U.K. Government Plans 165-Mile Drone Superhighway

165 MILES

Plans were approved by the U.K. government in July for a drone superhighway. Stretching 165 miles across England, the Skyway is set to be the world’s longest dedicated drone corridor. Led by U.K. firm Altitude Angel, the superhighway will use “detect and avoid” technology to prevent drone collisions and allow for flight beyond line of sight. The government plans to use drones over the Skyway to “quickly and efficiently survey infrastructure,” which will mean less transportation downtime and faster deliveries.
Source: New Atlas

CALLING IT

At the FIFA World Cup this fall in Qatar, offside calls are about to get more high tech with the help of artificial intelligence. The soccer ball is outfitted with a sensor that communicates its position 500 times per second to 12 cameras positioned underneath the stadium roof. The cameras follow 29 points on players’ bodies with machine learning, and that data then creates an alert when someone makes an offside offense. Human officials still review all plays and determine the calls, but FIFA says the system will make the decisions faster and more accurately than referees alone.
Source: The Verge

$2.5B

As part of its Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Program, the U.S. Department of Energy is giving out a major loan: $2.5 billion is going to a project between GM and LG to fund construction of factories for electric vehicle battery cells. Manufacturing plants are planned for Michigan, Tennessee and Ohio, with construction set to start late this summer. Called Ultium, the project is expected to create 5,000 jobs.
Source: Engadget

(I CAN'T GET NO) SATISFACTION

Research into user satisfaction of social media sites has revealed some interesting takeaways. According to the 2021-2022 American Customer Satisfaction Index, Twitter users are 11 percent happier with the microblogging platform than they were in the previous year. Only TikTok and Tumblr also showed improvement in their scores over the same period. Satisfaction with Pinterest and Instagram both dropped 3 percent, although Pinterest was highest ranked overall in the index; Facebook fell 2 percent and was the lowest ranked social platform studied. The e-business component of the index also tracks satisfaction with online search engines and news.
Source: Fast Company