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Axon Taser maker Axon is walking back plans to make a taser-equipped drone after nine members of its AI Ethics board resigned. Axon, a technology company known for developing tasers and products for police and the military, wanted to market the product as a means of stopping mass shootings. Pushback from the ethics AI Ethics […] More
Miso Robotics The maker of a fast food robot designed to cook burgers, fries, wings, and chips for major chains is partnering with Amazon Web Services. The move will allow Miso Robotics to drastically increase its simulation capacity, a key ingredient in the fast-food robot wars. ZDNet Recommends This is a story about the intersection […] More
Pixabay Of all the fancy safety features in your car, the most critical safety equipment of all — your tires — is almost certainly monitored by outdated and incomplete technology. But a number of startups are vying to change that, and also fundamentally transform how we view our tires and their role keeping us safe […] More
Scythe Robotics Autonomous lawnmowers are coming to the U.S. in a big way. The latest proof: thousands of reservations for an autonomous, all-electric powerhouse designed for the commercial landscaping sector, as well as key talent acquisitions by the company that makes the mower from the tech giants SpaceX Starlink and Magic Leap. The company, Scythe Robotics, believes […] More
Wing Zone It’s official: the robots are here to stay. Another fast food restaurant has opted to place a robot cook in the back of house, marking a swift and dramatic shift away from humans in fast food. This week’s update comes via Wing Zone, which offers made-to-order chicken wings. This chain is partnering with […] More
Written by
Greg Nichols, Contributor
Greg Nichols
Contributor
Greg Nichols covers robotics, AI, and AR/VR for ZDNet. A full-time journalist and author, he writes about tech, travel, crime, and the economy for global media outlets and reports from across the U.
Full Bio
Pixabay
Artificial intelligence and privacy don’t always work hand in hand. But when it comes to one sector, commercial driving, AI vision seems to be drastically reducing one of the most astounding examples of employee surveillance today.
Literally, someone is always watching: That’s the state of affairs in the commercial driving sector, where many advanced camera-based safety systems like video telematics and ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) live stream 24-hour views into the vehicle. The predictable result is that professional drivers often have an unwelcome sense that someone is always watching. Is it any wonder the sector is facing massive worker shortages?”From a privacy perspective, recording everything a driver does and allowing drop-ins can leave drivers feeling spied-on at work,” says Yoav Banin, Chief Product Officer at Nauto, which is utilizing assistance technology to reduce monitoring and put the power in the hands of the employee. “Drivers may then resist using the technology, not get the full safety benefits from it, or even look for a job elsewhere.”As with most employer-led surveillance, the intentions are mostly good. In 2020, 3,142 people were killed in the U.S. in motor vehicle collisions involving distracted drivers. That translates into more than 60 Americans dying every week. We also know that the pandemic is associated with a significant increase in roadway fatalities and unsafe driving behavior. By monitoring drivers (or making them aware that they can be monitored at any time), fleet operators are hoping to cut down those numbers.But the solution is stomach-churning, and this is a story that goes way beyond tracking. Employer surveillance is a hot button issue, whether in the office, remote work, or on the road and often, it’s enabled by technology. But can technologies also help overcome the need for invasive employer practices?Also: The 5 best surveillance drones: Next-level inspection UAVsAI vision, which is transforming automation sectors like robotics and autonomous and assistive driving, is one example of just that. With driver shortages and continuing supply chain woes, the idea is that a shift to a driver-centric approach that gives drivers accurate information with enough time to react allows them to improve their performance and avoid collisions on their own. It’s also proving to be far more agreeable in terms of professional driver adoption and operational success. And it seems to be effective: these systems have the potential to prevent 62% of total traffic deaths and about 60% of total traffic injuries, according to the NSC.”Stories about the driver shortage are all over the news right now, but the truth is, that shortage has been growing for years, and I don’t anticipate it going away anytime soon,” Banin tells me. “Drivers have a choice about where to work, and fleets need a way to attract and keep top-performing drivers. Fleets using a safety solution that respects driver privacy and that considers context are in a much better position to recruit and retain the best drivers than fleets recording drivers all the time or dropping in on them unannounced.”In a tight labor market, employees can increasingly leverage their options to reduce what they feel is undue monitoring. Nauto is an excellent example — the company is betting that empowering employees rather than spying on them is the real secret to safety, and it’s seeing customer feedback to that effect. Nauto does that via AI technology, giving drivers accurate real-time alerts that rapidly reduce risky driving behavior and help prevent collisions. “That helps fleets quickly improve safety,” says Banin. “We have customers who have seen distracted driving drop 80% within weeks, with minimal management intervention. Customers see collision reductions of up to 80%, and many start seeing a positive return on investment within months.”That’s a lesson that employers in several sectors should take to heart: Engaging and informing employees is not only more effective, it’s likely necessary as competition for workers escalates. More
Written by
Greg Nichols, Contributor
Greg Nichols
Contributor
Greg Nichols covers robotics, AI, and AR/VR for ZDNet. A full-time journalist and author, he writes about tech, travel, crime, and the economy for global media outlets and reports from across the U.
