Amazon Acquires Autonomous Ride-hailing Start-up Zoox for ~$1.2 Billion

Amazon has signed an agreement to acquire Zoox, a California-based company working to design autonomous ride-hailing vehicles from the ground up. Aicha Evans, Zoox CEO, and Jesse Levinson, Zoox co-founder and CTO, will continue to lead the team as they innovate and drive towards their mission.

Though no official financial details were revealed but according to media reports including NYTimes.com, Amazon has reportedly shelled out about $1.2 billion US dollars to buy the six-year-old self-driving vehicle technology startup.

Founded in 2014, Zoox is autonomous vehicle company targeted at robo-taxi market by developing a fully autonomous, purpose-built fleet designed for Artificial Intelligence (AI) to drive and humans to enjoy.\

Tesla CEO Elon Musk reacted to the Amazon's acquisition news Musk by taking a jab at Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Twitter. In his tweet, Musk called Amazon CEO a copycat but used a yellow cat icon instead of the word "cat."

.@JeffBezos is a copy 🐈 haha https://t.co/plR7uupqBG

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 26, 2020

Notably, while Tesla cars are built to go directly to customers Zoox's vehicles are designed for ride-hailing purpose and Amazon will more likely use Zoox for its package delivery process.

"This acquisition solidifies Zoox's impact on the autonomous driving industry," said Aicha Evans, CEO of Zoox. "We have made great strides with our purpose-built approach to safe, autonomous mobility, and our exceptionally talented team working every day to realize that vision. We now have an even greater opportunity to realize a fully autonomous future."

"Since Zoox's inception six years ago, we have been singularly focused on our ground-up approach to autonomous mobility," said Jesse Levinson, Zoox co-founder and CTO. "Amazon's support will markedly accelerate our path to delivering safe, clean, and enjoyable transportation to the world."

Zoox's ground-up vehicle focuses on the ride-hailing customer, with tightly integrated features designed to provide a revolutionary passenger experience. Zoox's approach to invention provides flexibility and the means to iterate rapidly to continuously deliver a superior experience for customers.

Chinese Automobile Firm to Launch 500 Satellites A Year to Guide Its Autonomous Cars

Early last month, Chinese automobile firm Geely has announced that it is constructing an intelligent satellite production and testing centre in Taizhou City for satellite guided navigation of its autonomous cars.

By the end of 2020, Geespace, which is the Geely operating company established in 2018 for the development, launch, and operation of low-orbit satellites, will begin the launch of its commercial low-orbit satellite network.

[caption id="attachment_144196" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Geely Satellite Production and Testing Centre[/caption]

Headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, Geely aims to produce 500 satellites a year by around 2025, with around 300 highly-skilled staff.

The upcoming cutting-edge facility, for which Geely Holding Group is investing 2.27 billion yuan ($326 million), will include a modular satellite manufacturing centre, satellite testing centre, satellite R&D centre, and cloud computing centre.

The facility, established under Geely Holding Group’s tech subsidiary, Geely Technology Group, will be able to develop and produce a variety of different satellite models and marks the first time a private enterprise has begun to produce satellites in China.

Geely’s expansion into low-orbit satellites marks a significant milestone in the creation of a truly smart three-dimensional mobility ecosystem. Low-orbit satellites will be able to offer high speed internet connectivity, highly precise navigation, and cloud computing capabilities.

[caption id="attachment_144195" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] High Precision GPS[/caption]

This low-orbit satellite network will offer much higher centimeter accurate precision for autonomous vehicles such as lane change and accident avoidance via precise GPS location data usable by vehicles on roads or in the air.

These low-orbit satellites are designed to have a limited lifespan ranging between one to ten years and to naturally disintegrate into earth’s atmosphere at the end of their lifecycle.

New Consortium to Develop a Common Computing Platform for Autonomous Vehicles

Leading companies from the automotive and computing industries announced at last week a collaborative effort toward making fully self-driving vehicles a reality. The new Autonomous Vehicle Computing Consortium (AVCC), officially launched at Arm TechCon in San Jose, brings together industry leaders from automotive, automotive supply, semiconductor and computing to serve as the leading organization for autonomous computing expertise.

• A group of leading automotive and technology industry companies including a, Bosch, Continental, DENSO, General Motors, NVIDIA, NXP Semiconductors and Toyota have joined forces to help accelerate the delivery of safer and affordable autonomous vehicles at scale.


• Autonomous Vehicle Computing Consortium (AVCC) commits to making fully self-driving vehicles a reality through industry-level collaboration.


• The AVCC will start its work by developing a set of recommendations of a system architecture and a computing platform to promote scalable deployment of automated and autonomous vehicles.

Leading companies from the automotive and computing industries announced at last week a collaborative effort toward making fully self-driving vehicles a reality. The new Autonomous Vehicle Computing Consortium (AVCC), officially launched at Arm TechCon in San Jose, brings together industry leaders from automotive, automotive supply, semiconductor and computing to serve as the leading organization for autonomous computing expertise. Together with the consortium’s growing membership, the initial AVCC members Arm, Bosch, Continental, DENSO, General Motors, NVIDIA, NXP Semiconductors and Toyota will collaborate to help solve some of the most significant challenges to deploy self-driving vehicles at scale.

The first step toward achieving this vision and the common objective of AVCC is to develop a set of recommendations of a system architecture and a computing platform that reconciles the performance requirements of autonomous systems with the vehicle-specific requirements and limitations in terms of size, temperature range, power consumption and safety. These recommendations will be specially developed to move autonomous vehicles from today’s prototype systems to deployment at scale.

Member companies understand the technological complexities and obstacles to overcome for the deployment of autonomous vehicles. They aim to work together to enable solutions that address these challenges and create an ecosystem of industry experts to focus on innovations that to meet these goals. Working groups will share ideas and study common technological challenges, facilitating cross-industry collaboration to help the automotive industry work together by defining, educating and publishing for the benefit of all.

AVCC calls on all interested parties, and members of the automotive ecosystem worldwide to accept the challenge to build the future of the industry one milestone at a time, one breakthrough at a time while sharing with the technical community each one of those important advances.

To learn more about the Autonomous Vehicle Computing Consortium and opportunities to support the mission of accelerating the delivery of safe and affordable autonomous vehicles at scale.

“The future of mobility and the safe, scalable deployment of advanced driver assistance systems to fully autonomous vehicles for mass production requires unprecedented industry collaboration,” said Dipti Vachani, senior vice president and general manager, Automotive and IoT Line of Business, Arm. “The AVCC brings together leaders from across the automotive industry landscape to tackle complex foundational technological and computing challenges to accelerate our path to a truly autonomous future.”

“As well as the development of hardware, there is a large and sophisticated autonomous vehicle software stack required,” said Michael Meier, director of engineering and product management, Drivers Assistance and Automated Driving, Bosch. “As part of the AVCC, Bosch will help to develop recommendations for software APIs for each building block in an autonomous system.”

“Denso is looking forward to creating a shared platform to focus innovation as part of the AVCC,” said Takuya Fukushima, AVCC board member, AD & ADAS Electronics Engineering Division, Denso Corporation. “The consortium brings together expertise, knowledge and innovation with a shared goal and focused strategy. It will facilitate and manage workgroups to share ideas and study common technological challenges.”

“The massive amount of technological innovation required to power fully self-driving vehicles at scale requires collaboration at an industry level,” said Massimo Osella, AVCC chairman of the board, and lab group manager, Research & Development at General Motors. “We are delighted to join this group of key leaders in the automotive industry. As the AVCC, we are working together to create the ‘go to’ organization for autonomous computing expertise to help bring this technology to market.”

“The hardware and software requirements for autonomous vehicles are enormous, requiring an energy-efficient, high-performance AI platform to process sensor data and achieve the highest levels of safety,” said Gary Hicok, senior vice president of Automotive Hardware and Software Systems at NVIDIA. “As the leader in AI computing, we are working closely with transportation innovators, tackling the complexities of developing and deploying safe autonomous vehicles at scale.”

