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Ford’s Chariot shuttle service will shut down in March
Ford acquired transportation startup Chariot in 2016 and the service currently operates in 10 US cities and London. But Chariot will soon be no more, as it announced that it's ceasing all operations by the end of March. "Chariot was built on a commitment to help reduce congestion, ease the commute and improve quality of life in cities, and since our start, we have provided our customers with more than 3 million rides," the company said in a statement. "We are truly grateful to our commuters, enterprise customers and partners for your support over the past five years."
Ford’s Chariot ride-sharing vans come to London
Chariot is Ford's attempt to launch its own quasi-public transport system with a fleet of minibuses designed to serve flush commuters. The service has seen some success in the US, and operates routes in San Francisco, Austin, Seattle, Columbus and New York. That's enough to convince Ford to take the service worldwide, with the first European routes launching in London.
Ford's on-demand van service is running again in San Francisco
The Ford-owned on-demand commuter van company, Chariot, paused its service in San Francisco last week to fix compliance issues with the California Highway Patrol. The CHP had found that some Chariot drivers did not have required Class B licenses. The company confirmed via email that "effective Monday afternoon, service will be back on and running as regularly scheduled."
Ford's commuter van service Chariot halts operations in San Francisco
Chariot, an on-demand commuter van service owned by Ford, had to suspend it's operations in San Francisco due to compliance issues with the California Highway Patrol, according to the San Francisco Business Times.
Ford’s Chariot rideshare service expands to New York City
New Yorkers are set to get yet another transportation option this summer, when Ford's shuttle service Chariot expands into the city. The service initially launched in San Francisco in September 2016, with the automaker not long after announcing its plans to roll it out to eight new cities in 2017. Chariot is part of Ford's continued investment into its Smart Mobility program. When it arrives in New York the service will run two pre-planned routes in Manhattan and Brooklyn for $4 per ride, with additional crowdsourced routes to be added at a later date.
Ford dabbles in shuttles and bike sharing in San Francisco
Not content with just announcing that it'll have autonomous car sharing available in five years, Ford is now adding two more means of transportation for urban areas: bikes and shuttles. In front of San Francisco city hall, CEO Mark Fields announced that the automaker had purchased local shuttle service Chariot, and proceed to show off a new fleet for a bike sharing system.
ICYMI: Gaming mood lighting, a shooting drone and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-22597{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-22597, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-22597{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-22597").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Virtual Reality by Oculus Rift is about to get way more tactile thanks to a newly acquired hand tracking tech company. Hue lights will now sync with an Xbox One game and oh man, the ambience on your next blood bath will be intense. And a YouTuber uploaded a video of a drone that fires a semiautomatic handgun, which makes crabby old men the world over pleased.
Philips' Hue lights sync up with an Xbox One game
You can get Philips' Hue lights to change color when you're watching movies, so it only makes sense that they should also put on a show when you're playing games, right? Frima certainly thinks so. The studio has just added Hue syncing to its Xbox One platformer Chariot, adding an extra level of atmosphere to your adventures. When enemies attack, your bulbs will turn red; when you wander by blooming plants, the living room might go green. This isn't the first time that we've seen Hue gaming experiences, and it's definitely not a cheap trick when a starter Hue kit typically costs $200. However, this is probably the easiest way to ramp up the atmospheric effects while you play. Here's hoping that more games experiment with lighting in the future.
New Nintendo eShop releases: Chariot, Mega Man Battle Network 2
Considering we're knee-deep in new year lull, there's enough to dig into in this week's eShop update. If you're after something new, you've got the couch-bound co-op of puzzle-platformer Chariot - check out our review on PS4. If you're after something older, you can't go far wrong with Mega Man Battle Network 2. The Game Boy Advance RPG joins the first MMBN on Wii U Virtual Console, and there are four more Battle Networks to go. It may be a new year, but we're keeping it old-school in our eShop posts. As always, the full list of new releases is below the break, while all the sales stuff is just a chariot's ride away.
