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Tesla's Gigafactory ramps up to full battery production
Following earlier production tests, Tesla's Gigafactory is now pumping out Powerwall 2 and Powerpack 2 energy storage products at full speed, with Model 3 cell production set to follow next quarter. By 2018, it'll produce 35 GWh of lithium-ion cells per year, "nearly as much as the rest of the entire world's battery production combined," the company wrote.
Nevada site bug leaks medical marijuana applicant data
Nevada residents applying to sell medical marijuana got just got an unpleasant surprise. The state's Department of Health and Human Services has confirmed that a vulnerability in a website portal leaked the data of more than 11,700 applicants, including their driver's license and social security numbers. Officials have taken down the relevant site until they fix the flaw, but there's a concern that fraudsters might have seen the info and used it for malicious purposes.
Drone footage shows Tesla's Gigafactory taking shape
To deliver the Model 3 and its dream of an affordable, yet reliable electric car, Tesla needs the Gigafactory. The complex in Nevada will be used to produce batteries at an unprecedented scale, besting the might of every other factory in the world combined. Before that can happen, however, Elon Musk needs to build the darn place. Fresh footage by Matthew Roberts, shot with a DJI Phantom 3 drone in 4K, shows how far the project has progressed. As expected, there's still a long way to go -- only a handful of the 21 Gigafactory "blocks" have been completed so far. Even so, it's an enormous building that dominates the picturesque desert landscape.
Uber's self-driving car partner skirted state rules to get noticed
Remember how Otto demonstrated a self-driving big rig truck without anyone in the cabin, making a great case for its eventual acquisition by Uber? It turns out that the company knowingly broke the rules, according to Backchannel... but also didn't have to face consequences for its actions. Nevada (where Otto shot its promo video) requires both a special license and people in the cockpit for any autonomous testing, but Otto decided that the month of licensing, modification and testing would take too long -- it went ahead anyway. Officials were outraged, and there was even talk of the state's Department of Motor Vehicles backing away from self-driving tech and placing it in the hands of a department focused on business development.
Faraday Future delays EV production plant in Nevada
Construction on Faraday Future's Nevada EV manufacturing plant has stopped, putting projected electric car delivery dates at risk, according to the Financial Times. The Chinese company, backed by electronic giant LeEco, is overdue on millions of dollars of bills to its general contractor Aecom, Nevada state treasurer Dan Schwartz told the FT. Construction is set to resume early next year, but it's unlikely the factory -- still in the early phases of construction -- will be ready to produce vehicles by 2017.
Quadriplegic driver gets first autonomous car license
Sam Schmidt is no ordinary race car driver after suffering a devastating accident in training that rendered him a quadriplegic back in 2000. Now he's also the first American to have been handed a driving license that permits him to use an autonomous vehicle on public highways. The state of Nevada has announced that Schmidt is able to drive a modified Corvette Stingray Z06 that is controlled just with the motion of his head, breath and voice commands.
23andMe health study needs 5,000 Nevada volunteers
A year after the FDA loosened limitations on what genetic analytics company 23andMe could offer consumers, the company is embarking on a groundbreaking study of 5,000 people across Nevada. In partnership with the not-for-profit healthcare provider Renown Health and the Desert Research Institute (DRI), the survey will combine health, population, genetic and environmental data for a comprehensive look at the various influences nature and nurture have on people's wellness.
Inside the Gigafactory: Tesla's most important project
Journalists sit in cars and a shuttle as a guard checks to make sure every passenger is on his list. They're the security guards for Tesla's biggest and most important endeavor, the Gigafactory. When completed, it will occupy space equivalent to 107 football fields. The automaker has invited us for a tour of the largest battery-manufacturing factory on the planet.
Mandalay Bay installs America's biggest solar roof
The Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV is now home to the largest roof-top solar array in America. The array consists of 26,000 individual panels and produces enough power to meet roughly 25 percent of the convention center's energy requirements. The two other largest casinos along the strip, presumably The Venetian and the Wynn, have also reportedly installed solar panels in efforts to reduce their electricity bills. The state of Nevada as a whole has set an ambitious goal of producing a quarter of its electricity from clean sources by 2025. That's no small feat given that the Bellagio and Mandalay Bay alone consume more electricity annually than all of Key West, FL, a city with a population of 25,000 but which hosts roughly 2.5 million visitors each year.
Nevada gives its first license to a daily fantasy sports game
Nevada's gaming board shut down daily fantasy games from DraftKings and FanDuel late last year for fairly obvious reasons: they're gambling, and they need a license to operate in the state. Now for the first time, the board has issued a license to a daily fantasy operator called USFantasy. Unsurprisingly, the Vegas-approved fantasy game is planning to operate through the race and sports books of casinos, and won't look much like other daily fantasy sports games.