“The path to delivering autonomous vehicles is long and complex,” said Kamal Khouri, vice president and general manager of Advanced Driver Assistance Solutions at NXP Semiconductors. “NXP welcomes the opportunity to work with the AVCC to define the computing architectures needed to help solve the huge challenge of deploying safe self-driving vehicles.”

“The AVCC understands the technological complexities and obstacles that need to be overcome for the deployment of autonomous vehicles,” said Satoru Taniguchi, AVCC board member, and project general manager, Electronics Control System Development Division at Toyota Motor Corporation. “Toyota aims to work with the other AVCC members to deliver a conceptual computing platform that addresses these challenges.”

BMW unveils 'Vision M NEXT' Its Electric Autonomous Car

In future, drivers will be able to choose whether they wish to be driven or do the driving themselves. With the BMW Vision M NEXT, the BMW Group is revealing its take on how driving pleasure might look in future for those who enjoy taking the wheel themselves. It offers a foretaste of the BMW M brand’s electrified future by placing the focus squarely on the actively engaged driver. Intelligent technologies on board provide comprehensive yet carefully targeted assistance to turn them into the ultimate driver.

Hosting the exclusive world premiere of the BMW Vision M NEXT is the new #NEXTGen infotainment platform at BMW Welt. This standalone event concentrating on personal mobility solutions “made by the BMW Group” adds another regular fixture to the calendar of car shows / technology & future-focused trade events around the world which the company already attends. The Group’s latest technological advances in the fields of design, autonomous driving, connectivity, electrification and services will be showcased here, alongside spectacular world premieres such as that of the BMW Vision M NEXT.

[video width="1280" height="720" mp4="https://www.indianweb2.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PF0006947_sceneId16364_preview.mp4"][/video]

“The BMW Vision M NEXT provides a glimpse into the future of sporty driving,” says Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President BMW Group Design. “Where the BMW Vision iNEXT illustrated how autonomous driving is set to transform life on board our vehicles, the BMW Vision M NEXT demonstrates how state-of-the-art technology can also make the experience of driving yourself purer and more emotionally engaging. In both models, the focus is firmly on the people inside. Design and technology make the ‘EASE’ and ‘BOOST’ experiences more natural and more intense.”

The EASE and BOOST experience concepts.



The BMW Vision iNEXT and BMW Vision M NEXT Vision Vehicles represent prototype versions of BMW’s future experience concepts “EASE” and “BOOST”. EASE encompasses all the experiences during a journey when the vehicle assumes the task of driving. Here, the vehicle is transformed into a living space on four wheels, where the passengers can feel safe and secure. From rest and relaxation, via talking, interacting and enjoying in-car entertainment, all the way to maximum concentration – the experiences on offer with the EASE concept are as varied as the occupants’ needs. BOOST, meanwhile, stands for the ultimate active driving experience. The EASE and BOOST concepts are underpinned in equal measure by the building blocks for the BMW Group’s future, comprising the innovation areas of Autonomous driving, Connectivity, Electrification and Services (ACES). The Design lends these areas visual expression and makes the underlying technology something you can engage with (D+ACES).

Exterior exudes BMW sports-car DNA.



“The BMW Vision M NEXT is a progressive hybrid sports car that makes a very clear and confident statement, in terms of both appearance and interaction,” says Domagoj Dukec, Vice President BMW Design. The emotion-stirring exterior design clearly announces the BMW Vision Vehicle’s performance potential, borrowing styling cues from both classic and contemporary BMW sports cars in the process. The BMW Vision M NEXT draws its inspiration from the iconic BMW Turbo and groundbreaking BMW i8 plug-in hybrid and adopts a future-focused interpretation of design elements such as the low-slung, wedge-shaped silhouette, gullwing doors and striking colour scheme. The unmistakable sports-car proportions are composed of surfaces characterised by clarity and pared-down styling. The front and rear ends are finished in the matt-neon shade Thrilling Orange, producing a vivid contrast against the exterior’s otherwise silk-matt Cast Silver metallic paintwork. This use of colour blocking gives the Vision Vehicle an added air of modernity and emphasises its inherent dynamism.

The actual driving experience in the BMW Vision M NEXT is every bit as captivating as its exterior looks. The Power PHEV drive system in offers the choice between electric all-wheel drive and pure rear-wheel drive, with either all-electric propulsion or the power of a turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine. System output of 441 kW (600 hp) produces a top speed of 300 km/h (186 mph) and enables the BMW Vision M NEXT to sprint from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just three seconds. There is also a BOOST+ mode that puts extra power on tap at the push of a button. The maximum range when driving in all-electric mode is 100 km (62 miles) – more than enough to complete the majority of journeys purely on electric power. This means the BMW Vision M NEXT is a sports car that would also be suitable for use in city centres where zero-emissions zones may come into force in the future.

Incorporating a modern take on classic design icons: the front end.



The expressive front-end design serves up a confident and modern interpretation of classic BMW icons. The signature BMW kidney grille is flanked on either side by triangular elements in Thrilling Orange, which serve to accentuate the air intakes at the sides and the integral headlights. These elements combine with the blade-shaped air intake below the kidney grille to create a cutting-edge racing aesthetic.

The soft outer curves of the kidney grille openings are reminiscent of a turbine’s air intake and give the front end added dynamic impact, while the colour gradient used for the inside of the two kidney elements creates a sense of depth. The grille openings are each blanked off by a transparent layer with a laser-etched, illuminated pattern that seems to be floating inside – a highly sophisticated touch that gives added emphasis to this section of the car.

The BMW Vision M NEXT headlights are positioned on the outer edges of the front end, higher up than the kidney grille. Arranged one above the other rather than side by side, their constituent elements represent a highly distinctive interpretation of BMW’s classic four-eyed front end. The headlights hand a debut to Laser Wire lighting technology, whereby glass fibres coated with phosphorous are used to produce headlight elements with a new, super-slim and extremely precise form. All of which further underscores the Vision Vehicle’s future-focused character.

Trailblazing dynamism: the flanks.
The low-slung, wedge-shaped sports-car silhouette of the BMW Vision M NEXT, the reward climb of its flank lines and the diagonal splash of contrasting orange colour endow it with dramatic forward-surging intent, even when standing still. The black side skirts made from recycled carbon fibre make the car look even lower on the road. The sports-car silhouette frames a small number of crisp lines running along the clearly sculpted surfaces. The lines of the powerfully contoured shoulders are also used to create the effect of the iconic Hofmeister kink, instead of incorporating it into the window graphic in the usual BMW fashion. The design is broken up by a gill-like aperture that narrows as it sweeps back from the window surface towards the tail, giving the car a more elongated appearance. A second look reveals another highlight in the form of the Air Flow. This opening located just in front of the rear wheels is designed to carefully channel the onrushing air towards the rear end in a way that further improves aerodynamics.

Precisely engineered gaps in the wheels’ intricate, three-dimensional multi-spoke design result in low weight, maximum rigidity and reduced drag and so optimise the transfer of power to the road. The spokes’ open, three-dimensional architecture maximises cooling of the large brake discs at the front, while inserts optimise aero efficiency at the rear. The rear wheels on the BMW Vision M NEXT measure 22 inches in diameter, making them one inch larger than the front wheels (21 inches) and further emphasising the car’s wedge-shaped appearance.

Low-slung, broad and extremely dynamic: the rear end.

The broad, low-slung rear end makes a stylistic statement with its distinctly sporty tone. Its colour scheme divides the car’s sculptural tail into two sections. The top section in Thrilling Orange creates a visual link between the coloured areas of the flanks, further adding to the impression of width. The area below it is made from recycled carbon fibre and incorporates an aerodynamically optimised diffuser. The design of the rear window takes its cue from the BMW M1. The three-piece louvres are made from glass and emphasise the horizontal focus of the rear-end styling.

