Tag: self-driving cars

From color-changing cars to self-driving strollers, here’s some of the coolest tech from CES 2023 | CNN Business

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A long list of companies once again showed off an assortment of cutting edge technology and oddball gadgets at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week.

There were new twists on foldable devices, cars that changed colors and smart ovens that live streamed dinners. There was a self-driving stroller, a pillow that pulsates to reduce anxiety and a locker from LG that claims to deodorize smelly sneakers in less than 40 minutes. At the event, some people gathered in groups, sitting in silence, to test out the latest virtual reality products.

While some of these devices may never find their way into households, the products on display offer a glimpse at some of the biggest tech trends companies are anticipating this year and in the years ahead.

Here’s a look at some of the buzziest products announced last week:

BMW unveiled a wild color-changing concept car with 260 e-panels that can change up to 32 colors. During a demo, different parts of the car, including the wheel covers, flashed in varying hues and swirls of colors. The technology, which relies on panels that receive electrical impulses, isn’t ready for production. (Breaks between panels and what looked like wiring could be seen on the outside of the car.) But just imagine being able to drive a sporty red car on the weekends and then a conservative gray model when you go to work.

If you think snapping photos of your meal for Instagram is overdone, now you can livestream your dinner as it cooks in real time and post it to your social feeds. Samsung’s new AI Wall oven features an internal camera that can capture footage of your baking food or allow you to keep tabs on it without ever leaving the couch. The oven, which uses an algorithm to recognize dishes and suggest cooking times and temperatures, also pushes notifications to your phone to prevent you from burning meals. The oven will launch in North America later this year; a price has not yet been announced.

Canadian-based baby gear startup Gluxkind was showed off its Ella AI Powered Smart Stroller. It offers much of the same tech seen in autonomous cars and delivery robots, including a dual-motor system for uphill walks and automatic downhill brake assist. It’s meant to serve as an “extra pairs of eyes and an extra set of hands,” according to the company’s website – not a replacement for a caregiver. The Ella stroller is able to drive itself for hands-free strolling – but only when a child is not inside.

No gadget at CES this year was as striking as the Mutalk mouthpiece from startup Shiftall. The device, which looks like a muzzle, features a soundproof Bluetooth microphone that makes it difficult for others in the room to hear your voice when you’re on calls. The company thinks the $200 gadget will come in handy for everything from voice chats and playing online games to shouting in VR when you don’t want to disturb anyone else nearby. Instead of hearing you, they will simply see your new mouthpiece; you can decide which is worse.

If you ever wanted to hit 15 miles per hour on roller skates, this electric pair from French startup AtmosGear promises to help get you there. With a battery pack that holds an hour charge and the ability to travel over 12 miles, the skates can clip onto any existing roller skates, turning them into motor-propelled footwear. The skates are currently available for pre-order for $525.

You’ve probably heard of smartphones that come with headphones, but what about headphones that come with a screen? The JBL Tour Pro 2 earbuds adds a touchscreen to the case to bring smartwatch-like capabilities by allowing users to control its settings, answer calls, set alarms, manage music and check battery life. No launch date has been announced, but the new buds will cost $250 when they eventually go on sale.

Some companies offered a new twist on the foldable phone concept. For example, Samsung Display’s Flex Hybrid prototype features a foldable and slidable display (the right side slides to offer more screen space). Meanwhile, the Asus $3500 Zenbook 17 Fold OLED – the world’s first foldable 17-inch laptop – picked up significant buzz on the show floor, acting almost like a large tablet that can be folded in half when on the go.

Dubbed “the world’s first awareable,” the $500 Nowatch is a watch… with no clock. The Amsterdam-based startup of the same name launched the device to help users monitor stress, body temperature, heart rate, movement and sleep. But unlike other smartwatches, there’s no watchface – instead, a gemstone sits where the touchscreen display typically goes. “We’ve replaced the traditional watch face with ancient stones, celebrating the belief that time is NOW,” the company said on its website.

Honda and Sony have joined forces to create tech-filled electric cars that, they say, will be both fun to drive and filled with the latest entertainment innovation. According to the CEO of Sony Honda Mobility, its cars will recognize your moods and be highly communicative and sensitive to your needs. The car will have screens on the outside so it can “express itself” and share information and will be able to “detect and understand people and society by utilizing sensing and [artificial intelligence] technologies,” according to the company. That’s why the company named its first joint car brand Afeela, in that it just has to “feel” right. But it’s unclear if we’re afeeling that name.

