PowerVision made a splash at CES 2020 with an innovative drone that is small enough to double as a handheld camera and uses artificial intelligence (AI) to improve its performance.
PowerVision has long been known for making quality and innovative drones, but the newest model takes some major leaps forward, according to Digital Trends. The PowerEgg X is substantially smaller, fitting in the palm of the hand. Its small size gives it the ability to be used as a handled camera, in addition to being a drone.
By incorporating AI, the PowerEgg X offers unique abilities. The drone’s camera has built-in facial recondition, which is constantly being improved thanks to deep learning training. The product video shows the camera singling out and focusing on its owner in a group of individuals dancing. This gives the drone the ability to track a subject it has learned, even if they move out of the field of view and back again.
As a drone, the PowerEgg X has smart follow shooting, landing protection, obstacle avoidance, intelligent return home capability, 3-axis Gimbal stabilization, wind resistance, rain-resistant flight, preprogrammed quick shot flight paths and more.
The PowerEgg X is an impressive step forward and will likely become a staple of many businesses and professionals that rely on drone photography.
Showing its more than a consumer electronics company, Sony unveiled an electric concept car at CES 2020.
Image Source: Sony Corporation
The Vision-S is a prototype designed to showcase Sony’s technical prowess, and the company has not stated whether it has any plans to produce the vehicle. Even as a prototype, however, the Vision-S is an impressive accomplishment. The car has 33 sensors—13 more than a Tesla—“including CMOS image sensors and ToF sensors are embedded within the vehicle, in order to detect and recognize people and objects inside and outside the car, and provide highly advanced driving support.”
Safety is front-and-center, with the “Safety Cocoon.” Safety Cocoon is a safe-zone concept designed to monitor 360 degrees to help the driver avoid potential hazards before it’s too late.
Image Source: Sony Corporation
When it comes to creature comforts, “Sony’s ‘360 Reality Audio’ provides a deep and immersive audio experience through speakers built into each seat to encapsulates passengers in sound. The front seats face a panoramic screen on which rich and diverse content can be enjoyed through an intuitive user interface.”
While the Vision-S is meant to showcase Sony’s mobile and electric capabilities, the prototype has already turned heads. Taking a car from prototype to roadworthy vehicle, reliable enough to meet drivers’ demands, is easier said than done. If enough people push for it, however, who knows what Sony may ultimately do.
Blackberry and AWS have announced a partnership at CES 2020, aimed at helping automakers tackle the challenges of modern autos.
According to the press release, the partnership will leverage Blackberry’s QNX operating system (OS), in combination with AWS’ Internet of Things (IoT) cloud services. With QNX, automakers will be able to provide a single OS for all the various “in-vehicle systems such as gateways, TCUs, engine controllers, digital cockpits and emerging domain controllers.”
Automakers will also be able to use the AWS-powered OS in electric and autonomous vehicles, “enabling essential functions such as continuous EV battery life monitoring and prediction, and managing vehicle sub-systems to holistically control warranty costs, providing important security updates and seamless updates of vehicle software features to delight their customers, and drive monetization of vehicle data while exercising control over data access.”
The platform will provide a way for automakers to collect valuable data from vehicle sensors and use that data to build and test models, as well as develop software designed to address specific needs.
“By working with AWS, we can provide OEMs with a unique foundational software platform that will allow them to build the next generation connected and autonomous cars of the future,” said John Wall, Senior Vice President and Co-Head of BlackBerry Technology Solutions. “By combining our technologies and strengths into one dedicated cloud-based offering, we can ensure automakers have the tools they need to deliver the driving experience consumers want, without sacrificing on the security and reliability they need.”
“Our automotive customers are developing exciting new products and services that rely on the power of the cloud, IoT, and AI/ML. We are thrilled to be working with BlackBerry QNX to provide secure connectivity and advanced edge computing capabilities for the next generation of electric and autonomous vehicles,” said Bill Vass, Vice President, Technology, Amazon Web Services, Inc.
Hyundai and Uber made a splash at CES 2020 with a partnership to develop and deploy Uber Air Taxies, according to a press release.
