Amazon: Our Drones 'Will be More Like Horses Than Cars'

As reported by The Verge: Amazon's delivery drones will be "more like horses than cars," according to Paul Misener, Amazon's vice president for global public policy. Misener makes the claim in an interview with Yahoo, but he doesn't mean that his company's aerial vehicles will be covered in fur and burdened with a love for sugar — instead, he likens them to horses because they'll automatically avoid obstacles that could be a danger to them.

"Try riding a horse into a tree."

"If you have a small tree in your front yard," Misener explains, "and you want to bang your car into it for some reason, you can do that. Your spouse might not be happy with you, but you can do it. But try riding a horse into the tree. It won't do it. The horse will see the tree and go around it. Same way our drones will not run into trees, because they will know not to run into it." Misener says Amazon's prototype drones have "sense-and-avoid" technology that aims to keep them out of power lines, trees, and other obstacles that could come between them and your ordered items.

That's prototypes, plural. Amazon is working on several variations of drone at the same time, Misener says, and is likely to use different drones when the time comes to actually roll the service out for customers in different locations. "Our customers in the United States live in hot, dry, dusty areas like Phoenix," he says, "but they also live in hot, wet, rainy environments like Orlando, or up in the Colorado Rockies." Their homes, too, are different. "Some live in rural farmhouses, some live in high-rise city skyscrapers, and then everything in between, in suburban and exurban environments." Those that live in larger homes with yards can expect deliveries dropped off there if they're not home when the drone calls, but Misener says Amazon is still working on how to get you your items if you live in an apartment building.

Amazon isn't worried about people shooting drones to get their items

Some have expressed concern that the sight of a drone carrying an Amazon package would entice people along its flight path to break out a rifle and try to shoot it down, but Misener dismisses the fears. "I suppose they could shoot at trucks, too," he says, glossing over the fact that trucks — unlike drones — have human drivers that might not take kindly to being shot at. But he says that Amazon thinks its Prime Air drones will be "as normal as seeing a delivery truck driving down the street someday," reducing the novelty and stopping would-be shooters from intercepting your orders.

More of an immediate concern is the legislation stopping Amazon's drones from getting off the ground. Amazon has proposed a limit that would keep piloted aircraft above 500 feet, while leaving a window from 200 to 400 feet that would allow its Prime Air drone fleet to operate, but the government body has been dragging its feet so far. "We believe that [the FAA] must begin, in earnest, planning for the rules that are more sophisticated, that go to the kinds of operations that Amazon Prime Air will encompass," Misener says. "Other countries already are doing this," he explains. "There's no reason why the United States must be first. We hope it is."

SpaceX Successfully Launches Satellite But Rocket Explodes During Drone Ship Landing Attempt

As reported by Forbes: SpaceX successfully launched the Jason-3 satellite into orbit yesterday. However, its attempted landing of the rocket on a drone ship once again failed explosively.

Apart from the landing, the launch from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center was flawless. It lifted off at 1:42pm ET from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The Jason-3 satellite is a project of NOAA, in partnership with the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), and NASA. Jason-3 continues a series of satellite observations of the ocean which began in 1992. The purpose of the satellite is to measure changes in the ocean’s surface. This helps scientists track sea level rise due to climate change.

In addition to tracking sea level rise, the satellite will also make possible better weather forecasting, including better tracking of hurricane intensity and changes of weather patterns caused by El Nino. It will also track decadal patterns in oceans that can be used to assist the management of fisheries and other ocean-dependent businesses.

The second part of SpaceX’s goal for this launch was to once again make an attempt to land a reusable Falcon 9 first stage onto the deck of a droneship on the ocean. In December, SpaceX was successful in landing a reusable first stage on the ground following a launch. However, it’s attempts to land on a ship so far haven’t worked.  Elon Musk's video of the landing is shown here.

Yesterday was no different, although the first stage came closer than ever. According to the company, the rocket made a successful soft landing on the ship about 1.3 meters from its target. However, one of the landing legs failed, causing the rocket to fall over and explode.

NASA Picks Three Private Space Companies to Resupply the ISS

As reported by Engadget: NASA will fund the International Space Station at least through 2024, so keeping the astronauts on it fed and experimenting is a big deal. That's why the nation's top space agency announced new resupply contracts for Orbital ATK and Elon Musk's SpaceX, two major incumbents that were joined by newcomer Sierra Nevada and its resumable, mini-spaceplane. Each company will get at least six resupply missions, but it's "likely" that NASA will buy more than 18 flights — NASA will grant additional missions based on what they and the station's spacefaring crew need at the time.

Speaking of needs, these three companies were chosen in part for their different approaches to transport. Orbital ATK (which used to be known as Orbital Sciences) has its non-recoverable Cygnus capsule, which typically houses waste from the Space Station and burns up in the atmosphere upon re-entry. SpaceX's Dragon capsule can be used to both ferry cargo to the station and bring things back down, though the capsule has to be fished out of the ocean. Then there's Sierra Nevada, whose Dream Chaser shuttle can land on traditional runways — that means samples returning to earth can be offloaded and studied that much sooner. Recovery of cargo could take as little as three hours, though that all depends on whether the Dream Chaser passes its test flights later this year.