While it typically requires a blood panel and a visit to the doctor’s office to learn more about vitamin deficiencies, Withins says its new $500 U-Scan device can tell you similar information right from the comfort of your own toilet. The device attaches to existing toilets and collects data from your urine stream to detect vitamin deficiencies, check hydration and monitor metabolism, according to the company. An additional device called the U-Scan Cycle Sync tracks periods and ovulation cycles.

Schlage’s new smart lock is one of the first to work with Apple’s Home Key functionality, which allows users to upload their keys to their Apple Wallet and unlock their deadbolted front door directly from their phone or Apple Watch. The lock also works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant for voice controlled, hands-free locking. Available in two finishes, the deadbolt can manage access codes, view lock history and handle multiple locks at once. The lock, which will cost $300, will be available for purchase late this spring, according to a company press release.

– CNN’s Peter Valdes-Depena contributed to this report

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January 11, 2023
A $3,300 self-driving stroller is at this year’s CES. Are parents ready? | CNN Business

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Hang onto your baby bonnets: Self-driving technology is coming to strollers.

Canadian-based baby gear startup Gluxkind was showing off its Ella AI Powered Smart Stroller at this year’s CES, the consumer electronics show in Las Vegas that offers some of the most cutting edge – and out-there – new technologies.

The smart stroller offers much of the same tech seen in autonomous cars and delivery robots, including a dual-motor system for uphill walks and automatic downhill brake assist. Like a Tesla with “Autopilot,” the Gluxkind’s stroller’s onboard technolgy has sensors that detect objects around it – but it’s meant to serve as an “extra pairs of eyes and an extra set of hands,” according to the company’s website – not a replacement for a caregiver.

The Ella stroller is able to drive itself for hands-free strolling – but only when a child is not inside. It uses cameras to monitor surroundings and navigate the sidewalks.

For parents who are probably and understandably nervous about putting their baby in a stroller with a mind of its own, Gluxkind provided a YouTube video with some use cases. A parent walking a stroller down hill rushes to save a child’s dropped toy that is rolling away. The stroller brakes on its own.

In another demo, a child is tired of sitting in the stroller and wants to be carried. The Ella strolls itself while the parent carries the child.

Still self-driving technology isn’t totally proven and certainly not ready for prime time. Although companies that have implemented the technology in cars say they add an element of safety when used properly and the driver is paying attention, putting children in the care of AI may not be for everyone.

Gluxkind, founded in 2020, also put additional stroller-specific features into the Ella including “Automatic Rock-My-Baby” and a built-in white noise machine to soothe sleeping toddlers. The entire system is outfitted with a car seat, infant bassinet and toddler seat.

“The development has been driven by our own experience as new parents.,” Anne Hunger, Gluxkind CPO and co-founder, wrote in a November press release. “We’ve put a lot of hard work into this product and are excited to get it into more customers’ hands in 2023.”

For $3,300, parents can join the pre-order list for the 30-pound Ella, one of the consumer tech products named as an Innovation Awards Honoree at the 2023 CES show. Deliveries of the stroller are expected to begin in April 2023, according to the company website.

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January 4, 2023
Uber launching self-driving cars in Las Vegas | CNN Business

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Ridehailing giant Uber is now offering Las Vegas riders the option on its app to hail a self-driving taxis developed by another company, according to a press release Wednesday. While the autonomous vehicles are currently only available for ride hailing in Las Vegas, there are plans to expand to Los Angeles “at a later date,” according to the release.

The robocars, made by driverless technology company Motional, are sent with two “vehicle operators” behind the wheel to monitor the technology and provide added support to riders. Uber said it plans on launching a fully driverless service with Motional in 2023.

Users requesting a ride will be offered an autonomous vehicle if one is available before the trip is confirmed. If a customer opts in, a self-driing Hyundai Ioniq 5 mid-sized hatchback, modified by Motional, will be sent to pick them up.

Motional has been offering robotaxi services in Las Vegas since 2018 through Uber rival Lyft, though rides before 2020 were offered under parent-company Aptiv.

Uber and Motional first announced their non-exclusive 10-year agreement in October, two years after the ride-hailing company sold off its own self-driving unit, Advanced Technologies Group, to San Francisco-based startup Aurora. The sale came after a a five-year run of developing self-driving vehicles that was marred by litigation and a fatal crash.