The rear lights feature the same Laser Wire technology used for the headlights. Their glass lenses frame the rear end in a sweeping flourish on either side, bringing its width and sporting presence to the fore. Inside each light unit, a single wafer-thin glass fibre produces an abstract ECG trace of a heartbeat fashioned with pin-sharp precision. The two-dimensional reinterpretation of the distinctive pair of BMW roundels from the BMW Turbo and BMW M1 – a gift to BMW aficionados – gives them the impression of floating in the rear lights’ transparent lenses.

Focusing on the driver: the interior.



Facial recognition technology allows the car to unlock automatically as the driver approaches. Pressing the touch sensor on the gullwing doors prompts them to swing open, revealing a cabin that merges the driver and vehicle into one. The classy, minimalist interior revolves entirely around the actively engaged driver, both stylistically and technologically. The interior appears as if cut from a single mould, with functional elements such as the air vents integrated almost out of sight. Its geometry is deliberately restrained in nature so the driver can devote their attention entirely to the driving experience. The seat shells form part of a seat sculpture with a flowing design. They are upholstered in a foam material with shape memory properties that moulds itself to, cushions and supports the body to optimum effect. The head restraints seem to hover above both seat shells, increasing the sense of lightness. The extremely comfortable seating position immerses the driver in the driving experience.

Eyes on the road, hands on the wheel: the BOOST Pod.



“The entire interior is focused on the BOOST Pod. The geometry has a deliberately low-key feel so that the driver can concentrate fully on the driving experience,” explains Domagoj Dukec. Taking pride of place in the interior, the BOOST Pod forms the interface between driver and vehicle. It brings together all the control options and information across three distinct visual tiers in the driver’s direct field of view. The first plane is formed by the horizontally arranged steering wheel featuring two small displays. Following this in the driver’s line of sight is a Curved Glass Display, a new addition whose transparent surface stretches around the steering wheel like a visor. The full-surface Augmented Reality Head-Up Display in the windscreen constitutes the third plane. Everything therefore happens directly in the driver’s line of sight. The driving settings can be modified on the steering wheel, while information such as revs, road speed, energy management, the driver’s heart rate and availability of BOOST+ mode is spread among a total of five clusters in the Curved Glass Display behind. BOOST+ mode can be engaged at the touch of a button to release extra power. The car alerts the driver when the ideal moment arrives to activate BOOST+.

Taking driver focus to the next level: focus logic.

“In the BMW Vision M NEXT, intelligent technologies help the driver and deliver the right content at the right time. Operation is clear and intuitive, with all information presented in the driver’s direct field of view. This is a deliberate counterpoint to the BMW Vision iNEXT, which focused on multimodal operation from every seat,” continues Dukec.

The BMW Vision M NEXT therefore shows the way ahead for BMW’s fabled driver focus. The cabin’s geometry and technology have both been devised to help focus attention on the task of driving and prevent distractions. To this end, the information displayed is adapted to the current speed – based on the principles of focus logic. As the vehicle speeds up, the information centres increasingly on driving-related data and moves into the driver’s eye-line. It is possible to communicate with the Intelligent Personal Assistant at all times while driving – if drivers wish to book the visionary Valet Parking Service for their destination, for instance. Here, a concierge is on hand when they arrive to take the vehicle, park it and bring it back again at the desired time. All done simply and seamlessly using the MyBMW App.

Innovative materials for a luxurious ambience and optimum performance.



“We have designed a modern and luxurious interior with the help of innovative materials. Whereas its geometry is clear and restrained, individual details are showcased like top-class accessories,” says Dukec. The pioneering mix of materials employed in the BMW Vision M NEXT, including woven synthetic fibres, anodised titanium and painted surfaces, has never been seen before in a vehicle in this form, which is why it brings out the car’s character to such stunning effect. Use of leather has been kept deliberately to a minimum, which is why it only adorns the design details that the driver’s and passenger’s hands touch directly, such as the steering wheel and door pull handles. Instead, the interior is dominated by a Midnight Blue microfibre fabric whose look and feel are akin to leather, but is also highly distinctive. Judicious use of Thrilling Orange contrasts injects additional sporting flair.

A particularly striking touch here is the accent line in the driver’s area that runs forwards from the seat over the BOOST Pod, indicating the ideal line of sight over the road. A light element in the BOOST Pod further strengthens this line.

The metallic surfaces in Titanium Bronze have a warm, shimmering tone, adding to the exclusive ambience in the car’s interior. Neat design touches such as the barely visible pockets in the door and centre console allow everyday essentials to remain securely stowed away even when cornering at high speed. The gyroscopic cupholder is able to compensate for strong lateral and longitudinal dynamic forces. A glance upwards reveals both the visible roof structure made from recycled carbon fibre and the headliner, whose tone-in-tone paint finish with mild sheen effect blends in perfectly with the rest of the interior’s colour scheme.

The past and future of dynamic driving.

With its enthralling blend of design and driving experience, the BMW Vision M NEXT fuses BMW’s sporting heritage with the possibilities of tomorrow’s world, and illustrates how the D+ACES building blocks for the future will be able to enhance how the driver experiences a car’s dynamics.

~ Business Wire India feed (Images & video from www.press.bmwgroup.com )

Escorts Launches India’s 1st Automated Concept Tractor for "Autonomous Farming Solutions"

At Esclusive 2018, Escorts’ annual innovation platform, India’s leading engineering conglomerate, Escorts Limited, announced it’s unique Automated Farming Solutions with the launch of Automated Concept Tractor that brings the power of next-generation digital vehicle technologies aimed at precision-based farming. To be able to deliver this, Escorts has collaborated with seven technology giants namely Microsoft, Reliance Jio, Trimble, Samvardhana Motherson Group, WABCO, BOSCH and AVL.

The partnerships and relationships will enable development of a range of farm machines with electric transmissions, autonomous applications, remote vehicle management, data-based soil and crop management, and sensor based guided farm applications.



Indian Agriculture & Farming practices requires extensive mechanisation and precision based agro solutions for maximized output and improved farmer income. Escorts has collaborated with AVL for electric driveline technology, with Trimble for sensors, controls, water level management system and automated e-steering, with Samvardhana Motherson Group for Smart Interface Cabins & Care Plus - a two-way voice interface for real-time service, with WABCO for Vehicle Controls & Automation Technology, with Microsoft for its Cloud & AI technology enabling precision agriculture capabilities to help farmers make informed decisions and get more from their farms, BOSCH for future emission readiness and last but not the least, with Reliance Jio for enhancing farm machinery life cycle with networked platform providing top-notch service and genuine spare parts across the country.

Escorts also pioneered the platform of Shared Services and Agri Solutions with ‘Escorts Crop Solutions’ to offer end-to-end , state of the art equipment for paddy farming under pay-per-use rental model, TRAXI as a service platform to aggregate farm equipment owners to rent out their equipment to small and marginal farmers, SMART PARTS to offer genuine parts and skilled service at an affordable price, DIGITRAC as a front-end farmer interface for agri inputs and customized agri information & FARM POWER, to provide advanced implements and equipment for efficient and productive farming.

Escorts through Esclusive platform also showcased collaborated technology with Tadano for high-end cranes under its newly announced Joint Venture, as well as launched high-end locomotives brake electronic solutions, becoming first Indian company to do so.

Speaking on the occasion, Chairman and Managing Director of Escorts Ltd., Mr. Nikhil Nanda, said, "Esclusive is our annual innovation platform which showcases unique innovations and disruptions in agriculture, construction and railways segments in collaboration with global technology players. Last year we launched world’s first electric compact tractor concept and this year we have pioneered autonomous farming solution platform in association with seven strategic technology tie-ups which will transform agricultural practices for better returns to farmers. This event portrays Escorts commitment to continue to develop and launch technologies for national development and community elevation. Escorts is proud to have collaborated with Microsoft, Reliance Jio, Samvardhana Motherson Group, Bosch, Trimble, AVL, Tadano & WABCO to co-create technologies for autonomous agriculture and smart infrastructure."



