From a personal perspective, the most memorable part of CES2023 was spending the week with Dr. Alain Kornhauser and Dr. Elizabeth Monroe. Princeton Professor Kornhauser brings his perspective to several of the Viodi interviews at CES2023 as seen below. One of the highlights was our ride in a teleoperated (look ma, no hands) rental car with Kornhauser and Monroe.
The Puppy Dog Rental Car – A Bridge to Autonomy
Once upon a time, an enterprising car rental business shook up the car rental industry by delivering the vehicle to the customer. With this model, the car rental lot could be located virtually anywhere. What makes Halo’s approach unique is that in certain areas, the car is delivered without a human driver in the seat.
Extending the Shopkeeper’s Reach with an Unattended, All-Wheel Drive Robot #CES2023
With the introduction of the Ottobot YETI, Ottonomy is helping shopkeepers, grocery stores, and restaurateurs extend their business into their respective neighborhoods. These modular four-wheel drive electric robots allow for the delivery of goods in snowy and icy conditions that would make it difficult for even the spriest among us to navigate. This latest generation robot from Ottonomy even allows the unattended delivery of packages to lockers.
Zoox – Slow and Steady Road to Autonomy – #CES2023
The fable goes that the tortoise beat the hare in its race by its slow and steady pace. Slow and steady is the approach that Zoox is taking to achieve safe and sustainable autonomous mobility. At CES2023, Paul Escobar, Senior Public Policy & Safety Strategy Manager for Zoox, describes how they are designing a vehicle around the needs of passengers.
Envisioning a Future of Mobility Diversity and Versatility
Will 2030 be the year we see in-route drone deliveries to living spaces on wheels? Will we see new forms of entertainment, such as mobile karaoke bars? By the year 2030, will it be possible for a person to secure his electric-assist wheelchair in a shared, electric autonomous vehicle without assistance? These are just some of the scenarios that Toyota Boshoku envisions as it plans for mobility that is electrified and autonomous.
Some Tweets and Short Thoughts
- @aromajoin allows the addition of scents to YouTube videos and viewers become smellers. Was this called Smellivision in that movie about the kid and the chocolate factory? #CES2023
- Lumotive promises a CMOS-based, solid-state lidar approach that uses metamaterials to bend the light. Because there is no inertia associated with mechanical movement, this approach allows light to be steered in any pattern across the field of view. The aperture ranges from 1mm to 25mm with a 160-degree field of view. #CES2023
- Great video by Brad Templeton of his ride in a Waymo driverless vehicle. What is remarkable is that the ride is unremarkable. Those are streets are not for human drivers. Also, the Waymo vehicle didn’t get impatient like the guy who honked at it.
- @JohnatACA “I see @harveycouch & Doug Hull from a past Summit in this video! Hope to see other @ACAConnects members in DC Feb 28-March 2!“
The Korner – Social Media – “A Cancer on Civility” – #TIS22
Greg Walden sometimes wonders, “Does your mother know you talk that way?” As a former U.S. Congressman for more than two decades in rural Oregon, Walden has noticed a decline in face-to-face civil discourse. In the above interview, he points to the online world as a cause of the in-person rancor, suggesting that social media is “a cancer on civility.”
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