Search the Community

Truly autonomous vehicles are far behind the optimistic rollout schedules predicted just a few years ago

Tesla now installs on all new vehicles Autopilot, a system that can match a vehicle´s speed to that of surrounding traffic and assist with steering

It's been years since we first heard about Apple's foray into the automotive industry. Well, looks like it's finally happening now since the company is said to be signing a deal with Kia motors. If the reports are something to go by, then we're getting a fully autonomous vehicle designed to operate with a human driver. As interesting as it sounds, we're hearing that it won't be marketed as a consumer product. Yes, CNBC reports that the first iteration of "Apple Car" will be a good candidate for driverless food delivery businesses and companies operating robotaxis. View the full article

With many companies already flirting with the idea of developing self-driving/ self-flying cars, Aston Martin is the latest luxury car maker who has expressed interest in the concept. The company unveiled its plans to create a personal autonomous flying vehicle and bestowed the name “Volante Vision Concept.” © Aston Martin The concept car's design will probably get debuted at the Farnborough Air Show later this month and we can't wait to see it in real life. Much like other flying cars/vehicles, the Volante Vision will take off and land vertically. It will have a hybrid-electric powertrain and will be outfitted with multiple propellers. It will have a have a horizontal turbo-pop at the back and two pairs of propellers at the front so that the vehicle can tilt and rotate. © Aston Martin Aston Martin, as a company, is known for its supercars and luxury, and we can expect the company to incorporate some of those luxurious features into the Volante Vision. The flying vehicle will have autonomous navigation and every information will be displayed onto the glass cockpit. The Volante Vision will be crafted to serve the company's existing clientele, that is in search of a flying car with a luxurious touch. © Aston Martin The company is working with partners on the concept car with aviation experts, including Rolls-Royce. It seems like as each day passes, more and more companies are exploring and showing interest in the air taxi market. We can only know more about Volante Vision once Aston Martin makes more information available after its debut later this month. Source: Digital Trends

An ex-Apple engineer on Monday was charged with stealing secrets from a hush-hush self-driving car technology project days before he quit to go to a Chinese startup. Phto: file SAN FRANCISCO: An ex-Apple engineer on Monday was charged with...

A hardware engineer, who until recently worked at Apple, was arrested at the San Jose International Airport while attempting to board a flight to Beijing. Xiaolang Zhang has been charged with stealing trade secrets from Apple surrounding Project Titan. © Twitter Project Titan is Apple's secret project, where the Cupertino giant is currently working on autonomous car technology. Zhang was a hardware engineer for the project and is now facing charges of Theft of Trade Secrets, with penalties of upto 10 years of imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, a $100 special assessment and three years of supervised release. According to the filing, Zhang was designing and testing circuit boards to analyse data from various sensors on the self-driving car. This granted Zhang access to the database that contained trade secrets and other intellectual property. In April, Zhang left Apple and was visiting his family in China. He informed the company that after he returns, he would be leaving the company and would continue to live in Guangzhou. He also informed his supervisors at the meeting that he would be joining Chinese electric car startup XMotors. © Twitter After Zhang turned in his company-issued devices, Apple noticed unusual download activity which led them to believe that he may have obtained sensitive data from Project Titan. Security Cameras and badge swipes also placed him in company labs during his alleged paternity leave. He later admitted being in the Apple's hardware labs and stealing two circuit boards and a Linux server. Moments B4 flight to Beijing, ex-#Apple worker Xiaolang Zhang nabbed by @FBISanFrancisco at @FlySJC for stealing autonomous-vehicle trade secrets while on paternity leave, per @USAO_NDCA. Zhang told agents he intended to work for @xmotorsglobal & air-dropped data to wife's laptop pic.twitter.com/TRKC3lZmzu — Henry K. Lee (@henrykleeKTVU) July 10, 2018 All evidence was submitted to the FBO after Apple discovered that at least 60% of the downloaded data on his wife's computer, had trade secrets. The report says that the FBO describes the information as “largely technical in nature, including engineering schematics, technical reference manuals, and technical reports.” Apple released a statement and explained that it is working with authorities to make sure Zhang is held responsible for his misdoings. “Apple takes confidentiality and the protection of our intellectual property very seriously,” company spokesman Tom Neumayr said in an email. “We're working with authorities on this matter and will do everything possible to make sure this individual and any other individuals involved are held accountable for their actions.”

