The Race to Innovate

Goodbye, loading bars: City of Austin officials welcome Google to the Fiberhood

Tuesday morning, Brazos Hall was abuzz with media, Google executives and City of Austin officials waiting with bated breath for the official (we all guessed as much) announcement of Google Fiber gigabit broadband's arrival in Austin.

11:10 a.m.: Assistant City Manager Anthony Snipes welcomes the audience and Mayor Lee Leffingwell.

"There's one particular resource need that we've heard about loud and clear, a resource that can help make our city even more innovative and make our economy even stronger. We're here today to announce that Google Fiber is coming to Austin, Texas." - Leffingwell.

Austin applied three years ago to become the first Fiber city in the United States and lost to Kansas City.

"Google Fiber will change how we live and how we work in ways that we don't even know about yet." - Leffingwell

"[Council member Laura Morrison] knew from the start that Austin would benefit and so would Google, she kept her head down and make this happen." - Leffingwell

11:15 a.m.: "It's about being able to do all new things on the internet because of gigabit service." - Laura Morrison

An engineer by education, she asks the audience to imagine how Google Fiber will impact the following:

A more reliable work-from-home setup, ultimately reducing carbon footprint
Classrooms where students could collaborate virtually on projects
A faster doctor and patient interface
Leveraging smart grid technology
Residents and city officials interacting in real time with virtual Town Hall meetings
Streaming concerts live to the home

11:21 a.m.: Google is nothing if not good at creating inspiring multimedia videos in support of its products. Video plays compiling Austin residents passionately speaking of the city's future with Google Fiber.

11:24 a.m.: Milo Medin, vice president of access services, thanks city officials and asks for a big hand of applause. "We're here because speed matters."

In half a decade, internet speeds have not increased much, Medin says. "This is a problem in a world that's highly competitive."

What do you get?

Gigabit internet service, no volume caps with a terabyte of Google Drive storage
Gigabit + TV service, HD DVR
Free upgrade path for the future if you don't want it today

Business model differences:

Google builds where citizens of Austin wants it to.
Will organize Austin into "Fiberhoods" and will bring service to any Fiberhood that has a certain percentage of sign ups.
Will install in schools, hospitals, libraries at no charge. More information about this process to come later in 2013.

"Austin has a legacy of inspiring other cities and states in America and we know you'll use your creativity." - Medin. He also notes pricing is not yet determined.

11:33 a.m.: Governor Rick Perry introduced. "This is a big announcement. This really fits into the Texas tradition of freedom, enterprise... This announcement will mean another wave for many innovative companies... It vastly increases the odds that the next big thing — the next Google — will be born and bred in the Lone Star State."

11:45 a.m.: Media questions with Kevin Lo, general manager of Google Fiber.

Google Fiber has partnered with City of Austin and Austin Energy in order to get access to the poles (see more information on Fiber poles here) from which they'll string the Fiber.
"The community response is really what drove us here. And for me personally, it's the creativity and entrepreneurship that's so exciting."
Announcement of small businesses offerings forthcoming.
100 public institutions selected by the City of Austin will get a gigabit for free.
Only focusing on City of Austin, Round Rock and surrounding areas are out of luck.
"These networks are complicated and take time to build."
Lo maintains they are on time in Kansas City despite a reporter insinuating Kansas City citizens are upset with roll-out time frame.
Average American household download is 5.8 megabits a second, Google Fiber will provide 1 gigabit a second.
For perspective, 1 gigabit = 1,000 megabits.

Austinites can expect Google Fiber construction and service to begin mid-2014. Stay tuned for updates on Fiber's page.

Governor Rick Perry

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Self-driving Roller Coaster

More self-driving cars expected to roll out in Austin for 2025

Photo courtesy of Waymo via KVUE

Various brands offering self-driving cars are on-and-off in Austin.

Expect to see more self-driving rideshare vehicles, also known as robotaxis, on Austin roads next year.

Robotaxi company Waymo, which you may have already seen on Austin's roads, is partnering with Uber. At some point next year, customers will be able to use the Uber app to call a self-driving ride.

Austin-based company Avride is in the testing phase and plans to roll out its robotaxis next year.

Currently, Volkswagen ADMT and Amazon's Zoox are in the testing phase in Austin, while Hyundai's Motional is in the mapping phase.

Last year, robotaxi company Cruise paused operations in Austin after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the company's permits to operate driverless vehicles in the state. And last week, General Motors said it would no longer fund the company because of the time and resources needed.

This way of getting around has come with its safety concerns and issues. The city is tracking those concerns. According to the Transportation Department, the problems span from blocking the roads and parking in front of people's homes for weeks with lights beaming through their windows, to actual wrecks.

Since July 2023, robotaxis have been involved in 75 incidents. Only 21 of those incidents happened in 2024. It's important to note that Cruise has not been operating in Austin this year.

Since July 2023, driverless rideshare vehicles have been involved in 22 near collisions, eight collisions and seven instances where driverless taxis ignored directions from the Austin Police Department (APD).

According to the data, at least four of those Austin police incidents happened in recent months. The issues varied from driving through police checkpoints, to malfunctioning and getting stuck at an APD road closure near pedestrians, causing safety concerns.

A Waymo spokesperson said their vehicles have gesture recognition capabilities, which they've been training APD officers on using.

As the report shows, sometimes it does not work and Waymo said it is working to improve that. The spokesperson said that as of just last week, Waymo's First Responder Program has been independently verified by TÜV SÜD, making Waymo the first autonomous vehicle (AV) company to receive third-party validation for our emergency response protocols. They also said the data to date indicates the Waymo Driver is already reducing traffic injuries and fatalities in the places where the company currently operates.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

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