Waymo, Google’s self-driving company, sued Uber in February 2017 alleging trade secret and intellectual property theft, with Waymo eventually receiving about $245 million in Uber stock as part of settlement and Uber agreeing not to use proprietary information from Waymo. The ridehailing company suffered another blow to its self-driving program a month later when one of its test vehicles in Tempe, Arizona, struck and killed a pedestrian. An Uber test driver behind the wheel, who was supposed to monitor the vehicle and intervene if needed, was watching a television show on her phone.

Through its partnership with Motional, Uber is attempting to shift its business model away from being solely reliant on its vast fleet of independently contracted drivers, a business model that has posed legal issues for the company in recent years. The Biden administration is currently proposing a new labor rule that could classify millions of these gig workers as employees — a move that would challenge the low-cost labor models behind Silicon Valley heavyweights like Uber.

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December 9, 2022
Get Ready to Share the Road with a Self-Driving Vehicle

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Dec. 8, 2022 – What are the cars of the future, and what impact could they have on public health?

Drivers around Silicon Valley have glanced out their car window to see the vehicle cruising alongside them has no one in the driver’s seat. Tech companies in California have been testing their new self-driving vehicles, and similar experiments are hitting the road elsewhere as the new technology moves onto streets.

Capable of sensing the environment and moving with little or no human input, these new autonomous ground vehicles are already navigating traffic on public roads. They combine an assortment of cameras and sensors such as radar, sonar, and GPS.

But are a suite of sensors and an algorithm ready to safely take the wheel on the road with us?

Police reported more than 5.2 million motor vehicle crashes in 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, which resulted in 2 million injuries and more than 25,500 deaths.

Advocates for self-driving vehicles say the biggest cause of most traffic accidents is human error, so taking the driver out of the equation with self-driving vehicles could lead to fewer injuries and deaths. As a future technology, self-driving vehicles are predicted to transform the automobile and insurance industries and change how our cities are planned as traffic patterns evolve.

For a couple of years now, drivers in Bentonville, AR, have been sharing the road with autonomous trucks delivering goods for Walmart. And those trucks now no longer have a driver on hand, ready to take over from the computer if anything goes wrong. The trucks are currently operating independently on the open road.

It’s not clear what society’s tolerance for crashes or injuries caused by autonomous vehicles will be, even if they happen at a much lower rate than human-caused ones.

In Toronto, similar autonomous trucks are delivering supplies for Canadian grocery chain Loblaws. These deliveries focus on the so-called middle mile and move goods from central depots to front-line stores.

New Driverless Delivery Trucks

The stores launching self-driving vehicles suggest this is the best way to roll them out on public roads because these trips are relatively short and predictable. That means the trucks can run the same route over and over, collecting data on traffic patterns and weather, and that can help refine the algorithm for future trips.

As the technology improves, and if projects like the ones in Bentonville and Toronto are successful, the number of self-driving cars and trucks on the roads could multiply quickly – with profound potential effects on public health.

Supporters of the new technology predict less traffic congestion with autonomous vehicles and therefore less stress and even better air quality, with fewer cars on the road creating emissions.

But Andrew Dannenberg, MD, an epidemiologist and professor of urban design and planning at the University of Washington in Seattle, says the reality of what is planned is more nuanced, and a lot will depend on how self-driving vehicles are actually integrated onto our roads.

Who Is the More Dangerous Driver?

Traffic will only be reduced, he says, if vehicles are shared, which is not particularly popular with most drivers currently travelling alone.

Early experiments where a driver was provided to individuals to be chauffeured to imitate the convenience of a self-driving car found that people drove significantly more when they had the convenience of not driving themselves, says Danneberg.

“If it is too convenient, there will be the same or even more congestion on roads.”

And the effect on air pollution is probably relatively neutral, he says. Most of the improvements will come from switching to electric vehicles, which is happening already even before self-driving cars are widely adopted.

Wide access to self-driving vehicles could also lead to people being less active, and less healthy, Danneberg says.

“Physical activity is a big part of transport. But will people walk, bike, or take public transit less if these cars are so convenient? Losing support for transit is not in the public health interest,” he says.

But could a combination of good public transit and efficient autonomous vehicles fix our traffic problems? That’s possible, if the self-driving vehicles are in the majority, and can communicate with each other to cooperate during rush hour, says Edmond Awad, PhD, who studies the interactions between humans and autonomous vehicles at the University of Exeter in the U.K.