News via - Business Wire India

Huawei To Showcase World's 1st Smartphone-Driven Car This Month

China-based tech giant Huawei has extended its artificial intelligence (AI) interests into the realm of driverless vehicles, announcing on Thursday that it has used an AI-powered smartphone to drive a car, reports BGR.

Under its RoadReader project, Huawei has unveiled a technology that uses AI-enabled smartphone to drive a car that can not only identify objects on the road but take smart decisions to avoid collisions or hitting someone.

Huawei will showcase its “RoadReader” project at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain on February 26-27.

In a video released (see below) by the Huawei, the driverless Porsche Panamera is controlled by Huawei’s flagship smartphone “Mate 10 Pro”, that can “understand its surroundings”.



Huawei first used this automatic object-recognition AI capabilities in its Mate 10 Pro for in order to improve photography of the smartphone. Later, Huawei said that this technology can be reused for driverless-cars instead of relying on a third-party purpose-built chip.

"Unlike other driverless cars, which simply detect obstacles, Huawei has transformed a Porsche Panamera into a driverless vehicle that doesn't just see, but crucially understands its surroundings," the Chinese tech giant said.

“Our smartphone is already outstanding at object recognition. We wanted to see if in a short space of time we could teach it to not only drive a car, but to use its AI capabilities to see certain objects, and be taught to avoid them,” said Andrew Garrihy, Chief Marketing Officer at Huawei Europe.

According to ZDNet, Huawei's AI push also saw it sign a strategic agreement with Chinese search engine giant Baidu in December to build an open mobile AI ecosystem that covers platforms, technology, internet services, and content ecosystems.

In India, Huawei first brought its Artificial Intelligence capabilities when it launched its AI-enabled smartphone Honor View 10, in January this year.

Earlier in April 2017, Huawei partnered with Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) India for digitalization of government schools in Telangana state, under its Daksha CSR program.

In July 2015, Alibaba too unveiled its driverless internet connected car called OS’Car RX5 and comparing it to Huawei's smartphone-enabled car it has capability to identify the driver by their smartwatch instead.

To recall, India's homegrown software giant Infosys has also proven that innovation and India can go very well together when the company unveiled its very own self-driving vehicle, a ‘driverless’ cart, in July 2017.

According to a report, autonomous vehicles industry is going to be world's single largest industry, not soon, but by the year 2050, one can expect the industry to explode to the tunes of a whopping $7 trillion.

Top Image Via - coolest-hacks.com

America's Microsoft To Power China's Baidu's Self-Driving Car Project

American tech giant Microsoft has joined forces with China's Chinese Internet search giant Baidu to power the latter's open source self-driving project outside its home country. With this, Microsoft's Azure cloud infrastructure adds another bullet to the growing list of resources connected to one of Baidu's most awaited projects.

The Chinese company, which occupies 60th rank on Forbes World's Most Innovative Companies List 2017, first announced about its open source autonomous driving project, Apollo, in April this year. Named by the company after the historic lunar landing program, it is an open platform that provides open software stack, cloud infrastructure, and other services that are able to support major features and functions of an autonomous car.

For its dream project, Beijing-headquartered Baidu has already locked in deals with some of the biggest names in the Chinese automobile industry like Chery Auto and Great Wall Motors, along with famous Asian ride-sharing service Grab, global navigation and mapping service provider TomTom, suppliers Continental and Bosch as well as Intel and Ford.

Companies who make use of Baidu's Apollo platform for their self-driving vehicle projects will now be able to employ Microsoft's Azure cloud services to securely scale their cars outside China.

Commenting on Microsoft's deal with Baidu, Microsoft's corporate vice president, Kevin Dallas said that his company believes that today's vehicles already have an impressive level of sophistication when it comes to their ability to capture data. Hence, by applying Microsoft's global cloud AI, machine learning, and deep neural network capabilities to that data, the company can significantly accelerate the work already being done to make autonomous vehicles safer.

The autonomous vehicle space has been witnessing a lot of activity off late. In a 2016 report, consulting firm McKinsey & Company predicted that up to 15 per cent of new cars sold in the year 2030 could potentially be fully autonomous. A number of prominent tech companies are currently already working on their own autonomous vehicles project. Alphabet's Waymo is currently said to be leading the race which has strong contenders like Tesla, Nissan and Ford.

While autonomous vehicle space is heating up like never before, Microsoft is sure that it does not want to dip its toe in the water, at least not anytime soon. For now, it only wants to stick to the software and services part of the deal.

Baidu, which is famously called as the “Google of China” aims to get its self-driving software on the roads by 2018. Instead of going the commercial self-driving vehicles route, Baidu is working on launching a shuttle service in Chinese cities by next year.

[Top Image: Neowin]

America's Microsoft To Power China's Baidu's Self-Driving Car Project

American tech giant Microsoft has joined forces with China's Chinese Internet search giant Baidu to power the latter's open source self-driving project outside its home country. With this, Microsoft's Azure cloud infrastructure adds another bullet to the growing list of resources connected to one of Baidu's most awaited projects.

The Chinese company, which occupies 60th rank on Forbes World's Most Innovative Companies List 2017, first announced about its open source autonomous driving project, Apollo, in April this year. Named by the company after the historic lunar landing program, it is an open platform that provides open software stack, cloud infrastructure, and other services that are able to support major features and functions of an autonomous car.

For its dream project, Beijing-headquartered Baidu has already locked in deals with some of the biggest names in the Chinese automobile industry like Chery Auto and Great Wall Motors, along with famous Asian ride-sharing service Grab, global navigation and mapping service provider TomTom, suppliers Continental and Bosch as well as Intel and Ford.

Companies who make use of Baidu's Apollo platform for their self-driving vehicle projects will now be able to employ Microsoft's Azure cloud services to securely scale their cars outside China.

Commenting on Microsoft's deal with Baidu, Microsoft's corporate vice president, Kevin Dallas said that his company believes that today's vehicles already have an impressive level of sophistication when it comes to their ability to capture data. Hence, by applying Microsoft's global cloud AI, machine learning, and deep neural network capabilities to that data, the company can significantly accelerate the work already being done to make autonomous vehicles safer.

The autonomous vehicle space has been witnessing a lot of activity off late. In a 2016 report, consulting firm McKinsey & Company predicted that up to 15 per cent of new cars sold in the year 2030 could potentially be fully autonomous. A number of prominent tech companies are currently already working on their own autonomous vehicles project. Alphabet's Waymo is currently said to be leading the race which has strong contenders like Tesla, Nissan and Ford.

While autonomous vehicle space is heating up like never before, Microsoft is sure that it does not want to dip its toe in the water, at least not anytime soon. For now, it only wants to stick to the software and services part of the deal.

Baidu, which is famously called as the “Google of China” aims to get its self-driving software on the roads by 2018. Instead of going the commercial self-driving vehicles route, Baidu is working on launching a shuttle service in Chinese cities by next year.

[Top Image: Neowin]

74% Indians Prefer Self-Driving Cars, Says IBM

In October 2016, we reported that a survey by World Economic Forum had revealed that as much as 85 percent of adult Indians are willing to ride in self-driving vehicles. Now, after six months, an another survey conducted by tech giant IBM has revealed that Indian consumers show a high level of interest in the intelligent, intuitive and self-driving cars.

Titled "Auto 2025", the survey was conducted across 16 countries and shows that Indian consumers are very interested in all aspects of automated car functioning such as self-driving, self-healing, self-configuring, and self-integrating. Indians selected self-driving capabilities most often with 74% of people preferring it. Even the least selected self-integrating capability is appealing to 69% of Indian consumers, said the survey.

The survey finding said that 53% of Indian consumers consider themselves tech-savvy, which is much ahead of the 38% number in growth market and 40% in mature market.

