autonomous – Impact Lab

Apple, Automobiles, Electric Automobile, Transportation

Apple now has more than 50 autonomous cars on the road

May 16, 2018

The tech company’s self-driving program continues to flourish.

Apple has more than doubled the number of its self-driving cars, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has confirmed. Since obtaining a permit to test autonomous vehicles, Apple’s fleet size has steadily risen — from a scant three test cars, to 27 in January, and now, 55 intelligent machines. Should the program remain on course, consumers could be chilling out in the driver’s seat by 2019.

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AI, Artificial Intelligence, Automation, Latest Trend, Robotics

The world’s first autonomous zero-emissions ship

May 27, 2017

The vessel “YARA Birkeland” will be the world’s first fully electric and autonomous container ship, with zero emissions. Operation is planned to start in the latter half of 2018, shipping products from YARA’s Porsgrunn production plant to Brevik and Larvik in Norway.

Autonomous and 100% electric, “YARA Birkeland” will be the world’s most advanced container feeder ship.

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AI, Artificial Intelligence, Automobiles, Breakthrough Thinking, Driverless cars, Driverless vehicles, Great New Product, Intelligence, Machine Learning, Science & Technology News, Self-driving Cars

AImotive aims to convert regular cars into driverless ones inexpensively

March 19, 2017

The AImotive office is in a small converted house at the end of a quiet residential street in sunny Mountain View, spitting distance from Google’s headquarters. Outside is a branded Toyota Prius covered in cameras, one of three autonomous cars the Hungarian company is testing in the sleepy neighborhood. It’s a popular testing ground: one of Google’s driverless cars, now operating under spin-out company Waymo, zips past the office each lunchtime.

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Business, New Inventions, Robotics, Robots, Science & Technology News

Starship Technologies develops self-driving robot that can deliver groceries for $1.50

November 6, 2015

Starship is a new company that is promising to disrupt local delivery with the launch of a self-driving robot that can deliver groceries to customers’ doors in under 30 minutes for less than $1.50 (£1). The Starship robot has been developed by Skype co-founders Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis. It drives on pavements at an average speed of 4mph, and uses proprietary mapping and navigation technology to avoid crashing into obstacles.

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Augmented Reality, Automobiles, cutting edge, Future, Health & Fitness, mobile apps, mobile technology, new technology, Science & Technology News, Self-driving Cars, Wearables

Top 5 car technologies that may become reality in the near future

November 2, 2015

We live in an era where new technologies are appearing so fast that it is hard to follow all the new developments. But, personal transportation, the one most often associated with speeds and progress, so far remained largely untouched by the revolution in digital tech – when compared to what happened to communications in the last couple of decades, car remained pretty much the same. However, we already see the first portents of approaching changes – so let’s take a look at car tech that may become reality in not so distant future.

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Alternative Transportation, Future, Science & Technology News

Tesla could have a 600-mile range electric car by 2017

October 6, 2015

The Tesla Model S surpasses any other electric vehicle on the market with its 265-mile driving range. The automaker isn’t stopping there, though. Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk recently announced that Tesla may be able to increase that range to 600 miles as soon as 2017 and by 2020, the driving range could climb even higher to around 725 miles on a single charge.

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Analysis, Artificial Intelligence, Big Problems, Robotics, Robots, Science & Technology News, Technological Unemployment

Jobs held by men are most at risk from the robot worker

August 23, 2015

The world is on the brink of a new industrial revolution in which advances in the field of artificial intelligence will obsolete human labor, according to many economists and technologists today. Two Oxford researchers recently analyzed the skills required for more than 700 different occupations to determine how many of them would be susceptible to automation in the near future, and the news was not good: They concluded that machines are likely to take over 47 percent of today’s jobs within a few decades.

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Alternative Transportation, Analysis, Science & Technology News

What mobility will look like in 2025

December 2, 2014

On any given morning in the year 2025, you’re running late for work, but your self-driving car senses you coming and gets ready to pick you up. Once you’re inside, it syncs with your mobile devices, calculates the least congested route, and finds someone else heading in the same direction, so your cars can link up to save space on the road. As the car drives, you catch up on email.

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Analysis, Robots, Science & Technology News

Artificial intelligence is not a threat, it’s a tool

November 26, 2014

It’s a mistake to worry about us developing malevolent AI anytime soon.

Rodney Brooks – There has been several articles in the press recently, and several high profile people who are in tech but not AI, speculating about the dangers of malevolent AI being developed, and how we should be worried about that possibility. Should we be worried?

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Alternative Transportation, Analysis, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

China is more eager for self-driving cars than western countries

November 6, 2014

Chinese consumers are more interested in autonomous driving technology than anyone else.

The auto market in China is having an increasingly important effect on the bottom line for all automakers worldwide as it continues to grow. Just look at examples like General Motors’ strong recent growth or Porsche’s expanding sales. In addition to being vital for business, some industry watchers think the nation’s huge consumer force might just make it the premier place for automatic driving technology to prosper more quickly than in any other market.

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Analysis, government, Robots, Science & Technology News

U.S. Navy develops robot boats that can swarm enemy forces

October 13, 2014

The swarm detects the enemy vessel with radar and infrared sensors.

The U.S. Navy has been testing a large-scale swarm of autonomous boats designed to overwhelm enemies according to reports from Jeremy Hsu. In the test, a large ship that the Navy sometimes calls a high-value unit, HVU, is making its way down the river’s thalweg, escorted by 13 small guard boats. Between them, they carry a variety of payloads, loud speakers and flashing lights, a .50-caliber machine gun and a microwave direct energy weapon or heat ray.

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Alternative Transportation, Analysis, Big Problems, Business, Human Behavior, Robots, Science & Technology News

Are adjustable ethics setting for robotic cars a terrible idea?

September 2, 2014

With ethics settings in cars we create new responsibility for ourselves to get it right.

Do you remember that day when your autonomous car saved the lives of five people you aimed for with your car when you temporarily lost your mind? By the time you realized what you were doing, it was too late to brake. But thankfully your autonomous car saved their lives by grabbing the wheel from you and swerving to the right. Too bad for the one unlucky person standing on that path, struck and killed by your car, though.

Continue reading… “Are adjustable ethics setting for robotic cars a terrible idea?”