Hyundai made news in late 2019 when it created its Urban Air Mobility (UAM) division. UAM is focused on creating flying cars and other aerial vehicles, and landed NASA aeronautics director Dr. Jaiwon Shin as the division head. Unlike the many startups that have tried to tackle this field, Hyundai brings vast experience mass-manufacturing complex vehicles.
Image Source: Uber
Under the partnership, “Hyundai will produce and deploy the air vehicles, and Uber will provide airspace support services, connections to ground transportation, and customer interfaces through an aerial ride share network. Both parties are collaborating on infrastructure concepts to support take-off and landing for this new class of vehicles.”
As part of their announcement, the two companies unveiled concepts for their first jointly developed personal air vehicle (PAV), the SA-1. The PAV is a 100 percent electric vehicle, with vertical takeoff and landing, cruising altitude of 1,000 to 2,000 feet and a cruising speed of up to 180 miles per hour.
“Our vision of Urban Air Mobility will transform the concept of urban transportation,” said Jaiwon Shin, Executive Vice President and Head of Hyundai’s Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Division. “We expect UAM to vitalize urban communities and provide more quality time to people. We are confident that Uber Elevate is the right partner to make this innovative product readily available to as many customers as possible.”
“Hyundai is our first vehicle partner with experience of manufacturing passenger cars on a global scale. We believe Hyundai has the potential to build Uber Air vehicles at rates unseen in the current aerospace industry, producing high quality, reliable aircraft at high volumes to drive down passenger costs per trip. Combining Hyundai’s manufacturing muscle with Uber’s technology platform represents a giant leap forward for launching a vibrant air taxi network in the coming years,” said Eric Allison, head of Uber Elevate.
Few things are as recognizable and iconic as Segway’s scooters. The self-balancing scooter is a mainstay of touring companies and police forces. At CES 2020, the company announced its newest addition, the S-Pod: a seated gyroscope-based scooter.
The S-Pod looks like something straight out of science fiction, with Automobile comparing it to the hoverchairs in Pixar’s WALL-E. Unlike the scooters, the S-Pod uses a control knob, rather than leaning, to direct the chair. The control pad can be detached so the chair can be controlled remotely.
According to Autombile, “the S-Pod has a top speed of nearly 25 mph and a range of 43.5 miles on a charge.” With a gyroscopic design that is designed to make it impossible to turn over, the applications are endless. Unfortunately, Segway doesn’t seem interested in making the S-Pod available to the average consumer, and “insists the S-Pod is meant to be used on closed campuses.”
Steve Jobs famously questioned the market choice for the Segway when he was first introduced to the device. “You’re sure your market is upscale consumers for transportation,” Jobs asked.
The S-Pod has tremendous potential to be a widely adopted transportation device—if Segway changes their target market for the device.
GoPro’s foray into the world of drones was fraught with one misstep after another. Fast forward two years after the company announced it was discontinuing the Karma—its one and only drone—and the Karma is coming back to bite GoPro again.
According to The Verge, Karma owners have been experiencing problems with their drones being unable to fly. The issue appears to be related to the drones’ older GPS system. Older systems must be updated to deal with clock rollovers in the GPS and GLONASS satellite systems. Unfortunately, the Karma hasn’t received a software update since September 2018.
Users are reporting that their drones are not receiving a GPS signal, and even turning it off doesn’t seem to fix the issues. GoPro has said they are aware of the problem and are actively working on it, but gave no indication if or when a fix would be available.
GoPro’s Karma debacle is a reminder that companies looking to branch into emerging technologies do well to fully understand the field they’re entering.
According to Roadshow, by CNET, Fisker has debuted its Ocean electric SUV at CES 2020, undercutting Tesla’s price.
Anticipation for the electric SUV has been building for months, with one of the biggest features being its sub-$400 lease price. The official debut didn’t disappoint, with an MSRP of $37,499 and a lease price of $379 per month. With federal tax credits, the price drops to $29,999.
As an added bonus, Fisker has very favorable lease terms. According to a statement Fisker gave Roadshow, lessees “can return the vehicle in one month, eight months, 22 months or several years.” There are “no long-term contracts, with 30,000 miles per year included.” In addition, “Fisker will pick up and return vehicles when maintenance is required, or service is requested,” the company said.
While specific, comprehensive details have yet to be announced, the Ocean “will be powered by an approximately 80-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack. The company is targeting an electric driving range of somewhere between 250 and 300 miles.”
