89409361
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Even as self-driving car technology quickly evolves, technologists and lawmakers are still grappling with a big problem : In the event of an accident, who's to blame? For example, the U.K.'s Department for Transport announced plans this month to require owners of cars with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to carry two-in-one insurance policies: one to cover the person when they're controlling the vehicle and the other for the car when it is in autonomous mode. One glaring problem with trusting autonomous vehicle software to control a one-ton car (or a 16-ton semi-tractor truck) is that each manufacturer programs its product differently from its competitors. And, if a software glitch exists in one vehicle, it exists in the entire line of cars or trucks. André Platzer, who is part of DARPA's High-Assurance Cyber Military Systems project which learns from the military's experience in developing hardened technology for controlling autonomous vehicle system. Platzer believes autonomous vehicles should always have a human being behind the wheel so that in instances where the vehicle is outside of its operating parameters, it can alert the driver to take control. Platzer, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science, is also part of a team developing software that would make self-driving vehicles self aware in the sense that the vehicle would know its operating limitations. "The world is a complicated place and that makes the road a complicated place. Most of the time, roads are the same, but every once in a while the situation is a bit different," Platzer said. "Even if you take a million of these scenarios..., you've still not tried all the cases by testing alone."
89138307
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Ford plans to invest $1 billion over the next five years in Argo AI, an artificial intelligence startup that will help develop a virtual driver system for the carmaker's autonomous vehicle coming in 2021. Ford said its relationship with Argo AI, which was founded last year in Pittsburgh, will combine its existing autonomous vehicle development program with Argo AI's robotics and "startup speed" on artificial intelligence software. Argo AI founders CEO Bryan Salesky, and COO Peter Rander are alumni of Carnegie Mellon National Robotics Engineering Center and former leaders on the self-driving car teams of Google and Uber, respectively. Argo AI's team will include roboticists and engineers from inside and outside of Ford working to develop a new software platform for Ford's fully autonomous vehicle, expected in 2021. Ford said it could also license the software to other carmakers.
88834217
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Toshiba, which invented NAND flash, plans to sell off an as of yet undisclosed portion of its memory business, including its solid-state drive unit, to Western Digital. Toshiba is spinning the business off to WD, a business ally, because it hopes in the long run the Toshiba-WD alliance will enable an expansion in NAND flash production capacity and increased efficiency in storage product development. Toshiba's solvency and fundraising ability are also in trouble because of a $1.9 billion accounting scandal and a multi-billion dollar loss related to a nuclear plant purchase. Last week, Toshiba announced its share price had tumbled 13% after reports that its nuclear power business had lost $4.4 billion. Currently, Toshiba and WD together represent 35% of global NAND flash production; Samsung leads that market with 36% of production. "Toshiba wants to put its memory business in a more stable financial position," said Sean Yang, research director of DRAMeXchange. "Facing mounting operational and competitive pressure, the spun-off entity will be more effective in raising cash to stay afloat or expand."
88769249
submission
Lucas123 writes:
In 2016, the solar workforce in the U.S. increased by 25% to 374,000 employees, compared to 187,117 electrical generation jobs in the coal, gas and oil industries. Solar employment, which includes both photovoltaic electricity and concentrated solar steam generators, accounts for 43% of the electric power generation workforce — the largest share of workers in that sector. Fossil fuel generation employment now accounts for 22%. In addition to losing ground in employment, net power generation from coal sources declined by 53% between 2006 and September 2016; electricity generation from natural gas increased by 33%; and solar grew by over 5,000% —from 508,000 megawatt hours (MWh) to just over 28 million MWh.
88749277
submission
Lucas123 writes:
With researchers predicting 378.1GW of new solar and wind generating capacity to be installed globally over the next five years, a staggering amount of battery storage technology will be needed to connect it effectively to grids around the world, and particularly in developing economies. Over the next decade, energy storage capacity in developing countries is expected to skyrocket 40 fold from 2GW today to more than 80GW, according to a new report by the World Bank Group. The report, "Energy Storage Trends and Opportunities in Emerging Markets," indicates the annual growth in energy storage capacity will exceed 40% each year over the next eight to nine years. Those storage technologies include mechanical systems such as flywheels, compressed air or pumped hydro; electrochemical storage, such as lithium-ion (li-on) and flow battery technology; and thermal systems like phase-change technology. Phase-change tech uses materials such as molten salt to store heat from concentrated solar farms for later release in steam generators. An already aging grid infrastructure in many developing nations is also driving the adoption of distributed grid technology and energy storage systems. By 2030, it is estimated that $45 billion will need to be invested to provide universal access to modern electric power — and energy storage is set to play a key role in those investments.
