New US military intercept tech lets operators take control of enemy drones
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF A new technology breakthrough from Department 13 will help the US military take control of enemy drones and turn them against their operators. So, the friend of my enemy is my friend? In the past it was enough for governments to want to just...
F-35 pilots will team with AI to control swarms of drones in mid flight
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Teams of humans, AI’s and drones take center stage in the future of warfare, until that is AI’s replace humans. In the wake of a recent announcement that the US will stand up it’s first fully autonomous drone squadron later this year earlier this...
Airbus will test its new “Sky taxi” later this year
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF With more people moving into the cities gridlock is becoming the bane of most people’s lives, Airbus and others, including Uber propose taking to the skies but people with vertigo should watch out. Airbus has been eyeing the increasingly interesting, and viable, flying taxi...
Watch the F/A-18 release swarms of autonomous drones into the sky
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The Pentagons new autonomous, swarming drones can acquire, identify and take out any target. Swarms of robots are nothing new, universities have been playing around with them for years, but now the Pentagon has gone one step further – as well as scaled it...
Singapore is developing a drone airspace management system
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF With our skies due to fill up over the coming decades with more and more drones authorities are in a race to try to find new ways to manage and secure their airspace before disasters happen Over the next decade our skies will be...
China’s Ehang gets serious about autonomous sky taxis, begins tests
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Flying cars and flying taxis’s have been tried before, they’ve been scoffed at, but the investment, regulatory and technology environment is now coming together in their favour, one day you’ll be able to take a ride in one. At Las Vegas’ glitzy Consumer Electronics...
Velodyne’s new miniature LiDAR means many more autonomous things
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Most of the new smart things that we are creating rely on sensors to map, move around and interact with our world, and LiDAR is a key sensing technology that helps things see, Velodyne’s new product will accelerate the creation of smart, autonomous things...
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...
Uber pulls the covers off of its new AI lab
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the capability of new artificial intelligence systems improve more organisations are leveraging AI products and tools to help them maintain and extend their competitive edge Uber have announced that they’ve launched an artificial intelligence (AI) lab and acquired Geometric Intelligence, an AI startup,...
US Navy will soon be able to launch surprise drone attacks from the deep sea
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Drone technology is advancing at a furious rate and military powers around the world are exploiting them to their advantage, deploying them – arguably – everywhere and anywhere. The US military tech development agency is testing a special ‘pod’ drone delivery system that can...
The US Navy announced it will build a global network of undersea drone highways
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF New technologies, combined with a renewed global focus on defence and security, have kicked off a new arms race and every corner, every theatre and every environment on Earth, and in space, seems to be fair game. As unmanned aerial drones have become a...
SpaceX, Facebook and others compete to connect the next 3.5 billion people
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Over half the worlds population has no access to the internet, or the services, or benefits it offers. These audacious global internet programs want to resolve that. Internet access is cheap, fast and available everywhere. Mobile phone and communications companies throw unlimited data plans...
Urban Aero shows off its first fully autonomous flying taxi
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Companies are increasingly scaling up drone technology and their associated energy and control systems in the new race to take passengers to the skies and back, but the Cormorant is the first to demonstrate full autonomy. Nine years ago the AirMule was simply a...
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,...
Facebook Aquila takes to the skies to connect the rest of the world
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Only half the world is connected, Facebook’s connecting the other half. Facebook has achieved the first successful test flight of the Aquila drone, marking another notable milestone in the firm’s efforts to deliver internet access to 4 billion people worldwide who are still off...
