Mercedes shows off the company’s latest autonomous vehicle concepts
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As we watch the future of autonomous transportation evolve automotive companies are now experimenting with new business models and product concepts. As more vehicles, from cars to aircraft and everything in between, become electric and autonomous Mercedez Benz decided a while ago that it...
Elon Musk unveils the future of urban transport, and living on Mars
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Urban transportation is often a nightmare of clogged and congested roads, Musk believes he has a solution, and it’s going underground. Elon Musk unveiled his vision for the Boring Company last night with the unveiling of the company’s first 12 ft wide test tunnel...
Futurist Keynote, London: The Future of Disruption, Go Ahead Group
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The Billion Journey Project shows how today just one idea can transform over a billion journeys a year, and clearly demonstrates the power of ecosystems and open thinking. Firstly, a big thanks to Theo and David for inviting me to be this years keynote...
New Mantis Shrimp inspired camera will make self-driving cars safer
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Over the past few years people have been killed when their semi-autonomous cars got confused and blinded by the Sun so scientists have turned to biology to solve the problem. A little while ago a man driving a Tesla on autopilot was killed when...
DeepMind’s AI now has human like 3D vision
WHY THIS MATERS IN BRIEF As we come to rely on robots and automated systems more in our daily lives their ability to accurately perceive our world is crucial. If I showed you a single picture of a room it’s likely you’d be able to tell me about it...
Uber has killed off its self-driving truck division
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As Uber faces challenges on multiple fronts the company has had to take the hard decision to double down on strategic bets. Two years after Uber bought self-driving truck developer Otto for $680 million, the ride hailing company has announced that the Uber Advanced...
Roborace’s fully autonomous race car prepares to pound the track at FoS
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the future our sports events could be dominated by robot and drone warriors battling it out for supremacy, and at some point this could present companies with a new market opportunity. Later this week, the world’s first autonomous race car company Roborace will make history...
Waymo announces plans to buy 62,000 self-driving cars from Fiat Chrysler
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The self-driving car revolution will arrive earlier than many people expect, because global companies are in an arms race to own the “new” future where cars are provided as a service. It’s evident to anyone who’s been following the progress and roll out of...
Ford CEO gets serious about rolling out self-driving car fleets from 2021
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The arrival of driverless vehicles on our streets won’t rely on consumers buying them, they’ll be provided as a service by companies, as such you can expect their appearance on streets near you to come sooner rather than later. In the race to deploy...
Futurist keynote, Milton Keynes: The Future of Communities, Castleton European Summit
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The future will have a huge impact on the future of communities, both good and bad, but with proper foresight and planning tomorrow’s communities could be brighter and better for everyone. Firstly, I’d like to thank Jay and Chantel for inviting me to present...
Uber’s fatal self-driving car crash reportedly mischaracterised pedestrian as a bag
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Now that cars are more software than hardware bugs in the code, as well as how the software is tuned, will have a big impact on safety, and that’s before cybercriminals start targeting future fleets. Uber has reportedly found that a software problem likely...
World first as Waymo’s self-driving taxi service opens to the public
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Many people think the future takes a long time to arrive, when in matter of fact it’s arriving faster than it ever has in the past, and now that Waymo’s service is live others will quickly follow. Self-driving taxis, the type that stay on...
DeepMind unveils the world’s first test to assess dangerous AI’s and algorithms
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF AI is being strapped into everything from self-driving cars and autonomous weapons systems and until now we had no way to assess how dangerous, or how much of a threat, those AI’s could become. Earlier this year a group of world experts convened to...
Audi unveils a future without cars
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Most people think that self-driving cars are simply the next natural evolution of the car when actually they signal the death of the car as we know it. Not all concept cars make it off the auto show floor and into production, but now,...
Dubai rolls out autonomous police cars to go alongside its robot police officers
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Technology is changing the world of law enforcement and it’s important to experiment with new ideas that provide low visibility but highly effective policing. A couple of weeks ago, and following on from the deployment of the regions first robot police officer at the Dubai...
UK Government announces self-driving cars to hit the roads by 2021, prepares 1 million drivers for redundancy
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The world around us is changing rapidly and the UK Government has just become the first government in the world to announce plans to start the transition to self-driving vehicles, quoting it’s going to be “painful and challenging.” Following in the footsteps of Dubai...
Intel enters the self-driving car market
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF It used to be the case that car companies were car companies and tech companies were tech companies, but now the lines between the industries are blurring and the old rules have changed. Intel has announced that it will join almost every other auto manufacturer...
US legislators new SELF DRIVE Act lays the foundation for a country full of driverless vehicles
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As automakers continue their pursuit of the perfect self-driving car US lawmakers are uncharacteristically leading the charge and laying the groundwork to facilitate a nation full of autonomous vehicles Last year Michigan became the first city in the US to sign into law a series...
World’s first GPS Spoofing attack puts 20 ships 32km inland at an airport
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF New technology keeps lowering the bar for criminals and nation states that want to cause mischief and harm, and now the makers of autonomous vehicles have something new to worry about. Recently there have been reports of satellite navigation problems in the Black Sea...
South Korea introduces the world’s first “Robot Tax”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Experts and governments are predicting that a rising tide of automation will have a dramatic impact on today’s workforce and lower tax receipts, and taxing the machines and robots driving the revolution is becoming an increasingly popular idea. South Korea has introduced what is...
