If We Automate Trucks Who is Responsible When They Crash?

In 2018, the universal road accidents reports concluded that trucks remain responsible for 6.5% of total accidents because of their giant bodies, which are not easy to navigate. You can easily imagine the condition of a car after it has been struck by a truck weighing more than six thousand pounds. Now the talk is to put full-automated/self-driving 18 wheelers on the road. Its an 80,000 pound robot before you add the load.

Value of No Driver

There are some huge benefits to a company to have self-driving trucks.  No driver means that he cannot due grossly negligent things like drink and drive or use drugs and drive an 18-wheeler. A self-driving vehicle never gets fatigue. It doesn’t require off-duty hours to rest so it can run 24/7. Self-driving trucks are also cheaper for the company because they require no wages, no overtime and no benefits. The downside made be determining who is responsible when the crash.

Traditional Truck Accident Liability

Traditionally, the potentially responsible parties of accidents involving semi-trucks (when the truck was the cause) have included the driver, the truck owner or owner, the company responsible for shipping the load and sometimes a company that was responsible for maintenance. The driver and the trucking company were usually the primary liable parties that a truck accident lawyer would aim for.  First, you prove that the driver was negligent, then you hold the employer liable as the principal. This is because many states require that you prove negligence in an auto collision to hold a party liable. But what happens when there is no driver to be negligent?

Liability With No Driver

When a truck has no driver, obviously you cannot prove negligence on the part of the driver. This is problematic because negligence is the triggering factor for liability in most States. The error is likely a computer malfunction or programming oversight. This is effectively now a product-liability case that the vehicle manufacturer is responsible for. If they company has a maintenance company that maintains the truck and its software, then that company too may be liable. 

Ramifications

In liability insurance states, negligence of a driver triggers liability and coverage.  Your policy promises to defend the driver if sued and pay any judgment for which the driver is determined liable.  If there is no driver, do they have to pay?  Do you, the victim get stuck with the bill?  The reality is, we simply do not know how this is going to play out.  One thing is for sure though, insurance policies are going to have to be modified to cover a driverless situation. Laws may even have to be changed so that companies who operate these vehicles are held strictly liable for crashes. 

 

CRED's Valuation Jumps to $4 billion after Series E

India-based fintech has announced that it has raised $251 million in its latest round of funding. The round was co-led by Tiger Global and Falcon Edge. Rest of the investment came from Marshall Wace, Steadfast, DST Global, Insight Partners, Coatue, Sofina, RTP, and Dragoneer. The company is now valued at $4.01 billion.

The company had been valued at $2.2 billion after its previous round in April this year. The company is expected to use the funds to expand its range of existing products.

CRED is not looking to raise any more funds in recent future. “Cred is fortunate to have consistent inbound interest owing to the value created for investors and team. However, the information that Cred is looking to raise another round is wrong,” said the company to Mint.

The Kunal Shah-led company has closed three high-profile funding rounds within a year. Cred ‘Cash’ provides members an instant line of credit, with interest rates ranging from 12% to 15%, and partners with non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) to fund these loans.

A members-only credit card bill payment platform, CRED, has been growing at a fast pace. The company has over 1,300 brand partners and has a customer base of 7.5 million in India.

 

Guardforce AI Announces Launch of its Intelligent Cloud Platform

The Asian provider of integrated security solutions has launched its Intelligent Cloud Platform (ICP). The ICP is an intelligent robotics management platform, which will enable the company to remotely manage and monitor robots deployed with clients.

The new ICP from Guardforce AI will help the company integrate other solutions to further enhance its features and services. This will also help the company to work in collaboration with other AI tech providers.

The Guardcore AI's ICP will be improved to include advertising management, remote access control management and CCTV security surveillance.

"We launched the ICP to support cooperation and partnerships with other technology providers, especially AI specialists, to maintain our best-in-class solution for clients. It's part of our broader strategy to transform our business into a technologically integrated security service provider," said Terence Yap, Chairman of Guardforce AI. "The launch of the ICP raises our value proposition and service offerings to clients, while also positioning us as a leading RaaS provider in the region."

The new ICP services is being made available in Hong Kong and Thailand for now.

 How to Get a Power of Attorney in Georgia

A POA, or power of attorney, is an important document related to estate planning, and it appoints an agent or attorney the legal right to make a limited set of decisions on your behalf.

A power of attorney is usually used and created when the principal is suffering from a permanent or temporary disability, illness, or another type of medical condition and is unable to make decisions on their own.

Power of Attorney Requirements

If you are wondering how to get power of attorney in Georgia, the process is pretty straightforward. You have to contact an estate planning lawyer, and they will guide you through every step. The basic power of attorney requirements is pretty much the same in all the states. This includes requirements such as:

●     The POA document must be signed by the principal of the contract. If the principal     is unable to sign, it must be signed by someone in the presence and at the direction    of the principal.

●     It must be signed in the presence of one or multiple witnesses.

●     It must be signed by someone authorized to administer oaths, like a notary public.

●     The principal, the witness, the person who signs, and the notary must be present during the signing.

