Shocking Facts About Garbage Americans throw away enough garbage every day to fill 63,000 garbage trucks, which if lined up end to end for an entire year would stretch halfway to the moon. In a lifetime, the average American will personally throw away 600 times his or her body weight, which for an average adult […]
Archives for August 2016
Uber and Ford Drive Change in Autonomous Trucking & Ride-sharing
Robotic transportation leaped forward this week. Uber jumped into autonomous trucking by purchasing autonomous truck startup Otto and announcing it will have self-driving cars transporting passengers in Pittsburgh in the coming weeks. Ford, meanwhile, said it would have a fully autonomous vehicle in service with a ride-hailing service by 2021.
Economics and Self-Driving Electric Trucks
Look for semi-trucks to become more intelligent and electric. That’s the assessment of Morgan Stanley Research analyst Ravi Shanker. While there are hurdles, Shanker argues in a recent report to investors that powerful economic and regulatory forces will push the trucking industry toward electric, self-driving trucks. Look for autonomous trucks to be introduced in 2020, […]
Can Human Drivers Survive Self-Driving Cars and Trucks?
The recent run of crashes of cars with autonomous driving features — including the Tesla Model S fatality in Florida — highlights the most important question people can ask about self-driving vehicles: How safe is this technology? Cars manufactured by Tesla, which has aggressively added self-driving technology under the misleading Autopilot marketing label, have been […]
Verizon Acquires Fleet-Tracking Company Fleetmatics for $2.4 Billion
In a move to increase its penetration into trucking and fleet management communications, Verizon Communications said it has a deal to acquire Fleetmatics Group PLC for $2.4 billion. Verizon said Monday it will pay $60 per share in cash for Dublin, Ireland-based Fleetmatics, a company in the truck and car tracking industry that also offers […]