Flying Cars and Skyports Versus Tunnels and Self-driving Electric Cars

Uber is trying to commercialize ride-sharing electric flying taxis within 5 years. Uber wants to have two demonstrator flights by 2020. Uber wants to begin commercial flights in 2023. Uber needs to build many Skyports where their electric flying vehicles would provide locations where people would load and disembark from near-personal flying taxis. Uber wants …

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US Army will work with Uber on co-rotating propellers for flying cars

The Army is joining forces with Uber to build out technology that could help get the next generation of military helicopters and a proposed fleet of flying taxis off the ground. The rideshare company and Army Research Lab announced Tuesday they would collaborate on research exploring rotor technology that would make aircraft quieter and more …

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Uber’s technically inferior self-driving system kills an Arizona Pedestrian

A self-driving car operated by Uber appears to have caused the first known death of a pedestrian struck by an autonomous vehicle on a public road. Uber has suspended testing of its self-driving cars in Tempe, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto. A key metric for measuring the quality of a self-driving system is how long …

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Uber and Waymo have settled lawsuit for $245 million in Uber stock

Waymo had originally sought a $1 billion settlement last year before the trial got underway, but Uber rejected that deal. Waymo has settled for 0.34 percent of Uber’s equity at the company’s $72 billion valuation, which is around $245 million. Uber cannot use any of Waymo’s hardware or software trade secrets as one of the …

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Volvo will sell tens of thousands of self driving cars to Uber between 2019-2021

There are currently about 100 self-driving Volvos self-driving Volvos on Swedish roads. In November, 2017, Volvo Cars, the premium car maker, signed a framework agreement with Uber, the ride sharing company, to sell tens of thousands of autonomous driving compatible base vehicles between 2019 and 2021. The base vehicles are developed on Volvo Cars’ fully …

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Worldwide ridesharing at $285 billion per year by 2030 will be profitable when self driving

A recent Goldman Sachs study projected that the worldwide ride-sharing market could grow eight-fold by the year 2030, reaching $285 billion annually. Currently ridesharing is about $36 billion. Right now, they estimate the global taxi market is worth $108 billion, which is triple the size of the $36-billion ride-hailing market. At the same time, they …

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Spacex will have to fix turbopumps for next version of Falcon 9 to qualify it for NASA manned flights

The Wall Street Journal indicates a forthcoming report from the US Government Accountability Office focuses most closely on issues with turbopumps in SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. The report has found a “pattern of problems” with the turbine blades within the turbopumps, which deliver rocket fuel into the combustion chamber of the Merlin rocket engine. Some …

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Another informative talk by Aubrey de Grey on life extension

Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology. Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a …

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