Plus, United Airlines says it's turning to Elon Musk’s Starlink for in-flight internet. And U.K. antitrust regulators raise concerns about Vodafone’s U.K. merger with Three. Zoe Thomas hosts.
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[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Here's your TNB Tech Minute for Friday, September 13th.
[00:00:35] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Zoe Thomas for the Wall Street Journal
[00:00:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Self-driving car company Waymo plans to offer paid rides on the Uber app in Atlanta and Austin next year.
[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_01]: The companies say Uber riders in those cities could be matched to a driverless taxi even if they don't specifically request one.
[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_01]: As part of the deal, Uber will provide vehicle cleaning repair and general storage facilities.
[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_01]: Waymo, which is owned by Google's parent Alphabet, won't operate its own app in these two cities.
[00:01:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Waymo cars are available to Uber riders in the Phoenix metro area but Waymo also operates its own app there.
[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_01]: United Airlines says it's turning to Elon Musk's Starlink to outfit its entire fleet with internet service.
[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_01]: United is betting that Starlink's technology will propel it above rivals in offering fast free Wi-Fi.
[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_01]: United says the service will be more reliable, particularly when flying over oceans and other remote areas.
[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_01]: The airline said it would begin testing the Starlink service early next year.
[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_01]: The first passenger flights equipped with the tech will likely come later in 2025.
[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And the UK's antitrust authority says Vodafone Group's deal to merge its UK business with rival Operator 3 raises competition concerns.
[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_01]: That's creating uncertainty about the deal, which is expected to shake up the country's telecommunications market.
[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_01]: The UK's Competition and Markets Authority said a probe into the deal provisionally concluded that the tie-up could result in higher prices for tens of millions of UK mobile customers
[00:02:07] [SPEAKER_01]: and that it wouldn't necessarily lead to higher network investments.
[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Vodafone and 3 rejected the findings and said they would work with the CMA to secure an approval.
[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Separately, Italian antitrust authorities opened an in-depth probe this week into Vodafone's sale of its Italian operations to Swisscom for around $8.9 billion.
[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_01]: For a deeper dive into what's happening in tech, check out Monday's Tech News Briefing Podcast.