3,000 Ride-Sharing Vehicles Could Replace 13,500 Taxis in NYC New York City taxis, they ain’t so smart — yet. A new study from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) estimates that just 3,000 ride-sharing cars guided by an algorithm could serve the needs of busy New Yorkers. That’s compared to the roughly 13,500 taxis currently [...]

Why Distracted Drivers Matter for Automated Cars When a 2015 Tesla Model S collided with a tractor trailer at highway intersection west of Williston, Florida, the resulting crash killed the Tesla driver. An investigation of the May 7, 2016 incident by federal investigators found that the Tesla car’s Autopilot driver-assist system was not at fault and showed [...]

Why Amazon Dreams of Flying Warehouses Amazon gets to play full-time Santa Claus by delivering almost any imaginable item to customers around the world. But the tech giant does not have a magical sleigh pulled by flying reindeer to carry out its delivery orders. Instead, a recent Amazon patent has revealed the breathtaking idea of using giant airships as flying [...]

Amazon Has Patented Some Wild Drone Technologies In its quest to streamline consumption, Amazon has wholeheartedly embraced the promise of drones. Earlier this month, a fully autonomous Amazon drone delivered its first package in the United Kingdom — an Amazon Fire TV and a bag of popcorn — in just 13 minutes. The company says it [...]

20 Things You Didn't Know About ... Bridges The Romans built ones that have stood the test of time. And they can even entertain us, in a sense. 1. The most important bridges on Earth have nothing to do with engineers and masons: Through the ages, land bridges have allowed species to reach new territories. [...]

To Make A More Efficient Engine, Just Add Water The internal combustion engine has always been a work in progress. Ever since we first began putting them in cars over a century ago, engineers have come up with ever more complex ways of wringing more horsepower and greater fuel efficiency from them. One company says [...]

Reusable Rockets Set to Explore the 'Ignorosphere' All aboard, scientists studying climate change. Ever heard of the Ignorosphere? It’s what scientists have jokingly nicknamed the mesosphere, the third atmospheric layer from Earth’s surface. It’s always been tough for researchers to access and so has been largely ignored. But that’s about to change, thanks to work [...]

The End of Traffic Jams Being stuck in miles of halted traffic is not a relaxing way to start or finish a summer holiday. And as we crawl along the road, our views blocked by by slow-moving roofboxes and caravans, many of us will fantasize about a future free of traffic jams. As a mathematician [...]

How Trucks Can Make Delivery Drones a Reality Delivery drones may still seem a ways off because of new U.S. commercial drone regulations requiring drones to stay within sight of their human operators on the ground. But such rules pose no problem for a U.S. startup that developed a drone capable of launching from delivery trucks and dropping off packages within the driver’s line [...]

Drone Delivery Startup Takes Aim at Amazon A drone delivery startup that carried out the first government-approved test in the United States has recently shown how drones could deliver disaster relief supplies from ship to shore. The startup’s greater ambitions include nothing less than challenging Amazon and Google in the race to get drone delivery services off the [...]