Intelligent Machines
A single autonomous car has a huge impact on alleviating traffic.
Even intelligent cruise control systems could be used to clear up congestion.
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NSERC/Tesla Canada Industrial Research Chair Jeff Dahn has claimed that the cells developed by his research team could double the life of Tesla’s batteries, a milestone not expected for another four years.
For the procrastinators of the world, simply hitting a deadline is often an achievement worthy of celebration. Clearly, battery researcher Jeff Dahn is not one of those people. Less than one year into a research partnership with Tesla, his team has created and lab-tested cells capable of doubling the lifetime of the company’s batteries — a milestone they weren’t expected to hit for another four years.
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See also: Elon Musk Says Robots Will Help Tesla Catch Up to Apple in Value
So why won’t other auto manufacturers follow suit and overtake Tesla? First, their products, as well as their factories, are bogged down by legacy. Tesla’s electric cars are significantly easier to manufacture than internal combustion (IC) vehicles. Tesla’s Model S has fewer than 20 moving parts, compared with almost 1,500 moving parts in an IC-engine car. This means that there are fewer steps in the assembly process, fewer suppliers to deal with, and lower inventory of components and parts. Further, Tesla doesn’t have to deal with a unionized workforce, a complex supply chain, or a legacy dealer network. Free from this legacy, Tesla can embrace disruptive innovation without worrying about the backlash from workers, suppliers, and dealers.
To become as big as Apple one day, Tesla will need more than the “Henry Ford” approach to manufacturing. It will also need the “Steve Jobs” approach to marketing by creating a vast global appetite for its products. The Apple iPhone is a global product that can be sold from New York to Mumbai to Beijing with very little incremental investment. However, Tesla’s cars require the creation of infrastructure for charging and a distribution network from scratch—a very expensive and time-consuming process. Tesla will need to build out its charging network and distribution reach, country by country. China is an important overseas market for Tesla, as is Scandinavia; it also has a rollout plan for India with its Model 3.
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Best of MOOGFEST 2017
Posted in media & arts, robotics/AI, transportation
I’m speaking at Moogfest at 4:30PM a week from today. Can’t Wait! KurzweilAI doing a write-up on the festival below (including a bit on my talk):
The Moogfest four-day festival in Durham, North Carolina next weekend (May 18 — 21) explores the future of technology, art, and music. Here are some of the sessions that may be especially interesting to KurzweilAI readers. Full #Moogfest2017 Program Lineup.
The Lunar Lander from ‘Alien Covenant’ is being sent to the moon. #AlienCovenant
The Lunar Lander from ‘Alien: Covenant’ is being sent to the moon.
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The Connected Business May 2017
Posted in business, economics, robotics/AI
- Corporations now rule the world, and one of them is Apple.
- With the company’s record-breaking cash hoard swelling to almost $300 billion, there’s not a lot the Cupertino tech giant couldn’t do.
In the science fiction flick Incorporated, a post-apocalyptic future world is no longer run by nation-states but by corporation-states, each acting in the best interests of the company. Such a future doesn’t seem that far or farfetched now, especially if one considers just how big the world’s most powerful corporations are.
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