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Google’s parent abandoned plans to develop a “smart city” in a Toronto neighborhood, a controversial project that once embodied the tech giant’s futuristic ambitions.
The move is the highest-profile example yet of retrenchment by Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, +1.77% GOOG, +1.87% under new Chief Executive Sundar Pichai. The Toronto project, under Alphabet arm Sidewalk Labs, was a favorite of Google co-founder Larry Page, who held the CEO role until December.
Sidewalk Labs cited economic uncertainty and pressure on the local real-estate market in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. A person familiar with the decision said cost was another major factor. Alphabet had poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Sidewalk, with most of that earmarked for the Toronto project, and yet had little to show for it.
Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat was pushing to curb the initiative even before coronavirus hit, the person said.
Sidewalk was selected by Canadian government entity Waterfront Toronto as the development partner in 2017, in a bid to build a neighborhood on a 12-acre parcel of land along Toronto’s waterfront. The plan envisioned an energy-efficient friendly neighborhood where sensors embedded in traffic lights and garbage bins tracked residents and responded to their needs. The project, initially championed by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, quickly ran into local opposition. Activists said they were concerned how the company would handle personal data, and that Google’s algorithms would take too much control over city planning.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com:
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