In some San Francisco neighborhoods, vehicles with no driver behind the wheel have turn out to be a standard sight. Many of town’s ghostly driverless vehicles are business robotaxis, immediately competing with taxis and ride-hailing firms.
I spent the previous 12 months overlaying robotaxis for the San Francisco Examiner and have taken almost a dozen rides in Cruise driverless vehicles over the previous few months. During my reporting, I’ve been struck by the shortage of urgency within the public discourse about robotaxis. It’s excessive time for the general public and its elected representatives to play a extra energetic position in shaping the way forward for this new know-how. Like it or not, robotaxis are right here.
Now comes the tough work of deciding what to do about them. Read the total story.
The chip patterning machines that may form computing’s subsequent act
When we speak about computing as of late, we have a tendency to speak about software program and the engineers who write it. But with out the {hardware} and the bodily sciences that enabled their creation—disciplines like optics, supplies science, and mechanical engineering—fashionable computing would have been not possible.
Semiconductor lithography, the manufacturing course of liable for producing laptop chips, stands on the middle of a geopolitical competitors to regulate the way forward for computing energy. And the pace at which new lithography programs and parts are developed will form not solely the pace of computing progress but in addition the stability of energy and earnings throughout the tech trade. Read the total story.
—Chris Miller