A lot will depend on how the algorithms governing new self-driving vehicles are designed, he explains, and how they alter the level of risk that people have gotten used to on the roads.

Teaching the New Algorithms to Drive

There is a general perception that machines are less biased than humans, says Awad, but since the algorithms are trained on human data, they tend to have the same biases. And they could even make them worse, by putting the same flawed algorithm in hundreds of thousands of vehicles.

“If the algorithm makes cars less cautious around cyclists than the average driver, for example, that will change the distribution of risk,” he warns. And since we don’t generally know what’s going on inside that algorithm, it makes it difficult for people to trust the vehicles and know how to behave around them.

Awad studied how people thought about the algorithms governing autonomous vehicles in a project called The Moral Machine. He gave people hypothetical situations where a self-driving car detects a collision that is about to happen. If the vehicle can’t avoid the crash, what could it do next? Collide according to trajectory or swerve to save lives? An algorithm that protects human life would be best, but what happens if veering hits someone else? What if the self-driving car is about to hit a bus, and to avoid all those people on public transit means it drives off the road and kills its own passengers? Should the car be programed to never risk its owners? But what about the crowds of people in public spaces? How will programmers decide whose safety to prioritize?

Awad found in his study exploring hypothetical situations that while most people were in favor of self-driving cars that were programmed in a utilitarian way – that is, the car would sacrifice its own passengers to save greater numbers of other people – people in the study also reported they would prefer not to ride in such cars themselves.

Those designing the vehicles will need to balance the competing priorities of individuals and society at large if the technology is ever going to be accepted in public spaces around other drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians who could be put at risk.

And should self-driving cars have their own closed roads to operate on?

Beyond questions about individual safety, though, there is a whole host of questions about the equity of the transition to autonomous vehicles, says Dannenberg. He is involved in several active outreach projects to determine what communities want from autonomous vehicles. He has found that many lower-income or otherwise marginalized communities have little input or interest in the issue.

They are generally not in contact with the politicians and technology leaders who are deciding where, when, and how the vehicles will be rolled out, and so are not high on the priority list, says Dannenberg.

“If the only people who care about this are well-off, that’s a big equity issue.”

Marginalized communities face larger barriers to adopting the technology, either through price, access to other enabling technologies like smartphones, or simply which neighborhoods are served by autonomous vehicle projects.

Many jobs in transportation will also be replaced by the vehicles, a burden that will fall unequally on those with lower incomes or less education.

Those with disabilities may also face greater barriers, if there is no human on hand to help wheelchair users get in and out of the vehicles they want to travel in.

“It’s not automatically great for disabilities,” says Dannenberg. That’s an issue that can be solved with clever design, but it requires careful thought and comes with a cost.

Dannenberg says the equity issues are getting less attention than they deserve as society prepares to adopt more self-driving vehicles, so more people from different sectors and communities need to get involved in driving this change in a direction we want to go.

One way or another, people are in the driver’s seat of this technological advance.

“And we will need ongoing monitoring and evaluation,” Dannenberg says.

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December 8, 2022
Ford takes $2.7 billion hit as it drops efforts to develop full self-driving cars | CNN Business

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Ford is essentially pulling the plug on an effort to develop its first full self-driving car, and it’s going to cost the automaker $2.7 billion to walk away.

The company announced Wednesday it would no longer provide financial support for Argo AI, a self-driving car technology company it invested $1 billion in back in 2017.

Instead of having Argo develop self-driving car technology for cars without steering wheels, brakes or accelerator pedals — what is known in the industry as Level 4 or L4 technology — Ford will instead pursue in-house development of a lower level of automated driving technology.

The level it will now pursue on its own, known as Level 3 or L3, allows a driver to not pay attention to the road in certain conditions, such as on the highway, but it would expect a driver to be aware enough to quickly take control of the car if needed.

The decision will mean that Argo AI will shutdown. And the drop in value of Ford’s investment in Argo caused it to take a $2.7 billion charge in the just-completed third quarter. That resulted in an $827 million loss in the period.

Even excluding the special charges for Argo and other items, Ford reported adjusted earnings per share of 30 cents, a slide from the 51 cents it earned on that basis a year ago, but a slight improvement over the 27 cents forecast by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.

