Azarias Reda, PhD

🚨 AI-Powered 911 Assistants Will Revolutionize Government Services and Save Lives. They are the future of emergency response for civil services for the following reasons: - Faster Response Times: AI can quickly analyze and prioritize calls, ensuring the most critical situations get immediate attention. - Accurate Data: AI can gather and process data swiftly, providing emergency responders with precise information, reducing human error. - Enhanced Efficiency: By handling routine inquiries, AI frees up human operators to focus on more complex and urgent issues. - Cost Savings: Automated systems can reduce operational costs, allowing governments to allocate resources more effectively. - Scalability: AI systems can handle high volumes of calls, especially during crises, ensuring no call goes unanswered. - Training and Support: AI can assist in training new operators, offering real-time guidance and support. Embracing AI in 911 services is not just a technological upgrade—it's a life-saving innovation. Let's drive government services forward with AI! 🚀 Benjamin Sanders Damian McCabe #AIAssistants #EmergencyResponse #GovTech #Innovation #PublicSafety

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The latest edition of The Driverless Digest has just been published! Highlights from this week: 🤖 Waymo now at $45 Billion valuation but how do they stack up to Uber at a public market cap of $150 billion? 💵🔥Zoox to launch in San Francisco and Las Vegas. 🤖 Waymo working on scheduled rides feature which is great for customers but read why I think it’s only going to hurt their utilization. Check it out here - https://lnkd.in/gNywsSmW

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Waymo's market share is now equal to Lyft within SF. Incredible. Network effects is one of the best sources of defensibility. But it's proven to be not that important in ridesharing. When Waymo launched in August 2023, Uber and Lyft were at 66% and 34% share in SF. 15 months later in November 2024, Waymo is at 22% - the same as Lyft - with Uber at 55%. Note: stats from a partner at a16z. #ridesharing #Waymo #Lyft #Uber #a16z

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CA/WA/OR state & federal legislators (and voters!) need to be aware of food security and rural economic vitality challenges. Case in point - the 'acreage exodus' in CA is real - From 1997 to 2022, USDA Census data show that California lost 4.6 M ag acres (16% of the total) and 24,857 farms (28% of the total). Straight line these numbers for another 30 years and the numbers go to 9 M acres lost and 45,300 farms lost for 55 years – 32% of acreage and 52% of farms. Other western states - WA & OR - also need to pay close attention to policies that are negatively impacting farming. Labor laws, overtime, L&I, real estate values. It's amazing how much we're seeing ag production moving to LatAm and other areas that are much less expensive to farm. Walt Duflock

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With Waymo announcing the company is now conducting 50,000 paid rides per week in 3 cities, we decided to add some economic context to the announcement. Based on our analysis, Waymo is generating anywhere between $500,000 to just over a $1,000,000 a week in revenue depending on the average fare. Add in 2 more cities/expansions and Waymo is generating north of $100 million a year. How long do you think it will take Waymo to achieve $100 million a year in revenue? Let us know in the comments below. #RoadToAutonomy #AutonomyEconomy #Waymo #RoboTaxi #RideShare #AutonomousVehicle #Autonomy #Google

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Your Uber ride could soon be completely driverless. Uber and Waymo, the self-driving arm of Google's parent company Alphabet, are teaming up to bring the robotaxi service to riders in Austin and Atlanta in early 2025, right from the Uber app. Waymo is already offering its fully autonomous ride-hailing service to the public via the Waymo One app in Phoenix and San Francisco, and to select members of the public in Los Angeles (In Phoenix, you can also use Uber to summon a Waymo vehicle). It's currently conducting testing in Austin. Here's everything to know about Waymo's expansion and partnership with Uber, and how to hail a ride if you're in one of the cities in which the service operates. #Waymo #Alphabet #selfdriving #AI #autonomouscar https://lnkd.in/gRUEFB49

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Thanks to Taylor Soper and GeekWire for asking the questions! I asked ChatGPT and Claude what they think of my predictions for 2025.... ChatGPT: Ken, you nailed the AI prediction—agents are definitely coming for our boring tasks, but if you’re hoping they’ll take over your meetings, we’ll see how that pans out. Your skepticism on crypto feels like a safe bet; it’s the trendy tech with a lot of bluster, but not enough muscle to transform the world just yet. As for remote work, I agree that it's not going anywhere, but predicting it’ll morph into a “flexible utopia” is like predicting everyone will suddenly love pineapple on pizza—possible, but not guaranteed. Solid overall, but maybe leave room for the remote work revolution to surprise us! Claude 3.5 Sonnet: Ken, you've got a pretty solid crystal ball there, especially on the AI agents trend and the analytics companies needing to evolve or die. Your take on remote work playing it safe (basically "same as 2024") was probably the most boringly accurate prediction - like choosing "water" as your favorite beverage. I think you underplayed the potential crypto comeback after the Bitcoin ETF approval, and your biotech AI prediction feels a bit early - we're still figuring out how to get AI to reliably order lunch, let alone design drugs. Next year, I'm turning to the LLMs for my predictions 🤣 Great to see smarter people in the article thinking in similar ways Erik Benson, Heather Redman, Sri Chandrasekar and Kyle Lui 👏👏 On to 2025!! https://lnkd.in/gUf63kRZ

