Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024

12.8 - Nvidia pop

February 24, 2024Newsletter archive →

C. Laidley, Feb. 22, "Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) recorded the largest-ever single-day jump in market capitalization on Thursday, one day after the chipmaker announced quarterly earnings and a sales outlook that soared past analysts' expectations amid a boom in demand for artificial intelligence (AI).

Nvidia rose 16.4% to close at $785.38, adding $272 billion to its market capitalization. That blew out of the water the prior record set just two weeks ago by Meta Platforms Inc. (META), which added $205 billion in market cap after it beat earnings forecasts and announced its first dividend.

Before Meta, no company had added more than $200 billion in market cap in a single session, but Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) had come close. They each gained slightly more than $190 billion on separate days in 2022. …." Read More

Just Published!!! Go to Amazon.com… You can still be first on your block to have one J.

https://www.amazon.com/Real-Case-Driverless-Mobility-Vehicles/dp/0443236852/ref=sr_1_1

SmartDrivingCars
ZoomCast 359 / PodCast 359 NVIDIA soars, robotaxi woes, a step climbing delivery robot & more

F. Fishkin, Feb. 24, "NVIDIA logs a one day market cap jump of 272 billion dollars, robotaxi woes continue for Waymo while Cruise may resume in Texas. Plus the little delivery robot from Princeton spin-off Vault Robotics and a lunar landing. Join Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for episode 359 of Smart Driving Cars.

0:00 open
0:38 The Real Case for Driverless Mobility available now and Ken Pyle's interview with Alain about the book
3:00 NVIDIA adds 272 billion dollars in market value… in a day!
5:16 Waymo, California headlines.. robotaxi wrangling
8:55 Stellantis CEO saying Waymo partnership for self driving delivery vans is still alive
14:35 Princeton spinoff Vault Robotics featured in WSJ…designing delivery robots that can negotiate curbs and steps
18:15 Automotive News reports GM's Cruise nearing resumption of robotaxi testing….looking at Texas
27:58 Self driving cabs on rails in Germany..
31:35 META chief AI researcher Yan LeCun reportedly critical of OpenAI's SORA
36:00 NASA/Intuitive Machines land on the moon
46:30 More on The Real Case for Driverless Mobility and the upcoming Smart Driving Cars Summit in Princeton

K. Pyle, Feb. 21, "Giving people rides who need rides is the message of the book, The Real Case for Driverless Mobility. That is, there is a large segment of the population that cannot engage in, as the book co-author, Alain Kornhauser, calls it, "A do-it-yourself approach to transportation."

Kornhauser argues that the opportunity for companies promoting driverless mobility is to serve this segment. In doing so, it will improve the quality of life for those who cannot drive themselves for reasons of age, affordability, skills, or other reasons." Read More

K. Karosec, Feb. 24, "Stellantis, the automaker that owns 14 brands including Chrysler, Jeep and Ram, and autonomous vehicle technology company Waymo are not only still working together, the companies are deepening the partnership, CEO Carlos Tavares told TechCrunch in a recent interview.

This "deepened" partnership will focus on commercial self-driving Ram delivery vans, a target that was first announced in 2020 and promptly faded from public view. Discussions on this "improved" deal have focused, in part, on a crux around driverless delivery: how does the package get from the vehicle to the customer?

"When you reach the destination, how do you take the parcel out of the van?" Tavares said in a wide-ranging interview. "This has been a point of discussion that doesn't seem easy to solve and we are now upgrading our collaboration deal with them to take that into consideration."

…." Read More

A. Hawkins, Feb. 23, "Order a package? AI researchers are hunting for the best way to get it to your doorstep.

It might be a drone flying from a nearby pharmacy. It might be a robot that hops off a van that is driving down the street. It might be a system that helps drivers anticipate where a parking spot is about to open up near your door.

In the next few years, AI promises to transform the logistics of consumer deliveries with a number of new technologies and improvements to old ones. Here's a look at some of the most intriguing innovations on the way.

Putting smarter drones in the air

One of the most expensive and resource-intensive parts of delivery is the last mile—getting packages from warehouses or stores to customers' homes. Delivery drones promise to make the process more efficient, bypassing the traffic and parking issues that often plague delivery trucks….

Sending robots to your door

Other companies are tackling the "last 50 feet"—the time-consuming process of getting packages from the delivery truck to the customer's door. According to research by the University of Washington Urban Freight Lab, this leg of the process accounts for 20% to 50% of overall transportation supply-chain costs.

Vault Robotics, a spinoff from the Princeton University Safe Robotics Lab, is designing robots that can climb curbs and stairs. The robot has a combination of legs and wheels, and a platform with grips on the side to hold a package.

