Uber already has self-driving cars, and now it’s on to the next frontier: Flying cars. The ride-hailing company on Thursday posted a white paper outlining its plan for “on-demand aviation,” aka flying Ubers. “On-demand aviation, has the potential to radically improve urban mobility, giving people back time lost in their daily commutes,” Uber wrote in its white paper. Along with a lengthy analysis of the economics and mechanics of flying cars, Uber published a bunch of illustrations of next-generation airborne transportation.
Month: October 2016
Audi to test new autonomous driving technology | Robotics & Automation News
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The “Digital Motorway Test Bed” is a joint initiative between the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, the Free State of Bavaria, the automotive and supply industry as well as the IT sector.On several sections of the A9 between Nuremberg East and Munich North, transmitters and sensors connect cars with their surroundings as well as with other vehicles. Audi is involved in six projects here. Three of them focus on structural measures and the remaining three on communication technologies.Alejandro Vukotich, head of development for automated driving at Audi, says: “As part of the Digital Test Bed, Audi is participating in development activities to make the autobahn infrastructure even more reliable and therefore support piloted driving.
Source: Audi to test new autonomous driving technology | Robotics & Automation News
Nissan autonomous tech boss reveals philosophy behind automaker’s approach | Robotics & Automation News
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In 2018, Nissan expects to unveil a “multiple-lane control” application that can autonomously negotiate hazards and change lanes during highway driving. Two years later, it plans to add the capability for the vehicle to navigate city driving and intersections without driver intervention.
The 2020 US Elections Will Completely Transform Autonomous Transportation
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THE POLITICS OF TRANSPORTATIONWhile most eyes are on the 2016 U.S. election, Tesloop CEO Rahul Sonnad is looking ahead to 2020, and he sees autonomous vehicles as a much bigger political talking point than they are currently.In a video interview with TechCrunch contributor Andrew Keen, Sonnad talks about transportation in terms of politics, remarking that the current U.S. administration has been “remarkably grown-up and rational” about transportation, particularly with regards to autonomy.While he notes that the current election cycle hasn’t yielded much significant discussion of the transportation industry, Sonnad predicts the 2020-2024 administration period is “going to be completely transformative” for the U.S.’s transportation landscape.“The technology will be there to have a car that is safer than a human driver by that point,” says Sonnad.“I think the implications of that are really staggering in terms of both making transportation much cheaper, but also I think you’ll start to see at that time a lot more electric transportation, which will make it much cleaner.”He goes on to predict that autonomous vehicles will eliminate traffic, eventually be used to move freight, and even change our roads themselves, with high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes becoming autonomous car lanes.
Source: The 2020 US Elections Will Completely Transform Autonomous Transportation
Uber’s Autonomous Truck Completes 120-Mile Beer Run | News & Opinion | PCMag.com
StandardAn Anheuser-Busch autonomous tractor-trailer drove more than 51,000 cans of beer across Colorado this week, marking what it says is the “world’s first” self-driving truck delivery.The journey was made possible by Otto, a San Francisco-based startup recently acquired by Uber. Its truck hauled 2,000 crates of Budweiser from Fort Collins, through Denver, to Colorado Springs.
Source: Uber’s Autonomous Truck Completes 120-Mile Beer Run | News & Opinion | PCMag.com
Toyota’s New Hydrogen Buses Are Heading to Tokyo
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Toyota will start selling its clean air hydrogen bus, the Toyota Murai, starting in 2017.Fuel cell engines create clean water and don’t emit greenhouse gases — but synthesising hydrogen for the engine does.Toyota’s new Murai hydrogen-powered buses will take to the streets of Toyko starting in 2017, the company has announced. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has already purchased two buses, but the automotive manufacturer plans to sell 100 before the 2020 Olympic games hosted in Japan’s capital.
Qualcomm could become king of the road if it buys NXP | Robotics & Automation News
StandardNXP itself last year bought Freescale for $12 billion. The deal gave NXP access to the market for micro-controllers, in which Freescale is one of the leading companies.And in a separate, similarly large deal, Japanese communications colossus SoftBank recently agreed to buy the British chip designer ARM for $32 billion. Although this website is more about technology than finance, these deals likely have implications for the types of robotics and automation technologies which will emerge in the future.Board at work A “leaked” picture of Apple A10 processor for the iOS devices, as published on BGR.comQualcomm is estimated to be the leader in the market for smartphone processors, with around 30 to 40 per cent share, depending on the type of processor we’re talking about.Other companies doing well in smartphones are Mediatek, and Apple – yes, Apple makes smartphone applications processors, apparently.
Source: Qualcomm could become king of the road if it buys NXP | Robotics & Automation News
Real-Life RoboCop: Dubai’s Police Force is Getting Android Reinforcements Next Year
StandardDubai’s version of RoboCop is definitely not the first robot that entered law enforcement service. While it is the first one that can shake hands and salute like a proper police officer, several robots and AI systems have already been used and shown their mettle in real life situations (except in Russia where the police arrested a robot, instead).Examples include, among others, a robot used by Cleveland police to scan for bombs in the Republican Convention last July; urban combat robots in China; and an intruder-chasing security drone in Japan.As our robots become better and better, and with AI increasingly becoming more intelligent, it seems inevitable that these be put to good use. What’s better than having these serve and protect? Again, rather than fear what may be — that these turn against us — let’s first appreciate the help robots can provide for us.
