Today’s Pickup: Samsara introduces driver efficiency scores to help improve driving habits

Did you know?

The shipments of core capital goods from the U.S. dropped 5.4% in April, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Core capital goods shipments are used to calculate equipment spending in the government’s gross domestic product measurement. Core capital goods shipments fell 1.2% in March.

Quotable

“We see a historic fall in global energy investment, but the biggest hit is to the shale industry. It has always been under pressure, but now access to capital and investment confidence is drying up.”

– Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, while commenting on the possibility of U.S. shale sector investments dropping by half this year.

In other news

Boeing details plans for mass job cuts

Boeing will shed more than 13,000 employees in the aircraft manufacturer’s first round of compulsory job cuts. (WSJ)

Uber is scrapping tens of thousands of Jump bikes during a nationwide bike shortage

The scrap job comes at a time when many people are looking for alternate forms of transportation. (The Verge)

China’s Baidu finishes building ‘world’s largest’ test ground for autonomous vehicle, smart driving systems

Baidu says it has completed the world’s largest site to test both autonomous driving and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. (South China Morning Post)

The shift to e-commerce poses a challenge for luxury brands

Leading brands should be able to handle rising e-commerce and mainland Chinese demand, but some fashion houses look unprepared. (Vogue Business)

DHL acquires stake in Link Commerce developed by MallforAfrica

DHL  has acquired a minority stake in a turn-key e-commerce company that grew out of MallforAfrica.com – a Nigerian digital-retail startup. (TechCrunch)

Final Thoughts

Japanese venture capital firm Softbank has entered into an alliance with two other Japanese companies – Pacific Consultants (PCKK) and Oriental Consultants Global (OCG) – to help road maintenance programs in the U.S. by leveraging real-time data gathered from connected vehicles. In 2017, the American Society of Civil Engineers graded the country’s roads very poorly, pointing out that 45% of U.S. roads were poor – a situation that has continued to worsen every year. 

With connected cars projected to account for over 70% of all vehicles sold in North America in 2020, data generated from these vehicles can be used across a variety of use cases. This Japanese collaboration will witness Softbank pooling its experience in the Internet of Things (IoT) and data analytics along with the road infrastructure acumen of PCKK and OCG, to create and sell insights to government bodies that are responsible for fixing road defects. 

Hammer down everyone!