For observers and consumers who have wanted more competition in the electric vehicle market, the Fisker Ocean debut is welcome news. In combination with the news that Rivian recently raised $1.3 billion, as well as inked deals with Amazon and Ford, the electric vehicle market is beginning to heat up.
NBC News is reporting that Nikola Motors claims to have found the “Holy Grail of batteries,” promising to double the range of electric vehicles and the number of recharge cycles, while cutting costs in half.
Nikola is not going into much detail about how the new technology works, as it has been developed by a company Nikola is in the process of acquiring. They have alluded to the fact that the technology is a refinement of the current lithium-ion standard, rather than a complete replacement of it.
The new method seems to involve “removing the binder material and electric current collectors used in today’s lithium-ion cells.” According to company founder and chief executive Trevor Milton, this reduces the size and weight, while also making the batteries “more conductive,” which gives them faster charging times.
According to NBC News, Nikola’s testing has resulted in batteries that can sustain 2,000 charging cycles, which is twice the current industry standard for electric vehicles. This translates to roughly 1.5 million miles before a truck would need battery replacements.
Nikola isn’t eyeing just the electric vehicle market, however. They believe the technology could revolutionize cellphones, tablets and other consumer devices. Battery capacity and lifespan continues to be troublesome bottlenecks for the electric vehicle market, as well as consumer devices. If Nikola is successful in bringing its tech to market, this could usher in a new wave of innovation.
According to The Washington Post, the Trump administration has floated a proposal that would limit high-tech exports to China.
Under the proposal, artificial intelligence (AI), robots, quantum computing, image recognition and self-driving tech would all be prohibited from being exported to China. This would include the tech that drives smartphone assistants, such as Siri.
“If you think about the range of products this potentially implicates, that’s massive. This is either the opening of a big negotiation with the industry and the public or a bit of a cry for help in scoping these regulations,” R. David Edelman, the director of the Project on Technology, the Economy, & National Security at MIT, told The Washington Post.
At the very least, the administration seems intent on extending the restrictions to those countries that are already subject to U.S. arms embargoes, including China.
Needless to say, industry experts are not happy with the proposal. In a separate report by The Washington Post, individuals with the National Venture Capital Association expressed concern about how effective these proposed restrictions would be, versus the damage they would cause.
“Almost everything is using AI in one way or another,” said Jeff Farrah, NVCA’s general counsel. “So then is everything subject to export controls?”
Farrah continued: “There’s not a lot of faith from people in the industry that the government will get this right.”
Tesla owners looking for the perfect alcoholic compliment to their vehicles (not while in them of course) may not have long to wait, according to the International Business Times (IBT).
What began as an April Fool’s joke in 2018 seems on the verge of becoming a reality. According to Teslarati, Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s April Fool’s prank in 2018 was a tweet saying the company had gone bankrupt and showing a picture of Musk passed out surrounded by Teslaquilla bottles. The prank was an instant hit, with individuals clamoring for the company to actually make the tequila, and Musk promising they would.
Months later, TechCrunch reported that Tesla had filed an “intent to use” trademark for the tequila, with Musk once again confirming it was “coming soon.”
According to IBT, a Tesla Model 3 owner reached out to Musk via Twitter to find out the latest about the distilled pure agave liquor.
“Slight tweak to the glass needed & then it should be good to go,” Musk tweeted in reply on Sunday.
According to a post on the company’s website, “Verizon is seeking to be the first carrier to connect one million drone flights to the 5G network.”
Verizon has had its sights set on the market for some time, acquiring drone company Skyward in early 2017, just a few months after offering wireless plans aimed at drone makers. The company sees far more potential, however, especially for companies looking to operate fleets of drones, which cost significantly less than helicopters or planes.
Verizon is counting on the speed of its 5G Ultra Wideband network, along with mobile edge computing (MEC) to provide the missing ingredient necessary for widespread drone deployment. With MEC “more complex functions can be performed nearer to the user and away from centralized servers. By shortening the distance data has to travel, drones will be able to perform more latency-sensitive tasks. As a knock-on benefit, because bulky processors can be offloaded, drones have the potential to get smaller and faster, with extended battery life, so they can stay in the air and on the job longer.”
