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Category: transportation

The US government has rolled out a plan to reshape airport security around facial recognition, playing off a wealth of passport photos and visa applications.

Led by Customs and Border Protection, the plan is built around the Biometric Exit program, which will register visitors leaving the US using facial recognition. But new statements show that CBP’s plans could make facial scans necessary for US citizens as well, documenting them when they reenter the country or pass through TSA checkpoints. The result would eventually grow into an airport-wide system Customs officials call “The Biometric Pathway.”

John Wagner, deputy assistant commissioner at CBP, laid out that vision at the ConnectID conference last week. “We’re going to build this for [Biometric] Exit. We’re out of time, we have to,” Wagner told the crowd. “But why not make this available to everyone? Why not look to drive the innovation across the entire airport experience?”

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Self-driving cars could soon be hitting the streets of the Big Apple, thanks to a new law that allows firms to apply to run trials there.

New York joins a growing list of states that are accepting applications for autonomous vehicle trials.

Cars will not allowed to be completely driverless yet, with a human driver in place to step in in case of emergency.

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If he can deliver on the cheaper than a regular roof, and forever warranty, and have the warranty transfer to a new home owner in a sale, then these would really catch on.

Last night, Elon Musk announced that Tesla’s solar roofs would be on sale starting today. At the time, he also stated that more information on the panels was forthcoming. Now, he has unveiled key details about Tesla’s “infinity warranty.”

Last night, Elon Musk announced via Twitter that orders would begin today (May 10th, 2017) for his revolutionary solar roof hardware. In another tweet, he promised that ordering would be available in most countries throughout the world. He also clarified that people could expect to see delivery begin in the United States in late 2017, and that deliveries would roll out sometime next year for overseas locations.

But another announcement just came in that’s even more revolutionary: The solar roofs will have an infinity warranty.

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  • The UN will be using the blockchain Ethereum to distribute funds from the World Food Program to more than 10,000 people in Jordan this summer.
  • The computer network is making humanitarian giving simpler and more secure than ever.

Technology has the power to improve people’s lives — and not just by supplying flying cars to millionaires. The computer networks that brought us Bitcoins are advancing in ways that will make humanitarian giving simpler and more secure than ever.

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NASA just announced several bounties to improve its FUN3D software, which is used to simulate fluid dynamics. The system is used internally at NASA, as well as by companies like Boeing and Lockheed, to develop and optimize new vehicles and engines.

The FUN3D project was started back in the 1980s, and it has been in active development for decades, but NASA’s looking for help to optimize the code. It’s offering $15,000 and $10,000 prizes to the top two contributors of code optimizations, and is also offering another bounty for more general optimization suggestions.

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In January, Angelenos were elated to discover that Star Wars creator George Lucas has selected Exposition Park as the future site of his Museum of Narrative Art. An upcoming presentation to the Los Angeles City Planning Commission has unveiled new renderings for the $1-billion project, suggesting changes from the initial designs presented last year.

Slated for two city-owned parking lots on Vermont Avenue south of Exposition Boulevard, the museum would take the form of a four-story, 115-foot tall building featuring 300,000 square feet of floor area. Plans call for a vacation of 39th Street between Vermont Avenue and Bill Robertson Lane, allowing for the construction of an underground parking garage across the site featuring more than 2,400 vehicle spaces. The subterranean garage levels would be capped with 11 acres of public green space.

The design from Chinese architect Ma Yansong has evolved to beome more compact than the sinewy images last seen in January.

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A very popular theme during NASA’s “Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop” was the exploration of Titan. In addition to being the only other body in the Solar System with a nitrogen-rich atmosphere and visible liquid on its surface, it also has an environment rich in organic chemistry. For this reason, a team led by Michael Pauken (from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory) held a presentation detailing the many ways it can be explored using aerial vehicles.

The presentation, which was titled “Science at a Variety of Scientific Regions at Titan using Aerial Platforms “, was also chaired by members of the aerospace industry – such as AeroVironment and Global Aerospace from Monrovia, California, and Thin Red Line Aerospace from Chilliwack, BC.

Together, they reviewed the various aerial platform concepts that have been proposed for Titan since 2004.

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SAN FRANCISCO A U.S. judge on Wednesday said he had not seen clear evidence that Uber Technologies Inc had conspired with an engineer on its self driving car program to steal trade secrets from Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Waymo, and that he was wrestling with whether to issue an injunction against the ride service.

At a hearing in San Francisco federal court, U.S. District Judge William Alsup said it was undisputed that the engineer, Anthony Levandowski, downloaded about 14,000 documents shortly before he stopped working for Waymo.

If it were proven that Levandowski and Uber conspired in taking Waymo’s information, that could have dire consequences for Uber, say legal and ride-hailing industry experts.

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On May 1st, 2017 VSS Unity’s “feather” re-entry system was activated in flight for the first time. In this video, VSS Unity Project Engineer Gabe Williams describes the vehicle’s unique feathering re-entry system.

VSS Unity was piloted by Mark Stucky and Mike Masucci, with pilots Nicola Pecile and CJ Sturckow as well as flight test engineer Dustin Mosher in carrier aircraft VMS Eve. This test flight was the fourth glide flight (and eighth flight overall) of VSS Unity.

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