Category: 3. Business

SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon’s Zoox will start giving free robotaxi rides through parts of San Francisco as it accelerates its attempt to challenge Waymo’s early lead in the race to transport passengers in self-driving vehicles.

The expansion announced Tuesday will be confined to a few major San Francisco neighborhoods and limited to people who signed up on a waiting list to ride in Zoox’s gondola-shaped robotaxis, which have no steering wheel. The San Francisco launch comes less than three months after the Amazon-owned robotaxi company launched its first ride-hailing service along the Las Vegas strip.

But Zoox still doesn’t charge people to ride in its robotaxis, something Waymo has been doing since its debut in Phoenix five years ago. The free rides are the next major milestone before charging fares like Waymo and traditional ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft, as Amazon tried to make inroads in autonomous driving — a journey that began in 2020 when the e-commerce Goliath bought Zoox for $1.2 billion.

California regulators still have to approve Zoox’s application to charge for rides in San Francisco — a clearance that Waymo received in August 2023 after overcoming safety concerns raised by city officials. Since then, Waymo’s robotaxis have become a familiar sight throughout San Francisco, where some tourists now make a point of hitching a ride in a self-driving car along with hopping on one of the city’s fabled cable cars that have been operating for 152 years.

Waymo, which started as a secret project within Google in 2009. also operates its robotaxis in San Jose, California, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Austin, Texas, with plans to expand into several other U.S. cities next year. In another sign of Waymo’s accelerating growth, its robotaxis began extending their routes beyond city streets and onto highways in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix.

Just as Waymo has already been doing, Amazon is gearing up to bring Zoox’s robotaxis to other major cities, including Austin and Miami. To help Zoox realize its ambitions, Amazon converted a former bus factory into a high-tech robotaxi plant in Hayward, California — about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco. Zoox eventually hopes to make as many as 10,000 robotaxis annually at the plant.

The reintroduction of Aberdeen’s hydrogen bus fleet is facing a fresh delay, with no firm date set as to when it will return to operation.

The 15 vehicles have been off the road for over a year following problems with fuelling stations.

The buses, which are owned by Aberdeen City Council (ACC), but operated by First Bus on its city network, have been out of action since September last year, after technical problems at the city’s two fuelling stations, at Kittybrewster and Cove.

It was hoped they would return in the summer, but a new hydrogen production hub is still to come on stream, and the local authority does not know when they will be able to take passengers again.

In April, ACC said that while the buses were being refurbished, it hoped new mobile fuelling facilities at Kittybrewster and the First Bus King Street depot would allow the buses to return in the summer.

A new Hydrogen Production Hub is still due to come on stream at TECA, near Aberdeen International Airport, next year.

An ACC spokesperson said: “The buses have been off the road due to a lack of hydrogen supply.

“Prior to being back in operation, the buses will require to undertake some testing as part of a recommissioning process.

“Recommissioning works are underway on the fleet with road testing expecting to commence within the coming weeks.”

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‘Advances in engineering’

NEW YORK, Nov. 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Chubb today announced that Bill Hazelton has been appointed to Chief Operating Officer for North America Field Operations, effective December 1, 2025. 

In this role, Bill will oversee the delivery of Chubb’s full portfolio of personal and commercial insurance products and services to agent and broker distribution partners through 48 branch offices across North America. 

He will also assist in the day-to-day management of North America Field Operations, with a specific focus on deepening Chubb’s longstanding relationships with top trading partners, overseeing national distribution management, business development, and Chubb Insurance Solutions Agency Inc., ensuring alignment with strategic deliverables and fostering growth across all business segments. Bill will report to Chris Maleno, Senior Vice President, Chubb Group, Vice Chairman, North America Insurance and Division President, North America Field Operations.

“We are excited to welcome Bill back to Chubb. He comes to this role with a deep understanding of Chubb’s strong product and service capabilities, along with a deep network within our largest agents and brokers, as well as the unique needs of our clients,” said Maleno. “I am looking forward to working with Bill again as he leverages his expertise to manage and grow our distribution network and maintain Chubb’s top position in North America.”

Bill brings more than three decades of extensive industry experience in underwriting, claims and distribution partner management to the role. He most recently served as Executive Vice President & President of North America Insurance for Everest Group, Ltd. Prior to that, Bill served more than 18 years with Chubb, holding a variety of roles including Head of North America Industry Practices, Head of North America Claims and leadership roles in Chubb’s Real Estate & Hospitality and Construction Industry Practices and Environmental and Excess Casualty business units.

About Chubb
Chubb is a world leader in insurance. With operations in 54 countries and territories, Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. The company is defined by its extensive product and service offerings, broad distribution capabilities, exceptional financial strength and local operations globally. Parent company Chubb Limited is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CB) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Chubb employs approximately 43,000 people worldwide. Additional information can be found at: www.chubb.com.

SOURCE Chubb

Societe Generale successfully completed its first digital bond issuance in the United States, which was made using Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.’s tokenization capability on the Canton Network blockchain. The bonds were issued as security tokens registered by Societe  Generale – FORGE (SG-FORGE), the subsidiary of Societe Generale dedicated to digital assets. DRW, a leading trading firm proven to drive innovation in markets, purchased the bonds, which are short-term floating rate debt securities linked to SOFR¹. 

This bond issuance represents one of the pioneering digital securities offerings to institutional investors in the United States. This milestone is a notable extension of Societe Generale’s capabilities in the digital asset space, following a series of successful tokenized issuances in Europe since 2019 executed by SG- FORGE², which provides end-to-end services to issue and manage digital-native financial products registered on blockchain.

This U.S. inaugural digital bond has been issued on the Canton Network, initially developed by Digital Asset to enable instantaneous on-chain transfer of securities, while allowing the issuer and registrar to adhere to traditional capital markets practices and requirements. 

The bonds are the first securities to be tokenized using Broadridge’s newly launched tokenization capability, which enables firms to issue securities in a digital format, providing increased transparency and traceability as well as improved velocity and settlement efficiency. 

Broadridge and SG-FORGE used IntellectEU’s Catalyst Blockchain Manager to operate their nodes on the Canton Network’s decentralized interoperability infrastructure, known as the Global Synchronizer.  Collectively, these tools enabled Societe Generale’s inaugural U.S. tokenized bond issuance and open the door to future opportunities for additional issuances and potentially other applications.

BNY, one of the leading third-party intermediaries supporting issuances within the global debt capital markets, will act as paying agent for the bonds. Mayer Brown served as legal advisor to Societe Generale on this digital bond issuance.

This successful transaction in the U.S. market is a meaningful step towards future tokenized asset issuances, including structured products. It demonstrates Societe Generale’s commitment to drawing on its financial structuring expertise and on SG-FORGE’s technological capabilities to deliver value-added services to its clients.