Wireless engineers, automakers, and governments have spent years preparing for a future where autonomous cars will communicate with each other and sophisticated transportation networks – an initiative known as “cellular vehicle to everything,” commonly abbreviated C-V2X. Recently, the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA) offered a roadmap for mass deployments of automotive communications technologies, and its timeline includes several interesting dates that aren’t as far off as some people might have guessed.

Based on the current pace of cellular industry standards organization 3GPP’s 5G releases, global 5G deployments, and the state of the automotive communications supply chain, the 5GAA expects three C-V2X stages over the next decade:

1. From 2020 through 2023, automakers will rely on 4G LTE-V2X technology to enable basic safety features, such as left-turn assistance and emergency electronic brake light features, to improve traffic efficiency. They’ll augment primary local hazard and traffic information that’s already being shared over cellular networks.
2. Starting in 2024, the 5GAA predicts a “large-scale introduction” of 5G-enabled automated driving technologies that rely on communications between vehicles and infrastructure. For example, 5G-V2X will be used to park cars in parking garages automatically – a car-to-private infrastructure use case Bosch is already testing in German and U.S. locations – followed by “more complex environments and scenarios” including public roads. Tele-operated driving will also be possible.
3. In 2026, 5GAA expects all new autonomous vehicles will include 5G-V2X, kicking off an age where cars cooperate by sharing high-definition sensor data. Some of C-V2X’s most widely anticipated autonomous functionality, such as cars being able to share their upcoming intentions with each other and the network, as well as combining video and depth information for real-time cooperative perception, will be in pilot test stages at this point. Urban and highway pilot programs for dynamic intersection management and cooperative traffic flows could take until 2029.

5GAA expects that the 3GPP will continue to evolve the 5G standard from current Release 16 through 2023’s Release 18, enhancing industry support and specifications for 5G-V2X as carriers continue building out their 5G infrastructures. As nice as it would be if autonomous vehicles could just start relying on 5G today, the reality is that 5G infrastructure isn’t yet built out enough around the world. There are technological and legal practicalities to consider, as well.
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Allocating wireless spectrum to vehicles will be critical to 5G-V2X deployments, the 5GAA notes, ideally harmonized internationally at 5.9GHz, as well as low band spectrum for use in rural driving, and mid-band spectrum in urban environments. The group expects basic safety to require 10 to 20MHz of spectrum for direct 4G communications, plus 40MHz or more for advanced 5G driving.

                                      A world where contactless and socially distant solutions
                              are preferred has set the stage for robots to rise to the occasion.
 
The COVID-19 outbreak has given way to an era of innovation as entrepreneurs develop tools and services to meet new needs. Though there might have been concerns about automation and the future of work before the current health crisis, the pandemic has shown how robots are benefiting us while the world grapples with the novel coronavirus.

Post-contagion, the global industrial robotics market is expected to grow from $44.6 billion in 2020 to $73 billion by 2025, according to ResearchAndMarkets.com.

The safety provided by robots, as well as the fact that robotic solutions are helping businesses stay open, are making them popular companions in the current climate.

Here are three opportunities for robotics that have arisen from the COVID-19 outbreak.

Keeping Supply Chains Going. Shipping and delivery have seen challenges since the onset of the novel coronavirus outbreak. Robotics and automation can help U.S. manufacturers increase in-house manufacturing to mitigate global supply chain risks. Instead of outsourcing, companies can then rely on robotic material handling and delivery to keep businesses running.

Further down the chain, robots are also able to drop off packages and groceries to consumers safely. As contactless and online shopping experiences are on the rise, robotic and sterile delivery options are now desirable.

Automating Service. Social distancing rules are being kept in place with robot waiters and robot concierges. From greeting customers to serving food, robots can enable restaurants and hospitality businesses to stay open safely.

Robots can help reduce the number of staff that need to be at work physically. As human counterparts try to reduce their exposure to risks, robots can efficiently obtain registration and check-in information and return used cutlery.

Cleaning and Sanitizing. Robots can also safely sanitize workspaces and common areas. In health services, semi-autonomous or remotely monitored robots can disinfect large surfaces quickly, removing the need for cleaners to be exposed to the risk of contagion.
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Robotic solutions can also disinfect areas more efficiently and more frequently than manual cleaning.

Frost & Sullivan's Information & Communications Technology (ICT) team conducted a small-scale survey, Global Next Wave Technology Disruptors, 2018, of 112 thought leaders from around the world to seek opinions on the technologies that will have a profound transformative impact on existing industry dynamics, value chains, and business models across multiple vertical markets in the next 10 years.

