The company was open to sitting down with regulators to find out what it could do to save its operations.

“We’d like to know what we can do to get this right. But that required a dialogue we have not been able to have,” said Tom Elvidge, Uber’s General Manager in London.

The report claimed that Uber’s concessions were likely to involve passenger safety and employment benefits for drivers, including possible holiday pay and limits on work hours.

On Friday, the TfL rejected Uber’s application on the basis that the company was not “fit and proper” to hold a private car hire operator licence after expiry of its current licence on September 30.

“Uber’s approach and conduct demonstrated a lack of corporate responsibility which could have potential public safety and security implications,” the Tfl had said.

In response, Uber said it planned to challenge the ruling by London’s transport authority in the courts immediately.

The licensing body also said it was concerned by Uber’s use of Greyball, a software that can be used to block regulatory bodies from gaining full access to its app and undertaking regulatory or law enforcement duties, the Guardian reported.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he fully supported the decision to revoke Uber’s licence, saying all companies needed to “play by the rules”.

IANS

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He said following that model, a quasi driverless model would be launched and finally a fully driverless tractor would be launched.

The technology was developed at Mahindra Research Valley near here-the group’s technology hub.

Goenka said the challenge before the company to launch the driverless model is to get the government’s permission as well as the vehicle’s final cost.

He said the company has already moved the central government for approval.

He hoped the government would soon draft the policy and the framework for such driverless vehicles.

Goenka said the cost will be higher due to imported components and the company is working to bring the cost down.

According to Goenka, the company commands 43 per cent market share in the domestic tractor segment and hopes to increase the share by three more percentage this fiscal.

This technology will be deployed across Mahindra tractor platforms in due course of time. It will also be deployed across international markets such as USA and Japan, giving Mahindra tractors a distinct competitive edge in global markets.

The company plans to offer the driverless tractor technology across its range of tractors from 20 HP to 100 HP over a period of time.

Some of the unique features of the driverless tractor are:

Autosteer – GPS based technology that enables a tractor to travel along a straight line.

Auto-headland turn – Enables the tractor to orient itself along adjacent rows for continuous operation without any steering input from the farmer.

Auto-implement lift – Feature in the tractor that automatically lifts the work tool from the ground at the end of a row and lowers the tool after the tractor has oriented itself for operation at the next row.

Skip passing – This technology feature enables the tractor to steer to the next row for continuous operation without any intervention of the driver.

Geofence lock – Prevents tractor from going outside the boundaries of the farm

Control via Tablet User Interface – Enables the farmer to programme various inputs needed to farm efficiently. Also offers controls to prevent the tractor veering off from its intended path or desired operation. He can also control the tractor remotely via a tablet.

Remote Engine Start Stop – Ability to stop the engine and hence, bring the tractor to a complete halt if needed in cases of emergency

IANS

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A typical Proterra bus costs around $750,000 compared with roughly $500,000 for a typical diesel bus, chief commercial officer Matt Horton said in an interview. Proterra has lower operating costs but must convince customers that the higher sticker price is worth paying.

“Heavy-duty electric transit vehicles now have the capabilities they need. We will be turning our focus even more so to driving the cost down,” he said.

While battery weight is seen as a problem for heavy-duty trucks, eating into cargo capacity, Horton said that a bus is much lighter than a loaded big rig, even with a full complement of passengers.

Proterra developed the battery for its bus with Korea’s LG Chem Ltd. The bus maker has begun assembling battery packs at a new factory in Burlingame, California. It sold 190 buses last year and is on track to “far exceed” that this year, Horton said.

Navistar Proving Ground confirmed the single-charge trip, at 15 miles per hour. Proterra said it set the record earlier this month and beat a previous record of 1,013 miles by a light-duty passenger vehicle.

Reuters

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This amount of energy, when stored, is the amount needed to power between 2,000 and 4,000 street lamps.

The researchers said they were working on smart materials such as ‘piezolectric’ ceramics for the project.

“This research is about helping to produce the next generation of smart road surfaces,” said lead researcher Mohamed Saafi, Professor at Lancaster University.

“We will be developing new materials to take advantage of the piezoelectric effect where passing vehicles cause stress on the road surface, producing voltage. The materials will need to withstand high strengths, and provide a good balance between cost and the energy they produce,” Saafi said in a statement released by the university.

“The system we develop will then convert this mechanical energy into electric energy to power things such as street lamps, traffic lights and electric car charging points. It could also be used to provide other smart street benefits, such as real-time traffic volume monitoring,” he added.

The researchers believe that besides providing environmental benefits, the project would also help deliver significant cost savings for taxpayers.

IANS

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The existing security devices at gas and petrol stations vulnerable to be manipulated will be replaced with the new high-security devices.

The ministry official held joint meetings with the Petroleum Ministry officials to come up with the new system to curb malpractices at gas and petrol outlets.

A ministry official said that metrology departments of the states had trained five OMCs including BPCL and HPCL in tamper-proof electronic sealing and flow meter operations.

