taxis-chipotle-robots-future-of-service-2024-8">future is here</a>, as Waymo advertises. It's not so remarkable, but at least it's very chill.

The self-driving future will look unremarkable. That's the point. 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Target released an update to its app to curb a shopper behavior workers call the "double tap."</li><li>Workers previously said drive-up order customers caused chaos by waiting until arrival to tap a button saying they were en route.</li></ul>Target is rolling out a much-requested app fix for a shopper behavior that has been a frequent source of frustration for some of its fulfillment workers.Whether by accident or on purpose, hundreds of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/target-drive-up-returns-coming-to-stores-this-spring-2023-2">Target drive-up customers</a> using the retailer's mobile app arrive each day in the stores' parking lots before hitting the "I'm on my way" button.Upon arrival, they would tap the button and the follow-up "I'm here" button in rapid succession — a move that became known as the "double-tap."Now, following a mobile app released last week, shoppers will no longer be able to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/target-drive-up-double-tappers-causing-chaos-and-disruption-2023-3">"double-tap" their drive-up orders</a>. Instead, they will have to wait for one minute after tapping "I'm on my way" before declaring their arrival.<div type="image" title="A screenshot from Target's mobile app, which was recently updated." height="968" width="1290" msid="114981157" hostid="261" sizebytes="24792"></div>"We need some extra time," the app says now. "Next time, avoid this delay by letting us know you're on the way before going to the store."The company confirmed the change to Business Insider and said it continues to look for ways to improve the app for both workers and customers.Workers told BI last year that the "I'm here" signal starts a three-minute timer during which they must load a customer's order from various shelves or refrigerators onto a cart and roll it out to the parking lot.Orders that take more than three minutes can put a worker's metrics in the red and draw scrutiny from managers, the workers previously said. "Double-tappers" are particularly problematic when orders have dozens of items, or contain large or heavy products, which can set off a cascade of delays, they said.The impact of the update hasn't been instantaneous, however, according to several <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Target/comments/1ghcmaw/whats_up_with_the_double_tap_deterrent/">comments</a> on social media, as it can take time for a meaningful number of customers to download the new version of the app. The update also began rolling amid increased Halloween shopping."It was already a very busy week to begin with, so it is hard to measure if the double-tap delay had any noticeable change," a Target worker in New York, who described the app update as a welcome one, told BI. The worker requested not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak with the media.The worker said her store receives between 1,000 and 1,500 drive-up orders per day, estimating about a quarter of those are double-taps. Some are "repeat offenders" that she and her colleagues recognize by name, she added."There was nothing we could do to prevent them from doing so other than letting the customer know directly that they should tell us that they are on their way, which was frowned upon by management," she said. "We are hoping that this new change alleviates that issue."A worker in Wisconsin told BI the change hasn't had a major effect so far, but that every bit of extra time helps.

Target changes app to curb 'double-tapper' customers who caused chaos with drive-up orders

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Google's new CFO, Anat Ashkenazi, signaled the company can do more to save money and move faster.</li><li>She said leaders had done good work cutting costs, and they could "push a little further."</li></ul><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-third-quarter-earnings-report-q3-2024-2024-10">Google</a> has spent the past couple of years getting its business into shape through <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-layoffs">layoffs</a> and countless <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-big-shakeup-gives-more-power-to-deepmind-pixel-leaders-2024-4">reorganizations</a>. Its new CFO said it can do better.Making her debut on the company's Q3 earnings call on Tuesday, Google's new finance chief <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-search-lens-ai-gemini-overviews-new-features-2024-10">Anat Ashkenazi</a> said one of her "key priorities" right now was looking across Alphabet "to see what we can do in terms of driving further efficiencies."Ashkenazi name-checked Google CEO Sundar Pichai and former CFO Ruth Porat for doing "really good work" in starting to rework Google's cost base. "But I think any organization can always push a little further," she said.Ashkenazi was responding to Evercore analyst Mark Mahaney, who asked if there were more opportunities to get Google's margins looking healthier. While Google <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-third-quarter-earnings-report-q3-2024-2024-10">reported some eye-popping Q3 numbers</a>, the company has been upfront that it's spending big on data centers for its new AI models and products.Ashkenazi suggested that some of the new efficiencies could come from initiatives like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-goose-ai-model-language-ai-coding-2024-2">internal AI tools</a> rather than just cutting head count. On the same call, Pichai <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-earnings-q3-2024-new-code-created-by-ai-2024-10">revealed that a quarter of new code written inside Google is generated by AI</a>."Think not just about the size of the organization but mostly how we operate and how we run the business," said Ashkenazi. "I think when you simplify the organization — Sundar just made a few comments on that — when we use AI within our own processes and how we get work done, there are some efficiencies or opportunities for efficiencies."<h2 id="bbcff048-b847-428f-a29a-c91f8da57f5b">'Code Red'</h2>The arrival of Ashkenazi, who replaced Google's long-serving finance chief Porat earlier this year, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-cfo-analysts-ai-subscription-growth-2024-9">has some analysts and investors excited</a> by the possibility of more transparency in the company's financials, especially as spending on AI ramps up.In a note published this week, analysts from BNP Paribas hailed Ashkenazi as a "code red" initiative for the company, calling her arrival "one of the most underappreciated catalysts in the sector right now."Google is now overhauling several of its key AI products, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-search-lens-ai-gemini-overviews-new-features-2024-10">including Search</a>, and investors want to know if this is paying off. They also want to see that Google can move fast enough to catch and outpace rivals such as OpenAI.In September 2022, Pichai <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/quiet-quitting-already-over-layoffs-jobs-recession-economy-2022-10">said he wanted to make the company 20% more efficient</a>. Since then, Google has slashed its head count, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-cut-back-meetings-distractions-okrs-goals-simplicity-sprint-2022-9">cut down on meetings</a>, and launched <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-goose-ai-model-language-ai-coding-2024-2">new AI tools to help employees code faster</a>. The changes show no sign of stopping: just this month, the company announced it would roll its Gemini chatbot team into the Google DeepMind unit.Are you a current or former Google employee? Got something to share? You can reach reporter Hugh Langley via encrypted messaging app Signal (+1 628-228-1836) or email (<a target="_blank" href="mailto:hlangley@businessinsider.com">hlangley@businessinsider.com</a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="mailto:hlangley@insider.com">)</a>

