Autonomous carmaker Cruise must suspend its driverless taxi operations in California immediately, state motor vehicles regulators announced on Tuesday. "The California DMV today notified Cruise that the department is suspending Cruise’s autonomous vehicle deployment and driverless testing permits, effective immediately,” the state Department of Motor Vehicles said in a statement. “The DMV has provided Cruise with the steps need to apply to reinstate its suspended permits, which the DMV will not approve until the company has fulfilled the requirements to the department’s satisfaction.” The regulator said it has the right to pull back permissions when “there is an unreasonable risk to public safety.” The suspension, which only applies to Cruise trips where no human safety driver is onboard the vehicle, follows an incident earlier this month, where a woman in San Francisco was struck by a human driver in a hit-and-run accident that propelled her into the path of a Cruise robotaxi. “Ultimately, we develop and deploy autonomous vehicles in an effort to save lives,” Cruise said in a statement to ABC7. “In the incident being reviewed by the DMV, a human hit and run driver tragically struck and propelled the pedestrian into the path of the AV. The AV braked aggressively before impact and because it detected a collision, it attempted to pull over to avoid further safety issues. When the AV tried to pull over, it continued before coming to a final stop, pulling the pedestrian forward.” “Our thoughts continue to be with the victim as we hope for a rapid and complete recovery,” the company added. The suspension is a major blow to Cruise, which is owned by General Motors. Alongside Waymo, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet, Cruise saw California, and in particular San Francisco, as a key testing ground of driverless taxi technology. The companies both got permission from state regulators in August to conduct paid taxi service 24/7 without a safety driver in San Francisco, despite vigorous debate in the city over whether the AVs were safe enough to operate. The rollout of robotaxis in San Francisco has been marred with problems. Driverless cars, in particular Cruise taxis, were accused of causing traffic and impeding first responders. According to data Cruise shared with the state in August, between January and mid-July of 2023, Cruise AVs temporarily malfunctioned or shut down 177 times and required recovery, 26 of which such incidents occurred with a passenger inside, while Waymo recorded 58 such events in a similar time frame. Meanwhile, according to the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency (SFMTA), between April 2022 and April 2023, Cruise and Waymo vehicles have been involved in over 300 incidents of irregular driving including unexpected stops and collisions, while the San Francisco Fire Department says AVs have interfered 55 times in their work in 2023. Last year, Cruise lost contact with its entire fleet for 20 minutes according to internal documentation viewed by WIRED, and an anonymous employee warned California regulators that year the company loses touch with its vehicles “with regularity.” Since being rolled out in San Francisco, robotaxis have killed a dog, caused a mile-long traffic jam during rush hour, blocked a traffic lane as officials responded to a shooting, and driven over fire hoses. Jeffrey Tumlin, San Francisco’s director of transportation, has called the rollout of robotaxis a “race to the bottom,” arguing Cruise and Waymo weren’t yet definitive transit solutions, and instead had only “met the requirements for a learner’s permit.” Others have argued the introduction of driverless cars in San Francisco and beyond will further displace workers pushed out of the taxi industry by companies like Uber and Lyft. Read More Live updates: Republicans nominate Tom Emmer for House speaker New doc on the wrestling abuse that dogged Jim Jordan’s Speaker run Trump slams ‘Globalist RINO’ Tom Emmer after speaker nomination win Live updates: Republicans nominate Tom Emmer for House speaker New doc on the wrestling abuse that dogged Jim Jordan’s Speaker run Trump slams ‘Globalist RINO’ Tom Emmer after speaker nomination win

Apple has announced a surprise event, at which it is expected to unveil new Macs. The event is unusual in a number of ways, including its much later start than Apple’s regular events: it will begin at 5pm local pacific time, or midnight in the UK. Apple events almost always begin at 10am local time, and it did not give any indication of why it had changed its time. It will also take place notably late in the year, on 30 October. Apple appeared to reference the proximity to Hallowe’en in its invitation, which used the title “Scary fast”. It will also be entirely virtual, with no in-person attendance. Apple switched to fully virtual events during the pandemic, but has since opened up physical attendance as restrictions have lifted. Unlike many recent Apple events, it is unclear what exactly the company is planning – though Apple’s website used the “Finder” icon from the Mac operating system, all but confirming a focus on its computers. Apple seems likely to introduce a new version of its iMac, which was last updated in April 2021 and is now far behind all of the rest of Apple’s line-up. It still uses Apple’s M1 chip, and the event will presumably at least bring it up to speed with the existing M2 processors. The company might unveil its first M3 processors, however. Apple’s first M2 computers arrived last summer, inside updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models, and so those computers could also be updated with the latest generation. Some reports have also suggested that Apple could be planning an update for its most high-end and expensive 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro, too. Those were overhauled earlier this year, however, with the introduction of the M2 Pro and M2 Max, meaning that any new update might be less likely or could be more minor. Recent weeks brought rumours that Apple was planning to update at least some of its iPads. The rumoured launch day only brought a new Apple Pencil, however – which may mean that the iPads were delayed for the upcoming event, or may mean that Apple opted not to make any changes to the iPad and released the Apple Pencil to clear the way for its new Macs. The latest launch comes the month after Apple held another live event – at its usual time – to launch the new iPhone 15 and other products. Read More Apple ‘is planning surprise Mac announcement soon’ Apple just released a new Pencil after days of excitement Sadiq Khan, Met Commissioner to ask phone companies to ‘design out’ theft

