This Cruise in San Francisco seemingly could not figure out how to pull aside on a narrow street to let a buss pass.
Matt Rosoff, CNBC
Cruise CEO and founder Kyle Vogt posted comments on Hacker News on Sunday responding to allegations that his company’s robotaxis aren’t really self-driving, but instead require frequent help from humans working in a remote operations center.
First, Vogt confirmed that the General Motors-owned company does have a remote assistance team, in response to a discussion under the header, “GM’s Cruise alleged to rely on human operators to achieve ‘autonomous’ driving.”
The CEO wrote, “Cruise AVs are being remotely assisted (RA) 2-4% of the time on average, in complex urban environments. This is low enough already that there isn’t a huge cost benefit to optimizing much further, especially given how useful it is to have humans review things in certain situations.”
CNBC confirmed with Cruise spokesperson Tiffany Testo that the comments were accurate and came from the company’s CEO.
Cruise recently took the drastic move of grounding all of its driverless operations following a collision that injured a pedestrian in San Francisco on October 2. The collision and Cruise’s disclosures around it led to state regulators stripping the company of its permits to operate driverless vehicles in California, unless there is a driver aboard.
The DMV previously said its decision was based on several factors, citing four regulations that allow suspension in the event “the Department determines the manufacturer’s vehicles are not safe for the public’s operation,” and “the manufacturer has misrepresented any information related to safety of the autonomous technology of its vehicles.”
As NBC News previously reported, California Department of Motor Vehicles accused Cruise of failing to show them a full video depicting the October 2 collision, during which a pedestrian was thrown into the path of the Cruise robotaxi by a human driver in a different car who hit her first.
During that incident, Cruise previously told NBC, its vehicle “braked aggressively before impact and because it detected a collision” but then tried to pull over and in the process pulled the pedestrian forward about 20 feet.
Rival Waymo, which is owned by Google parent company Alphabet, continues to operate in the city.
How often do remote workers intervene?
A New York Times story followed last week diving into issues within Cruise that may have led to the safety issues, and setback for Cruise’s reputation and business. The story included a stat that at Cruise, workers intervened to help the company’s cars every 2.5 to five miles.
Vogt explained on Hacker News that the stat was a reference to how frequently Cruise robotaxis initiate a remote assistance session.
He wrote, “Of those, many are resolved by the AV itself before the human even looks at things, since we often have the AV initiate proactively and before it is certain it will need help. Many sessions are quick confirmation requests (it is ok to proceed?) that are resolved in seconds. There are some that take longer and involve guiding the AV through tricky situations. Again, in aggregate this is 2-4% of time in driverless mode.”
CNBC asked Cruise to confirm and provide further details on Monday.
The Cruise spokesperson wrote in an e-mail, that a “remote assistance” session is triggered roughly every four to five miles, not every 2.5 miles, in Cruise’s driverless fleet.
“Often times the AV proactively initiates these before it is certain it will need help such as when the AV’s intended path is obstructed (e.g construction blockages or detours) or if it needs help identifying an object,” she wrote. “Remote assistance is in session about 2-4% of the time the AV is on the road, which is minimal, and in those cases the RA advisor is providing wayfinding intel to the AV, not controlling it remotely.”
CNBC also asked Cruise for information about typical response time for remote operations, and how remote assistance workers at Cruise are trained.
“More than 98% of sessions are answered within 3 seconds,” the spokesperson said.
She added, “RA advisors undergo a background check and driving record check and must complete two weeks of comprehensive training prior to starting, consisting of classroom training, scenario-based exercises, live shadowing and knowledge-based assessments. Advisors also receive ongoing training and undergo supplemental training whenever there is a new feature or update. Regular reviews, refreshers and audits are conducted to ensure high performance.”
As far as the ratio of remote assistance advisors to driverless vehicles on the road, the Cruise spokesperson said, “During driverless operations there was roughly 1 remote assistant agent for every 15-20 driverless AVs.”