Google's been on an efficiency drive. Its new CFO said it can 'push a little further.'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Apple is set to report fiscal fourth-quarter earnings results after the market close on Thursday.</li><li>Wall Street anticipates $94.36 billion in revenue and adjusted earnings per share of $1.60.</li></ul>All eyes are on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/AAPL-stock">Apple</a>, the world's largest company by market value, as it prepares to report its fiscal fourth-quarter results after the market closes on Thursday.The quarter, which ended September 30, will encapsulate two weeks of Apple's iPhone 16 sales.The stock was trading at $230.40 at 1:50 p.m. ET, down by about 1.4%.Here's what Wall Street expects Apple to report for its fiscal fourth-quarter, according to Bloomberg data:<ul><li>Revenue: $94.36 billion</li><li>Adjusted earnings per share: $1.60</li></ul>Wall Street will largely be looking to the company's guidance for the upcoming holiday months, which has historically represented Apple's strongest quarter.Top of mind for analysts who cover the stock is whether Apple's AI efforts will pay off and fuel demand for the iPhone 16, or if consumers are taking a wait-and-see approach.The company <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-intelligence-features-tested-on-iphone-16-pro-max-2024-10">released its first round of "Apple Intelligence" features</a> this week, about six weeks after the release of the iPhone 16. Meanwhile, Apple's core AI features aren't expected to be released for the iPhone until early next year.Here's what Wall Street is looking for in Apple's upcoming earnings report.<h3 id="ed1099ce-654e-4938-929c-540867493d06">Bank of America: 'Look past the iPhone 16 noise'</h3>With some <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/apple-stock-price-tumbles-analyst-says-iphone-16-orders-slashed-2024-10">conflicting views on Wall Street</a> about iPhone 16 demand in recent weeks, Bank of America said investors should "look past the iPhone 16 noise to impact of Apple Intelligence.""Contrary to every cycle where all the hardware/software functionality is more or less static through the course of the cycle, we view the cycle as more dynamic with more material software updates that increases the value to the user," <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/bac-stock">Bank of America</a> analyst Wasmi Mohan said in a note last week.Mohan said iPhone demand to pick up over the next few months as Apple's AI features become more robust and expects the company to sell 80 million iPhone units during the holiday season.Mohan is encouraged by a slightly higher average selling price for iPhones as consumers overwhelmingly continue to gravitate towards the more expensive Pro models.Bank of America rates Apple at "Buy" with a $256 price target.<h3 id="401e4f18-6633-40cf-afc8-ee3bb450bbd5">JPMorgan: Expect a beat on results but a miss on guidance</h3>JPMorgan expects Apple to report a strong fourth-quarter earnings report that will likely beat revenue and profit estimates but that it will also disappoint with weaker-than-expected guidance for the holiday quarter."Sell-through for iPhone 16 series started off slower than iPhone 15, and while momentum has improved in recent weeks, the magnitude of the improvement is still putting volumes modestly below last year," <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/jpm-stock">JPMorgan</a> analyst Samik Chatterjee said in a Monday note.Like many analysts on Wall Street, Chatterjee is looking for evidence that AI features will drive a bump in iPhone sales.JPMorgan rates Apple at "Overweight" with a $265 price target.<h3 id="8cc56af8-9576-4342-a49a-9c505626a6a6">Wedbush: Apple will be a $4 trillion company next year</h3>Wedbush analyst Dan Ives isn't budging from him bullish view on Apple heading into the company's financial results. He argues that the iPhone is on the verge of a supercycle as consumers upgrade their phones to get access to Apple Intelligence features."We expect a strong iPhone performance for the September quarter and expect a relatively bullish December iPhone demand commentary from Cook &amp; Co. despite many of the bears recently yelling fire in a crowded theater on the strength of iPhone 16 sales," Ives said in a note on Sunday.Ives says that bearish views on Apple fail to appreciate its installed base of 1.5 billion iPhones that will eventually need to be replaced, as well as the growing Services business that helps monetize the massive user base, and the potential for Apple to be the gatekeeper of AI technologies to a large group of people.Wedbush rates Apple at "Outperform" with a $300 price target.<h3 id="e4503694-e0ad-46c2-9f27-9244aa504759">Goldman Sachs: 'We see upside to consensus'</h3>Goldman Sachs said it sees "upside to consensus revenue and EPS driven by outperformance in iPhone and Services" in a note last week.Goldman analyst Michael Ng expects the company to report $1.61 in earnings per share and $94.5 billion in revenue, which would represent year-over-year growth of 6%.Like other analysts, Ng is focused on the impact of AI and all of the software features Apple is set to release in the next few months."Although Apple Intelligence has yet to be a demand driver, we're encouraged by the rollout of Apple Intelligence features with iOS 18.1 (Week of October 28, includes Writing Tools, notification summaries, Clean Up in Photos), iOS 18.2 (currently in beta for est. December release, includes Genmoji, Image Playground, ChatGPT), and iOS 18.4 (est. March 2025 release, more advanced Siri, personalization, on-screen awareness)," Ng said.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/gs-stock">Goldman Sachs</a> rates Apple at "Buy" with a $275 price target.