88539845
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Nano-RAM, which is based on carbon nanotubes and is claimed to have virtually a limitless number of write cycles and can achieve up to 3.2 billion data transfers per second or 2.4Gbps — more than twice as fast as NAND flash — is now being produced in seven fabrication plants around the world. Fujitsu plans to develop a custom embedded storage-class memory module using a DDR4 interface by the end of 2018, with the goal of expanding its product line-up into a stand-alone NRAM product family. A new report from BCC Research states the NRAM will likely challenge all other memory types for market dominance and is expected to be used in everything from IoT sensors to smartphone memory and embedded ASICS for automobiles.
86834897
submission
Lucas123 writes:
The German firearms manufacturer whose .22 caliber iP1 smart pistol caused a backlash from gun advocacy groups who protested stores that planned to sell it, will introduce a 9mm semi-automatic smart pistol. Armatix LLC's new iP9 smart gun will go on sale in the U.S. in mid-2017 and differs from its predecessor in that it will not use an RFID-equipped watch to unlock the gun but instead will have a fingerprint reader that can store multiple scans like a smartphone. The iP9 is expected to retail for about the same suggested retail price as the iP1 — $1,365, which is more than twice the price of many conventional 9mm semi-automatic pistols. Several large U.S. retail stores have already met with Armatix and "not one of them" expressed any concern about the weapon's price, according to Wolfgang Tweraser, CEO of Amratix, who compared the smart guns to Tesla cars. "Always the latest technology comes with a higher price tag. As you make hundreds and thousands of units, then the price will change also," he said. The company also plans to re-introduce its iP1, but this time it will target sales to gun ranges.
86793467
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Smart gun development was once hampered by old processing technology as start-ups struggled to find funding, but innovators have found renewed life for projects through the use of today's cheap microprocessor technology and some money through at least one private entity — Smart Tech Challenges Foundation. For example, 19-year-old MIT freshman Kai Kloepfer recently won a $50K grant from the foundation to further develop a semi-automatic pistol with a fingerprint reader. Even stalwart gun manufacturers, such as O.F. Mossberg & Sons firearms, who've had efforts to create a smart guns in the past have found renewed life. Jonathan Mossberg, the great grandson of Oscar Mossberg, who founded the namesake firearms company in North Haven, Conn. in 1919, has created an offshoot company that built a smart shotgun and now plans to make a smart handguns using RFID-style chip technology. But the picture's still not completely rosy. Like other inventors who've developed smart gun technology, Mossberg found seed money difficult to come by for his iGun Technology Corp. and its iGun. Still, between his family's arms business and a machining business he later opened, Mossberg managed to invest about $5 million into developing the weapon. Now, he's tapped out and again looking for investors. But, Silicon Valley may be sheepish to get involved and continued efforts by some lawmakers to force citizens to buy smart guns once they're on shelves have backfired and lead gun owners and lobbying groups to fight any uptake of the technology in the market. Smart gun developers such as Mossberg and Kloepfer are none to happy about mandates and say it's time to get rid of any threat to create them and allow the free market to determine if the technology sinks or swims.
86697977
submission
Lucas123 writes:
A class-action lawsuit against Ford and its MyFord Touch in-vehicle infotainment system — originally based on a Microsoft platform — has brought to light corporate documents that show engineers at the Dearborn carmaker referred to the problematic technology as a "polished turd" that they feared would be "unsaleable." The documents even reveal Henry Ford's great grandson experienced significant problems with MyFord Touch. In one incident, Edsel Ford was forced to wait on a roadside for the system to reset and could not continue to drive because he was unable to use the IVI's navigation system. The lawsuit describes an IVI screen that would freeze or go blank; generate error messages that wouldn't go away; voice recognition and navigation systems that failed to work, problems wirelessly pairing with smartphones, and a generally slow system. Ford's CEO Mark Fields even described his own travails with the SYNC IVI, referring to it as having crashed on several occasions, and that he was so frustrated with the system he may have damaged his car's screen out of aggravation. The civil suit is expected to go to trial in 2017.