Joystiq Weekly: Mordor's photo mode, The Evil Within review, Devolver's appeal and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. As the Smash Bros. and Halo series have taught us, stopping the action to play around with in-game cameras can be oddly compelling (and gleefully annoying to rivals/co-op partners). If The Last Of Us: Remastered and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor's inclusion of similar features are the start of a trend, we'd welcome it with open shutter arms. Repositioning the camera for the perfect shot of an epic summon in Final Fantasy 15? Showcasing the full scope of a crazy moment in the time-defying Quantum Break? Yes please! There was plenty more to this week than snapping photos of an orc squadron's downfall though – Halo: The Master Chief Collection is expected to have a ~20GB day one patch, there were reviews for The Evil Within, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and Bayonetta 2, and we got a full-frame perspective of publisher Devolver Digital. Check all that out and more after the break!
Chariot review: Girl, you're gonna carry that weight
PC, Mac and Linux. Also coming to PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, Xbox 360 and PS3 In a clearing, all nature's beauty comes to bear witness as a dead king is laid to rest. His daughter has taken his coffin from the royal palace to a sacred place of burial to pay her last respects. It's a bittersweet, but solemn moment that starts Chariot; a moment that is ripped from you by a needle scratch ending the gentle score, as the ghost of the dead king poofs into ethereal being and starts to complain. The coffin is not regal enough. There's not enough treasure. Why can't he have a better sepulchre? It goes on like this for the next few hours. And your job is to give the ungrateful jerk everything he wants.
Chariot, Darksiders 2 join Games With Gold in October
Microsoft announced its Games With Gold lineup for October, revealing that Xbox Live Gold members will receive free access to Frima Games' co-op platformer Chariot upon its launch next week. Chariot will be available as a free download for Xbox One subscribers from October 1st through the 31st. Xbox 360 owners will get EA's 2010 FPS Battlefield: Bad Company 2 free of charge on October 1, along with a free copy of Vigil's hack-and-slash action-RPG Darksiders 2 starting on October 16. This month's featured games Crimson Dragon, Super Time Force, and Halo: Reach are still up for grabs through September 30, so act fast if you haven't yet claimed your free downloads. [Image: Frima Games]
Chariot drags the dead to PS4 next week
Chariot, Frima Studio's cooperative platformer, will launch on PS4 next week. The game will arrive on Tuesday, September 30 in North America for $14.99, though European players will have to wait until October 22 to dig into the game. The platformer has two local players (or one solo player) working together to carry a king's coffin to its resting place. However, the king's ghost is particular about where his body winds up, so players must overcome physics-based obstacles to satisfy "His Majesty." The playable characters in question are the princess and her fiancé, who "gather gold and precious gems to decorate the sepulcher" while traversing Chariot's underground environments. The developer opted for local multiplayer only with Chariot, as "direct communication is very important in the game," and that "the tricks you'll need to do with the Chariot requires a lot of precision and we felt that precision might be lost because of the latency online." [Image: Firma Studio]
The bright, dark world of couch co-op puzzler Chariot on PS4
Chariot is a game about transporting a dead body. But it's not just any body – it's your father's body. And he's not just any dad – he's the king. As the princess, your task is to take the king's body to its final resting place, deep underground through winding tunnels filled with gold and treasure. The king's ghost follows your journey and he insists on gathering as many riches as possible so he can be buried with them. Yeah, this game could have been really dark. Instead, it looks pretty adorable – Chariot is designed for two players in local co-op, but it can also be played solo, Executive Producer Martin Brouard of Frima Studio says: "Chariot is a 2D, couch co-op adventure platformer in which two players must work together to guide a chariot through underground levels using physics-based mechanics such as pushing, pulling, riding, reeling, and so on." As one reader on the PlayStation Blog points out, the princess doesn't seem too bothered that her father is dead. Frima responds with, "Wait until you meet the king ... he's got quite a character." Chariot is due out for PS4 in the fall. [Image: Frima Studio]
Solar-powered rollerblading robot carries you to work on a chariot of humiliation (video)
Bob Schneevis is at it again. The man who turned George W. Bush into a robotic Roman warrior has now developed something he calls the Solar Electric Robot Chariot. Showcased at this year's Maker Faire Bay Area, Schneevis' single-motor, bot-drawn carriage features a set of battery-juicing solar panels and an array of cameras that control its chauffeur's mechanized movements. The bot, meanwhile, glides around on a pair of rollerblades and is designed to move its legs in the same way humans do -- with the only difference being that humans don't rollerblade anymore. Skate past the break to see the chariot coast around a parking lot with Mitchell Goosen-like grace.