Verizon sees tremendous opportunity in the field, as a mere “10% of major enterprises have a drone program, and none of them are connected to a wireless network,” says Mariah Scott, president of Skyward. “We knew early on that connectivity would be critical for drones to truly transform our world. And now 5G Ultra Wideband will usher in a new era in aviation, where we connect and integrate drones into the national airspace.”
The two companies are working closely to overcome the remaining hurdles for widespread adoption. Verizon’s network will allow operators to pilot drones from thousands of miles away, while its MEC capabilities will make drones viable for a wider range of industries. In the meantime, “Skyward recently unveiled advanced airspace intelligence for drone pilots, including essential ground intelligence and 3D views of more than one million vertical obstacles.”
The timing is definitely right for Verizon’s ambitions, as the Federal Aviation Administration recently proposed rules that would allow it to identify and track the majority of active drones. This is seen as a major step in integrating drones into the national airspace alongside existing aerial vehicles.
According to the Denver Post, a swarm of drones numbering anywhere from 17 to 30 have been appearing in the night sky above Colorado and Nebraska.
The drones are roughly six feet across, and have been appearing and disappearing at the same time every night, and stay between 200 and 300 feet off the ground. Based on a statement by Phillips County Sheriff Thomas Elliot, the drones appear to be searching for something or mapping the terrain.
“They’ve been doing a grid search, a grid pattern,” Elliot told the Denver Post. “They fly one square and then they fly another square.”
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it did not know where the drones came from or who was operating them. Meanwhile, the Air Force, US Army Forces Command and Drug Enforcement Administration all denied the drones were theirs. Given the size and numbers of drones, it seems likely the drones are being flown by a company or agency, as an operation of this size would likely be prohibitive for hobbyists.
The FAA recently proposed a new rule that would give it the authority to identify and track the majority of drones in the skies. Such a rule would make it much easier for the FAA to know who the drones belong to and exactly what they’re doing.
Business Insider is reporting Uber has purchased 596 acres near Pittsburg to establish a test track for self-driving cars.
Uber has been in the news a lot lately, and not all of it good. The company recently released a safety report detailing nine murders and thousands of sexual assaults that have occurred in Uber rides. In addition, the company was banned in Germany last week due to it not having the necessary license to transport customers in rental vehicles. The use of rental vehicles was already a modification of its business model the company was using to get around German restrictions preventing it from “matching customers with drivers using their own vehicles, as it does in the U.S.”
In addition to these problems, the company is facing increasing challenges regarding the legal definition of employees. California is just one example where laws could potentially alter Uber’s business model by classifying its drivers as employees, rather than contractors.
In view of these challenges, it’s little wonder the company is looking at self-driving cars as the answer moving forward. Self-driving cars could eliminate the need for driver background checks, employee vs contractor debates and could be the ultimate answer to bans like Germany has imposed—provided self-driving cars become widely accepted.
One of the biggest obstacles to adoption is ensuring the safety of self-driving cars. The new testing area will employ approximately 200 people and have an observation deck. Pittsburg is the center of Uber’s self-driving research and development, with the company also creating a fake city there—complete with roaming mannequins that jump out without warning—for testing the technology.
The new testing ground should give Uber plenty of room to test a variety of scenarios.
Tesla may have made headlines recently when it unveiled the Cybertruck, but it’s not the only game in town. Electric vehicle startup Rivian just announced it has raised an additional $1.3 billion in funding, for a total of nearly $3 billion in 2019.
Although Rivian has yet to produce a single truck, the company has been making waves in the industry, inking deals with Amazon and Ford. Rivian will produce 100,000 vans for Amazon and its technology will be used by Ford in its upcoming electric vehicles.
One of the things that makes Rivian an appealing alternative to Tesla is its more mainstream designs. The Cybertruck’s design have been one of its most polarizing features, looking like it came straight out of a science fiction movie. In contrast, at last year’s Los Angeles Auto Show, Rivian debuted a pickup and SUV that had a much more traditional aesthetic.
According to Rivian, Amazon, Ford and funds managed by BlackRock were part of this round of investment.