George Mason University professor and autonomous systems expert Missy Cummings, who was previously a safety advisor to the federal vehicle safety agency (NHTSA), told CNBC that whether or not the public still considers Cruise vehicles self-driving, it has been an “industry standard” for humans to be on call, monitoring the operations of drones, robotics, and now autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles.
“I start to get concerned,” she said, “about how we’re using humans when we are using them. In other domains, we’ve seen issues where, for example, an air traffic controller maybe fell asleep on the job.”
Cummings also said it would be very important to understand whether Cruise vehicles involved in any collisions — especially in the October pedestrian collision — called back to remote operations for help. “I would like to know whether a human was notified at all and what the human’s actions were in the remote operations center.”
Cruise declined to say whether the October 2 incident triggered a remote assistant call, whether a human advisor made decisions to authorize the vehicle’s movement, or whether any Cruise employee had called 911.
The company spokesperson said, “We have initiated third-party reviews of the October 2 incident and are working with NHTSA on their investigation as well. In respect of those processes, we will await the findings of those reviews before commenting further.”
GM said last month that the company has lost roughly $1.9 billion on Cruise in the first nine months of this year, including $732 million in the third quarter alone.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks during an event celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Microsoft in Redmond, Washington, on April 4, 2025.
Stephen Brashear | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Microsoft said Thursday that it has increased the recommended retail prices of its Xbox video game consoles and some controllers globally due to “market conditions.”
The announcement, which also affects some new first-party games, means consumers will be paying more for consoles this holiday season as they reckon with higher costs from President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on imports.
“We understand that these changes are challenging, and they were made with careful consideration given market conditions and the rising cost of development,” Microsoft said on a support page. “Looking ahead, we continue to focus on offering more ways to play more games across any screen and ensuring value for Xbox players.”
Microsoft said the increase will not hit existing video game titles.
Nintendo and Sony have also announced plans to charge more in recent weeks.
In April, Nintendo announced the $449.99 Switch 2 console, a step up from the original $300 Switch, and also lifted the price of games. Sony, citing inflation and currency changes, said its disc drive-free PlayStation 5 will become more expensive in Europe and three other countries, effective April 14. Prices for the PlayStation Plus subscription service, which allows people to download games and play against others online, also rose in some countries.
For Microsoft, the entry-level Xbox Series S with 512 GB of storage costs $379.99 in the U.S. as of Thursday, up from $299.99. The flagship Xbox Series X will go for $599.99, up from $499.99. Both consoles debuted in 2020. The price of the special edition of the Xbox Wireless Controller will increase to $79.99 from $69.99.
The recommended pricing for some new games will be $79.99 in the holiday timeframe, Microsoft said. In 2023, prices for major Microsoft titles rose to $70 from $60.
Popular video games have become more expensive to produce, an issue that is now of particular concern to Microsoft following the company’s $75.4 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023. Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War from 2020 cost upward of $700 million to make, Game File reported, citing an executive’s comments in a legal filing.
On Wednesday, Microsoft said sales of Call of Duty and Minecraft increased during the fiscal third quarter.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks during an Amazon Devices launch event in New York City, Feb. 26, 2025.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Amazon is slated to announce its first-quarter earnings after the market close on Thursday.
Here’s what analysts are looking for:
Earnings per share: $1.36 expected, according to LSEG
Revenue: $155.04 billion expected, according to LSEG
Wall Street is also looking at other key revenue numbers:
Amazon Web Services: $29.42 billion expected, according to StreetAccount
Advertising: $13.74 billion expected, according to StreetAccount
The topic of tariffs will hover over Amazon’s earnings report. Several of the company’s businesses are exposed to President Donald Trump‘s new tariffs, especially its core retail unit. Investors will want to know whether Trump’s 145% levy on China could impact Amazon’s margins, and whether uncertainty around the tariffs has caused shoppers to be more cautious with their spending.
“This was never approved and is not going to happen,” Amazon said in a blog post on Tuesday.
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Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told CNBC last month the company is working to keep prices low for consumers, including by making strategic forward inventory buys on products overseas. But he acknowledged some third-party sellers will “need to pass that cost” of tariffs to consumers.
