Ola sets up tech centre in San Francisco, home turf of rival Uber

Company News
Ride-hailing firm Ola is taking on Uber by setting up a first-of-its-kind ‘Advanced Technology Center’ at San Francisco, in the United States (US), where rival Uber is headquartered.
Bengaluru-based Ola plans to build a team of more than 150 engineers working out of the centre to develop next-generation technology in mobility.
“The Valley and the talent ecosystem here are very conducive to the development of next-generation mobility solutions,” said Ola co-founder and chief technology officer Ankit Bhati. “This is also a big step in our journey as a global mobility player, with a mission that talent from around the world are inspired to join us on,” he said.
The center would look to onboard world-class talent who will collaborate with global teams in the various geographies where Ola operates. It would build technology solutions that can accelerate Ola’s ambitions across electric mobility and connected vehicles, as well as lead futuristic experiments like autonomous vehicles.
Ola is looking to hire experts across artificial intelligence, machine learning, data sciences, engineering and product development.
Founded in 2011 by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, Ola now has a presence in 150 cities across India, UK, Australia and New Zealand. It currently serves more than 150 million users and is close to completing over a billion rides annually.

  In India, Ola’s core mobility offering is supplemented by its electric-vehicle arm, Ola Electric, a fleet management business, Ola Fleet Technologies, and a public transportation ticketing app, Ridlr.

Levi's, whose jeans are a rugged symbol of Americana, prepares to go public

Company News

In San Francisco, where start-ups dream of populating the world with self-driving cars and robots, another breed of company is aiming for riches this week: Levi Strauss & Company.

The maker of denim and Dockers, which traces its roots to the California Gold Rush, Levi's is expected to start trading on the public markets on Thursday for the second time in its 165-year history. The listing is a milestone for Levi's, which has experienced a resurgence in the past decade, overhauling its image, operations and the stretch in its jeans to resonate with today's shoppers who are increasingly disposed to athleisure wear.

Levi's, some say, might even be cool again.

"It took them time but they've been able to restore a lot of brand equity," said Marie Driscoll, a managing director who covers fashion and luxury at Coresight Research. "They have their authentic product that they've been making forever but adapted to what consumers want today."

This week's stock offering, which the company anticipates will raise more than $100 million, is an accomplishment for the chief executive, Charles V Bergh, and highlights Levi's ambitions to expand its apparel lines both in the United States and worldwide. Shares of the company are expected to sell for $14 to $16, which would value Levi's between $5.4 billion and $6.2 billion.


 Levi's, which invented the blue jean in 1873, is woven into America's history. Once the uniform of cowboys and miners in the American West, the company's denim went on to be worn by Hollywood stars like Marlon Brando, concertgoers at Woodstock and the young nationwide. But the company hit a series of challenges starting in the 1990s beyond the usual fluctuations in consumer tastes...Read More

Man vs machine: Human triumphs over IBM's AI debating system

Companies News:

International Business Machines (IBM) fell short in its latest attempt to prove machines can triumph over man. But it came close.

The tech giant’s six-year-old artificial intelligence debating system, affectionately dubbed “Miss Debater,” went head-to-head with one of the world’s most decorated practitioners. After a 25-minute rapid-fire exchange about pre-school subsidies — during which the female-voiced AI showed flashes of very homo sapien humour — the audience handed the victory to 31-year-old Harish Natarajan.
The unorthodox contest marked the latest highly marketed man-versus-machine challenge. In 1996, IBM created a computer system that beat a chess grandmaster for the first time.

In 2011, its Watson supercomputer defeated two record-winning Jeopardy! contestants. And Alphabet’s AlphaGo famously proved AI can master the ancient and intricate game of Go But debating — which requires creativity and emotive elocution — has proven more elusive.
IBM’s machine — known formally as Project Debater — kicked off Monday’s match-up with a cheeky greeting. “I have heard you hold the world record in debate competition wins against humans, but I suspect you have never debated a machine. Welcome to the future.”


 The event unfolded in front of hundreds of journalists, tech industry insiders and software engineers at IBM’s Think conference in San Francisco. The topic: We should subsidise pre-schools. Chief Executive Officer Ginni Rometty was among the spectators, who voted Natarajan the victor, but also said her company’s machine better enriched their knowledge.