16 APRIL2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE
Nowthereis
noquestion
inmymind
thatartificial
intelligenceneeds
toberegulated.
Itistooimportant
notto.Theonly
questionishowto
approachit”
Google CEOSundar Pichai
doesn’t mince his words when it
comes to AI control
Whilethe
worldwillneed
toreachnet-zero,
thoseofuswhocan
afford tomove faster
andgo further
shoulddoso”
MicrosoftpresidentBrad Smith
expects thecompanytobe
‘carbon negative’by
TheComputer
MisuseAct
iscryingout
forreform”
SimonMcKay,abarrister
specialising in civil liberties and
human rights,sees the UK’s
keycyber security legislation
as old hat
Forfartoolong
we’vetaken
ourdemocracyfor
granted.We’vebeen
complacentandour
complacencyhas
allowedmalign
forcestoundermine
ourdemocracy”
Stephen Kinnock MPisn’t happy
with data misuse in elections
AIRCRAFTANDDRONESdon’t mix very well, as
demonstrated by adrone sighting over Gatwick
Airport causing flights to be grounded fortwo days
at the end of 2018. Heathrow Airport has
now opted to use an anti-drone product
from Thales to avoid flight disruption.
The system, made by Thales
subsidiary Aveillant, has already been
deployed at the airport as part of wider
anti-drone efforts.
The technology uses what Aveillant
calls holographic radar to spot mystery
drones like the one that disrupted
Gatwick flights. Traditional radar systems
revolve,meaning they can’tsee everything at once
and miss data when looking away.
Aveillant’s system has always-on 360 ̊ coverage,
offering afull 3D picture at all times, meaning it can
better track targets. The system can spot anything
from birds to clouds, though it was first designed to
better see ‘clutter’kicked up by wind farms.
Software in the system specifically spots drones,
and can be updated as drone designs change.
The technology doesn’t have the ability to knock
dsout of the sky, but instead detects and
acks drones near the airfield in order to
alert officialsbefore theycan cause
havoc. It can also look forthe operator
in order to pinpoint their location.
Drones were banned from being flown
within 5km of an airport last year,
suggesting the Thales system will be
used to police that restricted area.
Thales says the new equipment will
help minimise delays from drones and
increase safety,asdrones sucked intoalanding
plane’s engine could cause significant damage,
especially with larger models.
As drones become increasingly popular,wecan
expect to see other organisations keen to keep the
air above them free from drones invest in emerging
anti-drone technology.
Anti-drone radar system installed at Heathrow
DRIVERLESSCARTESTINGis well under wayinthe
UK, but at The Mall shopping centre in Cribbs
Causeway,Gloucestershire,self-driving pods are
being tested completely without human supervision.
The pods run between 10am and 4pm, and are
used to ferry visitors around The Mall’s premises
and in areas where humans mill around on foot.
Dubbed CAPRI, this driverless vehicle project is
run by aconsortium of academic institutions and
businesses, which hope to introduce and normalise
autonomous vehicles in Britain. But forthat to
happen, theyneedtorun such trials so that
members of the public can get on board, both
literally and figuratively,with self-driving vehicles.
The pods come equipped with asuiteofsensors,
radar and vision-processing tech to ensure theycan
carefully navigateThe Mall without running intoany
pedestrians or other obstacles. The researchers will
harvest information to gauge the public’s reaction to
the pods and identify any technical challenges that
need to be addressed before such autonomous
vehicles are ready forwider commercial use.
UK shopping centre plays host to first
unsupervised driverless vehicle trial
EVERWONDEREDWHATa
lunar vehicle would look like
if NASA didn’t design it?
Lexus has, and it’s come up
with asuite of designs of
how it thinks humans could
navigatethe moon.
The European Advanced Design Studio forLexus
has seen the luxury Japanese car maker come up
with seven lunar vehicle concept designs, each
looking extremely slick.
There’s azero-gravity motorcycle-like vehicle,
supposedly designed to glide fluidly across the
bumpysurface of the moon, while the Bouncing
Moon Roller envisions a‘nanotube-based bubble’
that jumps and rolls over lunar terrain.
The Lexus Lunar Cruiser is the closest to what we
would describe as atraditional car,looking like an
evolved take on Lexus’s
LF-30 Electric Concept car.
In fact, all seven of the
vehicles have design cues
drawn from the company’s
more grounded concept car.
Forlunar visitors that tire
of the moon’s surface,the Cosmos (pictured) is a
combination of asurface craft, space-faring vessel,
and aswimming pool. It looks abit like adeep sea
creature to our eyes, but is still aslick concept.
Allthe designs were commissioned by theart
and fashion magazine,Document Journal,soaren’t
really concepts that are meant to be taken too
seriously.However,theydoshow that there’s no
shortage of imaginationwhen it comes to thinking
up the future of transport beyond the confines of
Earth’s atmosphere.
Lexus reveals super-slick vehicle designs for
traversing the moon’s surface
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