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Transportation Secretary Buttigeig lays out his department's electrified vision at SXSW 2022
US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigeig took to the SXSW stage at the Austin Convention Center last week to discuss the challenges that his administration faces as it looks to rehabilitate and modernize America's infrastructure.
Right-wing haven Gab is back online
Gab is back online following a brief shuttering in the wake of the anti-Semitic shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue late last month. The social network had been banned by its hosting provider Joyent and domain registrar GoDaddy, and blacklisted by other services such as PayPal, Stripe and Shopify. The ban seemed to be in response to Gab moderators' inaction against the shooter's history of racist rants and hate mongering on the platform preceding the shooting.
Uber is out to prove its self-driving cars are safe
Uber put its autonomous vehicle testing on hold following a fatal accident involving one of its cars in Tempe, Arizona. But the company now plans to resume testing in Pittsburgh and maybe San Francisco in August, according to The Information. Additionally, Uber told its employees that it will put into place 16 safety recommendations that were proposed by an internal team. The company said in a statement last month that it had been working closely with the National Transportation Safety Board as it reviewed its safety practices and it also hired former NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart to advise its safety efforts.
Pittsburgh is falling out of love with Uber’s self-driving cars
Pittsburgh was the initial test city for Uber's self-driving car initiative. While our experience in one of the autonomous vehicles was thankfully pretty safe, it wasn't long before reports of accidents and wrong-way driving began to surface during the first month of the operation. Nine months later, the relationship continues to sour, according to a report in the New York Times. The things Uber promised in return for the city's support -- including free rides in driverless cars, backing the city's $50 million federal transportation grant and jobs for a neighborhood nearby Uber's testing track -- have not materialized. The situation was an issue during the mayoral primary, too, with critics calling out incumbent Bill Peduto for not getting these agreements in writing from the ride-sharing company.
Uber resumes self-driving car tests following crash (updated)
Uber's freeze on self-driving car tests following the Arizona crash was very short-lived. The ridesharing firm tells Engadget that it's "resuming our development operations" in San Francisco as of this morning -- you should see test cars back on the streets very shortly. The Arizona and Pittsburgh cars are still idle as of this writing, but they're expected to go back into service soon.
Uber pauses its self-driving efforts following Arizona crash (updated)
Uber isn't taking any chances in the wake of its self-driving car accident in Tempe, Arizona. The company has suspended both its Arizona testing and its Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania operations while it investigates what happened. The company has confirmed to Engadget that its vehicle was in self-driving mode at the time, but adds that there were no serious injuries on either side of the collision, and "no backseat passengers" in Uber's autonomous Volvo.
How an AI took down four world-class poker pros
"That was anticlimactic," Jason Les said with a smirk, getting up from his seat. Unlike nearly everyone else in Pittsburgh's Rivers Casino, Les had just played his last few hands against an artificially intelligent opponent on a computer screen. After his fellow players -- Daniel McAulay next to him and Jimmy Chou and Dong Kim in an office upstairs -- eventually did the same, they started to commiserate. The consensus: That AI was one hell of a player.
ICYMI: The alcohol creating energy and removing pollution
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: The University of Colorado, Boulder is diving into a beer project with a surprising twist: Researchers have managed to use beer brewing runoff to grow a species of fungus that not only cleans the water but can also be used to create lithium-ion batteries. Meanwhile the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is helping paralyzed people regain a sense of touch through a robotic arm, by implanting electrodes in the participant's brain. The flexible phone display for music is here, and the BMW concept motorcycle that had everyone talking is here. In case you're friends with someone on Tinder, they should know about this story. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Uber's self-driving cars are off to a rough start
Uber's autonomous ridesharing cars appear to be running into snags just a few weeks into their Pittsburgh test runs. Quartz has gathered multiple reports of the self-driving vehicles getting into accidents or otherwise having trouble, some more serious than others. Officially, Uber is only aware of an incident where another car bumped the fender of one of its rides. That's fine given that human drivers frequently pose the biggest danger to robotic cars, and it's difficult to account for all possible behavior. However, Nathan Stachelek also recorded video of a driver manually turning a self-driving car around after it went the wrong way down a one-way street -- suffice it to say this could have created major problems if there was oncoming traffic.
I drove around Pittsburgh in a self-driving Uber
"Did you do that or did the car do that?" I first asked that of my self-driving Uber's "safety driver" when the car pulled out of the lane it was in to go around a pedestrian on the side of the road. I asked it another half-dozen times during the 30 minutes I spent as a passenger in one of Uber's autonomous cars, which are hitting the streets of Pittsburgh today. Nearly every time, the answer was: "The car did that." Indeed, my time as a passenger in the self-driving Uber as it drove around downtown Pittsburgh was blessedly uneventful -- and in that relative safety and peace, I got an up-close look at what the challenges will be in making autonomous vehicles a widespread reality. I even got behind the wheel to "not drive" the car for myself.
You can hail a self-driving Uber in Pittsburgh starting today
Uber's self-driving cars have been spotted around Pittsburgh for a few months now, but starting today you can actually take a ride in one. The company announced that as of today, Uber's most "loyal" Pittsburgh customers might receive a ride in a self-driving Ford Fusion when they request an Uber X. As predicted, being a test subject in the company's cars will net you a free ride.
Uber will offer free rides in its self-driving cars this month
After months of testing, Uber's self-driving cars are ready to pick up their first passengers. Bloomberg reports that the ride-hailing company will allow customers in Pittsburgh to request one of its autonomous Volvo XC90 sport-utility vehicles via their smartphone in the coming weeks, pushing it into territory that other major developers of self-driving cars have yet to fully explore.