US Government Announces $4 Billion Self-Driving Car Program

As reported by Engadget: Turns out we're way closer to our self-driving car future than most of us expected. US Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced at the Detroit Auto Show (pdf) Thursday that the Obama administration will have a national blueprint for autonomous vehicle standards by July. What's more the administration is earmarking $4 billion of the 2017 budget to create a decade-long program that will support and accelerate development of the technology.

"We are on the cusp of a new era in automotive technology with enormous potential to save lives, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and transform mobility for the American people," Secretary Foxx said in a statement.

Currently, each state has individual laws regarding the burgeoning technology. This forces automakers and early adopters like Google to juggle multiple sets of rules and regulations, depending on where in the country the technology is being built. For example, California recently decided that a human "driver" be present at all times should something go wrong. This program should reduce the number of hoops companies have to jump through by creating an overarching, national-level development framework.

DARPA is Developing an Unjammable Communications System

As reported by Engadget: Electronic warfare (EW) techniques -- from killing missiles with microwaves to downing drones with radio interference -- have become an integral part of modern wars. 

This issue is exasperated by the fact that both sides in a conflict must also compete for the finite spread of interference-free wireless spectrum with which they operate their multitude of wireless devices. 

To maintain American fighting superiority over the likes of China and Russia, both of whom are considered "near peers" in terms of EW combat capabilities, DARPA has developed an ultrafast chip to convert analog wireless signals into digital ones in record time.

DARPA's ADC, or analog-to-digital converter, will allow US forces to avoid being jammed by enemy EW methods by processing chunks of the electromagnetic spectrum about 10 times faster than what current-generation alternatives can muster. It takes over 60 billion analog and digital samples -- equivalent to roughly 1 Terabyte of data -- every second. This allows US forces to analyze more data from a larger swath of the spectrum in the same amount of time as current ADCs.

The chip isn't quite ready for the battlefield just yet, however. Its current iteration still draws far too much power to be useful in the field. DARPA is therefore partnering with GlobalFoundries to shrink the processor from its current 32nm fab down to 14nm. That should reduce its power consumption by 50 percent while maintaining its blistering performance. Next, DARPA will tackle managing the massive amounts of data this thing produces.

Pilots Rely Too Much on Automated Tech, DOT Says

As reported by Engadget: While automakers are still in the midst of developing driverless tech for cars, pilots are already relying too much on automated systems. According to the Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration isn't even making sure they're properly trained on how to manually fly planes. 

In the audit report published by the agency, it said that "several recent accidents, including the July 2013 crash of Asiana Airlines flight 214" can prove that. Those instances showed that pilots who typically rely on automation can be prone to errors during emergency situations and in any event wherein they have to switch to manual controls.

The report continued:
"As a result, reliance on automation is a growing concern among industry experts, who have also questioned whether pilots are provided enough training and experience to maintain manual flying proficiency."

Advancements in technology contribute to "diminished manual flying skills," the DOT said, which is dangerous as studies show pilots overestimate their ability to navigate a plane in manual mode. To ensure the safety of passengers, the agency wants the FAA to develop guidelines airlines can use to train and evaluate their pilots. Plus, it believes the FAA should conjure up standards on how to determine if they've received sufficient training to be able to fly planes on their own.

Google Maps Will Soon Work Out Where You’re Going by Itself

As reported by The Verge: Google is adding a new feature to Maps for Android that could make its navigation software even smarter. Called "Driving Mode," the new Maps mode will take into account your history and current location to try and determine your destination. The app will then suggest info about your route like travel times and traffic conditions, according to Android Police. It appears to be similar to the algorithmic suggestions offered up in Google Now cards, yet tailored for getting around by car and even when you already know how to get there. You'll be able to launch Driving Mode with an app icon shortcut or through Maps' in-app sidebar.

Google Maps version 9.19, the one with Driving Mode, is in the process of being pushed to the Play Store and may not be widely available for some time. You can install the version manually, but figuring out how to activate the feature is proving difficult. Android Police managed to get it up and running on two devices without figuring out how to replicate the process on a third. While we can hope Google's general release will fix the issue, we might be waiting until a later version to try out the fully featured Driving Mode.

SpaceX to Attempt Another Rocket Landing Sunday

As reported by Space.com: SpaceX is planning to try another epic rocket landing during a satellite launch Sunday (Jan. 17), according to media reports.

The private spaceflight company aims to bring the first stage of its two-stageFalcon 9 rocket back for a soft touchdown on an uncrewed ship in the Pacific Ocean during Sunday's launch of the Jason-3 Earth-observation satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The news was first reported by space journalist Charles Lurio via Twitter, and subsequently confirmed by NBC News.

SpaceX has already pulled off a rocket landing; a Falcon 9 first stage touched down at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Dec. 21 during the launch of 11 spacecraft for satellite-communications company Orbcomm. The milestone marked the first time a booster had ever landed softly during an orbital liftoff. (Blue Origin, a company headed byAmazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, landed its New Shepard rocket during a suborbital test flight this past November.)