EHang, a startup that has been working on flying passenger drones for years, has finally released the first footage of a manned flight. The company posted a video that showed the Ehang 184 in action through a series of manned tests. © Ehang The flying passenger drone comes in two variants and the video showed both single and double seat models. The video shows the drone undergoing some extreme testing conditions such as intense manoeuvres, high-altitude climbs and withstanding high wind speeds (typhoon-level winds). © Ehang It's worth noting that the video itself is heavily edited and does not show the flaws of the flying drone. Take a look: The video glorifies the flying taxi as a possible future transportation system, however, one should be wary of what it entails. Based just on the video, the future of the company looks bright and may launch the passenger drop internationally sometime soon. © Ehang There is no infrastructure or framework present for a flying drone in any city at the moment, however, it's assumed that individual travellers will take a car, or a helicopter if you need to fly. “What we're doing isn't an extreme sport, so the safety of each passenger always comes first,” said Ehang founder and CEO Huazhi Hu in a statement. “Now that we've successfully tested the Ehang 184, I'm really excited to see what the future holds for us in terms of air mobility.” According to Ehang, the passenger drone is electric and can carry a single passenger up to 10 miles and can last in the air for up to 23 minutes. It is safe to assume that the passenger drone will not be used for long distances however it can still be convenient for future travellers. The person in the cockpit does not fly the passenger drone, instead just feeds the destination into the console and enjoys the ride. The company claims the drone can take off and land autonomously and can navigate without any input from the passenger. If anything goes wrong, a human pilot can step in and take over the controls from a remote command station to safely land the drone. Would you ever fly in a passenger drone to get to places? Let us know in the comments what you feel about flying taxis. Source: The Verge

Lethal Autonomous Weapons. Weapons that are unmanned. Weapons that are powered by Artificial Intelligence, a data programming system that studies human behaviour and compartmentalises it as good and evil, civilian or threat. A scientific marvel, the pinnacle of human safety, the crowning glory of world defence. But, what happens when weapon autonomy goes rogue? Take a look at this video and we'll unfold the issue, one step at a time. Are you alarmed? We hope you are. As enthusiasts of intelligent machines that are capable of bringing about annihilation, literally or figuratively, we appreciate autonomous weapons for the sake of posterity. But, according to the M. L. Cummings, of the Humans and Autonomy Laboratory at Duke University, "An autonomous system is one...that makes guesses about best possible courses of action given sensor data input. Unlike automated systems, when given the same input autonomous systems will not necessarily produce the exact same behaviour every time; rather, such systems will produce a range of behaviours" Because we are sane, we are immediately worried about the dissimilar "range of behaviours" clause. A weapon with uncontrolled and unaccounted for dynamic behaviour is an immediate cause for concern. Here's a list of Lethal Autonomous Weapons (LAW) we find absolutely fascinating: -Sentry guns The best way to define a LAW is sentry guns operate unmanned, gather intelligence through a network of media channels like drones, TV's, cameras and sensors, and fire at will. They will gun down what they are programmed to read as deviants/trespassers and will take on anybody that gets in their way. Source: Wikimedia Commons -Fire and Forget Munition A tad different from sentry guns, fire and forget munition can include missiles, guns and drones that once set off by its operator will attack anything or anybody that leaves a heat signature on its radar. Source: Wikimedia Commons - Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) This weapon is said to be automated, which means it is programmed by a human operator, but once in motion, how it selects its targets is still under scrutiny. According to a report, there is no clarity on the LRASM's target identification process, whether it human-like shapes and shadows, heat or radar positioning of a target to strike, is unclear. Source: Lockheed Martin -Combat Drones Or unmanned aerial vehicles, like the ones shown in the video, are capable of dodging attacks and can be set off remotely by its operator to take on targets via complete autonomous function. They may lock on to a target before or post launch. Source: Kratos Defense Brilliance aside, one can't, however, ignore the dangers that are brought in with this sort of advancement. Human intelligence has given birth to great things like the atom bomb, which deserves to be admired for its ingenuity, but can we overlook the lives it took and the city blocks it wiped out in the name of war? Similarly, autonomous weapons are every bit worth boasting about for their technical prowess, but in the hands of an unstable programmer or terrorist groups, they can bring about destruction of epic proportions. In a letter to the U.N., imploring a ban on AI weaponry, companies involved in building the technologies in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics wrote: "(AI Weapons) can be weapons of terror, weapons that despots and terrorists use against innocent populations, and weapons hacked to behave in undesirable ways. We do not have long to act. Once this Pandora's Box is opened, it will be hard to close" Geniuses like Elon Musk, who was also an alarmed contributor to the letter, also exclaimed that a ban on AI weaponry holds merit and needs to be viewed with utmost seriousness. His statement that there is only a 5-10% chance of preventing AI from going rogue is rather frightening. Are we in a position to put his statement to the test? Source: Ted.com We'd been following the television show 'Black Mirror' very closely for the simple reason that it was a reflection of the flipside of technological advancement. It pulls the curtain off the idea that technology that is meant to reduce human effort and improve standard of living can turn around and become a bane to human life in a snap second. The drones in this video are frighteningly similar to the AI powered bees in the episode "Hated In The Nation" in 'Black Mirror', and the operators in both videos display contempt for democracy. They assume the roles of judge, jury and executioner and misuse Artificial Intelligence. That however, isn't the only issue. Any AI device evolves by learning, much like core human behaviour. Imagine, if the fully autonomous sixth gen Russian MiG41 stealth fighter gained sentience! Remember that this is a machine that can gather information from satellites while on the fly and evolve enough to decide what its target is without input from its operator; it can not only set the other aircrafts in its network rogue, but also trigger uncontrolled destruction. How ironic is it that these weapons are being designed to reduce casualties on the battlefield? This is why we feel that AI powered systems need to be kept under check or that combat should be limited as far as automated weaponry is concerned. What are your thoughts?