Uber shows off its first self-driving car
Uber's foray into the world of self-driving vehicles will become a lot more visible in the coming weeks after the company confirmed its first autonomous car will officially hit the streets of Pittsburgh. The prototype -- a hybrid Ford Fusion -- will assist the company in collecting mapping data while putting its self-driving capabilities to the test. Uber's Advanced Technologies Center (ATC), which is headquartered in the city, has equipped the car with a variety of sensors including radar, laser scanner and high-resolution cameras, but a human rider will be present at all times.
Facebook is opening an Oculus research office in Pittsburgh
Facebook is about to open a facility dedicated to Oculus virtual reality research in Pittsburgh. The company confirmed the news to Venture Beat after a local paper noticed that it had leased a 20,000 square foot building in the city's Oakland neighborhood. Why Steeltown, you might ask? Facebook, which purchased Oculus in 2014, is attracted by the large pool of research talent coming out of Carnegie Mellon University and other local schools. In fact, It has already posted job listings for computer vision engineers, programmers and post-doctoral researchers. Those fields of expertise are also vital for self-driving cars, which is why Uber (and reportedly Apple) recently set up shop in the city.
Pittsburgh's Gulf Tower is turning into an Instagram mood ring
For years, people in Pittsburgh have been able to get weather forecasts, holiday displays and occasional sports updates by glancing at the illuminated peak of the city's Gulf Tower building. There will be a change in programming, though, on February 11-13th, when the "Weather Beacon" will be replaced by a virtual mood ring to gauge the positive or negative nature of regional Instagram comments. The museum cooked up the Gulf Tower Project to coincide with artist Antoine Catala's upcoming "Distant Feel" exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Art. It highlights the ways images can provoke emotional responses, even if they're just a Valencia-filtered photo of a cat in a box.
Pennsylvania is the latest state to go after Uber and Lyft
It's no secret that some places, whether it be in the US or other parts of the world, are not in approval of the way ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft operate. And, starting today, we can add Pittsburgh to the list of cities where these app-based car services can't do business legally, at least not for the time being. The news comes after two local judges have granted the Pennsylvania Public Utility's petition to issue cease-and-desist orders to them. As the Pittsburgh Business Times notes, Uber and Lyft won't be free to continue offering their service "until they secure the appropriate authority" from the PUC.
Butlers, lunar rovers, snakes and airboats: the best of Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute
How was your week? We got to spend a couple of days trekking around the Carnegie Mellon campus in Pittsburgh, PA to check out some of the latest projects from the school's world renowned Robotics Institute -- a trip that culminated with the bi-annual induction ceremony from the CMU-sponsored Robot Hall of Fame. Given all the craziness of the past seven days, you might have missed some of the awesomeness, but fear not, we've got it all for you here in one handy place -- plus a couple of videos from the trip that we haven't shown you yet. Join us after the break to catch up.
Message from Me offers dispatches from early education, we go eyes-on (video)
What do you get when you attach a point-and-shoot, display, microphone, RFID reader and a bunch of big buttons to a clear plastic box and stick it all in a classroom with a bunch of three- to five-year-olds? Carnegie Mellon's CREATE Lab calls the creation Message from Me. It's a way of engaging early education students with technology, developing language and social skills and helping keep parents abreast of their school day activities. The tool encourages kids to record a thought or take a picture and send it to a parent by pulling a card with their face on it down from the wall and scanning on the RFID reader. Parents can get updates via text message or email from kids who are often unable to pass along such information at the end of the day. According to the lab, the machines have already been installed in nearly a dozen schools in the Pittsburgh area -- and from the looks of the boxes on the floor in the CREATE Lab, plenty more are on the way.%Gallery-169260%
A Tour of Astrobotic Technology's lunar rover lab at Carnegie Mellon (video)
Things are buzzing late Monday afternoon at Carnegie Mellon's Planetary Robotics Lab Highbay. Outside, in front of the garage door-like entrance, a trio of men fills up a kiddie pool with a garden hose. Just to their left, an Enterprise rent-a-truck backs up and a handful of students raise two metal ramps up to its rear in order to drive a flashy rover up inside. I ask our guide, Jason Calaiaro, what the vehicle's final destination is. "NASA," he answers, simply. "We have a great relationship with NASA, and they help us test things." Calaiaro is the CIO of Astrobotic Technology, an offshoot of the school that was founded a few years back, thanks to Google's Lunar X Prize announcement. And while none of the handful of vehicles the former student showcases were made specifically with the government space agency in mind, given the company's history of contractual work, we could well see them receive the NASA stamp of approval in the future. Asked to take us through the project, Calaiaro tells us, quite confidently, that the trio of vehicles behind us are set to "land on the moon in 2015," an ambitious goal set to occur exactly three weeks from last Friday.%Gallery-168976%
AT&T's LTE network now live in Seattle, Portland, Pittsburgh and Honolulu
The Rethink Possible carrier may be taking baby steps towards its LTE goals, but today more folks will be happy that they, too, can finally start experiencing some speedier service. AT&T has announced its adding a few more names to its LTE-ready list of cities, including Seattle, Portland, Pittsburgh and Hawaii's beautiful capital, Honolulu. Additionally, users in the "metro" area of Detroit should now also be able to connect to the fresh Long Term Evolution network, while Memphis and Birmingham saw their names added to the listings early on yesterday. More importantly, though, how's it working out for you (if at all)? Please let us know in the comments below.
