Self-Driving Cars Take Wheel, Almost, At Auto Show

[email protected] (News Network)
November 21, 2014

Apple iPad Mini1

Nov 21: The L.A. Auto Show kicked off Tuesday with press days focused on the technology of the "connected car," which will eventually help lead to self-driving cars, like those that Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and recent auto-tech IPO Mobileye (NYSE:MBLY) have been working on.

Volvo, for one, showcased in a news conference Tuesday that, like Google, its cars can drive themselves now — following lanes, adapting speeds and merging into traffic.

"The first prototypes are out and running," Volvo Technical Specialist Erik Coelingh told IBD at the auto show, beside a Volvo outfitted as a "Drive Me" autonomous vehicle. "We've selected a number of commuter roads in Gothenburg on which we'll allow for self-driving in 2017 — and already we are driving around with prototypes like these."

On Swedish public roads, engineers accompany the autonomous cars for testing now. As a luxury car maker, Volvo sees providing autonomous driving capability for when a driver doesn't want to drive, for instance on a boring commute. But Coelingh said that there's a significant opportunity to improve safety via autonomous driving too.

The technology for self-driving, robotic or autonomous cars — whatever catchphrase eventually sticks — is largely here today and incorporates things like cameras and sensor systems.

Volkswagen's (OTCPK:VLKAY) Audi showcased its automated auto developments at the car show too. Its partnership with chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) underlies a significant part of the effort.

Assisted, Not Autonomous

"There are many different ways in which drivers are assisted today already," Anupam Malhotra, Audi of America's manager of connected vehicles, told IBD at the auto show. "You have side-warning lane-change management, you have adaptive cruise control systems, all these systems are already present in the cars. Piloted driving requires one additional step beyond that, a lateral-dimension sensor we add onto the car, called Lidar."

Lidar measures distance by using a laser for illumination and analyzing the reflection.

"Once that module's added on," Malhotra said, "you take all the input from these sensors and cameras, and you build it into the decision process that's built around how the car handles."

Audi is now testing piloted driving in California. It got a license to do so in Las Vegas a year ago.

"So this is something that is real, these cars are capable of driving themselves," Malhotra said. "Of course, in order for it to be street legal, there are a number of regulatory and social hurdles that still need to be leaped. But Audi is working on a process to actually bring this into production within the decade."

Besides Nevada and California, Florida and Michigan also allow testing of driverless vehicles on public roads.

Tesla, Mobileye Team Up

Luxury electric car maker Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) said last month that it was adding lane-change and speed warning capabilities to new Model S sedans. The "autopilot" feature, with 360-degree ultrasonic sonar and long-range radar, means that the car will eventually be able to recognize traffic lights and people, and do self-parking and active emergency braking.

Tesla is working directly with advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) developer Mobileye, whose stock leapt 48% in its Aug. 1 trading debut. Mobileye is also working with a number of big-name carmakers such as General Motors (NYSE:GM) and Honda (NYSE:HMC), though mostly through relationships with their suppliers.

Mobileye reports earnings on Thursday.

Morgan Stanley analyst Ravi Shanker has said he expects roughly half of new cars sold globally to have an advanced driver-assistance system or autonomous system by 2022.

One Step At A Time

But "what we need to do is get semi-autonomous right first," said Renee Stephens, vice president of automotive quality at consulting firm J.D. Power, speaking at the auto show. Then she showed a funny video of people trying to get their voice-interactive navigation systems to understand what they really said.

J.D. Power's research shows that some technologies are making sense to consumers. All-around car camera systems are favored by 72% of drivers polled. But other technologies were less popular, such as eye-tracking controls, which only 22% saw as adding value. (They can be an integral part of active-safety technologies that recognize when a driver is distracted.)

For now, the term "connected cars" refers to a whole array of enhanced communications, entertainment and safety features — from voice-interactive control of the car's music and maps to how a vehicle interacts with smartphones, to how cars may one day use Wi-Fi communications between themselves to help detect traffic.

Are customers asking for connected cars now?

Yes, says Jason Schulz, manager of strategic partnerships at Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM) Sales, though they want a simple experience and some have price constraints.

"As you start to look at the segment going from nonluxury to luxury, demand increases," he said at the auto show. "Nonluxury buyers see themselves going from maybe analog to digital, making that shift. And our luxury buyers see connected services really as a natural part of the premium experience — so demand is definitely increasing."

However, he said, what's really interesting is that "those with a connected car today cannot imagine a world without a connected car as their next vehicle purchase."

The idea of an autonomous car is "at an interesting point where it has acquired momentum far ahead of what many people anticipated," said Jeremy Acevedo, an analyst at car-shopping site Edmunds.com. "A lot of the components needed to make cars autonomous are right here at our fingertips, and it seems like a lot closer than a little while ago."

So when they're finally available to the public, how much will autonomous capabilities add to the cost of a car?

Too early to say, according to Audi's Malhotra, though he notes that the technology continues to improve and Audi has, with Nvidia, been able to reduce the size of the control unit — and things like that can end up reducing costs. It looks roughly the size of an Apple iPad Mini.

Apple iPad Mini

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: The National Commission for Women (NCW) has issued notice to some Bollywood celebrities named in a complaint against the promoter of a company for allegedly blackmailing and sexually assaulting a number of girls on the pretext of giving them a career in modelling.

Taking cognizance of the complaint filed by social activist Yogita Bhayana of People Against Rape in India (PARI), the NCW scheduled a virtual hearing presided by its chairperson on August 6.

The complaint against Sunny Verma, promoter of a company named IMG Ventures with its headquarter in Chandigarh, alleged that he has been blackmailing and sexually assaulting a number of girls on the pretext of giving them career in modelling.