Analysts believe Trump’s tariffs could provide a boost to Amazon’s retail business, at least in the short term, as some shoppers have stocked up on items in anticipation of price hikes.
Retail sales rose 1.4% in March, after rising 0.2% in February, according to Commerce Department data, indicating there may have been a pull forward in spending.
Investors will be keeping a close eye on Amazon’s guidance for the current quarter. Some analysts have suggested the impact of Trump’s tariffs may not show up until then, or potentially the third quarter.
“A meaningful portion of products sold on the eCommerce platform (apparel, furniture, toys, accessories, consumer electronics, etc.) come from China, which may impact forward guidance,” Canaccord analysts wrote in a note to clients this week. “That said, we think Amazon’s vast product selection and structural advantages in price and logistics should enable it to mitigate some of the impact.”
Amazon could also potentially benefit from Trump’s executive order to end the de minimis trade exemption, which is set to take effect on Friday. Discount Chinese retailers Temu and Shein have relied heavily on the loophole, which allows shipments under $800 to enter the U.S. duty-free, as a way to keep their prices low.
Both companies began raising prices last week, while Temu added “import charges” between 130% and 150% to some of its products. The prices of many of their products are more aligned with competitors like Amazon, but could still take more than a week to arrive.
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Amazon year to date stock performance
Outside of retail, Amazon’s cloud computing business and investments in AI will also be in focus. It’s been a mixed bag for Amazon’s cloud peers so far. Microsoftreported strong cloud growth in its third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, while Alphabet‘s cloud revenue fell just short of estimates last week.
For the quarter, analysts are projecting AWS revenue of $29.4 billion, according to StreetAccount. That would represent growth of 17.6%, compared to 18.9% growth in the fourth quarter.
Amazon last quarter pledged to boost capital expenditures to $100 billion this year, with the “vast majority” going toward AI services. The company has been rushing to roll out AI products across its businesses. In March, Amazon released a new AI agent for web browsers, and it began testing new AI assistants for its shopping and health platforms.
Amazon’s stock is down more than 13%year to date, while the Nasdaq has fallen less than a percent over the same stretch.
Apple CEO Tim Cook greets former President Barack Obama at the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson | Getty Images
Apple reports fiscal second-quarter earnings Thursday after the bell.
Wall Street is eager to hear from Apple for the first time about how it is planning to deal with the Trump administration’s tariffs. Investors will also want to know what impacts tariffs might have on the company’s sales, earnings and product prices.
Neither Apple nor CEO Tim Cook have yet to publicly comment on the hefty tariffs President Donald Trump announced for every country around the world on April 2 or the revised plans to place tariffs of up to 145% on imports from China.
Apple makes about three-quarters of its revenue from physical products such as iPhones, Macs and iPads that are mostly made in China, and the U.S. is its largest market.
Analysts at TD Cowen have estimated that the current tariffs could cost Apple 6% of its earnings per year.
Investors will also look to see what Apple says about the current quarter. While Apple hasn’t given formal guidance since 2020, it typically provides investors with several comparisons and data points that can be used to back into a forecast.
But the plans around Trump’s tariffs have already changed several times, and several other companies have stopped giving guidance, citing macroeconomic uncertainty.
Analysts polled by LSEG are expecting Apple to signal that it expects $89 billion in sales in the June quarter, or about a 4% increase on an annual basis.
Tariffs might have one silver lining for Apple — customers in the U.S. and retailers may have stocked up on iPhones and other products to beat the tariffs, which could elevate the March quarter’s revenue. Wall Street is expecting $94.68 billion in revenue, which would be a 4.2% increase on an annual basis, according to LSEG.
Apple’s sales in China will also be under a microscope. Some investors have worried in recent years that Chinese nationalism was reducing the appeal of the American-designed iPhone in the country, and the current trade war threatens to kick up the economic rivalry even more.
Analysts will likely ask Cook and finance chief Kevan Parekh on Thursday about the company’s outlook for mainland China. Wall Street is looking for $17 billion in sales, according to FactSet, which would be 3.6% growth on an annual basis.
Here’s what Wall Street expects, according to LSEG: