Amazon Prime Air completes its first UK commercial drone delivery
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Brick and mortar retailers have always had an advantage over their online cousins when it comes to delivery times, walk in, buy your item, walk out, but on demand, real time drone deliveries will erode that advantage Amazon announced today that his company has successfully...
Fords latest self-driving car looks surprisingly normal
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Most of us can spot a self-driving car from a mile off because of the huge, bulky sensor arrays strapped to their rooves, but as s Ford has pulled the wraps off of its second-generation driverless Fusion Hybrid just one week before the company...
Self-driving Ubers hit the streets of San Francisco
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF while many questions remain about the safety of self-driving cars companies like Uber continue to push the boundaries of both technology and regulations, this is their second self-driving car pilot and their technology has already come on leaps and bounds. Already being trialled in...
Michigan greens lights the use of autonomous vehicles on all its roads
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF While many people question if autonomous vehicles are ready for the prime time without the right regulatory and legal frameworks in place to support them they will never make it out of the showrooms The Governor of Michigan has signed into law a series of bills...
See the world through the eyes of a driverless Tesla Model S
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF With over sixty percent of the American public either against, or nervous about getting into a self driving car more manufacturers are trying to demystify them by showing them what’s going on under the hood Tesla recently released a video that demonstrates, in real time, what...
Watch two Pittsburgh Steelers and one autonomous Uber take a ride round town
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF With over sixty percent of Americans feeling either downright nervous about, or just plain anti self-driving cars, Uber and other car companies are hoping these kinds of videos will encourage the general public to embrace the technology when it finally rolls out Uber’s self...
Dubai to build the worlds first Hyperloop network by 2021
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Countries are racing to improve access to, and the mobility of, their citizens and their workforces in order to boost their economies, and new “advanced transportation technologies” are increasingly being seen as the new broadband. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future...
Ubers flying taxis will take passengers to the heavens and back by 2021
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Most urban transportation systems today are at capacity and, or, gridlocked. Using the airspace above cities is one way to alleviate those burdens. There’s no doubt that Uber has redefined the world of business and sparked a revolution. Whether it’s because they’re masters at tapping...
Singapores self-driving buses to get their own routes in 2018
Singapore is quickly becoming the driverless vehicle test bed capital of the world Hot on the heels of their recent announcement to become the first country in the world to authorise the use of self-driving taxis on their streets Singapore has announced that it will begin trials of two self-driving...
World first as Otto’s self driving truck delivers much needed beer in Colorado
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The worlds first self driving truck delivery was special – 50,000 cans of Budweiser. In the early morning hours of October 20th, an 18-wheeler tractor trailer pulled into Colorado Springs, Colorado, bearing 50,000 frosty cans of Budweiser beer. Normally, this would not be a...
Tesla’s first fully autonomous car makes its first appearance
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF It’s arrived. Elon Musk and Tesla have been dropping hints about their fully autonomous self-driving cars for some time now, and yesterday they made an appearance. In the video they released we can see the car driving around town, complete with the...
EU likely to follow Germanys lead and ban sales of combustion engines from 2030
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Germany passes legislation to ban the sale of all combustion engines after 2030. In a bold move that could cause a cascade effect around the world one of Germany’s legislative bodies has voted unanimously to ban the sale of petrol and diesel powered cars in favour...
Skydio’s autonomous drone takes to the skies
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Autonomous drones – revered by extreme sports enthusiasts and feared in the battlefield – are on the rise. We all know that the next evolution of drones will be fully autonomous rather than just semi-autonomous as some of them, such as delivery or defence drones,...
Uber and Airbus team up on urban sky-taxi project
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Uber is eyeing up the next generation of transport – think Star Wars’ urban transport systems crossed with a DJI drone. Always on the lookout for new opportunities Uber is eyeing the skies for its next big project and it’s partnering with Airbus to achieve it....
Californian regulators allow driverless shuttles to be tested without drivers
Regulators and innovators are uneasy bed fellows but slowly regulators are relaxing the reigns, letting companies do what they do best – innovate A bill signed into law last Thursday by California Governor Jerry Brown allows a self-driving vehicle with no operator inside to test on a public road – a key...
Komatsu unveils its 250 ton autonomous dump truck for strip mines
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF With no human driver this huge dump truck has no cab and never turns around. Autonomous vehicle technology is still in its infancy, which means that most self-driving vehicles still have a way for humans to take over when needed. But as Komatsu demonstrates...
Autonomous Roboats to sail the canals of Amsterdam
Cities might have a monopoly on driverless cars but Amsterdam has driverless ships The idea of self-driving cars cruising our roads may not be a new idea, but a plan to release autonomous boats into the canals of Amsterdam would be the first of its kind. The Amsterdam Institute for...
Nascar quadraplegic Sam Schmidt reaches 100mph in this tricked out Stingray
The former racer and IndyCar team owner can control the Corvette using head movements and voice commands Following a horrible wreck back in 2000, IndyCar driver Sam Schmidt was left paralyzed from the neck down and following the crash, he founded his own racing team, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Now, more than...
Google’s self driving car gets involved in a fender bender (again)
Humans prove once again that we make lousy drivers but at least no robots were hurt in the crash When, oh when oh when will these self-driving cars, with all their artificial intelligence smarts learn that we humans are dangerous!? Earlier this week one of Google’s self-driving cars was involved...
Autonomous cars and trucks vie to take on the Canadian railroads
Vancouver and Seattle should be connected by a driverless highway, according to some high-tech entrepreneurs The proposal, which involves dedicating at least one lane on the I-5 from Seattle to Highway 99 in Richmond, British Columbia, is a pitch that comes from Tom Alberg, a board member of Amazon, Craig...