Aside from these basic requirements, some states may have a few other requirements or criteria. Let’s take a look at the POA requirements in Georgia.

Requirements Related to Execution

You have to follow Georgia's laws when setting up a POA form. If it does not, banks, financial institutions, law firms, and credit unions will not accept the form or acknowledge the attorney's authorization.

In Georgia, all POA forms created after July 1 2017, must follow the format established under the Georgia Code § 10-6B-70 (2017), or it must contain the same language as the statutory form.

Requirements Related to Granting Authority

A power of attorney is a powerful document, and in the right hands, it can be extremely beneficial. But in the wrong hands, it could have severe repercussions for both you and your family.

In total, there are 5 types of POA, and each gives the agent different types of authority. For instance, if you set up a financial POA, the agent can only make decisions related to your financial matters. They will not have any authority over your health care. If you want someone to take care of your health, you will have to set up a medical POA or advance directive for healthcare under Georgia Law.

Incapacitation Under Georgia Law

Under the laws of Georgia, a person is referred to as incapacitated if a person loses the ability to evaluate, analyze, and receive information and communicate to make an informed decision. The impairment has to be determined and recognized by a licensed psychologist or physician.

The principal may also be incapacitated if they are detained, incarcerated, or is unable to return to the United States for an uncertain period. This has to be determined and acknowledged by a judge, lawyer, or another government official.

Banks and POAs

Most of the banks were reluctant to accept the newly established format of POA created in 2017. However, the UPOAA, or the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, compelled banks to accept it.

Still, there are plenty of banks in Georgia that have their financial POA. The best way to deal with this would be to contact the banks or other financial institutions and ask whether they have their own POAs. If they do, complete their forms and submit them.

Social Security Administration and POAs

The social security administration and the veteran’s administration in Georgia do not recognize POAs. This is extremely frustrating, but their policies do not accept it yet. To receive transactions from the SSA, you have to apply and become a representative payee.

As for the VA or veterans administration, the VA has its way of selecting a financial agent on behalf of the principal to manage their finances. The VA will call for and appoint a financial fiduciary. But this process is often time-consuming since the VA runs background checks on potential fiduciaries and appoints the right one.

Types of Power of Attorney

There are five types of power of attorneys, and all of them appoint an agent and give them a limited set of rights to make decisions. However, each type has a specific purpose.

1. General Power of Attorney

This allows an agent or attorney to make decisions regarding your financials, health, business, and legal matters. It gives the agent authority on all situations under the local laws and regulations. However, a general POA has limitations regarding setting up wills and testaments.

2. Durable Power of Attorney

A durable power of attorney allows the agent to make a broader set of decisions, compared to a general POA, and it does not get terminated even if the principal becomes incapacitated.

3. Financial Power of Attorney

A financial POA gives the agent the right to make decisions only related to financial matters such as property and money. It allows your agent to pay your bills, manage your investments, make bank deposits, file your taxes, etc.

4. Medical Power of Attorney

A medical POA or a healthcare POA is also subject to a limited set of decisions. In this case, the agent can only make decisions related to your healthcare. Your agent can make decisions about your treatment, medication, surgery, end-of-life care, etc.

5. Springing Power of Attorney

A traditional POA is effective immediately. Meaning, the agent can start making decisions right away after being appointed, but a springing power of attorney is only activated when a specific condition is met. For instance, if you become incapacitated, only then will a springing POA become activated.

Final Thoughts

Power of attorneys can make important decisions on your behalf. It is extremely important to appoint the right attorney for you and your family’s physical, mental, and financial well-being.

Depending on the type of POA, their limitations vary. However, most of them become ineffective after the death of the principal.

 

6 Tips for Scaling Your Startup

If you’re a startup founder, it's important to look for opportunities for growing your enterprise in the long term. Scalability is a crucial factor for success. It indicates progress not just in revenue, but also in other factors like risk tolerance, productivity, and innovation.

Still, the challenge can be daunting. According to an article from Investopedia, startups had a failure rate of 90% in 2019. As a matter of fact, only a handful of startups can make it past their 10^th year of operation before going bust. 

From a lack of research to limited capital, there are various ways your startup can fail. This shouldn't discourage you from making the journey towards startup success. By focusing more on scalability, your startup is guaranteed to thrive past the 10-year mark. Here are a few tips you should keep in mind:

1. Review your business model

Before launching your startup, it's important that you spend time analyzing your business model and checking if it has the potential to support the sustained growth of your startup. The best way to approach this is to use a business model canvas or BMC. This allows you to visualize your startup's potential to scale and develop a unique identity.

Through a BMC, you get to identify key partnerships, revenue streams, cost structures, activities, resources, and other factors that will fuel future growth. Once you have completed your BMC, you can determine what works, plan for the long term, and minimize the risk of failure.

2. Find your key strengths

What does your startup have that other startups lack? Determining key strengths is crucial to know how your startup can compete against other enterprises in your market.

For this, don't just focus on filling up the gap between you and your competitors. Instead, concentrate on enhancing core products and activities. If there's anything you are doing right, look for ways to improve it. Don't rush into new projects just yet. Take time to build on the things that are gaining ground.