Passenger drone gets permission for US flight tests
Don't be surprised if you see a very large, very unusual drone flying through Nevada's skies. The state's Institute for Autonomous Systems has given China's EHang permission to test fly its passenger-toting 184 drone later this year. In addition to providing basic clearance, the move will also have the Institute create criteria that shows the airworthiness of the autonomous single-seater to the Federal Aviation Administration. It's not certain just where the 184 will fly, although it'll sometimes need restricted airspace. EHang won't just be flying in the empty desert, then.
Cloud-seeding drone makes first flight over Nevada
A group of researchers and aviators in Nevada have successfully completed the first flight of an unmanned cloud-seeding aircraft, the state's Desert Research Institute reports.
Nevada gets first FAA-approved urban drone delivery
Flirtey, the startup that did the first FAA-sanctioned drone delivery in a rural area, has replicated the feat in an urban setting. It sent out an autonomous hexacopter on a half-a-mile flight to an empty house in Hawthorne, Nevada on March 10th, carrying food, water and a first-aid kit in a box attached to a rope. It's probably not the most secure way to transport fragile objects, though, so Amazon might have to devise another method to deliver TVs or anything breakable. The drone flew with zero human intervention -- there was a pilot on standby in case things go awry, but the team programmed its flight path beforehand.
ICYMI: Action sports drone, the future of shoes and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-364035{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-364035, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-364035{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-364035").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: AirDog took us on an adventure in the desert to showcase its nearly $1600 drone that can follow action sports junkies autonomously. While other action drones that follow users exist, AirDog claims this one is superior based on 40mph speed and software settings that change depending on the activity of choice. The major drawback for now is that one removable battery charge lasts only 14 minutes, which meant an attempted landing was more of a controlled crash when we took it for a spin.
Faraday Future will build its Tesla-fighting EV in Nevada
Carmaker Faraday Future materialized earlier this year with word of significant funding from a Chinese backer and a list of designers that hail from Tesla, BMW, GM and Ferrari. We won't see a concept version of the electric car it's building until CES in a few weeks, but today the company announced where it will build the 2017 model. Following the lead of its supposed competitor Tesla Motors and the Gigafactory, Faraday said its $1 billion facility will be located in Nevada near Las Vegas. In another move mirorring the Tesla announcement, governor Brian Sandoval announced the plant would be a source of jobs for Nevada residents and a boon to the local economy, justifying a $250 million tax incentive.
Nevada gaming board shuts down daily fantasy because it's gambling
While daily fantasy games (DraftKings, FanDuel and others like them) may have gotten a special exemption for online betting from Congress in 2006, today the Nevada Gaming Control Board decided they do constitute gambling, and shut down their operations (PDF) in the state. Daily fantasy games were already banned totally in some states (Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana and Washington), but the home of Las Vegas casino gaming is another matter entirely. This follows a tough couple of weeks for the multi-billion dollar industry which has come under scrutiny because so many employees of the two largest competing sites were playing and winning on each other's sites, with questions over whether they could possibly use insider information to get an edge. Both sites have since banned their employees from playing, but the controversy has not gone away.
US and Chinese firms agree on high-speed rail plan from LA to Vegas
Pledge agreements aren't the only deals being inked ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's first official state visit to the US. A consortium led by China Railway Group has come to terms with America's XpressWest Enterprises LLC to jointly build and operate a high-speed rail link running between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The project has already cleared its environmental impact study, obtained all of the necessary DoT licensing and right-of-way approvals, and is ready to begin building as soon as next September. China Railway has already put up $100 million in initial capital. According to China Railway, the route will span 230 miles between Las Vegas and Los Angeles proper. XpressWest's website, however, claims the tracks will stop in Victorville, California, 85 miles outside of LA, and 55 miles closer to its destination.
Uber sets up shop in Las Vegas
Well that didn't take long. Less than a day after the Nevada Transportation Commission authorized Uber and Lyft to operate in the state, Uber announced on Tuesday that it is expanding its Uber X ride-hailing service into the greater Las Vegas area. Users will be able to travel anywhere between Summerlin, Nevada in the Southeast clear on up to Henderson in the Northwest (though that trip will cost an estimated $63-84). A trip from UNLV to Downtown, however, will only set you back around $15.
Uber and Lyft officially allowed to operate in Nevada
Nevada's Transportation Authority has granted both Uber and Lyft permits to operate in the state, a few days after approving new rules for ride-hailing services. Those include having to pay administrative fees and to stick decals onto cars that are part of the companies' fleets. That doesn't mean you can hail a ride from either app right now, though: neither company has a firm launch date yet. They still have to deal with Clark County officials who refuse to let the companies run their business until they have the proper license. Problem is, the county doesn't even have a licensing category for ride-sharing/hailing services yet.
Uber and Lyft are one step closer to operating in Las Vegas
The Nevada Transportation Authority approved new regulations for Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing services today, but don't expect a flood of for-hire drivers on the Las Vegas Strip this weekend. These companies can't open shop in Nevada quite yet -- regulators approved new rules, including the imposition of an administrative fee and requiring decals on cars, but Uber and Lyft still don't have permission to operate in the state.
