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Archive for the ‘transportation’ category: Page 594

Oct 14, 2015

Tesla is mapping the Earth, ‘cause your GPS won’t cut it for self-driving cars

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, robotics/AI, sustainability, transportation

Self-driving cars require an incredible amount of information to operate safely. Tesla and Elon Musk know this well.

Tesla Motors formally launched its long-awaited Autopilot feature on Wednesday, which is not quite a self-driving car, but rather a higher degree of autonomy. One of the new features of Autopilot: Tesla is creating high-precision digital maps of the Earth using GPS.

See also: I went hands-free in Tesla’s Model S on Autopilot, even though I wasn’t supposed to.

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Oct 14, 2015

Tesla’s New Software Does the Lane-Changing and Parallel Parking For You

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

Tesla Motors Inc.’s newest software brings elements of autonomous driving to some of its Model S cars. With updated software, the vehicles can help drivers stay in their highway lane or change lanes for them.

The car can also parallel park for the driver or warn when an object such as another car is too close the side of the Model S, the company said in post on its website.

The maker of luxury electric vehicles has highlighted many high-tech features on its models, such as the industry’s largest touch screen and robust wireless access that allows for software upgrades, such as this update to version 7.0. But it has lagged some rival high-end automakers and even a few mainstream brands in its use of driver-assist technology such as lane-keep assist and adaptive cruise control. Tesla’s new system is the first to include automated lane changing.

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Oct 13, 2015

Self-driving hybrid sports car concept has its own helper drone

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

Swiss carmaker and tuning house Rinspeed’s Σtos concept is a self-driving hybrid sports car with its own helper drone.

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Oct 13, 2015

A self-driving Mercedes-Benz truck drove on Germany’s Autobahn

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

Click on photo to start video.

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Oct 12, 2015

Many of the world’s first cars ran on electricity

Posted by in category: transportation

We think that cars that run on gas are the norm, but that hasn’t always been the case.

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Oct 11, 2015

Elon Musk: Tesla autopilot features coming Thursday in software upgrade

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, robotics/AI, sustainability, transportation

Tesla’s latest software update is slated to roll out worldwide this week. Here’s what it will do.

Tesla Motors, the electric automaker, plans to roll out its latest software upgrade—version 7, which includes autopilot features—worldwide to owners of its Model S sedan on Thursday.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk made the announcement via a tweet this weekend. He also answered some of his Twitter followers’ questions about the new software.

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Oct 10, 2015

The mysterious artificial intelligence company Elon Musk invested in is developing game-changing smart computers

Posted by in categories: computing, Elon Musk, robotics/AI, sustainability, transportation

“Vicarious, the mysterious company that’s been funded by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, and actor Ashton Kutcher, wants to do something completely radical — build the world’s first human-level artificial intelligence (AI).”


Smarter than Siri and Cortana.

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Oct 8, 2015

Panasonic has made the world’s most efficient rooftop solar panel

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, solar power, sustainability, transportation

At the end of last week, solar technology company SolarCity, which was co-founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, made headlines when it announced it had developed the most efficient rooftop solar panel to date, with a module-level efficiency of 22.04 percent. Now, just a few days later, Panasonic has one-upped them by announcing a rooftop panel prototype that’s nearly half a percent more efficient.

“Sorry Elon, I’mma let you finish…” and, well, you know how that pun goes. What’s cool about Panasonic’s record-breaking prototype is that it was mass-produced, and able to convert 22.5 percent of sunlight into electrical energy straight off the production line, which means it’ll be easily commercialised and presumably relatively cheap for consumers.

Right about now you’re probably wondering why this is a big deal, when researchers have already managed to convert the Sun’s rays into electricity with more than 40 percent efficiency, and just last year Panasonic themselves announced they’d made a solar cell with 25.6 percent efficiency.

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Oct 7, 2015

Australia: Doctors reattach child’s head to spine after car crash [Video]

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, transportation

Surgeons at Brisbane hospital managed to reattached the head of 16-month-old Jaxon Taylor.

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Oct 6, 2015

Daimler self-driving lorry

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

A self-driving lorry takes to Germany’s motorways.
Would you feel safe driving next to one?

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