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Singaporean taxi operator ComfortDelGro hopes robotaxis can future-proof the industry, as aging populations lead to fewer drivers

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Singapore’s largest taxi operator is debuting its first robotaxis in China to help with “future-proofing” the industry, as rising incomes and ageing populations makes it harder for companies to find drivers. 

ComfortDelGro, No. 128 on the Southeast Asia 500, will partner with Chinese autonomous vehicle startup Pony.ai to launch self-driving cars in the Chinese city of Guangzhou. The two-year pilot is starting with a small fleet of Lexus RX450 vehicles, and will expand to other models over the course of the program. 

The company, which also operates bus and subway services, both in Singapore and overseas, hopes the partnership will help it prepare for coming labor shortages. 

“The development of autonomous vehicle technology is crucial in future-proofing the transport industry,” ComfortDelGro’s CEO Cheng Siak Kian said in a statement. “With continuing driver shortages a global issue, we are exploring innovation solutions to ensure mobility remains accessible and efficient.”

ComfortDelGro, through its Pony.ai partnership, hopes to gain experience in managing a fleet of autonomous taxis. The company operates a global fleet of over 33,000 taxis and private hire cars worldwide, including more than 9,500 in China.

Pony.ai is allowed to operate autonomous driving mobility services in the Chinese cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and is also exploring a launch in Hong Kong.  

“Guangdong is China’s most populous province and gives us the opportunity to build our capabilities in autonomous vehicles in a mature ecosystem,” a ComfortDelGro spokesperson told Fortune.

Tackling a labor shortage

During an interview with Fortune last September, Cheng expressed worries about a shortage of taxi drivers due to aging populations. “Now is the time to start looking at it,” he said, as the technology becomes “reasonably robust [and] reasonably mature.” The ComfortDelGro CEO suggested that robotaxis could supplement, rather than replace, human drivers by filling gaps in coverage.

Asia has some of the world’s lowest fertility rates, particularly in countries like Singapore, Japan, South Korea and China. Working-age populations are shrinking, posing a threat to businesses and industries that rely on human labor. 

In 2022, ComfortDelGro invested 30 million Singapore dollars ($22.5 million) to develop its capability to operate and maintain autonomous vehicles, and to build a tech platform to support robotaxi services.

Other companies are turning to robotaxis as a response to aging Asian populations. Honda and Nissan are partnering with Japanese taxi operators to launch self-driving taxi services, also due to a shortage of drivers. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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Trump-backed World Liberty Financial raises $550 million in WLFI token sales

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World Liberty Financial, the decentralized finance platform backed by President Donald Trump, announced this week that it has raised a total of $550 million in a series of token sales.

“This milestone proves that those who truly understand crypto and finance recognize what we’re building—and that WLFI is on track to supercharge DeFi as it transforms global finance in the coming years,” Zach Witkoff, cofounder of World Liberty Financial, said in a statement earlier this week. 

The company sold $300 and $250 million worth of Ethereum, Bitcoin, Tron, Ondo, Sui, and other cryptocurrencies. The purchases are part of its strategic token reserve which “helps strengthen leading cryptocurrency projects while providing stability to its treasury through diversification before ultimate disposition,” the company said in a statement. 

World Liberty Financial also says it has “established key relationships” with major players in the crypto space including other decentralized finance platforms like ONDO Finance, Sui, and Aave. Justin Sun, the founder of Tron blockchain, has invested $75 million in World Liberty Financial since Trump’s election in November. 

“The token sales are just the beginning,” Witkoff said in a statement this week. “We’re gearing up to launch a wave of disruptive technology that will redefine the boundaries of what’s possible with digital assets.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called GTC a Super Bowl where there are no losers — then he tackled concerns about China’s DeepSeek

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  • Jensen Huang reaffirmed Nvidia’s starring role in the AI industry during a keynote address at Nvidia’s annual GTC conference on Tuesday. Through its new open-source software, Huang showed how Nvidia can ramp up DeepSeek R1’s efficiency 30-fold. Yet, while he spoke, Nvidia’s stock price dropped more than 3%—after the company announced its GPU timelines.

Clad in his signature black leather, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang took center stage at Nvidia GTC on Tuesday, defending the chip maker’s dominance in the industry and touting the impact it could have on DeepSeek. 

The event drew more than 25,000 people to the SAP Center’s National Hockey League arena, and Huang opened the keynote by launching t-shirts into the crowd and coronating this year’s GTC the “Super Bowl of AI.”

“The only difference is everybody wins at this Super Bowl, everybody’s a winner,” he joked. And like the Super Bowl, there were GTC watch parties and packed crowds to get a glimpse of Huang on stage. 

With his address, Huang sought to dispel any uneasiness around AI investment, and said discussion about lower spending does not concern Nvidia. In January, apprehension engulfed the chip maker after it lost $589 billion in market cap in a single day after Chinese AI reasoning model Deepseek R1 claimed to operate at a fraction of the cost. 

While large language models offer foundational knowledge, reasoning models offer more complex, analytical responses. Using the company’s new open source software Nvidia Dynamo, Huang said the tech giant’s Blackwell chips will be able to make DeepSeek R1 30 times faster. He then played a video demonstrating for the crowd how it could be done.

“Dynamo can capture that benefit and deliver 30 times more performance in the same number of GPUs in the same architecture for reasoning models like DeepSeek,” said Ian Buck, vice president and general manager of Nvidia’s hyperscale and HPC computing business.

From there, Huang’s keynote covered everything from the chip maker’s plans to roll out its newest chips— Blackwell Ultra later this year, Vera Rubin in 2026, and Feynman in 2027.

“We have an annual rhythm of roadmaps that has been laid out for you,” Huang said.

While Nvidia’s announced its strategic runway for years to come, that wasn’t enough to stop the stock’s slide. The chip maker’s share price tumbled 3.4% Tuesday.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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Cathie Wood says most memecoins will end up ‘worthless’

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Most of the so-called memecoins that are flooding the $2.6 trillion cryptocurrency space will probably end up “worthless,” according to Cathie Wood. 

The combination of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence is creating “millions” of meme cryptocurrencies that “are not going to be worth very much,” the ARK Investment Managment LLC founder and CEO told Bloomberg Television on Tuesday, adding that her private funds are not putting money into these coins. 

Memecoins are a type of digital asset often inspired by jokes, current events or trends in popular culture. In February, the US Securities and Exchange Commission said memecoins are not considered securities so they will remain unregulated.

“If I have one message for those listening who are buying memecoins: buyer beware,” said Wood. “There’s nothing like losing money for people to learn, and they’ll learn that the SEC and regulators are not taking responsibility for these memecoins.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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