The Industry Innovation Report
Mercedes-Benz Acquires Stake in Lidar Maker Luminar, Will Use Its Sensors for Future AVs
The German automaker is also taking an equity stake in the Orlando, Florida-based company, acquiring a total of 1.5 million shares. Based on Luminar’s share price of $13.45 at market close January 19th, Mercedes-Benz is purchasing approximately $20.2 million worth of...
Battery Breakthrough Quintuples EV Range
Scientists have developed a biologically-inspired membrane that could quintuple the charge capacity of electric car batteries, thereby massively increasing their range. A team from the University of Michigan used recycled Kevlar – the same material found in...
Keysight to Start 6G Tests in California, Washington
Network-testing company Keysight Technologies plans to begin testing communications in the terahertz spectrum bands. Such bands are viewed as a possible location for early 6G communications. "Keysight will design, develop, test and demonstrate 6G electronic test and...
Sibling Founding Team Fuses Tech and Farm Roots to Land $2.2M for Agriculture IoT Startup
CODA Farm Technologies, an internet of things (IoT) agriculture startup with literal roots in Western Washington’s Skagit Valley, has raised $2.2 million in venture capital. The seed round was led by Lowercarbon Capital with participation from Voyager Capital, Arnold...
Gov. Whitmer Announces Air Mobility Corridor Development in Michigan and Ontario
First-of-its-kind aerial mobility corridor study will test the feasibility of commercial drones and other aerial systems in three areas, including cross-border. Michigan’s aviation system contributes more than $22 billion to the state economy each year. In 2017,...
Artificial Intelligence Predicts RNA and DNA Binding Sites to Speed Up Drug Discovery
The iMolecule group from Skoltech has developed an artificial intelligence-driven solution that uses data on the structure of RNA or DNA molecules to identify sites on them where interaction with potential drug candidates can occur. Knowledge of these binding sites...
Can Autonomous Tractors Solve Farming’s Labor Issues?
Farmers will soon be able to operate a 30,000 lbs John Deere tractor from an app. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week, Deere announced it will release a fully autonomous version of its signature green and yellow 8R tractor for purchase this...
Are Hydrogen-Powered, Autonomous Flying Taxis the Future?
Of all the topics I have written about recently, autonomous flying taxis seem like the most far-fetched – or should I say pie-in-the-sky! However, the fact is that around 20 companies – from well-known names like Airbus and Hyundai, to new, inventor-led startups are...
Business Opportunities in the Booming World of Smart Cities
Panelists at CES discussed the future of smart cities and the related business opportunities for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are making cities smarter and more sustainable, and there's still time for more founders to get in on this very important work. That was the...
Embark Unveils Technical Roadmap to Navigate Snowy Conditions with Autonomous Trucks
Embark is planning to develop and publicly demonstrate a capability which leverages the Company’s patent-pending Vision Map Fusion (VMF) technology to enable Embark-equipped trucks to navigate snowy conditions autonomously by the end of winter 2022. In June...