Source: Real-Life RoboCop: Dubai’s Police Force is Getting Android Reinforcements Next Year
Massachusetts robotics companies employed 4,700 workers and generated $1.6 billion in revenue | Robotics & Automation News
StandardPat Larkin, director of the Innovation Institute at MassTech, says: “This study confirms that our strong academic and R&D centers provide the Commonwealth with a base of robotics talent that is unparalleled, helping drive new research, the development of innovative technologies, and spinning out new startups.“But most importantly, it provides Massachusetts with strategies that can help us supercharge the robotics cluster, including ways both public and private partners can work together to launch, attract, retain, and grow robotics companies across the state.”
A former Ferrari F1 engineer says gaze tracking is key to self-driving cars | Ars Technica
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Interestingly, Rijnders told us that at Ferrari, invention was a repeatable process (something that makes perfect sense when you consider how much development occurs in each of the top teams during the course of an F1 season). And he fears that’s not the case with many new tech companies. “To be successful in a technology startup, you have to bring something that’s more advanced than the state of the art. More than likely, you’re going to have to repeatedly invent something new, so invention needs to be a process. A lot of times now, you see startups that think you can base your whole startup on one brainstorming session and then hack around it. For technology, you have to really do proper engineering methods,” he told Ars.Rijnders was also critical of the rush to autonomous driving, suggesting that lessons already learned in commercial aviation are being overlooked. Referring to the old joke about autopilots and dogs, he pointed out that the reason we still have two humans in the cockpit is to handle the unforeseen events that can’t be preprogrammed. In much the same way, it’s going to be quite some time, he suggested, before autonomous cars can be expected to handle the Rumsfeldian unknown unknowns.
Source: A former Ferrari F1 engineer says gaze tracking is key to self-driving cars | Ars Technica
DOT Committee to Offer Autonomous Vehicle Advice – News – TruckingInfo.com
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Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx announced plans to establish an Advisory Committee on Automation in Transportation to help frame federal policy on the development and deployment of autonomous cars and trucks.The committee will assess DOT’s current research, policy, and regulatory support to develop a strategy for safe and effective use of autonomous vehicles on public roads.After analyzing available information, ACAT will present recommendations to the Secretary on automated and connected road and transit vehicle technologies, enhanced freight movement technologies, railroad automated technologies, aviation automated navigation systems technologies, unmanned aircraft systems, and advanced technology deployment in surface transportation environments.
Source: DOT Committee to Offer Autonomous Vehicle Advice – News – TruckingInfo.com
LeEco’s LeSEE Pro autonomous concept makes troubled debut – SlashGear
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LeEco, after all, is all about its “vertical integration” and its ecosystem of media. The car is, simply, another place you could be enjoying its streaming on-demand and live content. If that car needs to be autonomous in order to release another set of eyeballs, then so be it.The LeSEE Pro promises to be less calculating than LeEco itself. It’ll apparently be able to track mood and facial expressions, tailoring itself and its driving behaviors to the emotions of the people inside. Bright lights in the grilles will express the car’s personality to other drivers on the road, as well as pedestrians.
Source: LeEco’s LeSEE Pro autonomous concept makes troubled debut – SlashGear
Massachusetts Aims To Create Framework To Test Autonomous Vehicles | Bostonomix
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Gov. Charlie Baker issued an executive order Thursday to create a special working group on autonomous vehicles. The group — dubbed “The AV Working Group” — will examine things like motor vehicle safety, proposed legislation and a state approval process for companies that want to test out autonomous vehicles. The idea is to promote the testing and deployment of autonomous vehicles in the state by creating a framework for companies using this technology.In a statement, Baker said the state’s academic institutions and tech companies make Massachusetts “uniquely qualified” to be a leader in this field.His order outlines what’s called a “Memorandum of Understanding” agreement, which companies will have to enter into with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and any affected municipalities or state agencies if they want to test self-driving cars on the roadways. In order to get approval from MassDOT, companies will have to submit an application showing the vehicle passed a Registry of Motor Vehicles inspection, can be operated without “undue risk” to the public, and will have a person inside at all times during travel.
Source: Massachusetts Aims To Create Framework To Test Autonomous Vehicles | Bostonomix
Lynk & Co announces its arrival with 01 SUV
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New car brands don’t come around all that often, and it can be difficult for them to establish themselves when they do. Lynk & Co, a subsidiary of Geely, isn’t fazed by the challenge. The Lynk & Co 01 has been designed as the world’s most connected car, built from the ground up to interact with smartphones and web-driven services.Although Geely is Chinese, the Lynk & Co 01 has Swedish blood running through its veins. It’s built on a modular platform shared with Volvo (another Geely subsidiary), designed to house a range of petrol, hybrid and electric powertrains, along with the latest active and passive safety features.
All Tesla Cars to Have Self-Driving Tech Going Forward | News & Opinion | PCMag.com
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Despite some missteps with its Autopilot feature, Tesla has pledged to equip all of its cars with self-driving technology going forward.That includes eight cameras for 360-degree visibility at up to 250 meters, 12 ultrasonic sensors for detection of hard and soft objects, and a forward-facing radar capable of seeing through heavy rain, fog, dust, and even the car ahead.ADVERTISINGinRead invented by TeadsA new onboard computer, meanwhile, runs the company’s neural net for vision, sonar, and radar processing, promising a “view of the world that a driver alone cannot access, seeing in every direction simultaneously and on wavelengths that go far beyond the human senses,” Tesla said in a blog post.”Full autonomy will enable a Tesla to be substantially safer than a human driver, lower the financial cost of transportation for those who own a car, and provide low-cost on-demand mobility for those who do not,” the luxury automaker wrote.Model S and Model X vehicles with the new components are already in production and available to purchase now. The upgrades will also be applied to the upcoming Model 3.
Source: All Tesla Cars to Have Self-Driving Tech Going Forward | News & Opinion | PCMag.com
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