Lifeboat Foundation

Even in the best case, automation leaves the first generation of workers it displaces in a lurch because they usually don’t have the skills to do new and more complex tasks, Mr. Acemoglu found in a paper published in May.

Robert Stilwell, 35, of Evansville, Ind., is one of them. He did not graduate from high school and worked in factories building parts for tools and cars, wrapping them up and loading them onto trucks. After he was laid off, he got a job as a convenience store cashier, which pays a lot less.

“I used to have a really good job, and I liked the people I worked with — until it got overtaken by a machine, and then I was let go,” he said.

Continue reading “The Long-Term Jobs Killer Is Not China. It’s Automation” »

Waymo, the newly-minted Alphabet company that was previously Google’s self-driving car project, has a new addition to its vehicle fleet: 100 Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans, which were produced by Fiat Chrysler specifically for the purpose of making them fully autonomous using Waymo’s tech, onboard computer power, sensors and telematics. The 100 new cars will join Waymo’s other self-driving vehicles in active service on public roads for more testing starting early next year.

These vehicles were created through a close partnership between Waymo and FCA that actually saw engineering teams from both companies co-located at a Michigan engineering site, and testing of tech through the development process happened both in Chelsea, Michigan, and Yucca, Arizona on the FCA side, and at Waymo’s own test facilities in California.

While the Chrysler Pacificas used are based on the 2017 production model that consumers can buy, changes were made to the vehicles’ electrical, powertrain and structural systems, as well as to the vehicle chassis itself, in order to make them better suited for using Waymo’s tech. This results in a much tighter integration than if the Alphabet company had just purchased Chrysler vehicles off the line and done their own aftermarket modifications on stock vehicles. Still, from project outset to these being ready to enter service took only six months, according to FCA.

Continue reading “Here’s our first look at Waymo’s new self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivans” »

If it works? LOL it’s 1960’s technology.

Shervin Pishevar is a startup investor and one of the central social figures in Silicon Valley. He recently founded Hyperloop One, a project to move people long distances through tubes at supersonic speeds.

His reputation and fortune come largely from a single investment he made in 2011 while at the VC firm Menlo Ventures: a $26 million stake in a small ride-hailing app called Uber. Those shares are now worth more than $5 billion.

Continue reading “Shervin Pishevar explains his plan to create the world’s first supersonic Hyperloop” »

Click on photo to start video.

BMW revealed a motorcycle so artificially intelligent that you can ride it without a helmet.

Uber “respectfully disagrees” with the California DMV that its self-driving cars are illegal.

Scientists at NASA are designing airplane wings that can change shape mid-flight. Much like a bird’s feathers, the wings would move autonomously giving the pilot an incredible amount of control in the air.

Ooops.

SACRAMENTO, Dec. 14 (UPI) — The California Department of Motor Vehicles issued a warning of sorts to rideshare company Uber on Wednesday, apparently for wading too far into the waters of testing self-driving vehicles in San Francisco.

Continue reading “Uber draws ire of California DMV for testing self-driving cars in S.F. without permit” »

A successful production trial by Australian battery technology innovator Nano-Nouvelle has proved its pioneering nanotechnology ­­­supports industrial-scale manufacture, with output rates 100 times faster.

The Sunshine Coast-based company is developing world-leading nanotechnology that can boost the energy storage capacity of lithium ion batteries by as much as 50 per cent. Lithium ion batteries are used in devices ranging from mobile phones and notebooks to and electric vehicles and home energy storage systems.

As well as proving its technology, Nano-Nouvelle has worked with companies worldwide to ensure its battery-boosting breakthrough is usable with today’s production lines.

Michigan just made it into the history books today after Governor Rick Snyder signed 4 bills into law, all governing the legality of the autonomous car, making Michigan the first state to officially sign off on driverless cars on the roads.

Many states have allowed testing of driverless vehicles, but Michigan just officially put them on the road for consumers.