Understanding what makes your startup unique can help you focus on concepts that matter in terms of long-term growth. 

3. Make the most out of your workforce

Hiring more people doesn't necessarily accelerate the growth of your startup. It only makes core processes more complicated in addition to eating into the bottom line.

When recruiting people to your startup, don't focus too much on filling up empty seats and creating unnecessary positions. During the first months of launching your startup, you need to build a pioneering team that provides the skills and experience that coincide with your business's core activities.

You can reach out to business owners you know and ask for referrals. Also, consider posting job ads on social media platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn. In any case, it's important that you provide a clear description of the kind of employees you will want to hire.

The future of your startup depends heavily on the quality of your human capital. Consider coming up with a detailed profile of an ideal employee for your startup. That way, you won't have to waste time and resources on candidates who won't deliver long-term value.

4. Consider outsourcing

In case you lack the resources to recruit an in-house team, outsourcing would be the best option. Especially if you are operating as a sole proprietorship, hiring a remote worker is a cost-effective way to support your business's growth during the first few months of launching.

You can find freelancers who can handle a range of tasks that in-house employees can handle but at a cheaper cost. If you want to build a marketing campaign, for instance, you can hire independent contractors that have the creative and technical skills you need. Another option is to partner with a marketing agency. There are a number of outsourcing firms that provide teams for a flat rate.

Whether it's a freelancer or an offshore company, outsourcing provides your startup with an affordable way to access skills that are locally unavailable. This also allows you to offload repetitive tasks so you can focus on finding other growth opportunities. Plus, you get to save more money from hiring costs. You can use these savings to strengthen other aspects of your startup and open up new income streams.

5. Channel your resources towards innovation

Your startup has a better chance of success if it's able to provide new concepts to the market. After all, the whole point of building a startup is to drive innovation. Spending less time, money, and effort on research and development will only make it difficult for your startup to scale amid a tech-driven landscape that's constantly changing.

Take the time to learn the issues and problems that are prevalent in your market. How will your startup solve these problems? How can you align your products or services with current trends?

One thing's for sure, you wouldn't want to rely too much on your core activities. As the bottomline grows, you should set aside a portion of your earnings for fueling innovation.

In case you are not sure  about starting an innovation program, consider getting a partner who can help you develop an innovation strategy and unlock your startup's potential as a leader for transformative disruption.

6. Forge strategic partnerships

In some cases, startup founders overlook one essential part in scaling their organizations: The need to form partnerships.

While you can relish in the idea that your startup is the product of your own toil, you will still need to find business partners who can be instrumental in helping you find growth opportunities in other areas and locations.

You just need to develop a desire to build alliances with potential growth partners. Look for mentors and industry leaders to connect with and find out how your business can fit into their agenda. From there, introduce your startup and what it is developing recently.

Once you have forged partnerships with important industry figures, you will be able to discover new growth opportunities to leverage.

The need to scale is becoming more important as more startups enter the arena. so put these tips to the test and let your startup thrive for more than a decade!

 

Standard Chartered, Atome Financial Partner to improve financial access and product choice for consumers

Standard Chartered has entered into a 10-year multi-product partnership with Atome Financial. This partnership will combine the strengths in finance and technology to deliver quality products to consumers and merchants across key markets in Asia.

The partnership will also include Standard Chartered investing $500 million in Atome Financial. This funding will enable Atome Financial to grow and connect a wider ecosystem of merchants to a larger customer base. Atome is the business unit under Advance Intelligence Group. Atome recently closed a $400+ million Series D financing round.

"Our deep knowledge of Asia’s markets coupled with Atome Financial’s experience in digital consumer finance will allow us to reach even more customers and drive greater financial participation of those underserved and underbanked,” said Judy Hsu, CEO, Consumer, Private and Business Banking, Standard Chartered Bank.

This partnership will include buy now pay later services initially. It will target a roll out in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam in the coming months. The partnership will later expand to include digital lending products.

 

 

Indonesia opens Bali to tourists from 19 countries

Indonesia's holiday destination islands of Bali and Riau are open to foreign tourists from 19 countries after 18-month pandemic hiatus. Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, Indonesia's Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment said that the incumbent Indonesian government had permitted tourists from 19 countries to travel to Bali and the Riau Islands. He also noted that the ministry chose the countries based on data showing low positivity rates. However, the United States was notably absent from the list.

 

The countries chosen by Indonesia are China, New Zealand, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Liechtenstein, Italy, France, India, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Spain, United Arab Emirates, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, and Norway.

 

Eligible travelers from the chosen countries must be fully vaccinated with a second vaccine taken at least 14 days before traveling to Indonesia. They must have insurance coverage for Covid-19 treatment worth at least US $100,000 and pay for their accommodation during a mandatory five-day quarantine period.

 

Bali, Indonesia's leading tourism hotspot, had more than 6 million visitors in 2019 alone. Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the island's streets, which would generally be filled with tourists, have been deserted. Many businesses are closed as tourism is the lifeline for the economy of the island.