Morning! Keeping up with tech from my home office to yours. Hang in there.

Navigant Research published its annual leaderboard for the development of automated driving technology this morning, via CNET.

While it doesn’t reflect commercial success or viability, it does paint a picture of the state of self-driving technology.

The leaderboard isn’t just hardware/software technical competency but includes a range of factors such as production strategy, marketing, capability, staying power and reliability.

Note this isn’t just about which company is right now capable of taking you furthest in its self-driving offering, but about a wider view of the ecosystem.

The groups of companies are then classified on a map with axes for strategy and execution, which are subjective:

The map:

The likes of Waymo, Cruise, Baidu (in China), and Ford rank as leaders in the top right of the graph, with Waymo leading on execution, and Ford slightly ahead on strategy, per the chart points.

And then there’s Tesla, ranking the lowest on both overall measures, classed as a challenger.

The difference from 2019 is the removal of Apple, Uber, and Lyft, which may no longer be working on the technology at any kind of reasonable scale.

2019’s leaderboard can be seen here, and shows Waymo has moved ahead.

Volvo and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance remain as challengers, too.

What gives?

Navigant’s report explains: “Tesla continues to make high-profile promises, including having one million robotaxi-capable vehicles on the road by the end of 2020. However, the performance of its systems remains inconsistent and its products do not match its proposed mobility business model."

Note that in previous years, Navigant clarified its stance to explain that rankings are based on “developing the technology and having a business model to generate cash”.

So, is Navigant being too harsh?

Each year this is a hotly debated report.

Navigant’s report has always been hard on Tesla, mostly for overpromising, which mostly seems to come from Elon Musk, who by now people should know to take with a grain or two of salt.

In any case, expect this latest effort from Navigant to attract plenty of comment and discussion over the next few days.

One last thing: Navigant's full report cost will be in the range of ~$4,000. It helps to make it slightly controversial to get people to buy in, it should be noted

Round Up:

In case you missed it: All Apple stores (outside of Greater China) are closing until March 27th, which means approximately 450 stores in 23 countries (Twitter, Tim Cook).

Also in case you missed it, Bill Gates steps down from Microsoft board (Ars Technica).

WWDC has also been moved to online-only, with Apple’s announcement not once mentioning COVID-19, simply talking online being a "new experience" and "innovative." Yeah. Like everyone else... (Apple).

Can't pay your Apple Card bill this month? Apple says don't sweat it (Gizmodo).

Google Camera app bombarded with negative reviews due to broken Pixel 2 camera (Android Authority).

LG V60 international giveaway! (Android Authority).

Oppo Find X2 Pro review: Fast, fashionable, and fantastic (Android Authority).

Huawei P40 series video teaser gives us tantalizing glimpses, little else - looks like we’ll be getting three versions: Huawei P40, the P40 Pro, and P40 Pro Premium Edition (Android Authority).

New Powerbeats 4 appear on Walmart shelves ahead of expected official announcement (9to5Mac).

🤳 Crazy idea: Why don’t we scrap selfie cameras completely? (Android Authority).

🧪 Verily, an Alphabet moonshot company, has launched Project Baseline, a pilot COVID-19 screening and testing website in the San Francisco Bay Area. Get screened and get tested for free, if you live in the project areas. Somewhat dubiously, Project Baseline first asks you to sign in with your Google account. That’s a privacy risk and not HIPAA-compliant (projectbaseline.com, more about the project here).

And here’s an overview of the actual COVID-19-related work Google is doing, which isn’t quite the “comprehensive” testing initiative mentioned by President Trump on Friday (The Verge).

Silicon Valley was first to send workers home: It’s been messy. Apple staff can't log in remotely to secret projects and are forced to work on campus, Google offices look like “a crime scene”, with equipment missing and snacks raided (WSJ, $).

Airbnb lets customers cancel bookings for free amid coronavirus pandemic (The Next Web).

Phones could track the spread of COVID-19. Is it a good idea? (Wired).

Disney bringing Frozen 2 to Disney Plus three months early amid coronavirus pandemic (The Verge).’

Record numbers of people were using Steam over the weekend: Almost 20 million people were gaming, and CS GO hit 1 million players for the first time ever over the weekend. (IGN).

As motorsport came grinding to a halt, a bunch of Formula One drivers joined in against esports gamers online playing two different simulations: F1 2019 and rFactor (The Race).

‍⚕️ These apps make a game out of relieving anxiety. They may be onto something: Popular apps are drawing from real, clinically approved treatments. (Vox).

“Liftoff! Disregard”: Watch SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket abort a planned launch at the last second (YouTube).

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️ It’s time to resurrect the airship hospitals: quarantining the sick in floating hospitals was an idea 100 years ago, but today it might be more valid. Unclear if really feasible or not, but interesting (OneZero).

Why do dogs have such extreme diversity in size, shape, and attributes when compared to cats? (r/askscience). I’ve always thought it was funny that dogs could recognize other dogs despite some looking like good boy aliens.

Speaking of: Uncanny portraits of perfectly symmetrical pets (Wired).