What a (Road) Trip Silicon Valley startup Plus.ai just shipped 40,000 pounds of butter 2,800 miles from California to Pennsylvania in under three days using a freight truck mostly driving itself, The Mercury News reports (a safety driver made sure to take over in case of emergencies while an engineer observed operations as well). “We… Continue reading Self-Driving Truck Completes First Cross-Country Freight Run
Author: Futurism_Magazine Online News
Waymo Is Taking the Safety Drivers out of Its Autonomous Taxis
No Hands! Waymo, the Google-affiliated self-driving car company, has finally started to operate its self-driving taxi service without any humans sitting behind the wheel. That means passengers using the company’s Uber-like Waymo One service might find themselves shuttled around Arizona in the back seat of an otherwise-empty minivan, as one reporter for The Verge did. Removing… Continue reading Waymo Is Taking the Safety Drivers out of Its Autonomous Taxis
Elon Musk Keeps Buying Mansions in a Particular Neighborhood
Musk City Over the past seven years, Elon Musk has bought up a cluster of expensive homes in Los Angeles’ ritzy Bel-Air neighborhood. Musk paid about approximately $100 million for the homes, six of which are all in close proximity within Bel-Air, according to The Wall Street Journal. The seventh is a full estate with… Continue reading Elon Musk Keeps Buying Mansions in a Particular Neighborhood
China Just Completed the World’s Largest 3D-Printed Structure
One of a Kind The Chinese town of Suzhou is now home to a wall unlike any other. According to a newly published story by 3D Printing Media Network, Chinese construction company Winsun has finished building a 3D-printed wall in Suzhou which, at more than 500 meters (1,640 feet) long, is now the world’s largest 3D-printed… Continue reading China Just Completed the World’s Largest 3D-Printed Structure
Elon Musk: Cybertruck Aerodynamics Could be “Insane”
On Saturday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that “with extreme effort,” the company’s controversial new pickup truck could hit an extremely low drag coefficient — a quantifier often used to denote air resistance — that’d be “insane for a truck.” In his tweet, Musk claimed the Cybertruck could reach a drag coefficient of 0.3, making… Continue reading Elon Musk: Cybertruck Aerodynamics Could be “Insane”
Elon Musk Wants to Add “Fold Out Solar Wings” to Cybertruck
Cyber Goes Solar During a Thursday evening event near SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, Calf., Tesla CEO Elon Musk finally showed off the company’s long-awaited “Cybertruck.” And while we’re all still trying to digest its extremely polarizing design, Musk’s mind is already racing far ahead — imagining a bright, renewable energy-fueled future with his much-beloved truck… Continue reading Elon Musk Wants to Add “Fold Out Solar Wings” to Cybertruck
Ford App Lets Man Control Rental Car He Returned Months Ago
Access Granted A man who rented a Ford Expedition in May is still able to track the SUV’s location and control its engine and locks using the FordPass app — despite returning the vehicle five months ago. “I have been opening the app and tracking the vehicle almost every day to see if my access… Continue reading Ford App Lets Man Control Rental Car He Returned Months Ago
Elon Musk: Camera Inside Teslas is “Meant for Robotaxi” Mode
Cabin Fever Every Tesla Model 3 is equipped with a mysterious camera that faces the inside of the cabin, mounted just above the rear view mirror. Tesla claims the camera is completely inactive, but the car company seemingly has big plans in store for it. According to a Wednesday tweet by CEO Elon Musk, the… Continue reading Elon Musk: Camera Inside Teslas is “Meant for Robotaxi” Mode
Russia’s Semi-Autonomous Robot Tanks Were Utterly Useless in Syria
Rough Start Russia first used semi-autonomous robot tanks in combat in Syria last year — but now it seems that those test runs didn’t go well. The remote-controlled tanks ran into a number of problems, The National Interest reports, including their sensors performing worse than advertised and their signals getting blocked by buildings. All in… Continue reading Russia’s Semi-Autonomous Robot Tanks Were Utterly Useless in Syria
Ford Patents Drone That Pops Out of a Car’s Trunk
Image via U.S. Patent and Trademark Office/Ford Ford’s Focus The spare tire stashed in your car’s trunk for emergencies might soon be joined by a drone. On Thursday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark’s office published a patent application submitted by Ford Motor Company subsidiary Ford Global Technologies. It seems the American automaker is developing a… Continue reading Ford Patents Drone That Pops Out of a Car’s Trunk