In addition to providing quantitative insight, the study also provides a top-level assessment of eight emerging technologies: 5G, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain and Distributed Ledger, Human Brain-Computer Interface, Human Intelligence Augmentation, Internet of Things (IoT), Natural Language Interfaces (NLIs) and Quantum Computing.

"Numerous technologies with limited adoption/availability at present will rise in relevance over the next ten years. 5G will play an important role over the next five years as commercial deployments commence, while Quantum Computing is set to have a huge impact in the coming decade," said Adrian Drozd, Research Director, ICT. "However, thinking of these emerging technologies in isolation will limit their effectiveness. For instance, IoT cannot reach its potential without AI, and AI can be powerful only by accessing the data generated by IoT."

"Technologies will reach maturity at different times; while some are already widely used, others are still in the development phase," noted Drozd. "Technology development should be guided by the use cases and real-life deployments that the solutions promise to enable."

New technologies are emerging at an unprecedented rate, each promising to be the next transformative force that will drive fundamental shifts across industries and society. Companies looking to tap growth opportunities in their respective sectors should consider joining Frost & Sullivan's global IoT & Digital Transformation Growth Partnership Service program.

A bipartisan act designed to rein in unwanted robocalls in the U.S. passed through the House of Representatives in a decisive 429-3 vote last Wednesday, pushing the legislation one step closer to ratification.

The Stopping Bad Robocalls Act, sponsored by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), aims to put an end to spam phone calls by leveling carrier requirements and bolstering Federal Communications Commission authority to take action against offenders.

Under the bill, carriers must implement call authentication technology like STIR/SHAKEN and offer call-blocking services to customers free of charge. Further, the FCC is directed to issue rules protecting customers from unsolicited communications, enact safeguards against robocall exemption abuse and report back to Congress on program effectiveness.

A provision also grants the FCC a more robust set of punitive options when dealing with robocallers. For example, the commission can take action against an offender up to four years after an initial violation, up from the one year afforded under the current statute of limitations.

The legislation passed with immense support from members on both sides of the aisle.

"Today, the House of Representatives voted to restore Americans' confidence in the telephone system and put consumers back in charge of their phones," the bill's sponsors said in a statement. "We're proud of the strong support our bipartisan Stopping Bad Robocalls Act received this afternoon and look forward to working with our colleagues in the Senate to produce a bill that the President can sign into law. The American people are counting on us to help end the robocall epidemic, and we will deliver for them."
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Apple, too, is working on technology to slow the robocalling plague, which according to an FCC report resulted in some 48 billion unwanted calls in 2018. The Cupertino tech giant's upcoming iOS 13 operating system includes a new feature that uses artificial intelligence to identify and silence incoming calls from unknown parties.

One of the highlights of MIT’s Emtech Next Conference in June was a debate on whether we should tax robots. We heavily tax human workers, so why not the machines that replace them? Then, goes the theory, that tax money could help provide training or benefits for workers who’ve lost their jobs to automation.

Ryan Abbott, a law professor at Surrey University, presented a convincing case for such a tax– or, more precisely, for removing the tax incentives that favor automation over human labor. Many business decisions to automate processes, argued Abbott, are driven by these tax advantages, not because the robots are more productive. If automation is more efficient, suggested Abbott, let that be the reason businesses decide to use it – not some tax break.

The counter-arguments from Ryan Avent, economics columnist at the Economist, were that taxes (or ending tax breaks) would slow innovation, and, in any case, there is little economic evidence that robots are taking over jobs. While these points appear to be less convincing, a robot tax alone won’t solve the lack of good jobs. But removing the financial incentives that favor automation over humans will at least create a level playing field.

Even more erroneous is the argument that a robot tax is a slippery slope: are they going to tax my Roomba or smart toaster next? Somehow, we manage to tax labor, and yet you can still mow your lawn and clean your house without paying the government.

Alas, the Emtech Next attendees disagreed, with 70% voting against the robot tax after hearing the debate.
One of the recurring themes at the conference was that businesses could better exploit automation and AI not just for their own efficiency, but to improve productivity and grow the economy as a whole. How? A pair of engineers, Meera Sampath at the State University of New York and Pramod P. Khargonekar at the University of California, Irvine, presented their plan for “socially responsible automation,” which starts with getting technologists to think harder about how their creations will actually be used and how those uses can benefit workers and society.