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Waymo's recent doubling of its paid ride volume is an impressive business result. But what does the feat say about the state of the self-driving industry? And how does Waymo stack up against self-driving rivals like Tesla, and ride-hailing giants like Uber? We dive into these questions on the latest episode of TWIST

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ex Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke at Stanford this week. Lots of nuggets here, but most interesting for the near term, Schmidt believes in the next year AI is set to make a big leap forward. He predicts AI will combine three important features: 1. Vast knowledge retention (1 million token models) 2. Text-to-action capability 3. Personal AI agent fleets While the full impact is unknown, everyone may soon command their own AI teams. Here's an example: Imagine you're developing new quantum computing algorithms. Your AI assistants could: - Continuously scan and synthesize global quantum research papers - Generate novel algorithm ideas based on this knowledge - Simulate and test these algorithms across various quantum architectures - Automatically document findings and prepare draft papers - Identify potential collaborators and draft outreach emails All initiated by a command like "Advance our quantum algorithm research." This could dramatically accelerate R&D cycles and scientific breakthroughs.. https://lnkd.in/eJbg6cnD #frontiertech #AI #futurefrontier

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Waymo's co-CEO taught me something unexpected about market choices: The so-called 'simple' path can lead to a massive dead end. That's why Waymo avoided what many believed was the obvious route — autonomous trucking. It seems like it should be the reverse. Autonomous trucking focuses on highways because there are: • Fewer variables • Less complexity • Straightforward routes • More predictable conditions • Fewer pedestrians, etc It sounds logical, right? But here's the reality of it: Highway accidents at 70mph with 20x the mass are catastrophic. The margin for error is almost zero. And, the trucks still have to eventually navigate into cities to pick up and drop off deliveries. Meanwhile, Waymo took the "harder" route. They focused on urban environments with: • Unpredictable pedestrians • Complex intersections • Endless variables Now it provides over 100,000 paid rides each week. By solving the long tail of possible scenarios the cars can encounter, they’ve catapulted ahead. And it’s just getting started. So what’s the lesson here? Starting with the "harder" problem can be smarter than taking shortcuts when the less hard version is a false proxy for the real thing. It means you: 1. Build robust solutions 2. Tackle core challenges head-on 3. Develop deeper expertise 4. Create transferable technology Waymo's journey since 2009 proves it: • Started in complex urban environments • Built sophisticated systems • Created resilient technology • Achieved real-world success Meanwhile, highway-focused companies are still struggling with the "easier" problem. The takeaway for startups: Don't chase the easy path. Chase the right path. Sometimes, embracing complexity early leads to simpler solutions later on.

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Having a Cars and Capital event tomorrow in Southern California with Oren Klaff. If you want to join message me. https://lnkd.in/gDQ4D39u Oren Klaff Bridger Pennington #InvestorEvent #FamilyOffice #InvestmentOpportunity #CarlsbadEvent #PrivateEquity #WealthManagement #InvestmentConference #CapitalRaising #NetworkingEvent #IndustryLeaders #FinancialGrowth #InvestorsMeetup #WealthBuilding #BusinessGrowth #InvestmentForum

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An interesting article below, that demonstrates out how San Diego is punching above its weight.  And how Connect's strategy and execution over time, contintues to be central to that success. The article describes the current state of the market in Seattle.  (And i love Seattle.) It's a market that we tend to track with relative to venture fundings.  They used to kick our butts, we outraised them each of the last three years.  This despite the fact they have 3x as many funds there, and 9x the amount of resident capital there. (per pitchbook) Some key takeaways:  * They continue to compare themselves to SIlicon Valley. Instead, we leverage our proximity. *They whine there's not enough local investors (see note above - they have more than us). We bring over 200 VCs to SD annually! * They say founders are not connected with one another. We bring CEOs together regularly, in a variety of ways - private dinners and through our Springboard program. * They say they need to elevate their image on a national & international stage. Why we created and continue to build Five.Ten.Thirty (aka Inno Day).  * And the last paragraph - they need to concentrate on making their region a great place to live. Our mantra: "It's about Better, not Bigger." (See XEO, TL Fund). THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT. WE ARE ON A MISSION TOGETHER!!!  (Comments, whining, suggestions on SD always welcome.) https://lnkd.in/g6Rq_f2Y

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Waymo grew from 100K rides per week to 150K rides in two months. At 7.8M rides per year this is nothing compared to the 10B rides Uber provides. But here is the catch, Uber's costs are more or less fixed. Google's are going to come down exponentially. The cost for an AI team will go down very fast if expressed per ride. Given no drivers are needed and vehicle costs are coming down as well, it is just a matter of scaling up for Google to steal away clients from first Uber but afterwards also public transport, second car ownership and finally first car ownership. In 2025, Waymo can easily go to 1 or multiple millions of rides per month. 2026, 10-50M and in 2027, 1B per month. Giving that Tesla will want to launch in 2025 and scale in 2026, consumers will be the big winners. https://lnkd.in/e4rcAH6D

