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Autonomous taxis have arrived in the nation’s second most populous city. Some Angelenos aren’t ready to go driverless.

Job cuts, which could continue throughout the year, have created a glum mood at what was arguably Silicon Valley’s most exuberant workplace.

Profits are up and the economy is strong. But the tech industry faces two challenges — dealing with a frenetic work force expansion in the pandemic and building A.I.

Google’s parent company reported that sales climbed 13 percent to $86.3 billion while profit jumped 52 percent.

The shift is indicative of the importance of new artificial intelligence technology to Silicon Valley and Wall Street investors.

The company, which has been working to trim expenses, laid off employees who worked on core engineering, the Google Assistant product and hardware such as the Pixel phone.