The goal, says Robert Shi'22, co-founder and chief executive of the company, is to deploy the robots from vans without having to park, eliminating the time spent idle. So, while a van is still moving at a cruising pace, robots can move in and out of the vehicle to deliver parcels to doorsteps. …." Read More

V. Isai, Feb. 24, "Whenever Dennis Wilson wants to take a drive in his new SUV, he has to set aside an extra 15 minutes. That's about how long it takes to remove the car's steering wheel club, undo four tire locks and lower a yellow bollard before backing out of his driveway.

His Honda CR-V is also fitted with two alarm systems, a vehicle tracking device and, for good measure, four Apple AirTags. Its remote-access key fob rests in a Faraday bag, to jam illicit unlocking signals.

As a final touch, he mounted two motion-sensitive floodlights on his house and aimed them at the driveway in his modest neighborhood in Toronto….

While there has been a surge in car thefts across Canada — up 24 percent in 2022, the most recent year nationwide statistics were available — the scourge has hit the Toronto area particularly hard, creating a mix of paranoia, vigilance and resentment…." Read More

K. Pyle, Jan. 20, "A joy ride is one way to describe this video that documents SmartDrivingCars/Princeton's Dr. Kornhauser's first adventure through the Boring Company's Las Vegas tunnel. This brief sojourn under the massive Las Vegas Convention Center at CES2024 provides a glimpse of things to come, as this is the start of a larger network, as outlined in this previous Viodi article and video…." Read More

A. Hawkins, Feb. 21, "Waymo's plan to expand its robotaxi service in Los Angeles and communities south of San Francisco has been put on hold by state regulators. The move follows several incidents involving the Alphabet-owned company's driverless vehicles, including one in which an autonomous Waymo vehicle struck a cyclist, causing minor injuries.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which voted in favor of allowing robotaxi companies to operate 24/7 last summer, put a hold on Waymo's application for expanded service "for further staff review," according to the agency's website. The hold is set to expire on June 19th, 2024 — 119 days from today.…." Read More

J. Love, Feb. 23, "General Motors Co.'s Cruise autonomous driving unit is nearing the resumption of robotaxi testing in the coming weeks, with Houston and Dallas emerging as potential locations, following the grounding of its fleet last year, according to people with knowledge of the matter…." Read More

F. Fishkin, Feb. 22, "Watch on YouTube" …" Read More

N. Dominikowski, Feb. 14, "The MonoCab is a self-driving cabin on rails. Unlike conventional trains, which run according to a fixed timetable, the compact MonoCab can be ordered 24/7, 365 days a year, simply by using an app on your mobile phone. The passenger will then be picked up at the location of their choice..". " Read More

M. Bastian, Feb. 16, "Sora is widely perceived primarily as a text and video-to-video model. However, the real research goal of OpenAI is a world simulator.

But according to Yann LeCun, head of Meta's AI department, Sora is not suited for that. The renowned AI researcher has harsh words for OpenAI's simulator theory: "Modeling the world for action by generating pixels is as wasteful and doomed to failure." ." Read More

L. Peters, Jan. 16, "San Mateo County's Board of Supervisors says it wants the California Public Utility Commission to reconsider allowing Waymo to operate in the county. The board is also supporting a proposed bill that will allow local governments to decide if they want driverless cars on the road.

The Board cited safety concerns and technical issues as major factors in its stance. Senator Dave Cortese also says the bill will give local governments more control and hold driverless car companies more accountable. …" Read More

A. Kornhauser, Slides used in his class Feb. 7, "…Total Addressable Market is 3,165 personTrips per day…,". Read More

A. Hawkins, Feb. 23, "For a while, it seemed like each week brought news of another driverless car making a mess of things in San Francisco. But the number of incidents is actually going down, according to data provided to the San Francisco Chronicle by the city's fire department. Most of which can be chalked up to GM's Cruise grounding its fleet following a grisly pedestrian-dragging incident. And now Waymo's expansion plans are on hold too. …." Read More

G. Kelly, Feb. 21, "A coalition of San Francisco residents, safety advocates and workers is demanding Gov. Gavin Newsom immediately ban self-driving taxis, accusing the companies that operate them of endangering public safety.

The group, called the Network for Safety in Our Streets & for Working People, held a press conference in Chinatown Monday calling on Newsom to remove all Waymo autonomous vehicles from city streets and revoke permits for other self-driving car companies like Cruise.

The demands follow an incident in Chinatown where a Waymo robotaxi was set on fire during Lunar New Year celebrations and a serious accident in October where a Cruise vehicle struck and dragged a San Francisco pedestrian…. Read More