Lifeboat Foundation

Tesla is planning to license Autopilot and even its Full Self-Driving suite to other companies, CEO Elon Musk said yesterday in a Tweet.

The announcement comes after Tesla recently struck a deal with Ford to open its Supercharging network to the automaker, which also plans to adopt Tesla’s charging connector that will eliminate the need for an adapter.

Musk, in a Tweet responding to an article regarding GM CEO Mary Barra’s comments regarding Tesla’s prowess in EVs, said that the company “aspires to be as helpful as possible to other car companies,” mentioning the move it made several years ago that made its patents freely available to other companies.

A group of scientists has discovered new laws governing the flow of fluids by conducting experiments on an ancient technology: the drinking straw. This newfound understanding has the potential to enhance fluid management in medical and engineering contexts.

“We found that sipping through a straw defies all the previously known laws for the resistance or friction of flow through a pipe or tube,” explains Leif Ristroph, an associate professor at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and an author of the study, which appears in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics. “This motivated us to search for a new law that could work for any type of fluid moving at any rate through a pipe of any size.”

The movement of liquids and gases through conduits such as pipes, tubes, and ducts is a common phenomenon in both natural and industrial contexts, including in scenarios like the circulation of blood or the transportation of oil through pipelines.

Cactus Materials touted the emerging talent pool at local universities and the emerging ecosystem of the semiconductor industry as reasons to do business in Arizona.

The White House has designated Phoenix as a workforce hub to help meet the demand for qualified and diverse talent in semiconductors, renewable energy and electric vehicles.

Over the next five years, Cactus Materials said it intends to make further upgrades at its facility and invest up to $300 million. The company had previously been awarded grants from NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy and has applied for funding earmarked for the semiconductor sector through the CHIPS and Science Act.

It’s ideal for search and rescue missions.

Scientists at the ETH Zurich spinoff company Tethys Robotics have developed an underwater robot that can be deployed in situations that are too dangerous for human divers to undertake.

Continue reading “This underwater robot may soon replace divers in dangerous operations” »

A new, high-performance all-electric motorcycle just hit the streets, bringing an incredible 250-mile (400-km) NEDC range, in addition to a few tricks that may, thanks to a reported capability to self-balance and actually follow you around, according to a new webpage from Da Vinci Dynamics.

I believe that every function in trade book publishing today can be automated with the help of generative AI. And, if this is true, then the trade book publishing industry as we know it will soon be obsolete. We will need to move on.

There are two quick provisos, however. The first is straightforward: this is not just about ChatGPT—or other GPTs (generative pretrained transformers) and LLMs (large language models). A range of associated technologies and processes can and will be brought into play that augment the functionality of generative AI. But generative AI is the key ingredient. Without it, what I’m describing is impossible.

The second proviso is of a different flavor. When you make absolutist claims about a technology, people will invariably try to defeat you with another absolute. If you claim that one day all cars will be self-driving, someone will point out that this won’t apply to Formula One race cars. Point taken.

A breakthrough in transportation has brought the possibility of traveling between Dubai and Abu Dhabi in just 12 minutes one step closer. Virgin’s Hyperloop, supported by Dubai-based firm DP World, conducted successful tests in the Nevada desert.

During the trial, two Hyperloop staff members traveled 500 meters on a “DevLoop” in just 15 seconds, reaching speeds of 107 mph (172 kph). The Hyperloop, which uses vacuum tubes to propel pods at high speeds, aims to eventually achieve speeds of 1,000 km/h.

Although the recent test occurred in Nevada, the Los Angeles-based Hyperloop company is considering various locations for implementing the technology, including a route between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. If realized, this Hyperloop connection would significantly reduce travel time between the two Emirates.

Advanced tools for tracking people’s eye movements and facial expressions can be used to design better places.

Long considered the lifeline of the world’s most populous country, the 170-year-old system has seen rapid expansion and modernisation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to boost infrastructure and connectivity in the fast-growing economy.

This year, the government made a record 2.4-trillion-rupee ($30 billion) capital outlay for the railways, a 50% increase over the previous fiscal year, to upgrade tracks, ease congestion and add new trains.

A new, semi-high-speed train built in India and called the “Vande Bharat Express”, or “Salute to India Express”, is showcased as evidence of this modernisation, with Modi himself flagging off the first journeys of many of the trains around the country.