A Self-Driving Truck Delivered Butter From California to Pennsylvania in Three Days – This Week in Tech – 12/15/2019
A Self-Driving Truck Delivered Butter From California to Pennsylvania in Three Days
A Silicon Valley startup has completed what appears to be the first commercial freight cross-country trip by an autonomous truck, which finished a 2,800-mile-run from Tulare, California to Quakertown, Pennsylvania for Land O’Lakes in under three days. The trip was smooth like butter, 40,000 pounds of it…
You Could Spend $52,199 on Apple’s Newest Computer Before You Even Add a Screen
Apple’s newest desktop computer, the Mac Pro, is available now. It starts at $5,999 but if you want to fully upgrade it, you’ll spend $52,199…
The World’s First 3D-Printed Neighborhood Now Has Its First Houses – a Giant 3D Printer Is Currently Squeezing Out New Homes in Rural Mexico
In a rural area on the outskirts of a town in Southern Mexico, a giant, 33-foot-long 3D printer recently built the walls of the first homes in the world’s first 3D-printed neighborhood…
Fewer Than 10% of Americans Are Buying $1,000 Smartphones, Report Says
We’ve already seen indications that American consumers are holding onto their smartphones longer than before, posing challenges for companies like Apple and Samsung for whom mobile phone sales are important to the bottom line. A new NPD report reiterates that point but adds that fewer than 10 percent of American smartphone buyers spend more than $1,000, effectively ruling out flagship phones like the iPhone 11 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy Note10 that gather most of the marketer and media attention…
Self-Driving Mercedes Will Be Programmed To Sacrifice Pedestrians To Save The Driver
When they crash, self-driving Mercedes will be programmed to save the driver, and not the person or people they hit. That’s the design decision behind the Mercedes Benz’s future Level 4 and Level 5 autonomous cars, according to the company’s manager of driverless car safety, Christoph von Hugo. Instead of worrying about troublesome details like ethics, Mercedes will just program its cars to save the driver and the car’s occupants, in every situation…
Meet CIMON-2: The Floating A.I. Brain That Lives on the ISS
With too many jobs, not enough gravity, and a cramped living space offering no prospect of going outside for a quick jog, life as an astronaut on the International Space Station can be hard work. Could a flying robot buddy help take some of the load? That’s what IBM, Airbus, and Germany’s DLR space agency, the creators of a newly deployed robot called CIMON, are hoping…
All-Electric Commercial Seaplane Takes to the Air for the First Time
The first all-electric commercial seaplane has successfully landed following a test flight at the Harbour Air Seaplane terminal in Richmond, British Columbia. The venture is a partnership between Harbour Air and engineering firm MagniX, with the goal of creating the world’s first all-electric airline. While that’s still a way off, the demonstration is an impressive showcase of what’s possible…