Ford reported automotive revenue of $37.2 billion, a jump of $4 billion from a year ago and $1 billion more than the analysts’ forecasts. The revenue was helped by a $3.4 billion from higher pricing on vehicles.

Ford did have some problems in the quarter beyond the charge it took for closing down Argo. It said supply shortages left it with about 40,000 vehicles in its inventory at the end of the quarter that were built but awaiting needed parts before they can be shipped to dealers.

It also was hit with $1 billion in higher-than-expected supplier payments, and a $1.5 billion increase in commodity costs.

And it had a smaller profit and profit margin in its core North American market due to those higher commodity costs, and a loss in China, due to costs associated with the development of electric vehicles.

While higher pricing on vehicles helped its European unit post a narrow profit in the quarter compared to a narrow loss a year ago, CEO Jim Farley did concede, “Our performance in China and Europe is not nearly as healthy as we’d like it to be.”

But, in good news, Ford raised its goal for full-year cash that will be generated by the business to be between $9.5 billion and $10 billion — up from $5.5 billion to $6.5 billion — on strength in the company’s automotive operations.

Shares of Ford

(F) were down 1% in after-hours trading following the earnings news.

But in the end, the big news of the earnings report was a major change in direction on self-driving vehicles.

The company insists it still expects to offer full self-driving vehicles in the future, just not soon enough to make the investment such technology will require today. It said it decided it is better to invest in driver assistance technology that is closer to being implemented on vehicles today, and that customers want from their new cars, rather than a fleet of robo-taxis with no drivers at all aboard.

“We’re optimistic about a future for L4 ADAS [advanced driver assistance systems], but profitable, fully autonomous vehicles at scale are a long way off and we won’t necessarily have to create that technology ourselves,” said Farley.

Farley said he expects to be able to find jobs for many of the Argo employees at Ford, having them switch gears to develop L3 driver assistance features.

“That’s really the decision, in many ways, that is driving what we’re doing here at Argo… we are deeply passionate about the L3 mission,” said Doug Field, Ford’s chief advanced product development and technology officer.

He said there is only so much talent available to develop the different driver assistance and self-driving features.

“So this is the way we want to use that talent,” he said.

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October 26, 2022
Tesla robot slowly walks on stage at AI Day | CNN Business

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Tesla revealed on Friday a prototype of a humanoid robot that it says could be a future product for the automaker.

The robot, dubbed Optimus by Tesla, walked stiffly on stage at Tesla’s AI Day, slowly waved at the crowed and gestured with its hands for roughly one minute. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the robot was operating without a tether for the first time. Robotics developers often use tethers to support robots because they aren’t capable enough to walk without falling and damaging themselves.

The Optimus’ abilities appear to significantly trail what robots from competitors like Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics are capable of. Boston Dynamics robots have been seen doing back flips and performing sophisticated dance routines without a tether.

“The robot can actually do a lot more than we just showed you,” Musk said at the event. “We just didn’t want it to fall on its face.”

Tesla also showed videos of its robot performing simple tasks like carrying boxes and watering plants with a watering can.

Musk claimed that if the robot was produced in mass volumes it would “probably” cost less than $20,000. Tesla maintains that Optimus’ advantage over competitors will be its ability to navigate independently using technology developed from Tesla’s driver-assistance system “Full Self Driving,” as well as cost savings from what it has learned about manufacturing from its automotive division. (Tesla’s “Full Self Driving” requires a human that is alert and attentive, ready to take over at any time, as it is not yet capable of fully driving itself.)

Tesla has a history of aggressive price targets that it doesn’t ultimately reach. The Tesla Model 3 was long promised as a $35,000 vehicle, but could only very briefly be purchased for that price, and not directly on its website. The most affordable Tesla Model 3 now costs $46,990. When Tesla revealed the Cybertruck in 2019, its pick-up truck that remains unavailable for purchase today, it was said to cost $39,990, but the price has since been removed from Tesla’s website.

Tesla AI Day is intended largely as a recruiting event to attract talented people to join the company.

Musk claimed the robot could be transformative for civilization. The robot displayed Friday, despite its limitations compared to competitors, was significantly ahead of what Tesla revealed a year ago, when a person jumped on stage in a robot suit and danced around.

“‘Last year was just a person in a robot suit,” Musk said before the robot walked on stage. “We’ve come a long way. Compared to that, it’s going to be very impressive.”

