Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs to build “digital city”: Report
18 Apr 2016
A tech company funded by Google's parent Alphabet is looking to set up a smart city in the US to develop technology to tackle urban issues.
The Information reported that Sidewalk Labs, funded by Alphabet might soon be inviting bids from various countries and the US for a possible "digital city" construction project.
Company chief Daniel Doctoroff will be discussing with Alphabet CEO Larry Page in the coming weeks about a Project Sidewalk. At the same time the company will be hosting a discussion with experts in technology and urban development to flesh out the details.
Apart from a host of other possible technologies, the company could test within the city, the idea to build a city more suited to autonomous vehicles. Other ideas included cheap, high-speed internet for all residents, facilities to support hybrid cars and smartphone apps to integrate city infrastructure.
According to the Daily Mail, Sidewalk Labs was as an ''urban innovation'' company with sights set on the ''city of the future.'' It was noted that the future city could house hundreds of thousands of residents in a pre-planned community, with a focus on integrating technology into everyday living.
According to the report, Sidewalk Labs, is currently working with over 100 experts in the field of city and community planning to potentially create the ''city of the future.''
The company aims to build a city from the ''internet up'' in the ''near future.'' The company, is still trying to decide if it should purchase the land for the tech city outright or if it should partner with local counties to accept bids for creating their ''city of the future.''
''Smartphones already shape how people interact with cities. A new set of digital technologies - ubiquitous connectivity, real-time sensors, precise location services, distributed trust, autonomous systems, and digital actuation and fabrication - can collectively transform city life.
But towards what end? Will they make the city more responsive, equitable, innovative, and human or will they challenge civil liberties and security? We believe digital technologies have the potential to solve today's pressing urban problems in ways that respect privacy - serving as a bridge to cities of the future,'' Sidewalk Labs says on its website.
