The Rise of Violent Protests in the Modern Age

Los Angeles is a dynamic and influential city in California, renowned globally as the entertainment capital of the world. Founded in 1781, it has evolved from a small Spanish settlement into the second-most populous U.S. city, with over 3.7 million residents as of 2025. Los Angeles spans more than 500 square miles and is celebrated for its Mediterranean climate, vibrant cultural diversity, and thriving economic sectors, especially in entertainment, technology, and real estate[3][9]. The organization often referred to simply as "Los Angeles" in a business and technology context is the city's municipal and tourism apparatus, notably the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board. This organization promotes the city's multifaceted attractions, including its rich arts scene, booming culinary landscape, world-class sports institutions, and significant transportation upgrades. In 2025, Los Angeles tourism is marked by new venues, expanded cultural institutions, and enhanced infrastructure projects, such as the $1.7 billion Regional Connector Transit Project and the $30 billion overhaul of LAX, which improve accessibility and visitor experience[1][2]. Key achievements include hosting major global events like the upcoming Olympics, celebrating sports victories such as the Los Angeles Dodgers’ World Series win, and driving transformative real estate projects like Rams Village at Warner Center, which integrate offices, residential spaces, and parks. These initiatives illustrate Los Angeles’ commitment to sustainable urban growth and economic vitality while honoring its diverse communities, such as the cultural revitalization along Crenshaw Boulevard[2]. Currently, Los Angeles stands as the second-best city in America (2025) for business, culture, and innovation, thanks to its adaptive reuse projects, luxury hotel expansions, and robust hospitality sector. The city is a hub for live entertainment, from Lakers games and Hollywood Bowl concerts to Broadway-level theater, continually fueling its reputation as a global creative powerhouse[2][6]. Challenges such as housing shortages and wildfire resilience are actively addressed through innovative city planning and community-focused solutions

Waymo is a leading autonomous vehicle technology company that evolved from Google’s self-driving car project launched in 2009 and became an independent subsidiary under Alphabet in 2016. Its mission is to make transportation safer and more accessible by developing fully self-driving technology that eliminates human error, which currently causes millions of traffic fatalities worldwide. Waymo aims to offer freedom of movement, sustainability, and efficiency through its advanced autonomous driving systems[5]. Waymo’s key milestones include the first fully autonomous ride on public roads in 2015 and launching the first driverless taxi service to the public in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2020. Since then, it has expanded commercial autonomous ride-hailing to cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, and Atlanta, handling over 250,000 trips per week with a fleet of more than 1,500 self-driving vehicles, mainly Jaguar I-PACEs[1][3][4]. The company has completed over 100 million autonomous miles on public roads and provided over 10 million paid rides, reflecting its leadership in the robotaxi market[1][6]. Waymo is notable for its deep expertise in both hardware and software, including sensor suites and motion control systems developed at its technology and assembly centers in Michigan and Arizona. It also partners with major automotive manufacturers like Toyota and Jaguar Land Rover to build and scale its vehicles[2][6]. In October 2024, Waymo raised $5.6 billion at a $45 billion valuation, supported by investments from Alphabet, Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global, and others, marking it as a high-value autonomous mobility platform with significant growth potential[1][2]. Looking forward, Waymo is preparing to expand internationally with plans to launch fully autonomous ride services in London in 2026, leveraging its UK engineering hubs and local partnerships. It is also growing its corporate travel business and integrating with airports and public transit systems to compete with traditional ride-hailing companies[3][6]. Unde