The end of humanity isn’t going to come as a result of military robots taking it into their silicon heads to wipe us all out. It’s going to be the result of domestic robots doing that very thing. At least, that’s how the science fiction goes. And seeing Digit, the creation of Ford and a robotics startup called Agility Robotics, hasn’t really assured us that things will go otherwise. But that’s mostly because we can see this bipedal critter being really useful.
While the look and feel of our cars has changed in the past 100 years, the way we drive them hasn’t. But fundamental change is coming. In the next decade, not only will the way they’re powered and wired have shifted dramatically, but we won’t be the ones driving them anymore.
Elon Musk recently tweeted that Tesla is busy porting Unity and the Unreal Engine that’ll allow the centre console of its cars more gaming power.
Rightly or wrongly, billions of dollars are being poured into autonomous vehicle research and development to pursue this autopia. However, barely any resource or thought is being given to the question of how humans will ultimately respond to the AV fleet. In a city full of autonomous cars, how might our behaviour and use of city streets change?
As Harry Potter’s encounter with the Whomping Willow reminds us, flying cars can be dangerous. Before futuristic visions of three-dimensional sprawling city traffic can approach reality, there are some serious safety issues that need addressing.
When Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was released 50 years ago, flying cars were a flight of fancy. Now, these futuristic vehicles are entering the outer fringes of reality. According to a new study published in Nature, for some journeys flying cars could eventually be greener than even electric road cars, cutting emissions while also reducing traffic on increasingly busy roads.
We’ve been following the fortunes of the Bloodhound SSC, the rocket-powered car that was supposed to hit South Africa in order to break the land-speed record, almost from the very start. We thought that all was lost when the project was delayed, and then delayed some more, and then ran out of money but it’s back. Bloodhound SSC has become Bloodhound LSR (which stands for ‘Land Speed Record’) and has picked up a new sponsor: Ian Melett.
This morning Elon Musk revelaed the Tesla Model Y. It’s the electric carmaker’s new compact SUV that’ll only be available in 2020.
So you and your kids have more money than you know what to do with. You lucky, lucky people. If you’re looking for ways to squander your Insta-fortune, Bugatti has a little something for you consider. Called the Baby II, Bugatti’s new electric vehicle (EV) has been designed with shorter, school-aged drivers in mind. The R471,500 price tag? That’s… pretty grown up.
Hollywood would have us believe our cars are extremely vulnerable to hackers. A hacker remotely logs into the onboard computer of a car on display in a showroom, causing the car to burst through the glass out onto the street – just in the nick of time to block a car chase.