Car News 

China is investigating that weird, traffic-straddling bus, which in retrospect was totally a scam – The Verge

Last year, the internet briefly caught fire when pictures of a weird, elevated bus that glides above traffic began circulating around. The so-called “straddling bus” was held up as a solution to China’s notorious traffic problems, but all anyone wanted to talk about was how it looked like the bus was eating cars, or how insane anyone would have to be to actually drive underneath. But as the months ticked by, the Transit Elevated Bus (as it was known) failed to stand up to much scrutiny. Jalopnik noticed how shabby…

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Car News 

Self-driving cars just had one of their best months yet – The Verge

For most people, self-driving cars are just an abstraction, something they read about occasionally in the press but still consider a far-off, futuristic fantasy. They read the headlines and scoff, “Not in my lifetime.” But the events of this past month may help put a lot of that skepticism to rest. There was a flurry of activity in both Congress and the private sector over the past few weeks, signaling a key shift in the trajectory of self-driving cars and proving that these vehicles are much closer to reality than…

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Car News 

Essential gadgets for throwing the best SmartBarbecue – The Verge

Every summer, when the sun is hot and everyone is drowning in sweat, barbecue invitations go out. While these get-togethers create the perfect setting to catch up with old friends, befriend your neighbors, and meet new people, they also highlight how important it is to have all the best gear. That way you can impress everyone with how you’ve married 21st century technology with the time-honored tradition of cooking hot dogs and hamburgers in 95-degree weather. Whether you get stuck with grill duty this year, have to mix drinks, or…

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Car News 

Volvo taps Nvidia’s hardware to put self-driving cars on the road by 2021 – The Verge

Volvo has announced a new initiative to put its own self-driving cars on the road by 2021. The Swedish carmaker is teaming up with Autoliv (a Swedish-American firm that makes automotive safety systems) to develop the necessary software, while a partnership with chipmaker Nvidia will supply the computing power. Volvo’s cars will be powered by Nvidia’s Drive PX “supercomputer” — a custom hardware array designed specially for self-driving cars. The Drive PX2 can process data from 12 video streams at once, as well as juggling input from LIDAR, radar, and…

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Car News 

Blood Drive’s dystopian cannibal future is just the present, with more visible gore – The Verge

In the second episode of Syfy’s new exploitation grindhouse gorefest Blood Drive, a fat Elvis impersonator (named Fat Elvis) is murdered and turned into meat to feed the customers at the Pixie Swallow diner. Poor meaty Elvis is hung upside down from the kitchen roof like a pig. The camera sits in the next room, where a grunt mops the floor to get rid of earlier bloodstains. Meanwhile, a waitress bustles in and out of the kitchen door, which swings back and forth, giving the audience teasing glimpses of Elvis’…

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Car News 

Twitter can predict a riot faster than police – The Verge

A new study by Cardiff University has determined that Twitter can be used to identify dangerous situations up to an hour faster than police reports. Using a dataset of 1.6 million tweets from the London riots in 2011, researchers were able to have a series of machine learning algorithms automatically scan Twitter to identify threats. The system took into account things like the location of the tweet, the frequency of tweets containing certain words (or variants of these words), and timing of the tweets. Applying these algorithms to the London…

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Car News 

Saying goodbye to the tech of Pretty Little Liars – The Verge

Pretty Little Liars’ final episode aired on Tuesday, marking the end of five teenagers trying to unmask their stalker by fearfully scrolling through texts, cringing at every ring of a cellphone, and elaborately tracking down lair after lair. At its high points, the show gave us culturally defining moments about technology, transcending the usual Mean Girls in spite of its girly pink facade. And even at its low points, it offered up zany plot points, like evil twins. To say goodbye, here’s a last look at how technology was encoded…

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Car News 

Uber hit with lawsuit for not providing wheelchair-accessible cars – The Verge

The Equal Rights Center has filed a lawsuit against Uber today, adding another legal battle for the company to juggle among rape lawsuits and class action lawsuits. This time Uber is accused of denying equal access to people who use wheelchairs and violating Title 3 of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The lawsuit alleges that Uber has excluded people who use wheelchairs in Washington, DC, where the Equal Rights Center is located. It also says that Uber isn’t offering wheelchair-accessible cars in its UberX line. According to the suit, Uber…

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Car News 

Aston Martin’s electric sports car becomes even more elusive, thanks to cash-strapped LeEco – The Verge

Aston Martin’s forthcoming electric sports car, the RapidE, will become even more exclusive than originally planned, after the departure of struggling Chinese electronics manufacturer LeEco as an investor on the project. In an interview with Reuters, Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer confirmed that LeEco has pulled out of the electric supercar project, forcing the British carmaker to scale back production. Aston Martin will now only make 155 vehicles, which is about a third of the initial plan, and lean more heavily on Formula One engineering specialist Williams after the departure…

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Car News 

Alpine’s aftermarket, wireless Apple CarPlay receiver is now for sale – The Verge

Alpine showed of its wireless Apple Carplay receiver, the iLX-107, at CES this year, and now, that device is available from authorized retailers in North America. The 7-inch VGA touchscreen also controls external accessories through a separate controller. Depending on your car, you’ll be able to view customized vehicle information, like the gauge screen or a parking assistant, in addition to all of Apple’s apps. The device runs CarPlay wirelessly through Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Alpine also sells wired CarPlay receivers that range from seven to nine inches. Wireless is still…

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