Author: Darrell Etherington

SpaceX successfully launches Iridium-5 Falcon 9 mission SpaceX has successfully launched its Iridium -5 mission, which carries 10 satellites to add to Iridium’s NEXT global communications constellation. This is the fifth set of 10, out of a total of 75 that SpaceX is launching for client Iridium, and today’s launch used a first stage Falcon 9 booster originally employed last October for the third Iridium NEXT satellite launch. The launch included reuse of a flight proven rocket, but it did not include a recovery attempt for the first stage booster…

Watch SpaceX launch Iridium-5 aboard a re-used Falcon 9 rocket live SpaceX is launching its next mission for client Iridium this morning, with an instantaneous launch window for the mission opening at 7:13 AM PDT (10:13 AM EDT). The Iridium -5 mission will take off from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and there’s a backup window set for March 31 at 7:08 AM PDT (10:08 AM EDT). The mission will carry a fifth set of 10 satellites to low-Earth orbit designed for inclusion in Iridium’s NEXT global…

SF Motors reveals first two EVs, aims to ship its first SUV by next year SF Motors has revealed its first two models, electric vehicles aiming for 2018 production and 2019 street dates. The electric vehicle technology company with a headquarters in Silicon Valley, as well as a globe-spanning R&D footprint and manufacturing facilities in both China and the U.S., and it’s aiming to distinguish itself rom the established market with unique powertrains, autonomous features and shared technology development. Their first two cars are the SF5 and SF7, a smaller…

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang clarifies Uber is not using its Drive platform While Uber makes use of Nvidia hardware in its own self-driving automotive technology, it does not employ Nvidia’s Drive autonomous computing platform, which includes the GPU maker’s own real-time sensor fusion, HD mapping and path planning. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang shared this information today during a Q&A session attended by reporters at the company’s GPU Technology Conference in San Jose. “Uber does not use Nvidia’s Drive technology,” Huang said. “Uber develops their own sensing and drive technology.” Huang…

Volkswagen’s Atlas Tanoak concept is a short-bed pickup truck dream Volkswagen debuted a concept pickup truck at the New York Auto Show this week, and the Atlas-based design features a short bed design, based on VW’s MQB platform. It’s basically the Atlas 7-seater SUV with the back cut off and a small (but versatile) truck bed in place of the SUV’s cargo storage and third seating row – but that could be exactly the right balance to strike if Volkswagen wants to make a pickup that’s attractive to U.S. consumers….

Einride’s autonomous trucks will be Nvidia-powered, and deliveries start this fall Einride’s T-pod all-electric, self-driving transport vehicle will use the Nvidia Drive AI platform to provide its autonomous smarts, the Swedish technology company revealed today. Einride also announced that the very first customer deliveries of its production T-pod truck will begin this fall, meaning it could be making actual deliveries sooner rather than later. The Nvidia Drive AI platform will allow Einride’s T-pods to operate autonomous for up to 124 miles, with path planning and intelligent environment sensing. The T-pod…

BMW and Daimler agree to merge mobility service businesses It’s been hinted at, but Daimler and BMW are officially bringing together their mobility services business groups into one combined company, with a 50 percent stake owned by each automaker. That means tying up all their on-demand mobility offerings, including car share services Car2Go and DriveNow; ride-hailing like myTaxi, Chauffeur Privé and Clever Taxi; parking products like ParkNow and Parkmobile; on-demand services like moves and ReachNow; and charging solutions including ChargeNow and Digital Charging Solutions. If approved (the proposed deal still…

Oscar Health raises 5 million at reported B valuation Oscar Health, the startup run by Josh Kushner (yes, brother of Jared), has raised $165 million at a reported valuation of $3.2 billion, CNBC’s Christina Farr reports. The funding comes from Alphabet’s Capital G investment company and Verily life sciences corporation, Founders Fund and others. Oscar’s goal is to outpace existing industry-leading insurers, including UnitedHealth and Aetna, with an emphasis on mobile technology, including an appointment booking app and other tools for encouraging engaged consumers across its platform. The startup seemed…

Nvidia previews next-generation Drive Orin self-driving computer Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang revealed a forthcoming generation of the company’s self-driving Drive PX supercomputers for use in vehicles – the successor to the current Drive Pegasus, which will be called the Drive Orin and which will use essentially two Drive Pegasus computers combined into one, much smaller packages. This should ramp up the self-driving computing capability of vehicles in general, since Pegasus, when revealed in October of last year, contains two Xavier computers and two post-Volta GPUs. The Drive PX Pegasus was…