The Innovation Report
Major League Baseball — Robot Umpires
Baseball's top minor leagues are switching to a challenge system full-time for their test of robot umpires. Major League Baseball has been experimenting with the automated ball-strike system in the minor leagues since 2019. It has been used at all Triple-A ballparks...
Watch A Humanoid Robot Driving A Car Extremely Slowly
A humanoid robot that can drive a car could one day be used as a chauffeur, though its creator concedes that this may take at least 50 years. Most driverless cars work very differently to a human driver, using artificial intelligence and custom mechanical...
Tesla Model Y Is Once Again The Most American-Made Car
It’s been a long time since American cars were built in the U.S. by American automakers, and foreign cars were all true imports. These days, your BMW SUV is probably built in South Carolina, and your Ram 1500 could have been built in Mexico. If you want the most...
Ready Or Not, Robotaxis Are Coming
In Los Angeles, it is possible — right now — to drive from Santa Monica to West Hollywood without touching a steering wheel or gas pedal (provided you don't get on the freeway). In Phoenix, you can go from the airport to an appointment downtown and back without...
US Agency Seeks Answers From Waymo In Self-Driving Vehicle Probe
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Wednesday it is seeking additional details about a series incidents that raise concerns about the performance of Alphabet's Waymo self-driving vehicles. In May, the U.S. auto safety regulator opened an...
Volvo’s Hydrogen Trucks Aim For Net-Zero CO2
Volvo Trucks, the truck division of Swedish giant Volvo, plans to begin on-road tests with hydrogen-powered combustion engines in 2026, with a commercial launch slated for the decade’s end. This development raises a crucial question: Can hydrogen engines challenge...
The 10 Smartest Cities In The US
Whatever happened to the concept of ‘smart cities’? We used to write about them all the time, but the whole discipline seems to have splintered in recent years into a myriad of public and private urban smart-infrastructure sub-sectors, mostly covering the creeping...
NASA Challenge: Build Robots Capable Of Harvesting Water On The Moon
A million-dollar contest managed by Marshall’s Space Flight Center is pushing forward technology that could one day support human life on the moon. Teams from across the country gathered in Huntsville to overcome challenges impacting the future of space exploration....
AI-Enabled Recycling Robots Are Helping Businesses Be More Sustainable
Despite good intentions to make changes that support the environment, companies are still sending items to the landfill that could otherwise be recycled. While the world is producing nearly twice as much plastic waste as it did two decades ago, just 9% of it is being...
Detroit: Autonomous Shuttle Service Launching For People With Disabilities
The city of Detroit is launching a new, free shuttle service using autonomous vehicles. That means the vehicles are capable of driving themselves. The service, called Accessibili-D, is for people ages 62 and over and people with disabilities. The three shuttles...
