Ford Reimagines a Building—and Itself
This is not your grandmother's Ford. CEO Jim Hackett talks like a tech guy and is reconfiguring the company as much as its cars and trucks around a vision of autonomy, electricity and services that...
transportation
Traversing Europe’s Stellar Tech Firmament
Chief Techonomist David Kirkpatrick was blown away by Europe's energy and tech creativeness on a recent swing, both by how good the conferences were and by the importance of the digital revelations he had. Self-flying...
Harnessing the Data Exhaust (from vehicles)
It may be another generation until driverless cars are the norm, but in the meantime we need data to train the software, as well as to assist in the development of new infrastructure and regulatory...
Railways on Track for Digital Transformation
The internet of things (IoT) is beginning to transform railroads, despite the industry's longstanding conservatism. The amount of data trains generate is measured in “brontobytes” (millions of times more than a petabyte). It's full steam...
Happy Trails: An Inexpensive Way to Revive American Suburbs
As people move more and more to cities, suburban America is in need of a facelift. City living is attractive to young people because they are aware of their energy consumption, they like the action...
An Automotive Expert’s Excitement–and Worry–About Self-Driving Vehicles
Self-driving technology is going to make cars and mobility safer, more exciting, more accessible, and more eco-friendly. But for a huge number of people, driving is a job, often a good middle-class one. I worry...
Space: The Next Fiscal Frontier?
NASA has increasingly taken a backseat in the world of manned space exploration. While that trend may not be great for America's role in space, it has opened the door for a revolution in private...
Parking ticket? There’s a Bot for That
A legal chatbot called DoNotPay helps users appeal parking tickets through a series of simple questions: Was the signage confusing? Were signs clearly visible? Was the parking bay large enough? It has already helped overturn...
Your Next Car Will Drive Better Than You
Even tiny distractions while driving can be a matter of life or death. Now self-learning cars are beginning to employ machine learning to understand a driver’s behavior and preferences, to minimize distraction. Cars may become...
