The electric F-150 prototype towing 1 million lbs. Ford
Ford conducted a demonstration in which an all-electric Ford F-150 prototype towed 1 million pounds of rail cars for 1,000 feet.
Ford then loaded 42 F-150s into the rail cars and the prototype pickup towed a total of 1.25 million pounds. That’s 625 tons.
The electric F-150 is expected to hit the market in the next few years. Ford is currently testing prototype versions.
A politician from Italy’s hard-right governing party is pushing legislation to combat teens’ “addiction” to their phones.
The bill proposes courses in schools and a public awareness campaign, plus “re-education” in health centers for worst-case scenarios.
Oxford psychologist Andrew Przybylski said the proposed law was a bad idea, and pointed to tech “addiction boot-camps” in China.
Continue reading… “Italy wants to treat phone addicts like drug addicts and send teens to rehab”
A reminder, though, that Tesla’s cars still aren’t fully autonomous
Tesla will increase the price of the “full self-driving” version of its Autopilot driver assistance system by around $1,000 starting August 16th, according to CEO Elon Musk. The higher-tier package currently costs $6,000 if customers choose the option when buying a car, but Tesla charges $8,000 if they decide to upgrade after taking delivery. It’s not clear if Musk was referring to increasing both those price tags, and Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tesla brought back the “full self-driving” package earlier this year after shelving the option in late 2018 amid criticism that the company was overselling the autonomy of its vehicles. While Tesla sells the package under the name “full self-driving,” it should be noted that Tesla’s cars still cannot operate autonomously. Musk has said the company will make that possible by the end of 2019, and earlier this year he showed off the custom chip that Tesla will use to tackle this tall task, though he is well-known for missing deadlines.
Continue reading… “Tesla to charge $1,000 more for ‘full self-driving’ Autopilot package in August”
A new form of motor racing got underway this year, one in which the driver is optional. Roborace, a competition for human and artificial intelligence (AI) teams, is on a mission to push the limits of motorsports.
Roborace’s primary goals are to develop new forms of motorsport entertainment and explore the relationship between human and machine drivers, with the research from the sport trickling down into driverless cars for consumers.
Originally announced in 2014, Roborace launched its debut competition, Season Alpha, in April this year. Little is known about these races as they take place in private, with the sport still in its test season. There are three teams taking part in its inaugural season: Arrival, TUM and the University of Pisa.
Continue reading… “Roborace: The futuristic motorsport providing a testbed for autonomous cars”
Volvo Trucks North America and FedEx Successfully Demonstrated a 3 Truck Platoon in North Carolina VOLVO
Truckload carriers and private fleet owners are paying increased attention to truck platooning. In platooning, trucks are connected using direct vehicle to vehicle communication. This allows the rear truck to react nearly simultaneously to the actions of the front truck. By electronically coupling the trucks in this way, the trucks can operate at closer distances. They do this in order to create drafting, which creates fuel savings analogous to what a race car gets when one race car follows another car closely. Peloton claims savings of 7% from platooning – 4.5% for the lead truck, and 10% for the following truck.
Peloton Technology is the leading proponent of the opportunistic model of platooning where trucks find each other on the interstate and initiate a platoon. Peloton is testing two truck platoons. In this system, two truckers affirm that they are ready to platoon via a radio connection. Inside the two trucks, each driver hits a button. A verbal cue indicates the system has authorized the trucks to platoon. Then the follower speeds up, pulling their truck up so it’s tailgating about 70 feet from the leader and the platoon is initiated. The feet of the driver of the trailing truck are not controlling the brakes or the accelerator. But this driver still maintains control of their steering wheel.
Continue reading… “The truck platooning market experiences growing pains”
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong took “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” becoming the first human being to walk on the moon. NASA reported to Congress that the Apollo program cost $25.4 billion ($176 billion in 2019 dollars). At the time, there were only two entities with the resources to accomplish a mission of this scale: America and its cold war rival, the Soviet Union. America won.
Through the lens of history, the Apollo program had less to do with our innate curiosity, our need to explore, or our quest for knowledge than it had to do with proving to the Soviets that America had “space superiority” and could efficiently deliver weapons of mass destruction at will.
As the cold war drew to a close, NASA did its best to convince our military-industrial complex that we needed to continue to explore “the final frontier.” It has been an uphill battle, and today, NASA’s budget is a fraction of what most scientists believe it should be.
ANN ARBOR—An injection of nanoparticles can prevent the body’s immune system from overreacting to trauma, potentially preventing some spinal cord injuries from resulting in paralysis.
