Sometime in early 2019, the self-driving e.GO Mover bus will hit the streets in Germany. The electrically powered vehicle can transport up to ten people, with a battery that lasts for ten hours or so.

And, it's powered by the cloud – the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, to be exact.

While autonomous vehicles powered by the cloud are not new, e.GO Mover highlights how artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and edge computing projects are increasingly coming together to power smart cities. Amazon Web Services (AWS), for example, boasts customers including DriveAI, nuTonomy, TuSimple, and Mapillary—all of which work on autonomous vehicle systems.

Google Cloud Platform also lists best practicesfor building a connected vehicle solution for autonomous driving and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication on its platform as well.

The growth of such a trend is enabled by the availability of powerful AI tools on these cloud platforms. Machine learning tools are crucial to the development of such autonomous systems, and public cloud giants make them much more accessible. This helps the growth of IoT projects in smart cities as well.

Of course, the cloud on its own will not be able to drive the digital transformation of smart cities fully. Improved latency through next-generation 5G connectivity will also play a role, as autonomous vehicles and IoT devices will be able to send and receive critical data while operating more readily.

But, what happens when connectivity is spotty? That's when edge computing comes into play. Edge computing occurs when data is processed at the same location where it is collected. This means that autonomous vehicles or IoT devices will need some compute power on-board to be able to analyze the data they're receiving, without having to send it over a network to be processed and sent back.

Edge computing is especially crucial in autonomous vehicles, as the potential danger posed by poor operations is immense.
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As more and more cities begin to embrace digital transformation, these three technologies will play an integral role in their future. And, as city officials start to rely more and more on these tools, we may see network operators, public cloud vendors, and IoT providers operating similarly to the way our utility providers operate today.

Passengers may soon have a more hands-free and hassle-free airport experience thanks to advances in biometric technology.

Sydney Airport in Australia has begun the initial phase of testing facial recognition technologyon select international flights for Qantas, the country’s flag carrier. When complete, the technology would allow flyers to complete “most stages of their airport journey using their face as their access identification.”

The first phase will test the technology at four “key steps” in the passenger journey, including automated check-in, bag drop, lounge access, and boarding. The airport said additional steps for future trials could include mobile check-in and automated border processing.

“In the future, there will be no more juggling passports and bags at check-in and digging through pockets or smartphones to show your boarding pass – your face will be your passport, and your boarding pass at every step of the process,” Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said in a statement.

The airport, which has 43 million passengers pass through annually, is the primary hub for Qantas. The airline said consent is sought from all customers participating in the trial and would follow the “strictest privacy standards” and comply with all “relevant legislation.”

“There is an increasing need for airlines and airports to offer faster and more convenient airport experiences, and we’re excited to see what results the trial produces,” Qantas Chief Customer Officer Vanessa Hudson said in a statement.
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The border processing procedures of the Australian government will not change, with travelers still required to undergo current border processes, the airport said.

A new study of ride-hailing services in Los Angeles suggests that apps like Uber and Lyft may be dramatically increasing transportation access for minority groups and in lower-income neighborhoods. The impact of this improvement is potentially outsized because those populations have been so poorly served by traditional taxis and are less likely to own private vehicles. Ride-hailing services, then, may be dramatically increasing their overall mobility, particularly in car-centric cities such as Los Angeles.

The new research, conducted by UCLA Ph.D. candidate Anne E. Brown and described by CityLab, used data from Lyft to find that the company’s drivers served 99.8% of Los Angeles and that users living in low-income areas made more trips per capita than those in middle- and high-income areas. The study also found that lower car ownership, which is correlated with lower income and minority status, also correlated to increased Lyft use.

That suggests that what is a situational convenience for higher-income riders is a lifeline to those without cars. Time and again, research has shown that public transport in American cities fails to give more impoverished residents access to jobs,both disadvantaging those individuals, and hampering city economies. While ride-hailing services are generally more expensive for riders than public transit, they’re more convenient and reliable than most bus services, and certainly better than nothing at all.

The discrimination faced by poor and minority communities in the pre-Uber era had at least three elements. Studies and surveys across several major cities have consistently shown that, when hailed on the street, conventional taxis are less likelyto stop for black passengersin particular. Taxis have also long been harder to get in neighborhoods populated by poorer residents, including those in New York City’s outer boroughs.
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Though Brown’s findings are limited to Los Angeles, they are likely to influence ongoing fights over regulation between ride-hailing companies and cities.

