Autonomous Buses Will Hit Swiss Streets This Spring

As reported by Mashable: Autonomous cars are the hot topic in the transportation world right now, as evidenced by Volvo,Mercedes-Benz and Google rushing head-first into implementing the tech. However, self-driving cars aren't the be-all and end-all of piloted driving. Buses, too, will benefit from leaps forward in driverless technology.

Proving that point, CarPostal, the company leading public transportation in Switzerland, is launching a two-year autonomous bus pilot program in the tourist areas of Sion, Valais. The test-run will be operated by Swiss startup BestMile, which has developed software to "control fleets of autonomous vehicles in the same way a control tower does in an airport," according to a company press release.

Starting in spring 2016, the small fleet of nine electrified passenger buses will troll the streets of old-town Sion and autonomously transport residents and tourists through the city. The goal of the pilot program is to prove the viability of widespread autonomous public transportation, as it offers lower costs and "minimum risk." Ultimately, CarPostal would like to extend autonomous bus service into remote areas of the country.

IMAGE: BESTMILE

Rest assured, Swiss commuters, BestMile isn't rolling into this project blind. Before the announced Sion pilot program, BestMile spent two years creating a new generation of mathematical algorithms in order for autonomous vehicles to recognize and react to whatever scenarios they might encounter, as they interact with the existing public transportation system.

Until this point, America and Sweden had stood out as global early adopters of autonomous vehicle technology. Several American states — including Michigan, Nevada, Florida and California — have granted companies autonomous driving permits. And Gothenburg, Sweden has green-lit Volvo's "Drive Me" program that will put 100 self-driving XC90 SUVs on public roads in 2017.

It will be interesting to see how residents and visitors of Sion react to the autonomous buses. Likely, after the initial awkward stage, people will forget altogether that there's no one driving the bus. And it's that tacit trust that could lead to widespread acceptance of self-driving vehicles.

SpaceX Completes Development Testing of SuperDraco Engines

As reported by GizMag: SpaceX has completed design testing of its SuperDraco engines, which, as a key element of the Crew Dragon's launch abort system (LAS), would be responsible for carrying a crew of astronauts out of harms way in the event of a launch failure.

Once complete, the Crew Dragon spacecraft will represent one of the cornerstones of NASA's drive to establish a cost effective, independent access to low-Earth orbit (LEO). For it to become human-rated, NASA has set a stringent set of criteria that must be met. One such criteria is the integration of a tried and tested LAS.

In the pursuit of this goal, SpaceX has decided to buck the trend, opting for an integrated system of four pairs of SuperDraco thrusters built in to the side of the crew capsule. That's a notably different approach to a key competitor in the Commercial Crew Development program – Boeing – which has opted for the traditional "rocket tower" design for the LAS system to protect crew riding aboard its Starliner spacecraft.

In the development of the SuperDraco thrusters, SpaceX embraced advances in the sphere of 3D printing technology. A key element of the rocket, known as the combustion chamber, is fabricated using solely 3D printing, cutting down on cost, waste, and making the production process more flexible in general.

During the recent testing at the company's rocket development facility in Texas, the thrusters were placed on a test stand and fired 27 times, progressing through various thrust cycles. The tests come in the wake of last year's LAS pad test for the Crew Dragon spacecraft, which served as proof that the design was indeed feasible.

Moving forward, SpaceX will continue to evaluate the performance of the thrusters, which it one day hopes to use during the descent phase, as a viable replacement for the current parachute system.

Scroll down for a video of last year's LAS test.

U.S. Air Force Updates GPS Ground Systems With Additional Security

As reported by Space News: The ground system for the U.S. Air Force’s position, navigation and timing satellites recently received a software update and security upgrade under a two-year-old contract with Lockheed Martin, the company announced in a Nov. 9 press release.

Known as the GPS Intrusion Protection Reinforcement, the updates enable greater data protection within the Air Force’s current Operational Control Segment, which serves as the ground system for the Air Force’s GPS satellites. The updates also resolve equipment obsolescence issues.