PARI's Yogita Bhayana wrote a complaint letter to NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma.

"Through his company, he (Sunny Verma) invites the girls on the pretext of organising a Miss Asia contest with a claim that the contest will launch them as models. To make it look genuine, his company has also been taking an entry fee of Rs 2,950. Once the girls apply, they are alluded by the female accomplices of Sunny Verma to submit their nude pictures in order to get the better ranking in the contest," the complaint letter said on July 31.

It alleged that Verma, after receiving the pictures and sometimes even before, used to get in touch with the girls and ask for completely nude pictures and videos.

The complaint letter said that Verma also used to allude as well as threaten the girls to submit to his sexual desires if they were interested in modelling as a career or wish to win the contest.

"Once he established a physical relationship with the girls, he used to blackmail them for regular sexual favours. Many girls from across the country have suffered a sexual and mental assault from Sunny and his accomplices," said the complaint citing several letters, texts and audio clips from several girls as proof of this modus operandi of Sunny Verma and his company.

The complaint also said that Sunny Verma has been previously also arrested on charges of sexual assault.

"We would demand that NCW should investigate the case to its depth and get the guilty punished so that any other person should not dare to exploit these kinds of innocent girls on any pretext. It will be a message to people like Sunny Verma and all associated Bollywood stars. Looking forward to strict action from NCW against sexual offenders like Sunny Verma & others," the complaint said.

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Agencies
March 13,2020

Amid the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), which has infected 73 people in India and killed more than 4,500 individuals globally, doctors have advised that in addition to regularly washing hands, one should also disinfect their smartphone every 90 minutes with alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

Ravi Shekhar Jha, Head of Department at Fortis Escorts Hospital in Faridabad said the best method to disinfect your smartphone is to use regular doctor spirit or the alcohol-based hand sanitizer at least every 90 minutes.

"Avoid touching your eyes, mouth, or nose. The best option is to use a phone cover or a Bluetooth device and try to touch your phone as less as possible. We would also recommend cleaning your phone at least twice a day," Jha told IANS.

According to research, published in 2018 by Insurance2Go, a gadget insurance provider, revealed that smartphone screens have three times more germs than a toilet seat.

One in 20 smartphone users was found to clean their phones less than every six months, said the study.

"In the time of fear of coronavirus, smartphones should also be disinfected with alcohol-based sanitizer rub. Pour few drops of sanitizer on a tiny clean cotton pad and rub it safely on your entire phone," said Jyoti Mutta, Senior Consultant, Microbiology, Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute in New Delhi.

"You can repeat this process every evening coming back home after an entire day out at work and once in the morning before going out," Mutta added.

"Maintain basic cleanliness, and try to avoid using other's phones especially if suffering from respiratory illness or flu-like symptoms as there is no other way to disinfect these regular gadgets," she stressed.

Another study from the University of Surrey in the UK, also found that the home button on your smartphone may be harbouring millions of bacteria - some even harmful.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus as a global pandemic on Wednesday. The death toll of COVID-19 has crossed the 4,500 marks and confirmed cases globally have touched one lakh as per the reports.

According to Suranjeet Chatterjee, Senior Consultant in Internal Medicine Department of Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals in New Delhi, "We should frequently wash our hands, cover our coughs and it is important to adapt to other good hygiene habits that are most important in such a situation."

"Coronavirus and other germs can live on surfaces like glass, metal or plastics and phones are bacteria-ridden. It is necessary that we sanitize our hands frequently and make sure that our hands are clean all the time," Chatterjee told IANS.

"The emphasis should be laid on sanitising our hands rather than sanitizing the phone - once in a while the phone can be sanitized under the guidance of the makers of the phone," Chatterjee stressed.

According to the global health agency, the most effective way to protect yourself against coronavirus is by frequently cleaning of your hands with alcohol-based hand rub or washing them with soap and water.

The WHO's report showed the virus infects people of all ages, among which older people and those with underlying medical conditions are at a higher risk of getting infected.

People should eat only well-cooked food, avoid spitting in public, and avoid close contact, the WHO said, adding that it is important for people to seek medical care at the earliest if they become sick.

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Agencies
March 10,2020

New Delhi, Mar 10: Crisis-hit Yes Bank on Tuesday said that it has enabled inward IMPS and NEFT services.

The move allows people to send money from other bank accounts to their Yes Bank account through IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) and NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer) mode.

In a tweet, the bank also said that Yes Bank customers can pay their credit card dues and loan obligations from other bank accounts.

"Inward IMPS/NEFT services have now been enabled. You can make payments towards YES BANK Credit Card dues and loan obligations from other bank accounts. Thank you for your co-operation. @RBIA @FinMinIndia," said tweet.

Last week Yes Bank was placed under moratorium and a withdrawal cap of Rs 50,000 was imposed till April 3.

The administrator of Yes Bank, Prashant Kumar and Rajnish Kumar, the Chairman of the State Bank of India are hopeful that moratorium would be lifted within a week.

As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) draft reconstruction scheme for the crisis-hit private lender, the SBI will take up 49 per cent in the bank by investing Rs 2,450 crore.

The new board of directors will stand constituted from the appointed date. It will comprise a CEO and MD, non-executive chairman and non-executive directors. The SBI will have nominee directors appointed on the board of the reconstructed bank.

The RBI may appoint additional directors to the board, who shall continue in office for one year, or until an alternate board is constituted by Yes Bank.

The SBI will not reduce its holding below 26 per cent before completion of three years from the date of infusion of the capital.

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