Tesla is not the first automaker to develop a humanoid robot. Along with Hyundai’s Boston Dynamics, Honda worked on robots dubbed “Asimo” for nearly 20 years. In its final form, Asimo was a child-size humanoid robot capable of untethered walking, running, climbing and descending stairs, and manipulating objects with its fingers.

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October 1, 2022
Tesla’s AI Day is tonight. It may wow you — or end with a gaffe | CNN Business

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Tesla

(TSLA) will hold its second annual AI Day in Palo Alto, California, Friday evening. The six-hour event will include updates on Tesla

(TSLA)’s work in artificial intelligence, “Full Self-Driving,” its supercomputer “Dojo” and maybe a humanoid robot, according to invitations posted online by Tesla

(TSLA) supporters. The event is expected to be live-streamed.

Dojo is a supercomputer being designed to train AI systems to complete complex tasks like Tesla’s driver-assistance systems Autopilot and “Full Self-Driving,” which sometimes perform some driving tasks like steering and keeping up with traffic. Tesla’s previous AI Day included detailed technical explanations of the company’s work in a bid to attract leading engineers.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has claimed before that in the long run people will think of Tesla as an AI company, rather than a car company or energy company. He has said that Tesla AI may play a role in computers matching general human abilities, a huge milestone many experts say is decades away and perhaps unattainable. Musk, who has a long history of predictions, has said it may be reached in 2029.

But more limited and easier to develop forms of artificial intelligence — like identifying emergency vehicles stopped on a highway — have proven to be a significant hurdle for the company as it pursues its dreams of self-driving cars. AI powers “Full Self-Driving,” but the system has faced criticism and backlash as it still requires driver intervention to prevent collisions and Musk’s deadlines for its capabilities slip year after year.

And this summer Tesla’s director of artificial intelligence, Andrej Karpathy, exited the company, several months after it was announced he was taking a sabbatical.

It’s not easy to predict what may or may not show up at any event helmed by Musk. Products heralded and talked about sometimes don’t perform as designed — like when Musk showed off the Tesla Cybertruck’s supposedly “unbreakable” windows, that promptly broke — and can’t even be bought years later. (Three years after the event Tesla sells a T-shirt that memorializes the broken window, but it has yet to sell a Cybertruck.)

Musk has unquestionably disrupted entire industries with his work at Tesla and SpaceX. But he’s also earned a reputation for missing deadlines and overpromising.

Last year’s AI Day “surprise,” for instance, was a Tesla “robot,” which was just a human dancing in a suit.

Musk then claimed that the automaker is building a 5-foot-8, 125-pound humanoid robot, called Optimus or Tesla Bot and a prototype would likely be unveiled this year. It’s unclear if a prototype will be revealed Friday, but Musk tweeted Thursday that the event would include “cool hardware demos.”

Tesla is also working on wheeled robots for manufacturing and autonomous logistics, according to a Tesla job posting for a senior humanoid mechatronics robotics architect.

Musk claimed last year that the humanoid robot would have a profound impact on the economy. It would begin by working on boring, repetitive and dangerous tasks, he said.

Tesla and Musk are not, of course, the first to bet on robots. Robots already handle many factory jobs, and companies like Boston Dynamics have worked for years to develop humanoid, animal-like, and other robots for industrial applications.

Humanoid robots have long fascinated the public and earned a place in pop culture as powerful but sometimes dangerous. Tesla tapped into this when it posted on Instagram in a promotion for the event that, “if you can run faster than 5 mph, you’ll be fine.” The Tesla humanoid robot is planned to have a top speed of 5 mph, the automaker has said.

But creating a humanoid robot that rivals a human’s abilities has proved incredibly difficult for robotics experts. Artificial intelligence has seen major advances yet trails the general abilities of a human toddler. Most robots in use today are restricted to simple tasks in basic environments like vacuuming a home or moving parts in a factory.

Tesla would not be the first automaker to build a humanoid robot, either. Honda worked on a series of robots, known as Asimo, for nearly 20 years. The Japanese company shut down development of Asimo in 2018. Korean automaker Hyundai bought Boston Dynamics in 2020.

Musk said Thursday that AI Day would be “highly technical” as it is meant for recruiting engineers to work on artificial intelligence, robotics and computer chips.

“Engineers who understand what problems need to be solved will like what they see,” Musk tweeted Friday.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

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October 1, 2022