“Starting with a clean sheet, Rivian has developed its vehicles with adventurers at the core of every design and engineering decision,” according to the press release. “The company’s launch products, the R1T and R1S, deliver up to 400+ miles of range and provide an unmatched combination of performance, off-road capability and utility. These vehicles use the company’s flexible skateboard platform and will be produced at Rivian’s manufacturing plant in Normal, Ill., with customer deliveries expected to begin at the end of 2020.”
According to Reuters, a judge has struck down a NYC rule “limiting how much time drivers for ride-hailing services can spend cruising streets in busy areas of Manhattan without passengers.”
Uber and Lyft filed separate lawsuits challenging a NYC rule that was designed to ease congestion. With ride-sharing vehicles making up nearly a third of peak traffic, the city was attempting to prevent ride-sharing drivers from cruising the streets while waiting for new passengers.
New York State Supreme Court Judge Lyle Frank issued his ruling in the case Uber brought, although he made it clear his ruling covered Lyft’s case as well, calling NYC’s cruising cap rule “arbitrary and capricious.”
The mayor’s office indicated it may fight the ruling however, with a spokeswoman for the mayor saying: “We put these rules in place to protect hardworking drivers and New Yorkers—and we’ll fight to keep them.”
KRCR News is reporting that California has opened the doors to driverless delivery vehicles, provided they receive a permit from the DMV.
According to the report, “the Office of Administrative Law approved revised regulations on Monday that will allow companies with a DMV permit to operate autonomous delivery vehicles weighing less than 10,001 pounds.”
Permits will be issued for autonomous vehicles both with and without a backup safety driver. Driverless delivery vehicles will have to follow the same guidelines and standards as autonomous passenger vehicles. The DMV is expected to begin approving applications within 30 days.
The change in regulation is a welcome win for the autonomous vehicle market. If the tests and deployments are successful in California, it will be hard for critics to make valid arguments against their safety and practicality in other jurisdictions.
Reuters is reporting that German logistics company DHL is planning on debuting an all-electric delivery van in the United States next year.
DHL will debut the Work L delivery van through its electric vehicle subsidiary StreetScooter beginning Spring 2020. The company will initially use the van in two U.S. markets, one on each coast, with full deployment coming in 2022 or 2023.
According to the Centre for Alternative Technology, cities around the world are working to significantly reduce emissions, with “cities such as Oslo, Antwerp, Melbourne and Copenhagen have risen to this bigger ambition and are pushing for 100 per cent greenhouse gas reductions by at least 2050.”
Companies such as DHL, Amazon and others are working to reduce their impact when making deliveries, especially when considering that the transportation industry was responsible for 14 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2010.
DHL already has a significant head start in this arena, thanks to StreetScooter. According an interview with Ulrich Stuhec, StreetScooter’s chief technology officer, StreetScooter has “the most experience on the road while others are still working on their first prototypes.”
In Amsterdam, Vienna and Germany, “roughly 10,000 of the 12,000 StreetScooter electric vehicles on the road make DHL deliveries.”
StreetScooter estimates their vehicles already save roughly 36,000 metric tons of CO2 per year, per truck.
Tesla made headlines with its debut of the Cybertruck, a futuristic-looking electric pickup truck. Tesla is obviously taking aim at Ford and the rest of the pickup truck industry.
The Cybertruck starts at $39,900 for a single RWD motor and 7,500 lbs towing capacity. The middle option offers dual-motor AWD and 10,000 lbs of towing starting at $49,900. The highest trim level starts at $69,900 and provides 14,000 lbs towing.
As part of Tesla’s demonstration, they showed a video of the Cybertruck beating a Porsche 911 off the line and beating an F-150 in a tug-of-war. As Business Insider (BI) points out, four days later a Ford executive suggested in a tweet that the contest may not have been an apples-to-apples comparison. Even Neil deGrasse Tyson got in on the action, questioning the physics of the comparison.
Elon Musk took the challenges to heart and promised to film a new test between the two trucks. It would appear that gambling site MyBookie is getting in on the action. At the time that BI wrote their article, odds were in favor of the F-150 winning the match at -120 vs the Cybertruck at +100. The odds have since shifted back in favor of the Cybertruck, now at -140 vs +120 for the F-150.
With betting remaining open till December 4, it will be interesting to see if the Cybertruck remains the favorite, not to mention who will win the final contest.
