Technology
Google Launches Sidewalk Labs; Aims to Help Fix Cities
In this Tuesday, March 23, 2010, file photo, the Google logo is seen at the Google headquarters in Brussels. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)
SAN FRANCISCO (USA Today) – Google, famous for its ambitious projects to build self-driving cars and high-altitude balloons that beam the Internet to earth, is now taking aim at fixing another major problem: city life.
The new initiative, called Sidewalk Labs, will use technology and innovation in an effort to improve urban life at a time when the U.S. population is gravitating to cities, according to Google CEO Larry Page.
Based in New York, it will be run by Dan Doctoroff, a former deputy mayor of New York City who will combine his experience in managing cities with funding from Google.
“Sidewalk will focus on improving city life for everyone by developing and incubating urban technologies to address issues like cost of living, efficient transportation and energy usage,” Page said in a Google+ post.