A shout-out to workers: Too often in these discussions of how automation and AI are affecting jobs, the voices of workers themselves are absent. MIT’s Thomas Kochan, speaking at the conference, at least provided a reminder to listen to such views, even in the early stages of product designs, and to involve them more in automation decisions. And, he argued, companies need to take the time to give their existing workforce the skills and training necessary to integrate them with changes in automation better.

Let’s admit it, every time we hear the word “co-bot” we cringe. Yes, there have been remarkable advances in robotics over the last decade that allow these machines to more safely and comfortably work alongside people and do more human-like tasks. And, yes, we know the promise is that, by taking over mundane tasks, these robots will free people up to do more interesting and, hopefully, productive ones.

But that’s a business decision that too often companies are not taking; instead, many are simply replacing their workers. If robots do 20% of the tasks that a worker was doing, then you need 20% fewer people to get the job done.

It’s become increasingly clear to economists that this one reason we’re facing a crisis: wages are flat, and job opportunities are limited for many workers.

MIT economist Daron Acemoglu blames this on what he calls “so-so” automation and technologies. Advances like automation should be a boon to productivity, but productivity growth has been sluggish for more than a decade. That, says Acemoglu, is because too often companies are automating jobs even when the machines are not more productive, because of the tax mentioned above distortions and a general enthusiasm for robots. So, you have a double whammy; not only are robots replacing workers, they’re not particularly adept at growing the economy.

The way out is to create new, productive tasks for the workers replaced by the automation. (That’s what happened in the past). And that’s where AI could be useful. Examples are not that hard to imagine. For instance, if you free up healthcare workers, such as radiologists and nurses, from routine tasks, they could use AI systems to collect and analyze far more patient data, expanding their capabilities and giving them new ways to advise and treat patients. Acemoglu cites similar examples existing in education and manufacturing.
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But, and this is key, Acemoglu warns that this won’t necessarily happen on its own. You can’t leave this up to the markets or the technologists. We need to pursue this goal deliberately.

Since Microsoft and Amazon announced plans to integrate their respective personal digital assistantslast summer, there's been almost no official update on the status of the partnership.

It seems, however, like there's finally movement happening.

An April 27 update to the Cortana support page actually mentions Alexa. "Cortana and Alexa are still getting to know each other. Soon you'll be able to ask Alexa to buy things, add items to your shopping list, access your Alexa skills, and more," says the brief update on the page. Yes, "soon" is vague. But it's something.

Typing "Alexa" into the search box in Windows 10 (on the Fall Creators Update version, at least) yields a message saying "I'll be able to connect you to Alexa soon. Stay tuned!"

Last summer, Amazon and Microsoft announced that their respective personal assistants would be able to talk to one another, so customers could opt to use the assistant most suited to a particular task. Amazon and Microsoft officials said last year that they'd make Cortana-Alexa integration available before the end of calendar 2017. Since then, there's been no update on when this might arrive.

In early March 2018, Cortana team members told Windows Insiders that the Cortana-Alexa integration was in "internal self-hosting" at Microsoftat the moment. Microsoft is working to "make sure it's (the integration) a great experience," the team said, noting that bringing together the two different speech stacks is "non-trivial."

Recently, Cortana's new boss, Javier Soltero, admitted that "skills for the sake of skills won't fly." He told PC World that skills usage isn't "quite as deep as most people think it is." He also acknowledged Microsoft's in total catch-up mode on this front. (That's for sure, with Alexa at 40,000-plus third-party skillsat last count.)
Given Cortana is set to access Alexa skills via this integration partnership, maybe Cortana's skills shortage is less horrible than meets the eye.
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Soltero also declined to say whether there are any other Cortana-powered speakers in the works. Currently, there's one from Harman-Kardon. I think speakers might not be where Microsoft is focusing; perhaps it's more about conferencing systems, microphones or other more business-centric peripherals.

A new lidar sensor could equip thousands of driverless cars with the sensing abilities required to drive at high speeds on the open road.

Lidar has become the primary way most driverless cars sense the world around them, bouncing laser light off nearby objects to create 3-D maps of their surroundings.

For years, the industry leader in lidar has been Velodyne, which builds some of the most expensive, ultra-high-resolution sensors available. But the rapid growth of self-driving vehicle research prompted other firms to start making them too – among them, a startup called Luminar, which was set up by Stanford drop-out Austin Russell and came out of stealth last year.