IANS

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This new method, scheduled to be presented at International Symposium on Wearable Computers to be held in Hawaii from September 11-15 enables the technology to discover activities as they happen, not just simply when exercising, but also when brushing your teeth or cutting vegetables.

The algorithm can even track sedentary activity, for instance whether you are sitting or lying down.

“Current activity-recognition systems usually fail because they are limited to recognising a predefined set of activities, whereas of course human activities are not limited and change with time,” said Hristijan Gjoreski of University of Sussex in Britain.

“Here we present a new machine-learning approach that detects new human activities as they happen in real time, and which outperforms competing approaches,” Gjoreski said.

“Traditional models ‘cluster’ together bursts of activity to estimate what a person has been doing, and for how long.

For example, a series of continuous steps may be clustered into a walk. Where they falter is that they do not account for pauses or interruptions in the activity, and, so, a walk interrupted with two short stops would be clustered into three separate walks.

The new algorithm tracks ongoing activity, paying close attention to transitioning, as well as the activity itself.

IANS

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The facility will have simulated roads that like highways, downtown areas, city outskirts and communal environments and have 35 different driving conditions such toll gates, tunnels, intersections, construction sites and even train track crossings, ministry officials said.

Pot holes, narrow streets and pedestrian crossings have also been added for testing the vehicles, as well as Wi-fi and fourth-generation wireless technologies.

The section for highway driving will be completed by end of October and the entire K-city by end of next year, officials said.

The area will be opened to private companies, academic institutions and start-ups to test their products.

IANS

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In the coming weeks, the integration would be expanded to 500 routes.

“Google and Ola, have been joining forces time and again with a strategic goal in mind – enhancing customer experience and catering to a wide number…,” said Vijay Ghadge, Vice President of Operations at Ola, in a statement.

“Ola Outstation has gained significant prominence in the past year since its launch and this association takes us a step further in making the category as reliable and convenient as intra-city commute,” he added.

Once the destination is keyed in on Google Maps, the commuter can navigate to the transit tab and choose Ola as the commute option and he or she would be taken directly to the booking screen on the Ola app.

In October 2016, Ola integrated its intra-city cab travel options with Google Maps, enabling customers to discover cab options with estimated fares and the estimated time of arrival.

IANS

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These members—which could be cables, rods, or springs—would slacken or tighten to adjust the car’s “external rigidity” as needed, the report said.

If sensors detect the vehicle is about to “come into contact with another object” they would change accordingly. If it’s another car, keep the outside stiff, if it’s a human, loosen up as appropriate.

Waymo said that the end result would be a lighter impact for those hit by the car.

“Think of it like a metal beanbag that crumples to accommodate a new, unexpected passenger,” The Verge report explained.

Self-driving vehicles constantly communicate with one another to prevent crashes but this is the first time that an industry player came out with a solution to save pedestrians from accident.

In a related case, Uber and Alphabet have locked horns with each other over latter’s accusation on the ride-hailing app of stealing its self-driving technology.

Last month, the legal tussle between ride-hailing company Uber and Google’s parent company Alphabet escalated when the court allowed Uber to seek deposition of Alphabet CEO Larry Page for up to four hours.

Along with Page, Uber will be allowed to seek deposition of David Drummond, Alphabet’s Chief Legal Officer and Senior Vice-President of Corporate Development, reported Fortune on Saturday.

The depositions were requested by Uber, which is being sued for alleged patent infringement and stealing trade secrets by Waymo, the self-driving project of Alphabet.

Waymo filed a lawsuit against Uber earlier in 2017, alleging that the stolen information became the technological basis for Uber’s self-driving cars.

According to the lawsuit, Anthony Levandowski, who earlier headed its self-driving car project, downloaded around 14,000 files from his company-issued computer containing trade secrets related to Waymo’s LIDAR technology, circuit board designs, and testing documentation.

The company also alleged that Levandowski tried to remove traces of those actions by reformating his laptop.

Levandowski joined Uber after his stint at Google, where he shepherded the company’s own self-driving car programme.

IANS

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“Rigid and elastic materials interact with the water surface quite differently,” said Randy Hurd, a PhD candidate at Utah State University in the US and lead author of the study.

“When an elastic body impacts the surface, the material deforms and oscillates significantly which changes the water-impact physics compared to a rigid body,” Hurd said.

Hurd’s team used high-speed cameras to record elastomeric spheres dropping into a tank of water.

At 2,000 frames per second, the footage revealed the unique splash curtains and air-filled cavities that form after impact.

The group used the images to track the position and deformation of the elastic spheres to understand how energy transfers from the water to the material.

By analysing the results, the team was able to predict the water interaction behaviour based on the type of soft material and its speed.

The study could be an important step towards the design of an inflatable speedboat that absorbs wave energy and provides a smoother ride for passengers.

“Being able to predict water interaction from a materials perspective is an important first step in understanding which material types would be best for developing an inflatable watercraft capable of providing a smoother ride over a choppy surface,” Hurd said.

The findings are particularly useful to the US Navy and other agencies that deploy watercraft in rough seas.

IANS

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