Waymo’s vehicles are confused by San Francisco’s fog

The latest challenge that autonomous vehicles are struggling with is driving in fog.

Five of Waymo's fully driverless vehicles had to pull over by the side of a residential street in San Francisco on Tuesday when they encountered the city’s notoriously dense fog.

The incident caused significant traffic issues, as motorists were unable to pass the parked vehicles.

In a blog post a couple of years ago, Waymo highlighted the difficulties that fog...

13 April 2023 | AI

Apple has over 200 people testing self-driving cars

Apple appears to be gradually accelerating its self-driving car program and now has over 200 people testing its vehicles.

Data from the California DMV (via macReports) indicates that Apple has 201 people testing autonomous driving features on public roads. Apple currently has a fleet of 67 vehicles.

The overall size of Apple’s self-driving fleet hasn’t changed much since 2021 but its number of testers is gradually increasing. Apple added 51 testers in 2022 and an...

23 March 2023 | AI

Waymo launches 24/7 autonomous ride-hailing service in San Francisco

Alphabet subsidiary Waymo has launched San Francisco’s first 24/7 fully-autonomous ride-hailing service.

Earlier this month, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) granted Waymo a permit to participate in the state’s pilot initiative to provide “driverless” autonomous vehicle (AV) passenger service to the public.

“We are seeing momentum build in this space and are working to assure the safe expansion of the driverless pilot program,” said CPUC...

21 November 2022 | AI

Robot makers pledge not to weaponise their creations

A growing number of robot makers are pledging not to weaponise their creations.

This week, an open letter – currently signed by six robotics companies – pledges not to support the use of their creations for deadly purposes.

Here’s a copy of the full letter:

“General Purpose Robots Should Not Be Weaponized

We are some of the world’s leading companies dedicated to introducing new generations of advanced mobile robotics to society. These new...

7 October 2022 | AI

Serge Kozloff, Conundrum: How AI is optimising factory processes

Serge Kozloff, Conundrum.

Conundrum's head of product explains the benefits of using artificial intelligence in manufacturing and beyond.

Could you tell us a little bit about Conundrum and what you guys do?

Conundrum is a startup, and we optimise the processes in the factories. One of the products that we have is the Conundrum Euler defects detection system, which is based on simulation data. 

So, basically, if you’ve heard about deep fake - they put your face on a celebrity instead of...

14 September 2022 | AI

Wayve partners with Microsoft to scale AI for autonomous vehicles

London-based Wayve has partnered with Microsoft to access the supercomputing infrastructure it requires to scale its AI models for autonomous vehicles.

Wayve and Microsoft already have a close relationship. Microsoft participated in Wayve’s $200 million Series B investment round and Wayze began using Azure in 2020 after its computing requirements grew beyond its in-house 12-HDD RAID array and the SSD-based cache server that superseded it.

Alex Kendall, CEO of Wayve,...

19 May 2022 | AI

Haier gets a hand from Huawei and China Mobile to build smart factories

China’s largest consumer electronics producer, Haier, is getting a helping hand from Huawei and China Mobile to build smart factories.

The trio of industry titans announced the successful combination of 5G and mobile edge computing (MEC) to deliver innovative manufacturing solutions.

5G offers bandwidth of up to 20Gbps while lowering latency to as little as one millisecond. MEC further lowers latency, improves security, and enables new applications by supporting...

15 November 2021 | 5G

GTC 2021: Nvidia gets serious about the metaverse with Omniverse updates

Nvidia has announced several updates to its Omniverse simulation platform that brings the metaverse closer to reality.

The metaverse can be seen as the next step of the web, providing a virtual, persistent world where users can socialise, work, and play with actions that could have real-world effects.

Facebook recently changed its company name to Meta to reflect its new focus on building a metaverse. During Meta’s recent Connect conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg was...

9 November 2021 | AI

The IoT could help the UK cut 17.4M tonnes of CO2

A report from Vodafone and WPI Economics has found that emerging technologies like the IoT and 5G could help the UK cut 17.4 million tonnes of CO2 per year.

Earlier this year, the UK enshrined in law a target to slash carbon emissions by 78 percent by 2035 as part of a bid to achieve net-zero by 2050. Achieving the UK’s target, and hopefully exceeding it, will require taking advantage of every possible tool.

Susanne Baker, Associate Director, Climate, Environment and...

14 September 2021 | 5G

IoT Tech Expo 2021: Smart buildings, digital transformation and measuring success

An image depicting IoT in action in a manufacturing factory.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has certainly come a long way since it was first coined, purely as a concept, by Kevin Ashton in 1999 during his time working with Procter&Gamble. Ashton, who was working in supply chain optimisation at the time, hoped to draw senior management's attention to a new tech called RFID.

Since then, IoT has crept into various aspects of our lives, from voice assistants to smartwatches, and they are shaping the way we work, talk, and engage with each...

9 September 2021 | AI