Luminar’s technology is different to other lidar systems. It uses a longer wavelength of light to operate at higher powers, allowing it to see darker objects over longer distances. It’s also able to zoom in on areas of specific interest.

But its sensors, which use a mechanical mirror system and expensive indium gallium arsenide semiconductors, were difficult and pricey to produce. Early units cost at least tens of thousands of dollars and required an entire day of human labor to assemble.

Over the last year, Russell, who was one of MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35 in 2017, says the firm has taken steps to change that. It acquired a chip design firm called Black Forest Engineering, hired consumer electronics experts, and set up its manufacturing complex in Orlando – all with the aim of building its sensor at commercial scale.

As a result, Russell says that the latest version of the sensor is approaching being auto-grade, meaning it should be ready for extreme temperatures, inclement weather, and other adverse conditions a production car might be exposed to (though it’s yet to be certified as such). The careful redesign of its laser detector chip, meanwhile, has cut its cost from tens of thousands of dollars to just $3, and automation means the sensors can now be built in eight minutes.

All of that means Luminar reckons it can offer a set of sensors for “a few thousand” dollars, Russell says. At the same time, it’s also boosted the specs, so the sensor can detect objects that are 250 meters off—enough for 7 seconds of reaction time at 75mph.

Ingmar Posner, an associate professor of information engineering at the University of Oxford and founder of the university’s autonomous-driving spinoff Oxbotica, says that the specifications and price point of the sensor “sound great.” But he also points out that the price will need to fall further if the sensors are to be used in affordable consumer vehicles.

That could yet happen. Russell points out that the sensor cost is related to the scale of production, and by the end of the year Luminar plans to be building 5,000 of its sensors every quarter. That’s a lot – more than the 10,000 sensors that competitor Velodyne planned to build last year – and would give it enough, Russell claims, to equip every autonomous test car on the roads by the end of this year.

The major hurdle to that kind of market dominance is convincing other research groups and automakers to switch from their existing sensors – something that would require rewriting control software and re-mapping entire cities so cars can navigate using the new sensors. Russell likens the situation to “ripping off a Band-Aid,” because it will need to happen at some point as carmakers switch to using auto-grade, rather than experimental, sensors.
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What remains to be seen for Luminar, though, is just how soon that Band-Aid gets pulled.

Chinese researchers have developed a method using microscopic robots to kill cancerous tumors and stifle future growth.

The study published in the journal Nature Biotechnology uses nanotechnology to deliver thrombin, an enzyme that helps blood to clot.

The thrombin was placed using DNA origami, a process where DNA is folded into specific shapes. In this case, the DNA-based nanorobot was formed into a hollow tube carrying thrombin, researchers said. When the nanorobot would come in contact with the tumor, the tube automatically would open and deliver the thrombin.

The scientists behind this study tested the delivery bots by injecting them into mice with human breast cancer tumors. Within 48 hours, the bots had successfully grabbed onto vascular cells at the tumor sites, causing blood clots in the tumor’s vessels and cutting off their blood supply, leading to their death.

Remarkably, the bots did not cause clotting in other parts of the body, just the cancerous cells they’d been programmed to target, according to the paper.

The scientists were also able to demonstrate the bots did not cause clotting in the healthy tissues of Bama miniature pigs, calming fears over what might happen in larger animals.

Nanotechnology is viewed as a promising option for treating cancer. It involves work in science, engineering or tech of objects the size of nanometers. For perspective, a human hair is between 80,000 and 100,000 nanometers wide, according to the National Nanotechnology Initiative. 

"Our data show that DNA nanorobots represent a promising strategy for precise drug delivery in cancer therapy," read an excerpt from the study.

The goal, say the scientists, is to eventually prove these bots can do the same thing in humans that’s been done in animals. Of course, more work needs to be done before human trials can begin.
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Regardless, this is a huge breakthrough in cancer research. The current methods of either using chemotherapy to destroy every cell just to get at the cancer cell are barbaric in comparison. Using targeted drugs is also not as exact as merely cutting off blood supply and killing the cancer on the spot. Should this new technique gain approval for use on humans in the near future it could have impressive effects on those afflicted with the disease.

If the Department of Transportation grants GM's latest Safety Petition, the automaker will be able to deploy its no-steering-wheel, pedal-less autonomous car next year. GM has not only revealed what its level 4 self-driving vehicle would look like but also announced that it filed a Safety Petition to be able to deploy its utterly driverless version of Chevy Bolt called Cruise AV in 2019. The company describes it as "the first production-ready vehicle built from the start to operate safely on its own, with no driver, steering wheel, pedals or manual controls."

