The Innovation Report
VW Boosts E-Car Investment in Spain
German carmaker Volkswagen AG will invest $10.6 billion to make electric vehicles and batteries in Spain, Chief Executive Herbert Diess said on Thursday, around 3 billion euros more than it had previously committed. The company also announced a partnership deal with...
Scientists Made Millions of Swarming DNA Robots
If you want to see the unfettered power of cooperation, you need look no further than colonial insects. In the 1998 DreamWorks Animation film Antz we follow Z, an ant who is tired of working for the benefit of the colony and wants to chart his own path...
Watch a Swarm of Drones Autonomously Track a Human Through a Dense Forest
Scientists from China’s Zhejiang University have unveiled a drone swarm capable of navigating through a dense bamboo forest without human guidance. The group of 10 palm-sized drones communicate with one another to stay in formation, sharing data collected by on-board...
Apple Car’s Siri Could Choose Destinations, Then Ask User Where to Park
Apple is investigating how an Apple Car could interpret voice commands with an outgrowth of Siri technology, automatically decide where best to drive the user in response, and then ask for more details about where to park. You've already lost the ability to...
AVs to Create Massive AI Business Opportunities
The massive new nodes created inside and outside self-driving cars will bring new business opportunities for AI solutions, and the entire creation process can be seen as a combination of "kitchen wastes" and "indestructible cockroaches," according to Wei-Bin Lee, CEO...
Pentagon Names Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer
Dr. Craig Martell will serve as the Defense Department’s new chief digital and artificial intelligence officer. Martell, who most recently served as the head of machine learning at Lyft after AI and machine learning-related positions with LinkedIn and Dropbox, will...
Ford’s $3.1B Q1 Net Loss Tied to Rivian Stock Plunge
Ford was profitable before accounting for its Rivian shares losing more than half their value during the quarter. Ford Motor posted a first-quarter net loss of $3.1 billion attributable to a drop in the value of its Rivian stake but affirmed guidance...
UK Hosts ‘World’s First’ Hub for Drones, Future Flying Taxis
A pop-up urban port for delivery drones -- and one day, potentially flying taxis -- launched Monday in Britain, lifting a box of prosecco for a brief celebratory test flight hailed as groundbreaking. Air-One, a so-called "vertiport" for drones and future electric...
DJI Halting All Shipments to Russia and Ukraine to Slow Weaponization of Drones
Chinese drone maker DJI has confirmed to The Verge that it is halting all shipments of its products to both Russia and Ukraine and will no longer provide aftersales support because it’s worried about its products being used for combat purposes during Russia’s...
Aerones Raises $9M to Inspect Wind Turbines with Robots
A strange byproduct of writing about robots all the time is getting strange bits of insight into jobs you’d never really considered. Like, it makes sense, certainly, that it’s someone’s job to inspect and clean wind turbines, but the thought had never really crossed...
