Think polarization and inequality are bad now? Buckle up: big cities are poised to get bigger, richer and more powerful — at the expense of the rest of America, a new report by McKinsey Global Institute shows.
Why it matters: McKinsey’s analysis of 315 cities and more than 3,000 counties shows only the healthiest local economies will be able to successfully adapt to disruptions caused by the next wave of automation. Wide swaths of the country, especially already-distressed rural regions, are in danger of shedding more jobs.
A hospital introduced a robot to help nurses. They didn’t expect it to be so popular
Moxi is a robot designed to make nurses’ lives easier. But the friendly bot is turning out to be a welcome presence for some patients, too.
Nurses are in high demand: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the number of jobs for nurses will grow 15% from 2016 to 2026, which is much faster than other jobs. The current shortage has left hospitals in a crunch—and a few hospitals in Texas recently turned to an unusual solution: a robot named Moxi.
LA WATCHDOG–On Friday, June 28, the Los Angeles City Council will consider a motion by Councilman Joe Buscaino to assert jurisdiction over a decision by the Board of Harbor Commissioners to approve a minor construction permit that would allow Maersk, the world’s largest shipper of cargo containers, and its subsidiary, APM Terminals, to install electric charging stations, wi-fi antenna poles, and traffic barriers in its 484 acre facility.
This construction permit is just a small part of Maersk’s ambitious plan to introduce up to 130 driverless electric powered cargo handlers that will increase the efficiency of its container operations. This capital-intensive project will also reduce emissions consistent with Mayor Eric Garcetti’s New Green Deal.
Unfortunately, the politically powerful International Longshore and Warehouse Union is opposed Maersk’s plan because it believes that it will result in the loss of an estimated 500 jobs. As a result, they have enlisted the help of Garcetti, Buscaino who represents San Pedro, County Supervisor Janice Hahn, a resident of San Pedro, and the Democratic Party to oppose this minor construction permit in an effort to stall or derail Maersk’s project.
People have long been nervous about robots and artificial intelligence taking over human jobs – but the next decade will see the process shoot into overdrive.
During the next decade, machines will displace 20 million manufacturing jobs, a report by analyst firm Oxford Economics suggests.
That amounts to 8.5% of the global manufacturing workforce, with each robot displacing 1.6 workers on average.
The report says that robotisation is accelerating due to falling costs, with the average unit price of a robot falling 11% between 2011 and 2016, CNN reported.
The new law is intended to make Florida competitive with other states that have welcomed self-driving vehicles and testing.
Self-driving vehicles without any safety driver in the vehicle will be allowed on Florida roads starting July 1.
As Florida’s governor signed the new bill into law, he stated the intention is to remove “barriers to the advancement of autonomous vehicles” in the state.
Anyone who is onboard is also exempted from laws against texting or other distracted-driving activities in the vehicle.
In the transportation world, there has always been consensus that there is nothing worse than the single-occupancy vehicle. But there soon could be.
A common techno-utopian vision of the near-future city is one where automated vehicles come when called and whisk you to your destination, as you sit, relaxed and untroubled by traffic. But consider the opposite vision, that gridlock will be made worse by autonomous vehicles, which will spend much of their time driving around the city with no passengers. There is simply nothing about a vehicle being autonomous that makes it more likely to achieve higher occupancy. In fact, the current trajectory of AV deployment roadmaps and our transportation policy response ensures its average occupancy will be lower.
It won’t be coming to your kitchen any time soon, though (sorry).
The news: A startup called Dishcraft has launched a new robotic dish-scrubber system. Yes, it’s different from a dishwasher! It’s a huge machine that can clean 100 or so plates per go, aimed at commercial kitchens.
As the auto industry contemplates the shift from sales to services, automated logistics like this new BMW car-cleaning drone are coming into focus.
Automakers have been talking about a shift from new car sales towards a more service-oriented business model for some time, but for many of these car companies such a shift has proven difficult. One reason for this emerged in recent news about the General Motors Maven car-sharing experiment, in which the massive automaker struggled to manage direct consumer relations that have traditionally been handled by dealers. But what if the shift toward services took advantage of maturing automation technology, like car washes provided by autonomous flying drones? That’s a possibility that BMW seems to be looking into, according to recently-published patent application documents.
This new application envisions an automated system by which an unmanned aerial drone can be reserved or summoned to automatically wash a car. The drone would be able to recognize the target vehicle, determine that all windows and doors are closed and send an alert if they are not, detect the level of dirt, remove any objects that prevent cleaning as well as take before and after photos to be sent to the customer. The washing process would involve pre-washing, washing, drying and waxing, although the patent application does not specify details for how the washing would take place. The drone could be located in the vehicle it would clean, essentially making it a self-cleaning vehicle, or it could be placed in another vehicle that would act as a home base for drones that clean other vehicles.
Artificial Intelligence hype is only going to increase.
We know what blue collar jobs are, but what are “new collar” jobs? We are in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and artificial intelligence, analytics and automation is radically changing jobs.
What infrastructure improvements will promote the growth of autonomous vehicles while simultaneously encouraging shared ridership?
Imagine a future in which fleets of autonomous buses and shuttles effortlessly navigate through city streets to their designated stops. Ridesharing services dispatch shared autonomous vehicles (AVs) to pick up multiple passengers traveling along similar routes. Robo-taxis drop off passengers at subway stops for the next legs of their trips. Some traditional car owners decide that they no longer need personal vehicles because shared-mobility AVs fulfill their needs. Road congestion drops because there are fewer vehicles.
Now imagine an alternative future in which everyone who once owned a traditional car instead has an AV. Many people without licenses also purchase AVs for their personal use, even though they haven’t had a car for years or never owned one. Passenger-miles traveled increase by 25 percent.1 AVs circle while waiting for their owners to finish shopping or running errands if no parking spaces are available, or else they run a variety of errands, ranging from delivering groceries to picking up dry cleaning, themselves. City streets become even more gridlocked.
If you’ve been to Las Vegas in the last year, you might have seen one of Lyft’s self-driving cars tootling up and down the Strip. Heck, you might even have ridden in one.
The company has just revealed it’s now given more than 50,000 automated rides to paying passengers in the city, up from 30,000 in January 2019. Lyft says the figure makes it the largest commercial self-driving car program currently operating in the U.S.
Lyft partnered with vehicle technology firm Aptiv to launch the service, with locals and tourists alike able to request a ride in the usual way, via the Lyft app. It uses 30 modified BMW 540i cars, all kitted out with Aptiv-made sensor, cameras, and software to ensure a safe ride.