Full Bio
Buildots
A company that uses construction workers as roving cameramen to analyze progress on the job site has secured $60 million in Series C funding. Buildots, whose growth is tracking a broader technological turn in the practically neolithic construction sector, will use the cash to expand its product offering in a bid to be the management suite of choice for construction oversight.Construction accounts for 13% of the world’s GDP, but while other traditional industries, like manufacturing, have increased productivity over the years, productivity has remained almost stagnant in the building sector. According to the European Commission, construction productivity has only increased by 1% in the past two decades. And with operational profitability often being only 5%, there is little room for error. That’s led to a boom in technology development in the space aimed at increasing efficiency. We’ve covered scaffolding robots, which are aiming to disrupt a $50 billion global scaffolding business, aerial construction drones, cyborg-adjacent robotic suits, and various kinds of data capture devices and schemes. All of it is aiming to overcome the frankly strange fact that productivity in construction has actually fallen in half since the 1960s. The sector has not kept pace with innovation, and as I’ve written, the diesel-powered hydraulic machines you’ll find on most construction sites today remain essentially unchanged from those rolling around 100 years ago. Enter Buildots, which uses AI and computer vision to help construction managers stay on top of job progress and identify delays and overruns. It all starts with what’s essentially a GoPro mounted to the hardhats construction workers wear. The cameras capture job sites while the company’s AI logs progress and is designed to spot errors as soon as they happen, eliminating costly backtracking when mistakes are uncovered later.The company made an early splash with the booming construction sector, which has been aided by a severe housing crunch, and now it’s expanding its suite of management tools.”This funding round is fueling an essential expansion to our product offering, which in the process moves us closer to our vision of connected construction,” said Roy Danon, co-founder and CEO of Buildots. “Facilitating better decision-making for construction teams is a key step in moving the entire industry towards greater collaboration and efficiency.”There’s a parallel story playing out across industries like logistics, manufacturing, and biotech. Machine vision, which can analyze footage captured from inexpensive cameras, has unlocked a powerful tool for real-time quality control and regulation. This is symptomatic of a broader demand for extraordinary new levels of efficiency as the key driver of competitiveness.”Traditional markets like construction are increasing their embrace of digital transformation,” said Natalie Refuah, General Partner at Viola Growth, who will also be joining Buildots’ Board of Directors. “With top-notch technology and a superb team, Buildots offers immense potential in terms of efficiency and profitability. We are excited for their continued success capitalizing on this market.” More
Written by
Greg Nichols, Contributor
Greg Nichols
Contributor
Greg Nichols covers robotics, AI, and AR/VR for ZDNet. A full-time journalist and author, he writes about tech, travel, crime, and the economy for global media outlets and reports from across the U.
Full Bio
Motional
Uber Eats is turning to autonomous vehicles in a major market. Along with AV partner Motional, the third-party delivery platform will be launching a new autonomous delivery experience in Santa Monica, California.Deliveries will be conducted in Motional’s IONIQ 5 vehicles, which are capable of operating autonomously. Participating restaurants bring packaged orders to the curb and place them inside a locking compartment. Once the car arrives at its destination the customer is notified and retrieves the order from the car. Uber Eats and Motional have been working on the various customer touchpoints for months with an eye toward a seamless rollout.”At Uber, we’re always looking for ways to use new technology to help consumers go anywhere and get anything,” said Noah Zych, Global GM for Uber’s Autonomous Mobility and Delivery business. “We’re thrilled to begin piloting with Motional in California and are eager to see how their promising autonomous technology will begin to change how people and goods move throughout the world for the better.”
Conspicuous in the new testbed is the absence of drivers. Uber and its drivers have long had a tense relationship. Autonomous vehicle technology seems primed to enable Uber to move forward without those drivers before long.The partnership is relatively new, which makes the rollout all the more impressive. Motional and Uber announced their partnership in December of last year. This is the first on-road autonomous vehicle (AV) pilot on the Uber Eats network, which makes it an important milestone for the technology in general. Uber Eats controls an estimated 24% of the food delivery market, making its adoption of any new technology highly influential.Motional’s vehicles have been piloted in passenger conveyance but the move to food delivery represents a pivot. The Motional IONIQ 5 vehicles used in the service have been adapted to enable autonomous deliveries. The new service will allow Motional and Uber to study consumer response and technology integration. Uber clearly has long-term designs on AVs across its platform.
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