Wall Street is eager to see some sign that AI is driving iPhone demand in Apple's latest earnings report

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Bitcoin peaked at $61,337 on Tuesday, the largest intraday gain since early August.</li><li>The rise comes amid anticipation that the Fed will deliver a half-point rate cut.</li></ul>The end-of-summer doldrums may be over for <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/btc-usd?utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets">bitcoin</a>.The token's price climbed as much as 6.4% to $61,337 on Tuesday, its biggest intraday jump since August 8. Investors are anticipating the Federal Reserve's long-awaited rate cut tomorrow, which will be announced at the end of the central bank's two-day policy meeting. Markets are still unsure how deep the cut will be, pricing in a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/interest-rates/cme-fedwatch-tool.html?redirect=/trading/interest-rates/countdown-to-fomc.html">63% probability of a 50-basis-point move</a>.Regardless of the size of the cut, investors buying up bitcoin are anticipating the looser lending conditions will lead to more speculative behavior.One specific outcome Morgan Stanley recently identified as the <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/best-case-scenario-stock-market-outlook-fed-rate-cut-ms-2024-9?_gl=1*1l9q8vs*_ga*MTMxNDIwNDI1Ni4xNjc1Njg3OTU4*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTcyNjU4Nzg1OS42MTguMS4xNzI2NTkyNDA1LjU3LjAuMA..">best-case scenario for equities</a> would be a 50-basis-point cut accompanied by Fed messaging that the economy is on sure footing. The downside risk there is that investors will be spooked by a deep cut, because of what they think it signals about the economy.To that end, Tuesday's surprisingly strong retail data pushed back worries of a downturn, and may have contributed to bitcoin's rise."Retail sales beating expectations are being received well by the market, alleviating recession fears for now. We could be seeing a recovery of investors' appetite for risk-on assets like crypto, instigating more flows into Bitcoin spot ETFs," said Leena ElDeeb, a research analyst at 21Shares.Since bitcoin peaked at nearly $74,000 in March, the apex token has been unable to regain its momentum. <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/bitcoin-price-outlook-record-high-trump-harris-election-crypto-regulation-2024-9?_gl=1*zn7ct8*_ga*MTMxNDIwNDI1Ni4xNjc1Njg3OTU4*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTcyNjU4Nzg1OS42MTguMS4xNzI2NTkyOTA0LjYwLjAuMA..">Seasonal factors</a> weakened the spot bitcoin ETF inflows this summer while deteriorating macro conditions <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/safe-defensive-stocks-ai-investing-rally-nvidia-semiconductors-selloff-outlook-2024-9?_gl=1*7t9zvb*_ga*MTMxNDIwNDI1Ni4xNjc1Njg3OTU4*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTcyNjU4Nzg1OS42MTguMS4xNzI2NTkzMDE0LjYwLjAuMA..">drove investors toward safe, risk-off assets</a>.This may be changing. Crypto fund investments have risen by $436 million last week after two weeks of outflows, FxPro senior market analyst Alex Kuptsikevich wrote on Monday, citing CoinShares data."The surge in inflows at the end of the week was driven by a significant shift in market expectations for a potential 50bps Fed rate cut following comments from former New York Fed President Bill Dudley," he said.

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