NEW YORK: Boeing is beefing up its investments in autonomous and electric hybrid planes in anticipation that aviation could be primed for as much disruption as virtually every other sector. The aerospace giant has announced a series of recent tech-focused investments, unveiling plans Thursday to acquire autonomous aviation company Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation, as well as a stake in Zunum Aero, which works on hybrid electric planes. Many of the technologies -- such as unmanned flying taxis -- sound space age, but the latest deals are a sign they may not be as far off as they seem. Boeing did not disclose financial terms for either investment. "The aerospace industry is going to be changing," Boeing chief technology officer Greg Hyslop said in a conference call with journalists. The Aurora purchase builds on Boeing´s work with the company on commercial and military equipment. Today´s commercial airplanes already employ sophisticated computer systems that have automated key aspects of flying. But Aurora aims to go far beyond that, aspiring to a completely autonomous flight, from take-off to landing. A robot, with the aid of artificial intelligence, could back up a pilot by depressing the pedals, taking control in emergency situations or even landing the plane. In May, Aurora, collaborating with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, successfully tested its automated co-pilot system on a Boeing commercial plane. Aurora has also worked to develop a kind of flying taxi system, of keen interest to Boeing in its ongoing rivalry with Airbus. In April, Aurora was selected by Uber to develop its on-demand urban air transportation system. Aurora´s goal of delivering 50 autonomous aircraft for testing by 2020 is "well within reach," the company said at the time. Airbus for its part is working to develop its flying taxi system Vahana by the end of the year, as well as another concept, Pop UP, that could travel between cities. Electric planes in 2022 Boeing also is seeking greater exposure to electric hybrid aircraft, a pursuit of Aurora and also of Zunum Aero, a Seattle startup in which Boeing has a stake. Zunum Aero said Thursday it expects to be able to deliver hybrid electric planes for delivery in 2022. The plane aims to address a gap in regional travel of up to 1,000 miles, a segment for which there are few options, high costs and "door-to-door travel times haven´t improved in decades," Zunum Aero said in a news release. The technology could let planes skip big regional airports such as Washington and Boston and instead travel from Beverly, Massachusetts to College Park, Maryland at a lower fare. The company expects to begin test flights in 2019. Zunum Aero has hired technologists who have worked on leading-edge vehicles for Boeing and Rolls-Royce. "This aircraft is going to transform how we live and work," said founder and Aero chief engineer Matt Knapp. "We´ve pushed ourselves to challenge conventional wisdom and the limits of engineering to deliver an aircraft of which we are extremely proud -- one that offers efficiency and performance without compromise."