The new software was installed at the GPS Master Control Station at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and is the second major technology refresh since the Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a $104 million ground system sustainment contract in 2013.


“The GPS Control Segment Sustainment (GCS) contract is vitally important to the sustainment of positioning, navigation and timing services for our military, government officials and citizens,” Vinny Sica, vice president space ground solutions at Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Solutions of Herndon, Virginia, said in the release. “A system this large requires a continued security focus.”

DARPA Is About to Start Testing an Autonomous, Submarine-Hunting Ocean Drone

As reported by Motherboard: Early next year, DARPA will begin testing a 132-foot unmanned submarine-hunting ocean drone in San Diego. Slapped with the cumbersome title of Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV), it’s designed to do exactly that: track stealth submarines from the surface, quietly and autonomously.

The ACTUV is currently under construction at a facility on the Oregon coast, where it is 90 percent complete. When finished, DARPA hopes it will be able to withstand months of autonomous operations at sea. It will weigh 140 tons, and will be able to hone in on the quietest submarines in the water from the surface, and automatically trail them.

The vessel is so far not necessarily being touted explicitly as a weapon, but, according to DARPA, it will have the capacity to "carry a payload" and “enable independently deploying systems.” On the US DoD’s science site, the vessel is being compared to naval destroyers, which are currently tasked with trailing—and are outfitted to eliminate—submarines. (According to DARPA, one of the ACTUV's chief selling points is that it will be much cheaper than a naval destroyer: The drone boat costs as little as $15,000 a day to operate, versus the destroyer’s $700,000 per day price tag.)

Like many of the advanced robotics projects the US military’s blue sky lab is researching, DARPA seems to be leaving room to weaponize the vessel, while allowing plausible deniability as to the instrument’s intent. This is especially important because the Pentagon’s autonomous weapons directive prohibits fully autonomous machines from using lethal or semi-lethal force, which would apply to the ACTUV should it move beyond the testing stages and ever be outfitted with weaponry. DARPA did not respond to a request for comment.

The development also seems conspicuously timed with the re-emergence of Russia's submarine fleet, which is thought to be dispersed amongst the hotly contested Arctic—recent sightings seem to confirm their presence, and Putin has not been shy about using them in military exercises in the region.

But the focus seems to be on developing autonomous systems that can operate in water. In its official Request for Information, it states that "DARPA is interested in hardware and software solutions that enable an autonomous lookout from a surface vessel."

Meanwhile, one of DARPA’s stated “three primary goals” for the initiative is to “Advance unmanned maritime system autonomy to enable independently deploying systems capable of missions spanning thousands of kilometers of range and months of endurance under a sparse remote supervisory control model,” as Scott Littlefield, program manager of DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, explained in the project description.

“This includes autonomous compliance with maritime laws and conventions for safe navigation, autonomous system management for operational reliability, and autonomous interactions with an intelligent adversary,” he added.

In other words, DARPA’s drone boat submarine-hunter would be able to spend months at sea, where it would be able to automatically trail its target, automatically negotiate its surroundings, and, eventually, one imagines, it might automatically destroy an “intelligent adversary.” The Department of Defense notes that “other advantages of the ACTUV concept include greater payload and endurance than a ship-launched unmanned surface vehicle.”

The foremost objective for ACTUV is to trail submarines, but DARPA is apparently exploring other options too. “The Navy is considering using this for a variety of missions,” Littlefield said in a recent announcement, according to the Department of Defense, “including mine countermeasures.”

As the polar ice caps melt and sea levels rise, as new northern passageways open up for maritime trade, expect military tensions in the gas and oil rich Arctic to only ratchet upwards. Russia's belligerence has so far turned the most heads, but Canada and the US each have heavily vested interests in the region. The near future, it seems, may be marked by drones stalking submarines through the slushy detritus of the Arctic.

An Electric Motor that Lasts for One Million Miles? Tesla is Working on It.