"Consumers in India are more keen on trying out new things, with ongoing digitisation, and they are more aggressive than the growth markets," said Alexander Scheidt, VicePresident and Executive Partner, Global Automotive Industry leader, IBM.

Scheidt added that over 10% of the population in India, which is a huge number, is open to new models and new ways of mobility which should prompt the industry to think about catering to the needs and providing the services.

The survey also said that 97% of Indian respondent want to own or drive a car in the next ten years, and among them -- 35 years and older respondents expect their use of personal cars as their primary mode of transportation to drop by 12% by 2025, but anticipate their use of car & ride-sharing will double.

Sriram Lakshminarayanan, automotive Industry Leader, Client Innovation Center, IBM India, said "Autonomous cars is still a wish-list item for India since most of the cars in the country are not even application enabled". He added that the first steps towards automation and connected cars in India should be subscription-based services that offer basic utility alerts such as headlights left open, doors unlocked, or car-tracking facility on the driver's smartphone.

To recall, nuTonomy, a MIT startup which had already launched its self-driving cabs on the roads of Singapore, last year, thinks that self driving cars will not work in India due its dense traffic condition [Read Here].

Notably, teams at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) are currently meticulously working on ‘autonomous vehicle solutions’ or self driving car which can tackle Indian roads with dense traffic.

[Top Image - Shutterstock]

Bosch, Nvidia To Develop AI-Powered Autonomous Vehicle System

Germany-based multinational engineering and electronics company, Bosch, has joined hands with US-based semiconductor company, Nvidia in a mission to gift the world with an artificial intelligence (AI) system for autonomous vehicles.

Bosch CEO Dr Volkmar Denner and Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang announced the association at the recently held Bosch Connected World event in Berlin, which is the German company’s annual Internet of Things (IoT) event.

The partnership will see both the companies coming together to give birth to an AI self-driving car computer, which will be built on Nvidia’s highly performing deep learning software and hardware. The AI will allow people to train their vehicles remotely, operate them autonomously and even update them easily via the cloud. The AI will be made available to the mass market.

According to details unveiled at the Berlin event, the AI self-driving car computer will be based on Nvidia’s high-tech Drive PX technology, an open Artificial Intelligence car computing platform that will give automakers and suppliers the power to speed the production of their autonomous vehicles.

In addition to this, the platform will boost of the freshly announced, currently in vogue Xavier AI supercomputer. For the uninitiated, the Xavier AI supercomputer is the world’s first single-chip processor conceived and developed to achieve Level 4 autonomous driving – the level at which a car is capable of driving itself without having any human intervention. According to Nvidia, the Xavier AI chip can process up to 30 trillion deep learning operations in a second while consuming just 30 watts of power.

This technology, which is an amalgamation of surround vision, deep learning and sensor fusion, enables vehicles to understand their surroundings, locate themselves on an HD map, and select a safe route forward for itself, all in real time. This is what makes it is so precise and successful.

According to Nvidia, the company is hopeful of delivering a technology enabling Level 3 autonomous driving capabilities by the end of 2017, and Level 4 capabilities technology by the end of next year. Level 3 is the level at which the car is capable of driving itself but still requires human guidance in certain situations.

The company's CEO also noted that while many big brands like Tesla, Ford and Audi are currently working on delivering an autonomous vehicle technology of their own, such vehicles would be requiring unprecedented levels of computer power which is unfortunately not possible for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to currently provide.

Since no one can predict all the infinite number of scenarios that could take place on a road, hence it is almost impossible to write a coded software that can drive on itself. But, according to tech experts, this challenge can be solved to a certain extend with all the recent breakthroughs made in the field of deep learning and artificial intelligence.

Leading Tech experts are optimistic that AI now has the power of gifting sufficient learning capabilities to a vehicle which can help it in better understanding how to handle unexpected situations on the road. However, the real challenge here is to train the AI on a masses of data, scenario and situations so as to make it learn how it needs to react in order to ensure that the vehicle can make a safe progress in the widest range of potential situations that it might encounter while on the move. But, Bosch and Nvidia seemed to be ready to take on this challenge with all their might. Let's see if they're successful in their mission.

India is Building Its Own Self-Driving Cars Equipped for Indian roads

A while ago, Uber founder and CEO Travis Kalanick jokingly said that India will be the last place on the planet to see the company’s self-driving cars on its roads. His reasons for the statement were simple; according to him, the driving patterns that road users and drivers or riders follow in the country aren't favourable for self-driving cars.

Prior to Kalanick's statement, Karl Iagnemma, nuTonomy’s CEO had echoed the same sentiments about India and self-driving cars. nuTonomy is a MIT startup that has recently decided to put self-driving cabs on the roads of Singapore.

While the world might be skeptic about the future of self-driving cars in the country, the youngsters in the country are focused on proving them wrong. Teams at the most prestigious institute in the country, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) are currently meticulously working on ‘autonomous vehicle solutions’ or driverless solutions of their own. The students are focused on developing the ideal technology for tackling Indian roads. The projects have reportedly already caught the attention of various leading Indian automotive companies.

The IIT teams are now gearing up to compete for the Rise Prize by Mahindra, which gives a chance to two teams to win a prize money of $1 mn for two projects, the Solar Challenge and the Driverless Car Challenge. The participating teams includes teams from IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur and IIT Bombay, among many others.

The team at IIT Kharagpur is currently testing the autonomous vehicles that they have built from ground up within their campus. IIT Kanpur has plans similar to its Kharagpur counterpart. After their respective universities, the cars will be then tested on Indian roads.

The Mahindra Group’s Driverless Car Challenge has a total of 31 shortlisted teams that have to build a driverless car that will work not only work on civilised Western roads, but also work smoothly in tricky Indian traffic scenarios.

IIT Bombay and Kharagpur are also individually testing their technology on Mahindra’s electric car, Mahindra E2O. They plan to turn the car into a driverless car as part of the Mahindra RISE Prize Driverless Car Challenge.

While Uber and nuTonomy aren't sure about seeing their autonomous vehicles on Indian roads anytime soon, a recent survey conducted by Boston Consulting Group has revealed that as much as 85 percent of adult Indians are willing to ride in self-driving vehicles. So, let's see if the Indian institutes are able to realise this particular dream of the Indian citizens.

India is Building Its Own Self-Driving Cars Equipped for Indian roads

A while ago, Uber founder and CEO Travis Kalanick jokingly said that India will be the last place on the planet to see the company’s self-driving cars on its roads. His reasons for the statement were simple; according to him, the driving patterns that road users and drivers or riders follow in the country aren't favourable for self-driving cars.

Prior to Kalanick's statement, Karl Iagnemma, nuTonomy’s CEO had echoed the same sentiments about India and self-driving cars. nuTonomy is a MIT startup that has recently decided to put self-driving cabs on the roads of Singapore.

While the world might be skeptic about the future of self-driving cars in the country, the youngsters in the country are focused on proving them wrong. Teams at the most prestigious institute in the country, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) are currently meticulously working on ‘autonomous vehicle solutions’ or driverless solutions of their own. The students are focused on developing the ideal technology for tackling Indian roads. The projects have reportedly already caught the attention of various leading Indian automotive companies.

The IIT teams are now gearing up to compete for the Rise Prize by Mahindra, which gives a chance to two teams to win a prize money of $1 mn for two projects, the Solar Challenge and the Driverless Car Challenge. The participating teams includes teams from IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur and IIT Bombay, among many others.

The team at IIT Kharagpur is currently testing the autonomous vehicles that they have built from ground up within their campus. IIT Kanpur has plans similar to its Kharagpur counterpart. After their respective universities, the cars will be then tested on Indian roads.

The Mahindra Group’s Driverless Car Challenge has a total of 31 shortlisted teams that have to build a driverless car that will work not only work on civilised Western roads, but also work smoothly in tricky Indian traffic scenarios.