“We are excited about a whole number of applications of what we call the world’s most experienced driver,” says Dan Chu, Waymo’s Chief Product Officer. We’re really focused on the core technology. We have ride-hailing, long-haul trucking, and then delivery as well. We’re also interested in personally owned cars. We’re very excited about the long haul trucking opportunity. We’ve already done a pilot with Google shipping some of their datacenter parts in Atlanta.”
Dan Chu, Chief Product Officer at Waymo, discusses the progress the company has made in advancing driverless technology over the last year in an interview on Bloomberg Technology:
Driverless Ride-Hailing, Long-Haul Trucking, and Delivery
We are excited about a whole number of applications of what we call the world’s most experienced driver. We’re really focused on the technology and core technology. We have ride-hailing, long-haul trucking, and then delivery as well. We’re also interested in personally owned cars. Many of our OEM partners are interested in that. I think we will be rolling those out over the course of the next few years.
We’re very excited about the long haul trucking opportunity. There’s a lot of demand for it. There’s really a foundation for it in the economy so we’re definitely interested in it. In fact, we’ve been working on this since 2017. We’ve already done a pilot with Google shipping some of their datacenter parts in Atlanta.
We’ve Been Rolling Out Fully Driverless Rides
The rollout (of driverless ride-hailing) has been going really well. I’m really excited about the progress. We started in 2017 launching an early rider program where we had over 20,000 people sign up in just a matter of days. Nowadays, we have thousands of riders that are taking rides. Most importantly, over the last few months, we’ve actually been rolling out fully driveless rides. Now we have riders in our rider programs in Phoenix who can hail a ride with a mobile app and have a car show up that has no driver at all and go ahead and take various trips with it.
We definitely have global ambitions. Our mission is really to make every single mile safer. We definitely want to get everywhere as soon as we can. But we do think the rollout will be city by city. It will be incremental. We will continue to expand as we are in metro Phoenix and go then beyond from there. We’ve already driven in over 25 cities. We’ve been testing in new ones as well. For instance, recently we started testing in Miami and we’ve also started testing in Los Angeles.
Waymo Rolling Out Fully Driverless Rides
We’ve Always Had An Approach Of Launching Incrementally
I have ridden in one (of our driverless cars). It’s an important part of our culture at Waymo for us to actually be what we call dogfooding or trying our own products. It’s an incredible experience. We really think it brings that bit of independence and that privacy and that time to yourself. I really do believe it’s a whole new product.
We’ve always had an approach of launching this incrementally. We think that’s the safest and responsible way of getting this technology out. If you look at the history of our project we’ve had the first self-driving car ride or a fully driverless ride in Austin. Then we had a fleet of vehicles in 2017. Then our Wymo One launched at the end of last year. So we’ve taken it incrementally and I think we’ve been doing that steady approach for a while.
I’m Convinced Of The Benefits Of Self-Driving Technology
I’m really convinced around the social impact and the benefits that self-driving technology will have. We look at road safety which is really core to the mission of Waymo. Over 1.35 million lives are lost on the roads every single year on a global basis. That’s one of the leading causes of death. Even in the United States, that number has been going up. Over the last five years, that number has actually increased and has gone the wrong way. For those reasons, road safety and some of the other benefits it might have on the environment and space usage it’s definitely the right focus for our attention.
We want to be part of the solution (in terms of jobs). One of the things here is that this change will be incremental. It’ll take time to roll out. The second is that we want to be part of creating jobs. Right now in Phoenix were already seeing some of that happening. We’re creating whole new categories of jobs that never existed before such as a Lidar technician or an AV technician.
Lastly, I think the other thing that often isn’t discussed in that conversation is around how mobility is an important part of employment. By giving people access to jobs is they’re going to be able to get those jobs. We know that in the United States over 20 to 30 million adult Americans aren’t able to get driver’s licenses for any number of reasons. So between the creation of jobs and giving access those are some of the ways that we hope to be a part of the solution.
Waymo Technolgy Now Powering Driverless Rides, Trucking, and Delivery – Dan Chu, Waymo
Ford Motor Company released a video of its F-150 All-Electric Truck prototype to allay any fears from truck owners that the electric version would be the weak sister in the F-150 family. The company gathered a few F-150 owners to show off how powerful the electric version will be. They attached 1,000-foot freight train to the back of the electric pickup, weighing over 1 million pounds, and easily towed it 1,000 feet down the track.
