Monthly Archives: January 2020
MIT’s M-Block Robots Roll, Jump, and Flip to Form Structures
We’ve seen engineers design some truly amazing robots that can walk, run, and even jump, but not all robots need to be so elaborate. MIT researchers have created a fleet of tiny robotic cubes that can move around and interact with each other autonomously. An individual “M-Block” robot is simple and not very useful, but […]
Hyundai Makes the Case for Fuel Cell Trucks With Gorgeous HDC-6 Neptune
ATLANTA — Move over, Tesla Semi. Hyundai has the newest and coolest big rig in a fuel-cell-powered tractor and a nitrogen-cooled trailer introduced here today at a big truck show. The truck part (tractor) is the Hyundai HDC-6 Neptune concept with as many as eight hydrogen tanks propelling itself farther than even what Tesla promises […]
How to Make Sense of Google’s Quantum Supremacy Claim
If you’ve been reading some of the sensationalist headlines about the paper Google published in Nature claiming “quantum supremacy,” you’d be forgiven for thinking the day of omniscient supercomputers and shattered security systems are nearly upon us. You may have been curious enough to wade through the paper itself to see what’s been actually achieved […]
MIT Taught Self-Driving Cars to See Around Corners with Shadows
We’re inching ever-closer to a world where cars can drive themselves. The most advanced autonomous vehicles in testing by companies like Alphabet’s Waymo can drive in many situations as well as a human, but the hope is to make cars better than human drivers. Ideally, a self-driving car would be able to use all its […]
Steve Wozniak: No Self-Driving Cars in My Lifetime
LAS VEGAS — Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak believes in technology. But that doesn’t extend to believing autonomous driving is happening soon. Wozniak, now 69, says autonomous cars that don’t need a backup driver on board probably won’t happen “in my lifetime.” One culprit: Artificial intelligence probably isn’t intelligent or flexible enough to be better than […]
Toyota’s not alone in the slow lane to self-driving cars
When Toyota Motor Corp launches its all-battery Lexus next year, the luxury model will be able to drive autonomously on highways, a big step for the Japanese automaker, which has so far trailed rivals in bringing self-driving cars to market.
Top Cars of the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show
The 2019 Tokyo Motor Show is about what you’d expect: cars for the specific needs of a densely populated country with few onshore energy resources. Thus, lots of electric vehicles, small cars, really small cars, and retro car concepts that look odd to American tastes that same way Plymouth’s PT Cruiser looked to Japan when […]
Airless tire makers hope for breakout moment with autonomous driving
Makers of airless tires such as Japan’s Bridgestone Corp. hope driverless cars will herald a breakthrough for their niche technology, which is more than a decade old but underperforms standard tires in every way except resistance to puncture.
BMW M2 X35i SUV Review: The 2002 tii Reimagined for Modern Times
The BMW X2 M35i is a wicked-fast small SUV that retains a measure of practicality — meaning room for four not-overweight people, and their clothing tightly packed in soft-sided luggage. The X2 M exists for the swooping, twisty roads of the Great Blue Mountains, and similar back roads across America and Canada. Even if it’s […]
After Decades, the Air Force Retires 8-Inch Floppies From Missile Control Systems
After over 40 years, the Strategic Automated Command and Control system (SACCS) no longer runs on venerable 8-inch floppy drives from circa 1972. As of this past June, the entire system has moved to a “highly-secure solid-state digital storage solution.” That’s according to Lt. Col. Jason Rossi, commander of the Air Force’s 595th Strategic Communications […]