Toggle light / dark theme

This is the type of hijacking that the US DHS has been worried about. And, now we’re looking at self-driving Big Rigs and commercial jets.; as I stated last year I would hesitate in allowing autonomous planes and Big Rigs until we have a breech proof connected infrastructure in place.


As researchers demonstrate digital attacks on a 33,000 pound truck, car hacking is moving beyond consumer vehicles.

Read more

Interesting and true on many situations; and will only expand as we progress in areas of AI, QC, and Singularity as well.


The use of algorithms to filter and present information online is increasingly shaping our everyday experience of the real world, a study published by Information, Communication & Society argues.

Associate Professor Michele Willson of Curtin University, Perth, Australia looked at particular examples of computer algorithms and the questions they raise about personal agency, changing world views and our complex relationship with technologies.

Algorithms are central to how information and communication are located, retrieved and presented online, for example in Twitter follow recommendations, Facebook newsfeeds and suggested Google map directions. However, they are not objective instructions but assume certain parameters and values, and are in constant flux, with changes made by both humans and machines.

Read more

I see many uses for this such as provider services including front office & hospital admissions, security in assessing people in line or trying to gain entry, etc.


Machines are taking over more and more tasks. Ideally, they should also be capable to support the human in case of poor performance. To intervene appropriately, the machine should understand what is going on with the human. Fraunhofer scientists have developed a diagnostic tool that recognizes user states in real time and communicates them to the machine.

The camera firmly focuses on the driver’s eyes. If they are closed for more than one second, an alarm is triggered. This technique prevents the dangerous micro-sleep at the wheel. “It is not always as easy for a machine to detect what state the human is in, as it is in this case,” says Jessica Schwarz from the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics FKIE in Wachtberg, just south of Bonn.

Holistic model feeds real-time diagnosis

For her doctoral thesis, the graduate psychologist examined the question of how to very precisely determine user states, what influence these may have on incorrect behavior and how automated systems can use this information. “For complex applications it is not sufficient to focus on only one impact factor,” says the scientist. An increased heart rate, for example, does not automatically mean that a person is stressed. This can have various causes. Schwarz therefore examined what factors specifically impact human performance and created a holistic model that provides a detailed view on user states and their causes.

Read more

Elon Musk has been a busy man lately as he works to transition the world to renewable energy and sustainable transportation with the goal of decarbonizing the global economy to meet the challenge of climate change. To meet that goal, Tesla will need to address “high passenger-density urban transport” – and Musk just confirmed plans to create a fully autonomous electric Minibus using the Model X chassis.

Read more

“The White House has asked whether Zipline’s drones, pioneered in Rwanda, could fly much-needed drugs and blood to Americans.”

Read more

Elon Musk is today set to merge Tesla Motors and SolarCity, Reuters is reporting, kicking off part two of his master plan to transform our cities and suburbs into environmentally friendly automated wonderlands.

In July Musk wrote of his plan to merge the two companies in a blog post entitled Master Plan, Part Deux, saying it was essential to “create a smoothly integrated and beautiful solar-roof-with-battery product that just works, empowering the individual as their own utility, and then scale that throughout the world.

“We can’t do this well if Tesla and SolarCity are different companies, which is why we need to combine and break down the barriers inherent to being separate companies. Now that Tesla is ready to scale Powerwall and SolarCity is ready to provide highly differentiated solar, the time has come to bring them together.”

Read more

Honda said in a press release that the AI will use conversations with the driver and other data it gathers ‘both to perceive the emotions of the driver and to engage in dialogue with the driver based on the vehicle’s own emotions.’ The just-announced partnership works toward application of the ‘emotion engine,’ which is ‘a set of AI technologies developed by cocoro SB Corp., which enable machines to artificially generate their own emotions.’


Image source: Getty Images.

Continue Reading Below.

Driverless cars are already being developed by nearly every automaker. And despite the recent Tesla Model S crash in which a driver was killed while using the car’s semi-autonomous Autopilot feature, they’re typically much safer than human drivers, and they’re getting better all of the time.

Read more