Then to illustrate their point even further, Ford loaded 42 gas-powered F-150’s on the train, making the weight 1.25 million pounds and towed that. It was a great demonstration of all-electric power. Definitely, this All-Electric Ford F-150 is Ford Tough!
“We’ve confirmed we are bringing an all-electric F-150 to market,” says Ford in their video announcement. “Now, we’re showing you the capability you asked for by having it tow more than 1 million pounds.* This is Built Ford Tough.”
“As America’s truck leader, we prefer to let our actions speak louder than words,” says Ford. “Watch as Linda Zhang, chief engineer of the Ford F-150, shows the capability of a prototype all-electric F-150 by towing 10 double-decker rail cars and 42 2019-model year F-150s, weighing more than 1 million pounds.1
Ford has confirmed it will bring an all-electric F-150 to market. This will be in addition to the all-new F-150 Hybrid that goes on sale next year. Ford says that both electrified models will have the toughness, capability and innovation that F-150 customers have come to expect.
Ford Proves the Power of Its F-150 All-Electric Truck By Pulling Train!10 Double Decker Freight Cars to be pulled by Ford’s All-Electric F-15 Prototype.Ford proves the point that it’s coming All-Electric F-15 pickup truck is even more powerful than it’s gas version!Ford reveals it’s All-Electric Prototype to a group of current F-150 owners.Ford’s All-Electric F-150 Prototype connected to a 1 million pound freight train. Ford tows a train with their All-Electric F-15 prototype weighing over 1 million pounds.Ford loaded 42 F-15 gasoline-powered trucks making the total load more than 1.25 million pounds to be towed.
“The transitions, 3G to 4G, 4G to 5G, are very important in order to maintain your leadership position and also it enables you to really open up and expand your business in the new areas,” says Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf. “5G is really designed so that other industries such as automotive, self-driving cars, connected healthcare, connected education, connected infrastructure, are really set up to use cellular for the first time at massive scale.”
Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm, discusses how 5G is for the first time enabling industry to use cellular technology on a massive scale in an interview on CNBC:
5G is Designed So That Industries Can Use Cellar at Massive Scale
In this industry, you do not want to miss the transitions. The transitions, 3G to 4G, 4G to 5G, are very important in order to maintain your leadership position and also it enables you to really open up and expand your business in the new areas. This is more so true on 5G than any other G transition. We wanted to make sure that we were able to position the company do that. We did that while at the same time we brought a lot of other costs discipline within the envelope. We’re very pleased to be able to do that. It was a good call to make. I’m very proud of the team to be able to execute on that in the midst of what probably looked like a lot of distractions from the outside.
5G is really designed so that other industries such as automotive, self-driving cars, connected healthcare, connected education, connected infrastructure, are really set up to use cellular for the first time at massive scale. Our problem today is not, do we have a great technology lead? It is how do we scale that across new industries? This is a good problem to have and I’m looking forward to tackling it with all my energy.
The Energy of the Companies is on How to Ramp up Quickly
Really talking about the past and some of the he said she said is not that helpful. I can tell you where the energy of the two companies is right now. The energy of the companies right now is let’s figure out how to ramp up as quickly as possible. The relationship is focused on that issue. I’ve had a lot of discussions not only within my team but also with the Apple team. That’s the focus. We talk all the time. The companies to get to an agreement as complex as this you’ve got to talk. But I can tell you, companies like this they move on and they move on to the things that are natural to work together which is products. We’re all excited about doing that.
We are two product-focused organizations. We’re working on products, we’ve done it in the past and we love doing it. We’re good at doing it. That’s where the focus is that’s what we’re excited about. The reality is when you’re working on technologies that are meaningful and are relevant to many industries worldwide you’re going to grab attention. As long as you have a technology lead you can work your way through that. We were able to do that in the past and certainly were able to do that over the last five-plus years. I’m sure it’s going to be a little bit more calm but I can tell you I’m very happy to have that technology position.
5G is Designed So That Industries Can Use Cellar at Massive Scale, Says Qualcomm CEO