86421157
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Health insurer Aetna said it plans to give employees 50,000 free Apple Watches and subsidize the cost of the mobile device for a select number of its largest customers in an effort to bolster its analytics-based mobile wellness and healthcare management programs. Aetna is working with Apple on several iOS-exclusive health initiatives, starting with integrated health apps for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch devices that will help users to better "manage their health and increase healthy outcomes."
86056751
submission
Lucas123 writes:
By 2021, telematics and in-vehicle-infotainment systems will create up to 98% of all data traffic on mobile-to-mobile networks, according to a new study. The study, by U.K.-based Juniper Research, claims that data-intensive applications such as Internet radio, music streaming apps and information services will generate approximately 6,000 petabytes of data annually by 2021 — the equivalent of more than 300 billion hours of music streaming. Along with entertainment services, in-vehicle 4G Wireless SIM Cards will provide "over-the-air" (OTA) vehicle software updates, as well as subscription updates for drivers and passengers. And, vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure technology, which will assist autonomous cars in navigating through traffic, will also add to the data deluge over mobile networks.
84135747
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Renewable energy, including solar, wind and hydroelectric, will overtake natural gas as an energy source by 2027; Ten years later, those same renewables will surpassed the largest electricity-generating fossil fuel: coal, according to a new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Solar and wind will account for almost 60% of the $11.4 trillion invested in energy over the next 25 years, according to Bloomberg's New Energy Outlook 2016 report. One conclusion that may surprise, Bloomberg noted, is that the forecast shows no golden age for natural gas, except in North America. As a global generation source, gas will be overtaken by renewables in 2027. The electric vehicle boom will increase electricity demand by 2,701TWh (terawatt hours), or 8% of global electricity demand in 2040. The rise of EVs will drive down the cost of lithium-ion batteries, making them increasingly attractive to be deployed alongside residential and commercial solar systems.
83385835
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Coming out of stealth mode this week, the Nikola Motor Co. announced it will begin offering a hybrid semitrailer with 2,000hp, capable of pulling a gross weight of 80,000 pounds and that will have more than a 1,200-mile range between stops. The semi will run on natural gas and a 320kWh lithium-ion battery pack that will recharge via the truck's turbine. The company also announced an all-electric utility vehicle (UTV), the Nikola Zero, with 520hp that will have a 125-mile range. The UTV will retail for $42K and the semi will cost $375K, almost twice that of a typical long-haul rig. Nikola Motor claims, however, the semitrailer will cost half as much to operate as traditional diesel trucks. The company is also offering 100,000 gallons of free natural gas with the truck, enough for a million work miles. "This offsets the entire cost of the truck allowing for a return on the investment in first month," a company spokesperson said.
83192083
submission
Lucas123 writes:
The cost rooftop solar systems has dropped by more than half over the past decade, from price of a luxury car to an economy compact. While leases and power purchase agreements spurred early adoption of distributed rooftop solar, as the overall cost of ownership has plummeted, they may no longer be the best option. Consumers are taking notice and are beginning to shift away from third party ownership of their solar systems. Last year, 72% of residential solar systems in the U.S. were owned by a third party, such as SolarCity, Vivant Solar and Sunrun, but by 2020 direct ownership of rooftop solar systems will surpass third-party ownership in the U.S. residential solar market.
83112107
submission
Lucas123 writes:
A report commissioned by the White House and involving the Defense, Justice and Homeland Security Departments has begun a process to define, for the first time, the requirements that manufacturers would need to meet for federal, state, and municipal law enforcement agencies to consider purchasing firearms with "smart" safety technology. They've committed to completing that process by October, and will also identify agencies interested in taking part in a pilot program to develop the smart gun technology. The DOD will help manufacturers test smart guns under "real-world conditions" at the U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center in Maryland. Manufacturers would be eligible to win cash prizes through that program as well. In addition to spurring the adoption of smart gun technology, the report stated that the Social Security Administration has published a proposed rule that would require individuals prohibited from buying a gun due to mental health issues to be included in a background check system.