By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Mac computer and iPhone maker Apple on Tuesday will announce plans to make parts, tools

A new experiment demonstrates that commercial solar farms in space could one day be possible, according to the researchers behind it. Scientists from the UK say that a satellite launched into space to test the opportunities to gather sunlight for power has shown more success than expected. The experiment showed that it was possible to make lightweight solar panels at low cost that would be able to work in space, researchers said. They sent one of those units into space and examined how it worked over a period of six years and 30,000 orbits. It was able to withstand the solar radiation and other damage of space, they said, and continue generating power. “We are very pleased that a mission designed to last one year is still working after six. These detailed data show the panels have resisted radiation and their thin-film structure has not deteriorated in the harsh thermal and vacuum conditions of space,” said Craig Underwood from the University of Surrey, “This ultra-low mass solar cell technology could lead to large, low-cost solar power stations deployed in space, bringing clean energy back to Earth – and now we have the first evidence that the technology works reliably in orbit.” The panels were made at the University of Swansea, and used a new kind of solar cell made out of cadmium telluride. That material allows for larger panels at lighter weights, which provide more power and are relatively cheap. Colleagues at the University of Surrey then built those panels into a satellite that could be delivered to space, as well as the technology to measure how they continued to perform once they were in orbit. Those measurements showed that the panels gradually became less efficient, but researchers say they nonetheless showed that the panels could eventually be commercially viable. Solar farms in space would overcome many of the problems with existing renewable infrastructure on Earth. The solar farms could allow for more space on the ground, but more notably would be able to avoid issues caused by weather and benefit from more intense sunlight than there is on the surface. Making units that are able to withstand the difficulties of space is just one of a number of challenges for solar farms in space. There would also need to be a way to get the energy back down to us, for instance – though this summer researchers were able to successfully beam power down to Earth using microwaves. A study describing the findings, ‘IAC-22-C3.3.8 Six years of spaceflight results from the AlSat-1N Thin-Film Solar Cell (TFSC) experiment’, is published in the journal Acta Astronautica. Read More Scientists receive powerful ‘radio burst’ that travelled billions of years Apple announces surprise event: ‘Scary fast’ ChatGPT and other chatbots ‘can be tricked into making code for cyber attacks’

Instagram posts are appearing elsewhere – without the knowledge of the people posting them, and with no way for them to stop it once they do find out. Users of the company’s new Instagram Threads app are finding that their posts are being automatically pushed into their Facebook feeds. The company said that it was “listening” to complaints from users who did not want their posts appearing on Facebook. But it does not appear to be offering a way for people to stop it happening. Meta has often used its various platforms to promote other ones. New apps and features have often been shown in the Facebook news feed especially, as the company looks to introduce them to other users. Facebook has long shown posts from Instagram Reels, for instance. And companies on WhatsApp can buy ads that show on Facebook. The new behaviour means that people loading up their Facebook news feed may see posts that their friends have put on Instagram Threads. Users complained that the behaviour was unwanted, however. “How do I keep my Threads from showing up on Facebook? I want [them] separate and I don’t want my Threads randomly showing up on Facebook in someone’s “for you” or any place else,” one user wrote in response to the company. In response, it confirmed that it had made the change but did not appear to suggest it would be changed. The update was intended “to make it easier for people to see the latest content from Threads directly on Facebook and Instagram”, it said, but it is “listening to feedback like yours as we continue to build on this”. Author and YouTuber Hank Green was one of many who pleaded with the company to go back to keeping posts on the various apps separate. “It’s really true that threads and Facebook have very different cultures and I choose specifically what I want to go where. For other people, that can actually be a little unsafe. Let people opt out. Next time, build that first. Move slow, fix things. We’re doing good here,” he wrote in response to the official Threads account. Read More Google and Meta withdraw from upcoming Web Summit Mark Zuckerberg uses Meta’s new AI Ray-Bans to braid daughter’s hair WhatsApp update will change how you log in forever

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