IIT Bombay and Kharagpur are also individually testing their technology on Mahindra’s electric car, Mahindra E2O. They plan to turn the car into a driverless car as part of the Mahindra RISE Prize Driverless Car Challenge.

While Uber and nuTonomy aren't sure about seeing their autonomous vehicles on Indian roads anytime soon, a recent survey conducted by Boston Consulting Group has revealed that as much as 85 percent of adult Indians are willing to ride in self-driving vehicles. So, let's see if the Indian institutes are able to realise this particular dream of the Indian citizens.

Google (Alphabet) Sues Uber For Self Driving Car Tech Theft

Late last year, we had reported about how after seven long years of teasing around about its ambitious self-driving car project, tech giant Google had finally announced its own self-driving car company, Waymo. And now, just after three months of being launched, the company has landed itself in its first big controversy. 

Waymo has sued Uber Technologies and its autonomous trucking subsidiary Otto over allegations of stealing its confidential and proprietary sensor technology.

Launched in May last year, Otto has been making headlines since its launch because of Anthony Levandowski, one of its co-founders. A former executive on Google's self-driving project, Levandowski was one of the many executives who ended up abandoning the project midway when the pressure of churning out a cutting edge technology with a mandate to turn a profit crossed the rooftop.

It is important to note here that Waymo functions within Alphabet, Google’s parent company, which came into existence in 2015 with an objective of overseeing the company’s far-flung projects that have no relation with Google’s core business of online search and advertising. Since 2014, those far-flung projects have reportedly lost a whopping $8 billion, with a major chunk of it going into self-driving cars research. This was the reason that had led Google to tighten the grip on its Waymo project executives.

Waymo has accused Uber and Otto, which was acquired by the popular ride services giant in August, with the theft of confidential information on Waymo's LiDAR sensor technology and then using the technology to pace the speed of its own autonomous technology. According to the lawsuit filed by Waymo, Uber acquired Otto in a whopping $680 million deal.

The complaint filed in the Northern District of California clearly states Waymo saying, "Uber's LiDAR technology is actually Waymo's LiDAR technology."

In the complaint, Waymo seeks an unspecified amount in damages and a court order that prevents Uber and Otto from using its proprietary information.

In a statement issued by the ride services giant in response to the lawsuit controversy, Uber said that it is taking the allegations made by Waymo against Otto and Uber employees quite seriously and they will be reviewing the matter carefully.

The LiDAR technology, makes use of light pulses reflected off objects to gauge their position on or near the road, is considered as a very important part of autonomous driving systems. While working on the autonomous driving technology for last seven years, Google realised that the previous systems have been extremely expensive. This is when it decided to design one which is over 90 per cent cheaper, and gave birth to its very own LiDAR technology. According to Waymo, its LiDAR technology is among the company's "most valuable assets."

Waymo's complaint states before resigning from Google in January 2016, Levandowski had downloaded over 14,000 confidential files, including LiDAR circuit board designs. This very act of his gave Uber and Otto the leverage to put their self-driving technology ok fast-track. Google's Waymo has accused its former employee of then attempting to "erase any forensic fingerprints" of his act by intentionally reformatting his laptop.

"While Waymo developed its custom LiDAR systems with sustained effort over many years, defendants leveraged stolen information to shortcut the process and purportedly build a comparable LiDAR system in only nine months," the complaint filed by Waymo reads.

According to Waymo, it learned about this usage of its trade secrets and patent infringement by Uber and Otto after it received an email from a component vendor that included a design of Uber's LiDAR circuit board. Upon observance, it noted that the design had a "striking resemblance" to Waymo's LiDAR circuit board design. Waymo was apparently inadvertently copied on the said email.

[Top Image: Cnet]

India's Tata To Test Autonomous Cars On Indian Roads

India's bad traffic and road conditions aren't unknown to the world. Even if we take the example of metropolitan cities like Delhi and Bengaluru, it can take 2-3 hours to cover a 15 minutes distance during the rush hours. Hence, it came as no surprise that when the rest of the world was marching on towards autonomous cars tech, car manufacturers were a little sceptical about bringing their technology here. But, homegrown Tata group seems to have decided that they won't let India fall behind in the driverless cars race.

According to a recently published report in the Business Standard newspaper, Tata Elxsi, which is a design company part of the Tata group, has applied for permission from Bengaluru authorities to test an autonomous car on the roads of the city.

Tata Elxsi isn't an autonomous car built from the scratch. In fact, the design firm has repurposed two sedans, including one manufactured by Tata Motors itself, and assembled and adjusted them with a range of sensors and cameras to make them into autonomous cars. The repurposed cars have already had a successful spin at a facility on the outskirts of Bengaluru city.



It has been quite sometime that Tata Elxsi has been meticulously working on autonomous technology. Back in 2014, the company had repurposed a Tata Motors Zest sedan and then tested the car on a pre-determined route. According to them, the reason they chose Tata's own car was because they knew about the car’s electronics architecture inside out and this actually made it comparatively easier to turn it into an autonomous car. Once they were finished, the car was taken to Pune to Tata Motors where about 100 technical staff took a ride in it along a pre-determined path. Then, in the year 2015, Tata Elxsi also unveiled its autonomous valet parking technology to the world at the CES, which is considered as the largest consumer technology trade show in the world.

According to Tata Elxsi’s head of marketing Nitin Pai's statement to the Business Standard, the company's main objective is to come up with an autonomous car framework that combines sensors, cameras and communications between vehicles and infrastructure, which could then be made available to the automotive industry all around the world. He said, “What we’re developing will be useful in many ways for OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and suppliers of parts."

The feasibility of autonomous cars on Indian roads is a debate that has been long-ongoing in the international tech market. We recently published an article about how a survey conducted by Boston Consulting Group in collaboration with the World Economic Forum had revealed that as much as 85 percent of adult Indians are willing to ride in self-driving vehicles, a figure which is much higher than any other country which participated in the survey. While the survey said that Indians are ready to embrace the autonomous cars tech, nuTonomy’s CEO Karl Iagnemma doesn't feels the same. nuTonomy, a MIT startup, has recently put self-driving cabs on the roads of Singapore. According to Iagnemma, there are four main things to consider the most in case of self-driving cars: regulatory environment, driving climate, infrastructure and the weather, and India lacks in almost all four them. According to him, India still has a long way to go when it comes to seeing the autonomous cars on road.

Now, whether Tata Elxsi is able to successfully launch an autonomous cars on the Indian roads anytime soon and prove the international tech market wrong, is a thing which we will have to wait and watch.

Google Unveils Waymo, Its Very Own Self-Driving Car Company

The cat is finally out of the bag. After seven years of teasing us around with bits and pieces about its ambitious self-driving car project, tech giant Google has finally announced its own self-driving car company, Waymo.

The company was unveiled by Waymo CEO John Krafcik on Tuesday in San Francisco. The launch clearly sends out a definite signal that the tech giant is confident about the progress it has made and is ready to show it to the world within the next few years. "We are getting close and we are getting ready," said Krafcik during the launch event.

According to Krafcik, the project that began its journey some seven years back has hit a key milestone, which will soon make fully autonomous cars cruising on public roads a common sight.

Commenting on the trip taken by Santa Clara Valley Blind Center's former director Steve Mahan, Krafcik defined it as an "inflection point" in the development of autonomous cars. This came almost a year before a truck from the famous beer company Budweiser, which was owned by Uber and equipped with self-driving technology, successfully completed a 120-mile long trip through the state of Colorado while being steered by a robot and a human sitting in the trailer's back.

According to Krafcik and several other promoters of self-driving cars, the tech has the potential to significantly reduce accidents and deaths on roads because robots can't get drunk, ignore the rules, or get easily distracted, like human beings.



When Google's self-driving cars project was still at its research-and-development stage, several inside sources had indicated that the vehicles will be on the roads by 2020. However, Krafcik has declined to give a concrete date or year and said "we are close to bringing this to a lot of people."