As reported by Treehugger: There were many interesting bits of info that came out of Tesla's last quarterly earnings, and we mentioned many in this article. There was one thing that didn't make the cut at the time, but is still quite interesting, especially for those of us who like to keep vehicles for a long time but hate mechanical problems. Elon Musk mentioned that Tesla has changed its target endurance for its drive units (the part that hosts the electric motor, or motors on the dual-motor models).

Tesla/Screen capture

Up to now, they were aiming for 200,000 miles, which isn't bad. But the new goal is a lot more ambitious, and if achieved, will show another way in which electric vehicles are superior to gasoline ones; there's a lot less mechanical complexity, fewer moving parts and fluids sloshing around, and fewer things that can go wrong. Here's Musk on the conference call:

We are very happy with the quality of the drive unit. We changed the goal of the drive unit endurance from being approximately 200,000 miles to being a million miles – just basically we want drive units that just never wear out. That’s our goal. I think we made really good progress in that direction. the drive unit that are going out now and for the last several months have been excellent.

Tesla/Promo image

Musk admitted to problems with drive units in the past, but claims that these have been fixed now, and that any problems would be covered anyway by the 'infinite mile warranty' (for 8 years) launched last year. Here's what he wrote at the time:

The Tesla Model S drive unit warranty has been increased to match that of the battery pack. That means the 85 kWh Model S, our most popular model by far, now has an 8 year, infinite mile warranty on both the battery pack and drive unit. There is also no limit on the number of owners during the warranty period.

Moreover, the warranty extension will apply retroactively to all Model S vehicles ever produced. In hindsight, this should have been our policy from the beginning of the Model S program. If we truly believe that electric motors are fundamentally more reliable than gasoline engines, with far fewer moving parts and no oily residue or combustion byproducts to gum up the works, then our warranty policy should reflect that.

Wikimedia/CC BY-SA 3.0

Here's a video produced by Tesla showing how they make their electric drive units. They make the motors in-house to get them exactly how they want them, rather than use something off-the-shelf made by a supplier.

Faraday Future Aims to Take on Tesla Motors With $1 Billion Investment

As reported by The Wall Street Journal: Faraday Future Inc., an electric-car startup aiming to take on Tesla Motors Inc., on Thursday said it is considering four states for a $1 billion factory that would begin making its first cars in 2017.

The Gardena, Calif., company launched 18 months ago with private funding, has grown to more than 400 employees. Faraday Future Product Development Chief Nick Sampson said the company is looking at sites in Nevada, Louisiana, Georgia and California for the plant and would announce the site “in the next few weeks.”

Mr. Sampson is one of a team of former Tesla executives now leading Faraday Future. Like Tesla, Faraday Future is named after an inventor from the 19th century.

Tesla, more than a decade old, has shown how costly it is to break into the auto industry with electric cars. Even though volumes have steadily grown in recent years, the Palo Alto, Calif., car maker has posted 10-consecutive quarterly losses as a public company and routinely burns through more than $100 million in cash a month, requiring a steady pipeline of new financing.

Faraday Future has recruited personnel from BMW AG and General Motors Co. in addition to Tesla. It has promised to deliver a long-range, premium electric car sometime in 2017 that rivals Tesla’s pricey Model S sedan.The $1 billion investment plan is a significant commitment for a company that is virtually unknown. Faraday declined to say where it is getting the funds to finance the manufacturing plant.

“That sort of an amount is going to come from a different number of sources,” said Mr. Sampson, who was the lead chassis engineer for Tesla’s Model S before leaving in early 2012. “We are keeping our partners confidential.”

‘We are keeping our partners confidential. ’

—Nick Sampson, Faraday

The company has been adding dozens of employees every month and is renovating Nissan Motor Co.’s former Southern California sales headquarters as its home location.

Faraday’s plan is to break ground on the plant in early 2016 and begin production sometime in 2017. It is considering a rebuild of an existing factory or building a new plant from the ground up. Mr. Sampson said the company has secured parts suppliers and has begun to make purchase orders for components.

