Live: Google to launch Pixel phones, Chromecast and a lot more

Google just turned 18 and it already seems ready to take the fight to rivals like Apple and Amazon -- at least in terms of devices.

The company is expected to launch new smartphones, a smarter Chromecast, Google Home and a new OS to take on its rivals.

Watch: Google's live event below

Here are the live updates straight from the event:

9:00 PM: The venue is at Ghirardelli Square and people are coming in and waiting for the event to start.

9:05 PM: People are being badged up as they slowly start to take their seats.

OK Google, set a timer for 25 minutes - see you on the livestream at 9am PT! https://t.co/0PPLcgGujg #madebyGoogle

— sundarpichai (@sundarpichai) October 4, 2016

9.30 PM: Google keynote starts with an AV, same as iPhone launch where Tim Cook was in a car. Actor in AV says Sergey will fire Larry from a cannon.

9.32 PM: Sundar Pichai, head of Google, takes to the stage.Welcomes people. Says that the stage was a power station for a chocolate factory. Pichai takes the audience through the tech revolution. Claims that the human race has entered the mobile revolution.

9:35 PM: Pichai says that Google is moving towards an artificial inteliigence (AI) first platform from a mobile platform. Says the Google Assistant will be universal and build a personal Google for everyone.

9:37 PM: AV plays which shows the vision of Google Assistant. Pichai says Google has invested in deep areas of knowledge science, deep learning and machine learning.

9:39 PM: Pichai says that Google had launched machine learning in 2014. Two years ago, Google had an efficiency of 89% which has now been scaled up to 92%. "This might not mean much but AI is learning how to understand more about pictures," Pichai claims.

9:41 PM: Google working towards human-level transalation with new machine learning systems. "Chinese to English translations has progressed immensely. Soon people will be able to search for more advanced queries," he said.

The internet search giant, which is about to hold an event in San Francisco just days after Apple's launch of the iPhone 7 series, often releases new devices at this time of the year. This time it is expected to show off new smartphones and other hardware as well as offer more information about its Internet-connected speaker, a rival to Amazon's popular Echo device.

Last year, Google unveiled its Nexus 6P and 5X smartphones on September 29. And two years ago, it announced the Nexus 6 smartphone and Nexus 9 tablet on October 15.

Source: Live: Google to launch Pixel phones, Chromecast and a lot more