Instead of driving themselves and having to find a place to park, people will be chauffeured in robot-controlled vehicles if Waymo, carmakers and Uber realise their vision within the next few years.

Waymo, which is an innovative shorthand for "a new way forward in mobility," marks another progressive step towards revolutionising the way through which people get around. If Waymo, Uber, and carmakers are successfully able to realise their vision, then instead of driving to place themselves and go through the trouble of finding a parking space, people will be easily able to travel from one place to another in robot-controlled vehicles.

Google first began working on its self-driving technology about seven years ago in a secretive lab "X'', which was being headed by company co-founder Sergey Brin. Till now, Google's fleet of cars has been successfully able to cover more than 2.3 million miles in the Washington state, Austin, San Francisco Bay Area, and Arizona. In their journeys, they have involved in a total of 35 traffic accidents. But, according to Google, its self-driving vehicles were responsible only for one collision with a bus in the starting of the year.

Waymo will be functioning within Alphabet, Google's parent company, which came into existence last year with an objective of overseeing the company's far-flung projects that have no relation with Google's core business of online search and advertising. Since 2014, those far-flung projects have reportedly lost a whopping $8 billion, with a major chunk of it going into self-driving cars research.

As Waymo is an independent company now, it will also have to sustain the pressure of generating profits instead of just focusing on its research. Instead of manufacturing its own cars, the company plans to license its technology to automakers and trucking companies.

The starting of the year saw Waymo's precursor licensing its self-driving technology to Fiat Chrysler for 100 Pacifica minivans, which are currently in production. The financials of that particular deal haven't been publicly disclosed yet.

The mounting pressure and stress of churning out money resulted in various original engineers, who were working on the self-driving cars as a project that didn't have a mandate to turn a profit, hanging their boots. The people who ended up abandoning the project midway include former director, Chris Urmson, and a co-founder Anthony Levandowski, who has now shifted his loyalties to Uber and is working on a self-driving technology project for them.

[Top Image: AP Photo/Eric Risberg]

10 Top Things in Tech This Week

If during the week you were too busy to catch up on your tech news appetite, here we're to your rescue. Here are top 10 things that happened in tech this week:

1) Samsung Considering Splitting Into Two: Report

According to reports going around in the South Korean tech market, South Korea’s tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is considering splitting itself into two. The idea has reportedly been proposed by Elliott Management, the United States based activist hedge fund.

A split has been suggested because it would allow the company’s founding Lee family to strengthen their position in the global Smartphone leader brand, which is considered as the crowing jewellery of the humongous Samsung Group business empire. The split was suggested last month by the Elliott Management so as to boost their shareholder value.

2) Milestone Achievement As R3 Blockchain Opens to All

R3 CEV, the financial technology firm led by former ICAP electronic broking CEO David Rutter, is the latest to make its Blockchain, which is a kind of distributed ledger that has the potential to completely revamp the banks’ back offices with modernised software, open to all.

Speaking to Forbes about the company’s move to open source its Blockchain, Richard Brown, R3’s chief technology officer said, the main intention of the company in taking this step is to encourage other people in the community to contribute to it, to build on top of it, to drive its design and adoption. He also said that he is quite hopeful that a lot of people will be downloading it and making a substantial use of it.

3) Just Eat In London Is Replacing Delivery Men With Robots

Just Eat, Europe’s biggest online takeaway food company, has recently delivered its first take away via its delivery robot to a customer residing in Greenwich. The delivery marked the launch of Just Eat’s pilot project that involves transporting food all around the city by employing autonomous vehicles.

It was only in July this year that the food company had announced about its partnership with Starship Technologies, the firm behind the slow moving pavement droids, and its plans to make delivering food via robots on the London streets, a reality soon.

4) Soon You Could Send Scented Odors In Your Online Messages

Recently, a Chinese study was carried out which involved 54 people and aimed at studying whether humans can express their emotions with scent during digital communication. The researchers have named the concept “odor emoticon.”

Published in The International Journal of Human-Computer Studies in April this year, the study basically took place in three main phases. It involved selecting separate groups of participants, reviewing them, and then corresponding them with one another by making use of scents.

5) Bangalore Based Entropik Launches World’s First Patented Technology That Predicts User Emotions Based On Smartphone Touch Gestures

This week saw Entropik Technologies, a Bangalore-based tech startup launching ‘Chromo’ — a patent pending technology breakthrough invention. Chromo has the ability to predict user emotions based on their touch gestures on smartphone/digital wearables/IoT sensors.

Chromo.io is the startup’s first product that machine learns on mobile touch data and Smartphone Motion/ Gesture sensor data to predict Emotion Sense, Motion Sense, Semantics and Gestures as the user makes use of the app. These rich insights are then fed to help businesses trigger relevant actions on recommendation and notifications. Further, they simulate this sequence of emotions and activity to predict the propensity of outcome that includes sales, customer engagement, sharing etc.

6) UCI Student Accidentally Creates A Rechargeable Battery That Lasts 400 Years

Mya Le Thai, a doctoral student at the University of California, Irvine, accidentally ended up discovering a rechargeable battery that can last up to 400 years, while playing around in the lab. For the humans, this discovery could lead to longer-lasting laptops and smartphones. In addition to this, it would also result in fewer lithium ion batteries piling up in the landfills.

7) This Aerospace Startup Is Getting A PSLV From ISRO To Launch India's First Private Moon Mission

TeamIndus, an aerospace startup founded in the year 2011, recently signed a verified commercial launch contract with Antrix Corporation, Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) commercial arm.

This made TeamIndus the first startup ever to successfully contracting an entire launch vehicle for a space mission from ISRO. The deal finally came to a conclusion almost two years after the startup had first approached Antrix for the launch in the year 2014. During the two years time, the organisation was busy doing its due investigation in order to make sure that the spacecraft completely met its specifications.

8) Apple strongly hints that it’s working on a self-driving car

Apple enthusiasts might be aware that tech giant Apple has been kind of secretive about its workings when it comes to talking about its self-driving car efforts. But, the giant recently gave its strongest clue ever about its self-driving car project, reportedly called Project Titan.

In a letter that Apple had recently submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it clearly stated that it is “investing heavily in the study of machine learning and automation, and is excited about the potential of automated systems in many areas, including transportation.”

9) Introducing Smart duvet: the bed that makes itself

How about owning a bed that can make itself after being slept in? Sounds an amazing thing to own, right? While this could soon be a possibility. A person in Montreal, Canada has developed a smart duvet, which is a grid of inflatable tubes that can be concealed inside a bedspread. The invention can considerably provide a helping hand to people with limited mobility.

10) Fake news detector plug-in developed

The recent much controversial US elections ended up mounting pressure on tech giant's like Facebook, Twitter, and Google etc. to do more to tackle fake news on their respective platforms. Some of these firms are finally taking things into their own hands to tackle this issue.

Daniel Sieradski, a renowned technologist, has now developed a new plug-in - known as BS Detector - that has the ability of flagging up "questionable" websites on popular social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.

The plug-in makes use of a list of fake news sources as its reference point to mark fake stories. It can be easily added to Mozilla and Chrome browsers. Whenever it detects a false story, it flags it with a red banner reading: "This website is considered a questionable source."

Why Self-Driving Cars Won't Work In India

A while back, we reported about how a survey conducted by Boston Consulting Group has revealed that as much as 85 percent of adult Indians are willing to ride in self-driving vehicles. But, maybe India isn't yet to ready for Self-Driving cars after all.

nuTonomy, a MIT startup, had recently decided to put self-driving cabs on the roads of Singapore. Explaining why nuTonomy chose Singapore as its test market, Karl Iagnemma, nuTonomy's CEO, said, there are four main things to consider the most in case of self-driving cars: regulatory environment, driving climate, infrastructure and the weather. Of course, traffic density also plays an important rule, but that comes under driving climate. Further, a country might have dense traffic but if its people are adhering to the rules of the roads, it will be absolutely alright.



