Zoox has jokingly dubbed its prototype robot taxis “vaporware horseshit.”
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Category: transportation
Akka Technologies is developing pods with detachable wings that would integrate aviation and public transit. The AKKA Group is an engineering and technology consulting company with 16000 employees.
The detachable wings would make for vastly more efficient boarding and improve the utilization of the engines and wings.
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Researchers have shown that it is possible to train artificial neural networks directly on an optical chip. The significant breakthrough demonstrates that an optical circuit can perform a critical function of an electronics-based artificial neural network and could lead to less expensive, faster and more energy efficient ways to perform complex tasks such as speech or image recognition.
“Using an optical chip to perform neural network computations more efficiently than is possible with digital computers could allow more complex problems to be solved,” said research team leader Shanhui Fan of Stanford University. “This would enhance the capability of artificial neural networks to perform tasks required for self-driving cars or to formulate an appropriate response to a spoken question, for example. It could also improve our lives in ways we can’t imagine now.”
An artificial neural network is a type of artificial intelligence that uses connected units to process information in a manner similar to the way the brain processes information. Using these networks to perform a complex task, for instance voice recognition, requires the critical step of training the algorithms to categorize inputs, such as different words.
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The engines of an airplane are complicated machines with plenty of hard-to-reach places, and keeping them in working order requires a lot of time and maintenance. The future of this task, as Rolls-Royce sees it, could involve deploying different kinds of of robots that patrol these aircraft parts and quickly nip any problems in the bud.
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Full automation of things like Logging, and Mining is not that far off. A humanoid robot that can do all the tasks of those sorts of jobs is already really close, the main issue right now is copying Human Hands, and it is almost there. Then, having vehicles like this to haul the stuff out of there. And, then those jobs are gone for good.
It might not be the quickest vehicle at the event, but Swedish transport company Einride has chosen the Goodwood Festival of Speed to reveal the T-log, an autonomous, electric logging truck. Incorporating some unusual purpose-built design for the niche logging market, the vehicle is designed to go off-road and to navigate forest roads with and without loads.
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Want a hint of how the automotive zeitgeist is changing? You only need to look at the just-ended Goodwood Festival of Speed. Roborace has carved out a small niche in history with the first self-driving vehicle to successfully complete Goodwood’s famous hill climb, where vehicles have to tackle a gradual 300-foot ascent that includes narrow hay- and brick-lined passages. It wasn’t a flat-out assault, but the attempt (which was preceded by a practice run) went off without a hitch — which you can’t say for the other autonomous contender at the festival.
Siemens had prepared an autonomous Ford Mustang that carried none other than the festival’s founder, the Duke of Richmond, through the run. Technically, it did complete the run — but only with help from a safety driver, who had to repeatedly take over as the modified coupe threatened to plow into hay bales. This came despite Siemens’ team having 3D-mapped the course and plotted the route in advance.
Human drivers don’t have anything to worry about yet in either case. The Roborace vehicle was not only cautious, but tended to make constant corrections that are clearly visible in the video below. Even so, it’s good to know that a completely driverless race car isn’t intimidated by an elevation change. We just can’t help but imagine Goodwood guests feeling nervous — the festival might have less reason to exist if many future cars won’t need a human pilot.
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Aston Martin
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Former F1 racer and designer Taso Marques has created the TMC Dumont, an incredibly sleek, low-to-the-ground motorcycle that sports an airplane engine and giant silver wheels without hubs, looking very much like something out of a science fiction film. The bike made its debut at Daytona Bike Week in March 2018 and won all sorts of admiration and accolades for its design.
Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the assembly of the TMC Dumont Motorcycle.
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A nightmare on the roads here. And, proof that anyone who tries to make it better will be seen as a bad guy.
Elon Musk’s ambitions often come under attack from entrenched interest groups. Now Musk’s Boring Company has a deal with Chicago to build a high-speed tunnel train to O’Hare Airport. Cabdrivers, already stinging from Uber and Lyft, could become the next “unfriendly” force for the billionaire entrepreneur.
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