1. Tesla to Develop A Battery That Can Last for A Million of Miles
Earlier this year, Elon Musk announced that Tesla was developing a power source that would allow electric cars to travel for up to a million miles. The claim seemed boastful at the time but now it seems that the Tesla founder was quite serious about his statements.
Battery researchers from the Dalhousie University published a paper that described ‘A Wide Range of Testing Results on an Excellent Lithium-Ion Cell Chemistry to be used as Benchmarks for New Battery Technologies’
Among the key features of the paper was a lithium ion battery that could potentially allow electric vehicles to travel for up to a million miles, while losing less than 10% of its capacity throughout its whole lifetime. The Dalhousie University team also proved that their new battery could perform better compared to all other lithium ion batteries previously reported.
Tesla’s interest in the Dalhousie lithium ion battery is motivated by two Tesla vehicles currently in development, the robotaxi and the long haul electric truck, both of which are intended to travel long distances. Such vehicles are a perfect match for the Dalhousie team’s prototype battery.
https://www.wired.com/story/tesla-may-soon-have-a-battery-that-can-last-a-million-miles/
2. Facebook Developing Technology That Would Allow Humans to Control Computers With Their Brains
Facebook users may soon be able to control their accounts using only their thoughts. Social media giant Facebook announced on Monday their acquisition of CTRL-labs, a New York based start-up that is researching methods that would allow users to control computers using only their brains.
According to reports received by CNBC, the deal cost Facebook between $500 million to $1 billion, though a Facebook spokesperson said that the deal’s cost was below a billion dollars. CTRL-labs will also be integrated with Facebook Reality Labs, a Facebook division that’s working on ‘augmented-reality smart glasses.’
Facebook Vice President of AR/VR Andrew “Boz” Bosworth said that CTRL-labs’ technology will take the form of a wristband that allows people to control their gadgets. The wristband will take the electrical signals that travel through the wrists to give directions to electronic devices; effectively transforming bio-electrical signals into digital commands.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/23/facebook-announces-acquisition-of-brain-computing-start-up-ctrl-labs.html
3. Cisco Partners With SingularityNet to Develop Decentralized Artificial Intelligence
Cisco has partnered with decentralized artificial intelligence firm, SingularityNET to work on applied artificial general intelligence or AGI. Unlike other areas of AI research, AGI focuses on developing AI that can mimic human mental faculties, including problem solving, planning, communication, natural language and reasoning in uncertain situations.
SingularityNet founder Dr. Ben Goertzel also reported that the initial applications of AGI will most likely be used for ‘verticalized markets’ such as advertising, medical research, computer research as well as financial analytics.
And these aren’t just speculations either. Back in May, Singaporean and Malaysian divisions of Domino’s Pizza worked alongside SingularityNET to use blockchain AI technology to supplement their supply chain processes. Furthermore, Chinese insurance company Ping AN had also collaborated with the company to research optical character recognition, computer vision as well as model training.