SpaceX has attemped a Falcon 9 sea landing twice before, once in January 2015 and again in April of that year. Both times, the rocket stage hit its target but came in too hard, toppling and exploding on the ship's deck.

These touchdown attempts are part of SpaceX's efforts to develop fully and rapidly reusable rockets,  technology that company founder and CEO Elon Musk says could cut the cost of spaceflight by a factor of 100. Such dramatic price reductions could, in turn, make Mars colonization economically feasible, Musk has said.

The Jason-3 satellite is designed to measure variations in global sea level extremely precisely, allowing researchers to a get a better understanding of the ongoing effects of climate change. The spacecraft's observations will add to a dataset that has been accruing since the 1992 launch of the TOPEX/Poseidon mission.

The Jason-3 mission is a joint effort involving the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the European climate-satellite organization EUMETSAT, the French space agency CNES and NASA.

Ford Puts Its Driverless Cars on the Snowy Streets of Michigan

As reported by NBC News: Ford is getting a head start on making their autonomous cars feel at home in the snow, a condition that can be tricky for driverless vehicle systems. The winter weather coats the ground, covering up lane markers, signs and other features the cars use to navigate the road — and, of course, it's slippery.

"In the real world you don't always have perfect sunny weather," said Ford's director of autonomous vehicles and controls, Randy Visintainer, in a video put out by the company.

Until now, testing has largely been done under good conditions in sunny states like California, Nevada and Texas. Google's driverless cars only recently encountered rain, and had to be outfitted with tiny wipers for their sensors.

Related: Self-Driving Google Cars Keep Rain Off Sensors With Tiny Wipers

Ford / YouTube

"It's important to test in weather like snow," Visintainer said, "but also to let the public know we are looking at these conditions."

Ford's cars memorize the positions of signs and other landmarks, allowing them to locate themselves to within a centimeter in places the system has mapped.

Related: Welcome to MCity: GM, Honda, Others Fund Fake City for Driverless Cars

The company's cars are cruising around MCity, a fake couple of city blocks built by the University of Michigan specifically for testing autonomous vehicles.

Ehang Unveils Autonomous Passenger Drone (Video)

As reported by the Motor Authority: Small, remote-controlled drones, usually with cameras mounted to them, have become a popular gadget for tech buffs, but a company from China took the concept of a personal drone to a whole new level at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show. That company is drone-maker Ehang, which showed off an autonomous drone big and powerful enough to carry a human.

The idea was conceived by Ehang CEO and founder Huazhi Hu following the passing of two close acquaintances in separate flying accidents. Hu was determined to create a drone capable of personal flight that was also very safe. The result was the Ehang 184, in development since 2013.

The 184 is said to be capable of carrying a person weighing up to 220 pounds and the total flying range at present is less than 2.2 miles. The 184 itself weighs about 440 lb, with carbon fiber and other composites used to offset the weight of the batteries as much as possible while maintaining strength. Ehang envisions this early version being used in crowded metropolises to beat the traffic, or perhaps in tourist spots. The maximum altitude is about 1,640 feet and top speed is approximately 60 mph. Charging, meanwhile, is said to range from 2-4 hours.

A person would simply strap themselves in, enter a destination via a 12-inch touchscreen display and then hit a “take-off” button. Everything else is controlled by the drone, including communicating with air traffic control and other aircraft in addition to navigation. The passenger can order the drone to land or hover at a stationary point, however.

Ehang says the 184 has had more than 100 successful test flights, including those carrying humans. Lift and steering is handled by eight electric motors, two each forming a bi-rotor on each of the four arms, and together they deliver an output of just over 140 horsepower. For safety, the 184 is capable of maintaining flight with three of the bi-rotors should one of them fail.


Ehang is targeting a price tag between $200,000 and $300,000 and says sales may even start this year. But don’t hold your breath, at least if you’re in the United States, as there will likely be some tough Federal Aviation Regulations to meet before the 184 can be legally sold.

Watch This Tesla Car Drive Itself With the New ‘Summon’ Option

As reported by The Next Web: Ok, this is cool. The latest version of Tesla’s software actually allows drivers to get out of the car and let the Model S do all of the work, driving itself with just a tap of the key fob.

Called ‘Summon,’ the feature allows Tesla owners to let the car park and back itself out of parking spaces at will. If the car is connected to a garage door through the ‘HomeLink’ connection, the car will also be able to operate that all by itself. So if you’re really over driving the extra few feet inside your garage or you’d just rather have your car ready to go in the morning, the Model S uses the myriad of sensors and cameras already built into the car to get the job done with no driver involved.

Plus, it just looks cool. Like James Bond cool.

The new update, v. 7.1, also features new restrictions to the car’s semi-autonomous ‘Autopilot’ feature to maximize road safety — particularly ensuring that the car does not exceed five miles above a given speed limit, and that the person operating the car must be in the driver’s seat. For those of you brave enough to take your hands off the wheel, you can do so with more safety involved.