No doorman? No problem. Amazon introduced a new delivery solution for apartment complexes that promises to deliver both convenience and safety (alongside your actual package, of course). Meet Hub by Amazon, a container that allows for the storage of packages so that they’re not just strewn about a lobby, or worse yet, potentially stolen. The Hubs look just like traditional Amazon lockers, but instead of being installed in public spaces and businesses, they’re instead located in apartment and condominium complexes.

Best of all, the Hub isn’t just for Amazon deliveries – instead, if your mother wants to FedEx a care package to you while you live your big city dreams, the package can reside safely in Hub until you have finished with your 12-hour workday. Neither senders nor recipients have to make any specifications when it comes to getting their packages delivered – you still input your regular shipping address, and the Hub merely serves as a temporary stopover until you return home. When you’re ready to pick up, use a personalized pickup code to open the corresponding door and access your delivery.

“We’re always striving to make things easier for our customers. Building on Amazon’s expertise in locker solutions, the Hub addresses frustrations from property owners, carriers, and residents concerning package delivery,” Patrick Supanc, director, Amazon Worldwide Lockers and Pickup, said in a statement. “Now half a million residents in some of the premier properties in the country have access to the Hub, Amazon’s latest delivery solution. The Hub simplifies delivery for residents, offering quick and secure access to packages, day or night. For delivery providers, it offers a single, convenient location for package drop-off and gives property managers time and resources back to focus on other priorities.”

This could serve as a huge help to folks who live in buildings with tricky delivery schedules. You will no longer have to worry about staying home to wait on a package to arrive, nor will you have to remember to ask your building staff about that delivery that was supposed to come last week. Building managers will likely also appreciate the convenience offered by Hub – rather than requiring property staff to declutter a lobby or send packages to the proper apartment unit; everything can be centralized in Hub.
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Already, Amazon says that several of the largest residential property owners in the U.S. have signed up for Hub and that more than 500,000 apartment dwellers already have access to the amenity. If you’re interested in petitioning your building to include one of these handy lockers, you can request Hub by Amazon at the newly dedicated homepage.

People who buy refurbished phones and laptops choose these products for two reasons. They want to add something to their vintage collection, or they merely want more by paying less. A large number of people fall into the second category where the aim is to get more features, better hardware at a low price. Whether it’s a bike, car or an electronic device, when it comes to buying repaired or used items online, the first question that comes to mind is “Should I buy a refurbished product or settle down for fewer features with a brand new product?” Here’s a guide to help you go through this process.

What is refurbishment? It is a process of distribution of electronic items which were returned to a vendor or the manufacturer. Remember that the reason behind such returns can be anything from faulty hardware components to a damaged body part or the user not willing to keep the phone. 

First things first.No matter how inexpensive the deal is, always check who refurbished the product. In some cases, manufacturers sell refurbished products and refurbishment is done by the manufacturer only. In other cases, vendors who sell in a marketplace also get phones repaired from a third-party supplier. Make sure that you ask about which company has restored the device and make sure you’ve checked that company’s track record.

Warranty. Check the warranty that’s offered on the repaired item. If there’s no warranty available for the product, you should prepare yourself to see the product die soon after its arrival. This is one of the biggest mistakes people make with refurbished phones.

Almost every brand new smartphone and laptop comes with a year-long warranty, but with refurbished products, the warranty can be somewhere between zero to six months. Check if the product you like has at least 3 to 6 months warranty because buying a refurbished smartphone or laptop with one week or 10-day warranty is like inviting trouble.

When to buy & when not to buy. You should look for the existence of the product in the market. Let’s say you are getting a good deal on a laptop and the seller is giving you a warranty of three months. It can be a good deal only if the manufacturer is still making the product and the components are likely to be available in the market for a long time. Don’t buy anything that is out of production, especially electronic items.
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Many companies sell refurbished phones and laptops directly as a way to clear their inventory and make some money on the old stuff. Before buying anything, check the seller’s track record and make sure that you’re buying from a reliable company who takes responsibility for sale transactions.