The Cruise AV is much different from the self-driving Chevy Bolts GM is testing in California. It has no controls whatsoever, not even buttons you can push. It treats you as a passenger, no matter where you sit. The car can even open and shut doors on its own. Now, autonomous cars like this don't meet the Federal Motor Vehicle's safety standards. Automakers could apply for an exemption, but the government can only exempt 2,500 vehicles every year. GM President Dan Ammann said that the company is not seeking an exemption, though – instead, it wants to "meet that standard differently."

He explained:

"What we can do is put the equivalent of the passenger side airbag on that side as well. So, it’s to meet the standards but meet them in a way that's different than what's exactly prescribed, and that's what the petition seeks to get approval for."

Several automakers and transportation companies banded together last year to call for a change to those rules. "Without changes to these regulations," GM VP Michael Abelson told a subcommittee that time, "it may be years before the promise of today's technology can be realized and thousands of preventable deaths... will happen."
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Automakers will have to see those changes come to light if they want their fully autonomous cars to hit the road. GM might beat them to the punch, but rival companies like Ford, Mercedes, and Waymo all plan to release cars with no steering wheels of their own.

Serial entrepreneur and social media expert Gary Vaynerchuk said it best: “I don't think anybody who's a major internet company can live without having a major voice strategy.” 

Voice will account for nearly 50% of search on mobile in the next three years and will be the primary way consumers search for and make purchases on their phones and voice-enabled devices. Everything we do will involve voice in some way, from shopping to ordering groceries to asking what the weather is outside. And thanks to the nearly 20 million voice-enabled smart speakers sold thus far by Amazon and Google, we’re already seeing the fight for the real estate in consumers’ homes.

The smart-speaker movement is taking the world by storm. We see some of the most significant companies in the world, like Amazon and Google, set the tone for how and where voice can impact consumers. And, why wouldn’t they? Nearly 30 million households are projected to have a voice-first device by the end of 2017. While they are essential in kick-starting the revolution, these smart devices won’t be the last stop on the voice train.

While the adoption of smart speakers has risen rapidly, the usage of third-party applications, or “skills,” has been less than impressive. Less than 3% of skills built on top of Alexa are actually getting used, which is in most cases a result of the limited functionality of these applications. For example, Domino’s users want more than just their “easy order” or something they order over and over again. Reviews of the Starbucks integration with Alexa note that many orders never make it to the barista, only to bring more users back to the mobile app instead. And those that want flowers for that special someone are limited to seasonality or occasion with the 1-800 Flowers integration, without a way to actually see the flowers or gifts they’re ordering. Voice is capable of so much more.

The large platform companies have focused their energies on developing voice assistants that offer broad yet shallow integrations with third parties. As a result, “skills” just scratch the surface of what’s possible with voice. As the examples above demonstrate, while it’s relatively simple to build and launch an application for these platforms, you’re limited by what’s possible from a functional point of view.

To realize voice's full potential, companies need a more deeply integrated voice experience that is brand specific and is all knowing about their business. In retail, for example, the art of the consumer experience lies in discovery and personalization. Very rarely do you know the exact product you’re looking for when you go to a website or browse the “most popular” products section. That’s why companies invest millions in their mobile apps and websites, helping guide you through an experience to find exactly what you want. Voice is going through an evolution of its own, assisting companies to understand how to build much more meaningful customer experiences. It could be as simple as knowing that when you want a new sweatshirt, ordering your last order just won’t do. You want to see it in front of you, most likely on a mobile device and will ask a series of questions around color, price, size, material, and reviews. 

Imagine a voice experience where you can search for flowers for your mother, or someone special, watching the results on the screen in front of you change based on your budget, your color preference or type of flower. Imagine a fall selection of coffee flavors coming out in your favorite chain coffee shop, empowering you to add pumpkin spice, a shot of vanilla, and change from cold to hot once you’ve stepped outside. 
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There’s no question that Google and Amazon have birthed a genuinely revolutionary time in technology, conditioning us to be comfortable using a voice-powered device or experience, but we’re just at the precipice of the potential of voice. Voice, just like the introduction of the mobile device before it, will fundamentally change how we interact with the world around us. Only when you understand that, will you see how powerful voice will be.