Robopocalypse Report 2

Checking an aircraft for damage can be arduous and meticulous work, but last week’s issue of The Economist highlights an experimental commercial approach. In simple terms, the Remote Intelligent Survey Equipment for Radiation (RISER) drone is a quadcopter with LIDAR and forms the basis for a system to use lasers to automatically detect damage to airliners.

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Google's Self Driving Cars are Driving in Austin and DC now.

Google self-driving cars have hit the road in Austin, Tex., the first time the project’s testing program has expanded beyond the streets around its hometown in California.

Google said late Monday one of the company’s Lexus RX450h SUVs has been cruising around a few square miles north and northeast of downtown Austin for a few weeks. The car, outfitted with cameras and sensors, is creating a detailed map of the streets, lane markers, traffic signals, curb heights, “keep clear” zones, and other information that helps the driverless software understand where the car is in the world.

In recent days, the software and sensors have started doing the driving after being guided by drivers, Google said. Two safety drivers will be in the car to take over if needed and provide feedback to Google engineers about how the car is behaving, suggesting things like smoother cornering.

Since the self-driving car project began in 2009, Google has mostly tested the technology in Mountain View, Calif., near its headquarters. The company has taken cars to other places like Austin and Washington D.C. in the past to give demos for a day or two.

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Uber Wants Over 500k Driverless Teslas (that's not a sharing economy!)

Tesla Motors is one of several automakers planning to put a self-driving car on sale sometime in the next few years, and it already seems to have at least one big fan.

This person isn't a celebrity owner or safety advocate, but rather the CEO of preeminent ride-sharing company Uber.

If Tesla can build a fully-autonomous car by 2020, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick says his company would it. In fact, he'd buy every one Tesla builds.

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