Cashing in on Growth

Another California tech company charges toward Austin with new headquarters

The California exodus continues.

Green Dot, a financial technology company best known for its prepaid debit cards, is joining the corporate exodus from California and moving its headquarters to Austin.

Green Dot, whose stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange, says it is relocating its headquarters from Pasadena, California, to Austin to take advantage of Texas’ business-friendly climate.

In a statement, president and CEO Dan Henry adds that “we’re looking forward to engaging [with] and benefiting from the impressive talent pool in the region as we work to seamlessly connect more people to their money, both directly through our own [technology] and through our partners.”

Green Dot plans to establish its Austin headquarters by the end of this year. Don’t expect the offices to be fancy, though. In January, Henry told CNBC the company keeps costs in check by not maintaining “a corporate headquarters with a dining room and marble floors and all that crap.”

CNBC first reported the Green Dot move May 7. The company will focus on four corporate hubs — the new Austin headquarters, plus coworking-type offices in California, Florida, and Ohio — as it embraces a permanent remote-work structure. Green Dot expects many of its employees to remain in Pasadena.

“I want the best and brightest people we can find to join our team to help us be successful, and you can live anywhere you want,” Henry told CNBC.

“What COVID did was force a mind shift; we see how productive we are working from anywhere and how much our employees love it,” Henry added. “It’s more important to be productive than be busy. If you force people to come to an office every day, then everybody’s going to try to be busy.”

The company employs about 1,300 people in the U.S. and China.

Green Dot posted $1.25 billion in operating revenue last year. As of May 10, the company’s market value stood at $2.4 billion.

The Green Dot announcement comes amid a torrent of tech-related companies relocating to the Capital City. Recent transplants to Austin include tech startup Markaaz, software company Oracle, e-commerce platform City Shoppe, and real estate marketplace CrowdStreet.

technology

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.

traffic self-driving cars innovation