Faraday is one of several companies attempting to create an electric car to compete with Tesla. Ateiva Inc., backed by Beijing Automobile Industry Holding Corp. and Leshi Internet & Technology Co., also is developing an electric car in Silicon Valley. It is run by a former a Tesla engineer, Bernard Tse.

Karma Automotive, formerly Fisker Automotive, which is based in Southern California, has revived its hopes after China’s Wanxiang Group Corp. bought the failed hybrid-electric supercar maker out of bankruptcy in 2014. The company has secured a manufacturing facility in Southern California and is planning to sell a new car in 2016, according to its Web page.

Faraday was operating under the radar until a few months ago when it announced its intentions. Its first vehicle will have a battery pack that is larger than the one offered on Tesla Model S or Model X and will feature a variety of connected car features. But Mr. Sampson wouldn’t elaborate beyond that.

Toyota to Invest $1 Billion Over 5 Years in Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the U.S.

As reported by CBS News: Toyota is investing $1 billion in a research company it's setting up in Silicon Valley to develop artificial intelligence and robotics, underlining the Japanese automaker's determination to lead in futuristic cars that drive themselves and apply the technology to other areas of daily life.

Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda said Friday the company will start operating from January 2016, with 200 employees at a Silicon Valley facility near Stanford University. A second facility will be established near Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

The investment, which will be spread over five years, comes on top of $50 million Toyota announced earlier for artificial intelligence research at Stanford and MIT.

Toyota said its interest extended beyond autonomous driving, which is starting to be offered by some automakers and being promised by almost all of them. The technology was pointing to a new industry for everyday use, delivering a safer lifestyle overall, it said.

Toyota has already shown an R2-D2-like robot designed to help the elderly, the sick and people in wheelchairs by picking up and carrying objects. The automaker has also shown human-shaped entertainment robots that can converse and play musical instruments. As the world's top auto manufacturer, Toyota already uses sophisticated robotic arms and computers in auto production, including doing paint jobs and screwing in parts.

To drive home the message that the automaker's vision was more than about just cars, Toyoda appeared at a Tokyo hotel with high profile robotics expert Gill Pratt, who will head the new organization called Toyota Research Institute Inc.

Pratt was formerly a program manager at the U.S. military's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). He joined Toyota as a technical adviser when it set up its AI research effort at Stanford and MIT.

Pratt said the company's goals are to support older people in their homes with robotics, make cars free of accidents and use AI to allow all people to drive regardless of ability.

Play VIDEO

The future of robots and artificial intelligence

He gave three examples from his personal life that motivate him to develop robotics and related technology: when he was a child, seeing a boy on a bicycle killed by a car; telling his 83-year-old father he could no longer drive; and sending his father to a nursing home when he was 84.

Pratt, who grew up on Japanese robot animation and dreamed of one day building such robots, said he chose Toyota over other jobs because it was "so focused on social good."

He said coming up with a car as smart as a human being will take a long time. But that also meant the competition had just begun and no one was ahead significantly.

The new company will be hiring researchers and engineers, according to Toyota. Wooing talent is crucial because not only are automakers such as General Motors, Tesla and Nissan competing on autonomous driving but outsiders are as well, including Google, Apple and Uber.

"The rapid adoption of advanced technology for the purposes of autonomous driving and connected car services means car companies have to act more like tech startups than traditional automakers," said Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book.

Toyota, which has gone through troubled times with massive recalls and the 2011 tsunami in northeastern Japan, has the cash these days to invest in the future.

On Thursday, it kept its profit forecast for the fiscal year through March 2016 unchanged at 2.25 trillion yen ($18.5 billion), as profit rose on cost cuts and the benefits of a weak yen. The maker of the Prius hybrid and Camry sedan is on track to sell about 10 million vehicles around the world this year.

Toyoda, ranked by Forbes in this year's "powerful people" list as the most powerful Japanese, said he looks forward to working with Pratt because they share a vision.

"The goal is to do away with the tragedy of car accidents," he told reporters.