Lifeboat Foundation

Mercedes-Benz’s CityPilot autonomous bus technology just got a real-world, long-range test drive on the streets and highways of the Netherlands. One of the company’s Future Bus vehicles successfully followed a 20km Bus Rapid Transit route between Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and the nearby town of Haarlem, navigating through tight turns, intersections and pedestrian areas all without the need for human input.

The CityPilot platform is based on a version of Daimler’s Highway Pilot autonomous trucking technology adapted to handle the specific needs of a city bus. With GPS, radar and a dozen cameras built into the vehicle itself, the bus can recognize traffic signals, pedestrians and other obstacles. The bus has a top speed of 70km/h (or about 43 mph) and all that data taken together allows the bus to position itself within inches of bus stops or raised accessibility platforms.

Although regulations still require a human operator sit behind the wheel in case of an emergency, the vehicle’s intelligent systems make for a much smoother ride for everyone. Unlike other autonomous vehicles, the bus is actually connected to the city network so it can communicate directly with traffic lights and other city infrastructure. The camera systems can even scan the road for potholes, so buses can avoid rough patches on their next run or share that data back to the city.

Continue reading “Mercedes’ autonomous bus makes a landmark trip on public roads” »

The defense community has already begun a healthy dialogue about the ethics of AI in combat systems.

Cannot wait to see the work on this.

DARPA has awarded a grant worth $7.5 million to San Francisco-based Profusa for the development of tissue-integrated biosensors. The biosensors will be used by the military to monitor the health status of soldiers in real time.

( Profusa )

Continue reading “DARPA Awards $7.5M Grant For Development Of Implantable Biosensors” »

New ink for printers to improve speed and conserve ink. I know a few legal and accounting firms that would love this.

Nano Dimension Ltd has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Nano Dimension Technologies, has filed a patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the development of a new nanometric conductive ink, which is based on a unique synthesis.

The new nanoparticle synthesis further minimizes the size of the silver nanoparticles particles in the company’s ink products. The new process achieves silver nanoparticles as small as 4 nanometers.

Continue reading “A new nanometric conductive ink” »

Definitely interesting concept.

Biowire.

Researchers led by microbiologist Derek Lovely say the wires, which rival the thinnest wires known to man, are produced from renewable, inexpensive feedstocks and avoid the harsh chemical processes typically used to produce nanoelectronic materials.

Lovley says, “New sources of electronic materials are needed to meet the increasing demand for making smaller, more powerful electronic devices in a sustainable way.” The ability to mass-produce such thin conductive wires with this sustainable technology has many potential applications in electronic devices, functioning not only as wires, but also transistors and capacitors. Proposed applications include biocompatible sensors, computing devices, and as components of solar panels.

Continue reading “‘Green’ electronic materials produced with synthetic biology” »

In the UK; US has HIPAA and I am glad.

Google has made headlines for its forays into healthcare but what is its ultimate goal?

Ever wanted your own home bioreactor; now you can have it.

Read about how one doctor was inspired to create an Arduino-powered bioreactor and ended up with an affordable, accurate device.

Wish Purdue students a lot of luck. Wouldn’t it be interesting if Purdue rescued Governor Rick Scott from his algae disaster in FL.

With toxic algae blooms closing beaches in Florida, the project is no longer just a local concern for the group.