Biden budget request boosts funding for NASA, moonshot | AVs could give people with disabilities greater mobility | NASA postpones Ingenuity's first flight on Mars
The Biden administration's 2022 budget proposal includes a $1.5 billion increase for NASA to $24.7 billion and $6.9 billion -- up $325 million -- for the Artemis moon mission. "This $24.7 billion funding request demonstrates the Biden administration's commitment to NASA and its partners who have worked so hard this past year under difficult circumstances and achieved unprecedented success," said NASA Acting Administrator Steve Jurczyk.
The Future of Mobility Matters From how we work, live, move and play, industries are innovating to make things faster, easier and better for the environment. Tune into SAE Tomorrow Today to hear from the people making it happen. Host Grayson Brulte is joined by engineers, CEOs, scientists and subject-matter experts to discuss what's next in mobility. Click here.
Older drivers and people with disabilities could give momentum to the acceptance of autonomous vehicles, according to Nicholas Giudice, a professor from the University of Maine's School of Computing and Information Science. Giudice, who is blind, said AVs could offer people with disabilities better mobility options and is working with a team to integrate augmented reality and haptic feedback technology into the AV experience.
The Ingenuity helicopter's first flight, which had been planned for April 11, has been delayed until at least Wednesday, according to NASA officials. Scientists are evaluating telemetry data to see why the helicopter's command sequence shut off early during a rotor test on Friday.
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are working with a US Air Force team to test an asteroid deflection method that uses neutron radiation from a nuclear detonation to shift the trajectory of an object in space. "In certain scenarios, using a nuclear device to deflect an asteroid would come with several advantages over non-nuclear alternatives," says researcher Lansing Horan IV.
SK Innovation and LG Energy Solution, both based in South Korea, reached a settlement to keep the supply of batteries for electric vehicles for Ford, Volkswagen and others from stalling. In a joint statement, the battery makers said, "We will work together to strengthen the battery network and environmentally-friendly policy that the Biden administration is pursuing."
More customers in the EU and US are willing to buy electric vehicles, but some still remain hesitant due to higher prices, according to a survey by OC&C Strategy Consultants. In the US, almost half of customers said they would consider a battery-powered vehicle for their next car purchase, which is a sizable increase from a survey last year.
Embark, a developer of autonomous trucks, signed an agreement with Anheuser-Busch InBev, Bison Transport, Mesilla Valley Transportation and Werner Enterprises to provide its automated driving system, equipped with its universal interface, on any of four major truck brands used by the fleets. Embark said the agreement "will improve speed and reliability for customers, as well as safety and work-flexibility for professional truck drivers."
High-school juniors and seniors from six school districts in Illinois attend career and technical education courses at Jo Daviess Carroll Career Technical Education Academy. Students are enrolled in a variety of career pathways, including auto tech and criminal justice, and also are eligible to earn credits from an area community college.
Pizza lovers who order from a certain Domino's in the Houston area this week may get their order delivered by a fully autonomous vehicle. Customers who prepay online will be selected at random to get a visit from the Nuro R2, but a PIN will be required to retrieve the order from the vehicle.
Electric bicycles designed to pull containers that can hold up to 800 pounds of groceries are being rolled out in New York City and Pasadena, Calif., by URB-E, one of the latest companies to pursue cheaper and more environmentally sustainable delivery methods. CEO Charles Jolley would not say which grocers URB-E was working with, but indicated they were companies that have delivery services but want alternatives to gas or diesel vehicles.
Researchers in Australia developed a robot that can scale walls, drawing inspiration from the nimble lizard. "A lizard is a really good place to start because they find one of the optimal climbing configurations," said Christofer Clemente, supervisor of the University of the Sunshine Coast team that developed the robot, dubbed X-4.