While Singaporeans are known to abide by the road rules, drivers in the Asian cities have a notorious reputation when it comes to navigating the roads. Iagnemma even used India as an example, which is known for its chaotic traffic.

So, the question that arises here is, if the driving climate of Singapore is perfect for self-driving vehicles — will the technology ever be able to successfully work in cities that don’t boost of a good infrastructure and law-abiding drivers?

India's capital city New Delhi's traffic situation is quite dense and it’s a more fluid driving environment, that makes it unfavourable for self-driving technology to deal with since the brains behind autonomous vehicles are computers, which function on a set of rules.

Since the technology behind self-driving is completely bound to an idea of structure, it becomes a little easier to deploy the technology in a structured environment — something which Singapore has.

This means, the less structure that the city offers, the more one will have to bank on human contextualized reasoning and decision making powers, and that makes it hard. One will have to drive based on their past experience and intuition. So, in order for Iagnemma's self-driving cars to work in India, while the core technology can be the same, but it still needs a more advanced evolution of the technology in order to be able to perform less structured contextualized reasoning.

Hence, the conclusion here is, Indian roads and drivers aren't currently ready for autonomous vehicles to function successfully. In order for them to become ready in the near future, the government will have to work meticulously towards improving the conditions of the Indian roads and its world-infamous traffic.

[Top Image- Techradar]

India Is The Country Most Open To Self-Driving Cars

There might come a time in the near future that Indians might see only self-driving cars on their roads.

A recent survey conducted by Boston Consulting Group in collaboration with the World Economic Forum has revealed that as much as 85 percent of adult Indians are willing to ride in self-driving vehicles, a figure which is much higher than any other country which participated in the survey.

While 75 percent respondents are welcoming towards the self-driving vehicles concept in China, only 52 percent of the people seemed to have warmed up to the concept in the US.



The two nations where the concept got the most cold reply were Japan and Germany. Only 36 percent respondents in Japan were willing to ride in self-driving vehicles and for Germany the figure was a mere 44 percent, though still a good 8 percent more than Japan.

According to the survey, some of the prime reasons listed by the respondents for being affirmative towards self-driving vehicles were growing traffic congestion, poor conditions of the roads and high accident rates.

The survey conducted by the Boston Consulting Group, considered as the largest so far focused towards self-driving vehicles, involved a total of 5,500 consumers residing in 27 cities across India, China, Japan, UAE, the Netherlands, France, Singapore, the UK and the US.

According to the respondents, the biggest thing that attracts them towards self-driving vehicles is that they will no longer have to go through the hassle of finding a parking space ever.

The report states, "More than four in ten consumers said that the number one reason for using self-driving vehicles is that it drops me off, finds a parking spot and parks on its own."

The survey also found out an interesting divide. While people in China, the US, and India went with a tech company as their ideal manufacturer for an entire self-driven vehicle, consumers in Japan, Germany and France trusted their traditional automakers for the task.

A majority of the respondents also showed their willingness to shell out a premium of a whopping $5,000 or more for owning fully self-driving car. Every second consumer was willing to pay more for the vehicles in India, Japan and France.

It is important to note that the willingness to shell out a few extra bucks was a logical decision based on simple economic calculations. The extra amount paid would end up balancing the incremental cost against potential cost savings in a number of other areas -- such as fuel savings, lower parking fees, and even lower housing costs-- if it becomes easier to live farther from the city.

Toyota is currently in the front of the driverless race with an impressive 1,400 patents to its credit. It is being closely followed by Bosch, Denso, Hyundai and General Motors.

According to a report published by Nishith Desai Associates, a while back, Tesla's founder Elon Musk has estimated that true autonomous driving would be possible in the next five-six years.

In India, Mahindra & Mahindra's famous electric vehicle Reva has already submitted proof of the driverless cars concept in Singapore and the UK, and has begun its experimentation work at its Bengaluru research and development facility.

Indian Techie Builds Driver-Less Car

[caption id="attachment_104011" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Dr. Roshy John (in center) with his team[/caption]

"If you have passion, you can achieve anything." This particular saying fits perfectly to Dr. Roshy John, who heads Robotics and Cognitive Systems at Tata Consultancy Services in Kochi. The tech junkie is currently getting noticed in the tech world for an invention he did in his spare time.

Dr. John has built a self-driving Tata Nano. Not only this, a modular system used to achieve the feat can be retrofitted in any car in just over an hour.

According to John, he was intrigued to try his hand at the project because of a situation he faced in his real life. One fine evening, while returning from a trip he called for a taxi at the airport in order to reach home safe and sound. To his astonishment the taxi's driver was more exhausted and sleepy than he was. So, instead of taking the risk and letting him drive, John decided to get behind the wheels himself. This little incident inspired the techie in him to use his skills and capabilities to build an autonomous vehicle.



Having a strong background in robotics, John thought that is the area he would like to explore to find a solution to the problem. He then decided to select the Tata Nano for his project. According to him, the reason for this was manifold. Firstly, Nano is a cost efficient model and secondly, it has a rear engine which makes adding actuators and sensors to the front of the Nano much easier.

After the car was finalised for the project, John and his skilful team did a complete simulation along with the virtual simulation of the car in order to ensure the concept works properly. Further, in order to make the car equipped to the city environment, they decided to add cameras to the rear of the cars and make changes to their algorithms to according to the results received.

Once John and his team were happy with the results they got during their first test drive, they decided to accommodate the cameras, sensors and actuators in a newly purchased Tata Nano car. The main hurdle here was to replicate the real life model of simulation which was earlier achieved by them. Once that was done, they started testing the system in the real world.

During the tests, it was revealed that simulation automatically assumed the car would have an automatic transmission system. But, the Nano they were using had manual transmission. Hence, in order to solve this major problem, John and his team decided to build a manual automatic transmission system that would help in mapping the simulated model with the Nano.

Indian Techie Builds Driver-Less Car

[caption id="attachment_104011" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Dr. Roshy John (in center) with his team[/caption]

"If you have passion, you can achieve anything." This particular saying fits perfectly to Dr. Roshy John, who heads Robotics and Cognitive Systems at Tata Consultancy Services in Kochi. The tech junkie is currently getting noticed in the tech world for an invention he did in his spare time.

Dr. John has built a self-driving Tata Nano. Not only this, a modular system used to achieve the feat can be retrofitted in any car in just over an hour.

According to John, he was intrigued to try his hand at the project because of a situation he faced in his real life. One fine evening, while returning from a trip he called for a taxi at the airport in order to reach home safe and sound. To his astonishment the taxi's driver was more exhausted and sleepy than he was. So, instead of taking the risk and letting him drive, John decided to get behind the wheels himself. This little incident inspired the techie in him to use his skills and capabilities to build an autonomous vehicle.



Having a strong background in robotics, John thought that is the area he would like to explore to find a solution to the problem. He then decided to select the Tata Nano for his project. According to him, the reason for this was manifold. Firstly, Nano is a cost efficient model and secondly, it has a rear engine which makes adding actuators and sensors to the front of the Nano much easier.

After the car was finalised for the project, John and his skilful team did a complete simulation along with the virtual simulation of the car in order to ensure the concept works properly. Further, in order to make the car equipped to the city environment, they decided to add cameras to the rear of the cars and make changes to their algorithms to according to the results received.

Once John and his team were happy with the results they got during their first test drive, they decided to accommodate the cameras, sensors and actuators in a newly purchased Tata Nano car. The main hurdle here was to replicate the real life model of simulation which was earlier achieved by them. Once that was done, they started testing the system in the real world.

During the tests, it was revealed that simulation automatically assumed the car would have an automatic transmission system. But, the Nano they were using had manual transmission. Hence, in order to solve this major problem, John and his team decided to build a manual automatic transmission system that would help in mapping the simulated model with the Nano.