The approach was demonstrated in mice at the University of Michigan, with the nanoparticles enhancing healing by reprogramming the aggressive immune cells—call it an “EpiPen” for trauma to the central nervous system, which includes the brain and spinal cord.
“In this work, we demonstrate that instead of overcoming an immune response, we can co-opt the immune response to work for us to promote the therapeutic response,” said Lonnie Shea, the Steven A. Goldstein Collegiate Professor of Biomedical Engineering.
Humans tend to think they have a pretty good handle on how the physical world operates, but things get unspeakably weird at the small scale. Particles aren’t always particles, and sometimes those particles (or waves) behave in bizarre, counterintuitive ways. One of the strangest features of physics is quantum entanglement, and scientists from the University of Glasgow have just captured the first photo demonstrating the effect.
When two particles or molecules become entangled on a quantum level, they share one or more properties such as spin, polarization, or momentum. This effect persists even if you move one of the entangled objects far away from the other. Einstein famously called entanglement “spooky action at a distance.” Einstein felt the existence of entanglement meant there were gaping holes in quantum mechanical theory.
Scientists have successfully demonstrated quantum entanglement with photos, electrons, molecules of various sizes, and even very small diamonds. The University of Glasgow study is the first ever to capture visual evidence of entanglement, though. The experiment used photons in entangled pairs and measured the phase of the particles — this is known as a Bell entanglement.
Continue reading… “Scientists capture photographic proof of quantum entanglement”
UNDER THE SUN Solar panels with water purification devices mounted on their backs (illustrated) could produce freshwater and electricity simultaneously.
Still a prototype, the machine could one day help curb electricity and freshwater shortages
By mounting a water distillation system on the back of a solar cell, engineers have constructed a device that doubles as an energy generator and water purifier.
While the solar cell harvests sunlight for electricity, heat from the solar panel drives evaporation in the water distiller below. That vapor wafts through a porous polystyrene membrane that filters out salt and other contaminants, allowing clean water to condense on the other side. “It doesn’t affect the electricity production by the [solar cell]. And at the same time, it gives you bonus freshwater,” says study coauthor Peng Wang, an engineer at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
Continue reading… “This solar-powered device produces energy and cleans water at the same time”
From left to right, Zongfu Yu, Ang Chen and Efram Khoram developed the concept for a “smart” piece of glass that recognizes images without any external power or circuits.
The sophisticated technology that powers face recognition in many modern smartphones someday could receive a high-tech upgrade that sounds — and looks — surprisingly low-tech.
This window to the future is none other than a piece of glass. University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers have devised a method to create pieces of “smart” glass that can recognize images without requiring any sensors or circuits or power sources.
Continue reading… “Simple ‘smart’ glass reveals the future of artificial vision”
Students will learn the language by ordering food or haggling with street vendors on a virtual Beijing street.
Often the best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in an environment where people speak it. The constant exposure, along with the pressure to communicate, helps you swiftly pick up and practice new vocabulary. But not everyone gets the opportunity to live or study abroad.
In a new collaboration with IBM Research, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), a university based in Troy, New York, now offers its students studying Chinese another option: a 360-degree virtual environment that teleports them to the busy streets of Beijing or a crowded Chinese restaurant. Students get to haggle with street vendors or order food, and the environment is equipped with different AI capabilities to respond to them in real time. While the classroom is largely experimental, it is being used for the first time in a six-week, for-credit course at the university this summer.
Continue reading… “A new immersive classroom uses AI and VR to teach Mandarin Chinese”
The use of battery power for agricultural vehicles and machinery promises to revolutionise the agricultural industry by lowering costs and improving production. From battery powered large tractors to autonomous small electric robots, battery and solar power are changing the face of agriculture.
Agriculture is under pressure to produce more food using a declining availability of additional arable land and water resources. Mechanised farming can improve food production in Africa, but requires energy, an increasingly costly input to the food production process. There is a need to control energy costs, as in any other industry, by the use of more efficient methods and machinery.
Agriculture is going through a revolution, brought about by new technology, moving to what is known as precision farming (PF), which uses satellite imagery, drones, ground based sensors, GSP systems and agri-robots to control the planting, growth and harvesting of crops. The traditional method of crop management involves blanket application of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizer, while PF makes use of automation and artificial intelligence to precisely control the amounts of fertilizer, herbicide and insecticide applied to crops, with resultant increased yield and greatly reduced use of the above. PF also reduces the energy used by agricultural machinery by directing action only where it is needed and focusing activities on specific areas only.
Continue reading… “Electric powered farm vehicles set to revolutionise agriculture sector”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.