Apple’s ‘Project Titan’ Autonomous Car Plan is Back on the Road Once More

According to a Reuters article on December 21st, Apple’s autonomous car plans codenamed ‘Project Titan’ are still being worked on and it is looking to start manufacturing autonomous electric cars perhaps as soon as 2024. This will put the consumer electronics supplier firmly on track to compete with the likes of Tesla and the rest of the automotive industry which is scrambling to gain a foothold in the space. Whilst Apple has made few if any official statements about Titan, even though it has been rumoured to have been formed as long as 2014, the news is a little surprising given its apparent ups and downs over the last few years. The latest news before the Reuters article in December focused on how the project was being downsized with the loss of almost 200 staff in September 2019. As far as technology goes the article mentions a unique ‘mono-cell’ battery technology which a different chemistry to today’s EV (Electric Vehicle) batteries which should lead to a longer range as well as increased safety. Even if they do not make a fully Apple branded car the rumours suggest that at the very least, they will release an autonomous driving software program which can then be sold to car manufacturers. As usual, Apple have made no official statements about Project Titan but Korean car manufacturer Hyundai mentioned that they were working with Apple on an electric car in a press release a few days ago before quickly retrenching and saying that they were simply working with ‘various partners’ on EV’s and, removing any specific mention of Apple. Entering the auto-market is notoriously difficult due to the very expensive R&D and Capital Expenditure requirements, but with the ability to generate over $75 billion in free cash flow every year Apple is one of the few companies in the world that can afford to make the investment without hurting their core business.

Brexit, Covid Driven Labour Shortages Compel UK Farmers to Turn to Robots

With the twin shocks of Brexit and Covid 19 rippling through the UK in 2020, farmers in the country who often rely on seasonal workers to help pick crops at the ideal havesting time found themselves with mass labour shortages. Some of these have started to accelerate their tilt towards robotic picking in order to ensure that their crops do not go to waste. One such company providing these systems is Xihelm which has a robotic harvester called ‘Eagle’, which is powered by a proprietary 3D AI engine which provides growers with a level of automation that was previously unattainable. Farmers see glasshouse automation as a viable means of controlling or mitigating business risks associated with seasonal labour shortages and the effect of Covid-19 on workforce availability and workplace hygiene. AI also brings an added bonus: the early detection of devastating crop diseases such as tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV). Xihelm was founded in 2016 and pivoted to Agritech in 2018. At present, Xihelm’s robots are constantly attended to by workers who monitor them and tackle any problems. The company believes that they should eventually reduce the number of workers needed for harvesting by up to 70%, those remaining would be robotics operators. The Eagle does not pick faster than a human, however it can operate around the clock, stopping only for charging and cleaning.

SharkEye project: Drones with AI to Spot Sharks

A new project using AI called SharkEye is seeking to keep track of great white sharks swimming near Southern California beaches. A goal of the project is to produce automated “shark reports” for beachgoers to help them gauge levels of risk. SharkEye has been tested over the past two summers at Padaro Beach in Santa Barbara County. Instead of tracking tagged animals online or having someone stand on a paddleboard in the water, the SharkEye project launches a drone that travels along a pre-programmed path in the sky, followed by a second meandering route to scan the water below. The drone footage goes into a computer model that the team trained to recognize great white sharks. Combining that with other data, such as information on ocean temperature and other marine life migrations, researchers hope to use the power of AI to develop predictions for when and where sharks will show up that could lead to ways to share the ocean as safely as possible.