The Innovation Report
Planting 75 M Trees Will Eliminate 6M Cars Worth of Carbon
Gov. Tony Evers on April 22 — Earth Day — pledged that the state would plant 75 million new trees by Dec. 31, 2030, in addition to conserving 125,000 acres across the state. Evers said he believes trees are important not only to the economy and...
U.S. Lawmakers Push for EVs, Charging Stations
U.S. lawmakers are pushing for tens of billions of dollars in funding to shift to electric vehicles and away from gas-powered vehicles and build hundreds of thousands of charging stations. Representatives Andy Levin and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday are...
VW Eyes Subscriptions, On-demand Autonomous Tech
You're probably already subscribed to numerous service that touch so many elements of daily life, but are you ready for in-car subscriptions? They're already happening in some ways to unlock features you may not need all the time, but Volkswagen thinks...
GM Partnership to Offer 60,000 EV Charging Points
General Motors (GM.N) on Wednesday announced deals with major electric vehicle charging networks to offer its customers access to nearly 60,000 charging points across the United States and Canada. The No. 1 U.S. automaker said it had signed agreements with...
Helping Micromobility Startups Finance Fleets
Wunder Mobility built its business selling software to shared scooter, e-bike and even short-term car rental startups. Now, it’s banking on a new — and once secret — lending division to bring in more revenue that’ll give micromobility operators another option to...
Lyft Sells AV Division to Toyota Subsidiary Woven Planet
Toyota subsidiary Woven Planet and ride sharing company Lyft have signed a $550 million acquisition deal that will see the former purchase the latter's autonomous vehicle division, Level 5. Under the deal, Level 5 will be folded into Woven Planet, ending Lyft's...
AI Learning to Dodge Space Junk
An AI-driven space debris-dodging system could soon replace expert teams dealing with growing numbers of orbital collision threats in the increasingly cluttered near-Earth environment. Every two weeks, spacecraft controllers at the European Space Operations Centre...
New Law of Physics Helps Humans and Robots Grasp the Friction of Touch
Although robotic devices are used in everything from assembly lines to medicine, engineers have a hard time accounting for the friction that occurs when those robots grip objects—particularly in wet environments. Researchers have now discovered a new law of physics...
Apollo 11 Astronaut Michael Collins Has Passed Away at the Age of 90
While Armstrong and Aldrin were the first to walk on the moon on July 20, 1969, it was Collins who ensured the Apollo 11 mission was a success. As the mission’s command module pilot, Collins was alone in the Columbia for more than 21 hours running system...
Ford Reports Net Income of $3.3B for First Quarter; Sees Challenges Ahead
Ford Motor Co. reported $4.8 billion in earnings before interest and taxes — with net income of $3.3 billion — for the first three months of this year, a dramatic contrast to one year ago even while challenges lie ahead. For the first three months of 2020, Ford...