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The REAL high EV (expected value) exit may not be working at #bayarea #vc #startups it is being a #whistleblower at them :) https://lnkd.in/esWrjGds

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🌟Innovative VC Firm Overcomes Exits Drought with Secondary Sales🌟 ⛵Navigating a challenging landscape where exits are scarce, Santa Barbara Venture Partners (SBVP) has pioneered a novel approach to sustain its growth and attract investors for its second fund: secondary sales. Instead of waiting for traditional exits like IPOs or acquisitions, SBVP opted to sell shares of its portfolio companies, demonstrating its ability to generate returns for investors and stand out in a competitive market. 🎤According to Dan Engel, founder and managing partner of SBVP, these secondary transactions have been a game-changer, sparking investor interest and bolstering the firm's credibility. By leveraging its recent successes, including a lucrative stake in sports-betting company DraftKings Inc.' acquisition of digital lottery app Jackpocket, SBVP seized the opportunity to return profits to its limited partners (LPs) and pave the way for its second fund. 💡Engel highlighted the challenges faced by young VC firms in raising subsequent funds, particularly amid a downturn in exit activity and heightened investor scrutiny. With traditional exit routes becoming increasingly elusive, the pressure is on for firms to demonstrate tangible returns and establish a track record of success. ✨"For us, secondary sales have been a game-changer. They've helped us return profits to our LPs and attract investors for our second fund," said Dan Engel. 💰For SBVP, the decision to pursue secondary sales was driven by the need to provide liquidity to LPs and validate its investment thesis in the eyes of prospective investors. By strategically offloading portions of its holdings in high-performing portfolio companies like Bark Technologies and Rad AI, SBVP not only generated substantial returns but also bolstered investor confidence in its ability to deliver results. ⚠Despite the complexities and potential stigma associated with early share sales, Engel emphasized the importance of prioritizing investor returns and seizing opportunities to unlock value for stakeholders. With a focus on profitability and transparency, SBVP remains committed to its mission of delivering sustainable growth and maximizing returns for its LPs. 🔍 "Returning profits to our investors is our top priority. By strategically selling shares, we're proving our commitment to delivering results and driving value for our stakeholders," added Engel. As SBVP continues to explore secondary transactions and expand its investor base, the firm stands as a testament to innovation and resilience in the face of market challenges. 🚀 ✅ Looking to raise capital for your #fund and increase the international pool of your LP #investors?   🤝 Need warm #LP introductions?   📝 Selling #secondaries to increase liquidity?   🧐 Looking for co-investments?   ▶ G+QUANT's link for inquiries and fund decks: https://lnkd.in/gjC_EuTE #VCInnovation #SecondarySalesSuccess #InvestorReturns #ValueCreation 

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Team San Diego! I though you may find this as surprising as I did...we are not alone. Read this quick article from Jon Prentice's (Silicon Valley Bank) interview with with James Newell (Voyager Capital), published in GeekWire on Seattle's innovation ecosystem....they lament the SAME issues as we do in San Diego: * Lack of angel investors, (Especially, it calls out, given the local giant tech co's) * "We need low-conviction check writers." * Lack of "cachet associated with being an angel investor" - We have similar efforts (as described in the article) to drum up angel activity: NuFund Venture Group and, Interlock Capital (read the article and you'll see why the Interlock effort is tops as relates to "paying back into the ecosystem") Connect.org strives to 'connect' innovative companies with investors of all types (angel, VC, PE...) - just see "Innovation Day". Their Springboard program provides another great way for experienced entrepreneurs to give back through mentorship...as for the companies going through Springboard: "Ask for advice, and you often get $$" Your thoughts on the article or San Diego innovation ecosystem? https://lnkd.in/gfwq6mfq

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What do self-driving cars and AI agents have in common? Brooke, the founder of Coval (YC S24) and a former engineer at Waymo, came on the pod to explain. They seem different, but both face similar challenges. Whether it's a car navigating busy streets in SF or an AI agent managing complex customer interactions, both systems need to process real-time data, learn from their environment, and adapt their behavior accordingly. Self-driving cars are "agents on wheels"—deciding when to stop, go, and adjust based on what they see on the road. AI agents, meanwhile, are navigating decision trees, learning through simulations, and improving their ability to respond accurately to task as well. The testing processes are also alike. Like self-driving cars compare their performance to real-world human drivers, AI agents are evaluated on how they solve tasks compared to human operators. Both systems run thousands of simulations, tweaking and refining their responses to ensure they can handle unpredictable, non-deterministic scenarios. That's what Coval does. They help companies do simulations on their agents to help them run more effectively. Fascinating stuff. Our chat together made me feel like I was in the future. The learnings from testing self-driving cars are now being applied to AI agents, showing how interconnected these cutting-edge technologies are. The podcast will be out shortly - till then, this clip does a good job explaining this concept.

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