iPhone-controlled Sphero ball gets a chariot for roving FaceTime sessions, office races
A tiny robotic ball able to be controlled by a smartphone doesn't exactly need any more selling points, but Orbotix's Sphero now has an extra one nonetheless. It's been outfitted with a chariot that can be used for FaceTime sessions or low-level surveillance -- or chariot races around your office, naturally. Of course, this is strictly a DIY affair, but we're guessing this is one project you will actually want to do yourself once you see the video after the break. [Thanks, Ross]
Exmovere's Chariot returns on video, might actually be real
Well, the base might be ripped right from the Showbots, but Exmovere Holdings doesn't seem to be totally kidding about its "Chariot" wearable transportation device. There's a new video up that demonstrates its use, with a character akin to the Summer Heights High guy at the helm ("I'm a little early," "He's stuck in traffic, you know. I just took my own way here, so I had no problems..."). If you can get past his slightly annoying implementation of the Chariot, it's not hard to see the benefits of a device like this over a wheelchair -- if it pans out, that is. Our theory is that Exmovere is using this gaudy Showbots platform as a jumping off point, adding in accessibility features, working on additional functionality (like sitting) and hopefully tweaking the looks before it goes to market. Hit up the read link for the video.[Thanks, Joshua]
Exmovere's wearable Chariot: for the mild-mannered cyborg
What does it take to make robotic exoskeletons look like a quaint relic of the past? This -- a new wearable transportation device concept that Exmovere Holdings has dubbed the Chariot. Apparently, the device is specifically intended to help amputees and people that have difficulty standing, with a range of sensors used to let the wearer control the device at speeds up to 12 miles per hour with a minimum amount of physical effort. Better still, Exmovere looks to have even more ambitious plans for production versions of the device, including on-board vital sign sensors, built-in wireless and cellular connectivity and, yes, even specialized versions for military and law enforcement customers. Head on past the break for more evidence of the future.Update: As commenter Videoranger Commander has noted, the device in the picture is almost certainly a fake -- it's actually the bottom of a Showbots uniform. Lame. What's interesting is that Exmovere put out a full press release, so we're guessing the company was just hoping no one would catch this little lie while they work on a real product -- if one actually exists.
NASA's Chariot lunar vehicle gets demoed on video
We've already gotten a pretty good idea of what NASA's new Chariot lunar vehicle was capable of, but now thanks to NewScientist (and NASA itself) we've got a glimpse of the behemoth in action -- on Earth, of course. As you can see for yourself after the break, the rig certainly looks to be quite capable of tearing it up on the lunar surface, with it boasting a plough to smooth things out for a moon base (or other potential lunar installations). What's more, while they're apparently not quite ready to be demoed just yet, NASA also has plans to outfit it with a drill and a back hoe, but apparently not a laser cannon -- at least none that they're tellin' us about.[Via Slashdot]
NASA unveils the Chariot "lunar truck"
NASA sure loves the wacky vehicles, and the agency is mighty proud of its latest effort, the Chariot lunar truck. Designed from start to finish in just a year, the Chariot features 12 wheels driven by two electric motors through a two-speed transmission, allowing it to perform in a "bulldozer" mode with up to 4000 pounds of force or cruise at up to fifteen miles an hour. The modular design also means that the steel alloy frame can be fitted with several different crew / payload combinations, including a small pressurized cabin and a sample collector. There's no telling when the Chariot might be deployed, of course, but we're not going to be convinced until we see it stop a plane or drive through a swinging girder obstacle course.[Thanks, xenocide]
