A Chinese City Plans to Replace Its Streetlights With an Artificial Moon

Night City Don’t be surprised if sales of blackout curtains start to skyrocket in Chengdu. On Tuesday, media platform CIF News reported that the Chinese city plans to launch an illumination satellite into the sky in 2020. This “artificial moon” will be eight times as bright as the Earth’s natural one, according to the report —… Continue reading A Chinese City Plans to Replace Its Streetlights With an Artificial Moon

The U.S. Government Wants to Allow Fully Autonomous Vehicles on U.S. Roads

Look Ma! No Hands! The freedom that comes with owning a car is almost as old as the American dream itself. But the safety risks associated with automobiles are immense: in 2017, more than 37,000 people died in motor vehicle accidents in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). One solution: accelerate the development… Continue reading The U.S. Government Wants to Allow Fully Autonomous Vehicles on U.S. Roads

Elon Musk Claims a Tesla Semi Prototype Drove “Across the Country Alone”

NOT ALL DOOM AND GLOOM. Tesla might be sucking the life force of CEO Elon Musk, but at least the company’s got some some good news to show for it. On Saturday, Electrek tweeted a picture of one of Tesla’s autonomous Semi prototypes at the headquarters of trucking company J.B. Hunt. In response, Musk tweeted, “What’s cool… Continue reading Elon Musk Claims a Tesla Semi Prototype Drove “Across the Country Alone”

Uber Kills Self-Driving Truck Division, Clearing the Road for Tesla

BYE, BYE AUTONOMOUS SEMI. Just under two years ago, Uber bought Otto, a startup focused on developing self-driving trucks. Now, Uber is bidding adieu to its plans for autonomous shipping, at least for the time being. On Monday, the company revealed in a statement that it’s closing its self-driving truck division. Uber’s self-driving trucks were seen on… Continue reading Uber Kills Self-Driving Truck Division, Clearing the Road for Tesla

Uber Announces Flying Taxi Research Center In France

Uber’s self-driving car program—from shuttering its Arizona outpost to making Pittsburg’s mayor angry—is not doing well this week. Their flying taxi initiative, however, is, dare we say, taking off. The company announced today in a press release that they’ll be opening an Uber Elevate research station in Paris. Its researchers will spend the next five years,… Continue reading Uber Announces Flying Taxi Research Center In France

Uber Gives Us The First Glimpse Of What It Wants Its Flying Taxi To Look Like

You already know that Uber wants to clog up the skies the way it has roads in cities all over the world. But now we know what the airborne Uber vehicle could look like. Today, Uber has finally unveiled a design called the Common Reference Model (CRM). Yes, the name is not sexy. But the vehicle itself… Continue reading Uber Gives Us The First Glimpse Of What It Wants Its Flying Taxi To Look Like

A New MIT Project Could Bring Driverless Cars to Rural Roads

Cows. Cornfields. Autonomous cars? The phrase “country living” might not inspire visions of high-tech transportation. But that could soon change, thanks to a new autonomous navigation system developed by researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). Today, most autonomous vehicles (AVs) rely on highly-detailed 3D maps to navigate roads. Creating these maps requires… Continue reading A New MIT Project Could Bring Driverless Cars to Rural Roads

A Robot That Can’t Pick Up Fluff Caused Tesla’s Model 3 Delays

Like a drunk person throwing rings at a carnival, Elon Musk just keeps missing the target. Investors are fuming: production of the Model 3 keeps getting delayed, and somehow the company is just burning through cash. We finally know why it’s taking so freakin’ long for Model 3s to roll off the assembly line: because robots… Continue reading A Robot That Can’t Pick Up Fluff Caused Tesla’s Model 3 Delays

Musk Admits Automation At Tesla Factory Was a Bad Idea

Elon Musk is under a lot of pressure right now – Model 3 production over at the Tesla factory isn’t exactly going according to plan. First, Q1 numbers looked grim: less than 10,000 Model 3s rolled off the assembly line — a far shot from his promise of producing 5,000 Model 3s a week. And then there’s… Continue reading Musk Admits Automation At Tesla Factory Was a Bad Idea

In Uber’s Vision of the Future, Every Form of Transport Is Fair Game

Uber wants to get you where you’re going, even if you don’t want to use any fossil fuels to get there. Following the news that the ride-hailing company had acquired electric bike-share startup Jump, Uber announced that its app will soon feature multiple new transport options, including bike-sharing, options for mass transit, and peer-to-peer car… Continue reading In Uber’s Vision of the Future, Every Form of Transport Is Fair Game