[Big Intelligence Agency] Uber will restart driverless testing; Google may develop foldable phones; Qualcomm releases IoT-specific chips

☟Weekly technology hot spots to help you see the future clearly☟

December 20#Unmanned Driving#

Uber to resume self-driving car testing

News: Uber received a permit for driverless testing in Pennsylvania today, which means the company will resume testing driverless cars on public roads in Pittsburgh. Although no official project has been launched yet, this undoubtedly marks Uber's return in this field.

In March this year, Uber's self-driving car was involved in a serious traffic accident, which caused a lot of controversy and sounded the alarm for the entire industry. Since then, Uber has suspended related road testing.

Dada said: In the nearly one year since Uber suspended its testing, many technology companies have steadily carried out related layouts, and the commercialization of driverless cars is also accelerating. With the return of Uber and the participation of traditional automobile companies such as Daimler, autonomous driving technology will usher in greater progress in 2019.

December 21#Smart Chip#

Alibaba joins hands with Qualcomm and others to promote the development of domestic chips

News in brief: Alibaba established Pingtouge Semiconductor this year and held the first Tmall Chip Festival, which shows that it pays close attention to the development of the chip industry. By the end of the year, Alibaba gathered 23 domestic and foreign chip module manufacturers including Qualcomm and MediaTek, and announced that it would launch chip module products embedded with the domestic operating system AliOS Things .

AliOS Things is a domestic IoT operating system launched by Alibaba Cloud. It is a lightweight IoT embedded operating system. Among these partners, some manufacturers directly displayed products that they cooperated with Alibaba. These chip module products have been embedded in AliOS Things, which will give terminal devices more convenient cloud access capabilities.

Dada said: For the current IoT chips, various RTOS operating systems are used and there is a lack of a strong ecosystem. Cooperation with multiple brands like Alibaba and online marketing of chips will become the trend of the chip industry. With this cooperation, Alibaba has also won a larger share of the global market for domestic systems.

December 22 #AugmentedReality#

Apple integrates AR technology into map navigation

News: For people who are "difficult to find their way", getting lost frequently is a very frustrating thing, especially when going to a strange city, where they may not be able to tell the direction even with a navigation system. Faced with such a dilemma, Apple's new "AR map" patent may become a savior for people who are "difficult to find their way".

In this technical patent, Apple combines AR technology with navigation function. Users can use the mobile phone camera to see the panoramic route and destination location, and then identify the direction. There is no need to repeatedly look down at the map route information like ordinary navigation, and users can more clearly know their location.

Dada said: It is worth mentioning that Apple is not the only manufacturer actively exploring AR maps. Google demonstrated Google Maps that uses AR to guide users at this year's developer conference. In the future, more technologies will be integrated with each other to bring more convenience to our lives.

December 23#Aerospace Technology#

SpaceX successfully launches the first third-generation GPS satellite

News: After completing the space feat of "launching 64 satellites in one rocket", SpaceX once again made history by successfully launching the first networking satellite of the third-generation GPS using the Falcon 9 rocket .

After the deployment of the new generation of satellite systems is completed, the positioning accuracy of GPS can be increased by 3 times to the centimeter level. The launch of this satellite not only marks the beginning of the construction of the third-generation GPS, but also the first time that SpaceX has carried out a space mission for the US military, further proving its technological strength.

I said: In 2018, SpaceX and other aerospace companies have achieved outstanding results. 2019 also coincides with the nodes of many aerospace programs, many scientific research results will be announced, and the grand space race will continue. Want to know more about science and technology news at the first time? Then continue to pay attention to my follow-up reports!

December 24th #Smartphone#

Google may develop foldable phone

Brief: As the screen-to-body ratio of mobile phones continues to increase, foldable phones are likely to become the next trend. Samsung and Royole have taken the lead in trying this, and in 2019, more manufacturers will launch foldable phones, and Google may be one of them.

Google's related technical patents show that the foldable phone it developed uses a hinge connection method. It can not only switch between mobile phone and tablet modes freely like other foldable phones, but also work separately while displaying content on both sides. It is expected that Google will show more about this product in 2019.

Dada said: Compared with the already released Royole and Samsung, which has released a lot of information, Google's phone seems more mysterious, and the technology mentioned in the patent is more worth looking forward to. At the same time, many manufacturers are also actively preparing for the release of their own products. I believe that in the near future, we will be able to see the true face of more foldable phones.

December 25th #Internet of Things#

Qualcomm releases 9205 modem chip

News in brief: Qualcomm has released a new LTE modem chip called 9205. This chip integrates a Cortex A7 processor with a maximum frequency of 800MHz, which takes the performance of this type of product to a new level.

Compared with previous generation products, 9205 has lower power consumption, smaller size and stronger connectivity. It is a chip specially designed for low-power wide-area Internet of Things, supporting products such as wearable devices, health monitors, smart city sensors and smart meters.

Dada said: Whether it is a mobile phone or other smart device, the performance of the modem is the key to affecting the communication quality. With the acceleration of the Internet of Things, smart devices need more powerful communication support. The emergence of 5G has laid the network foundation for communication, and the release of this chip meets the needs of smart devices from a hardware perspective, further promoting the Internet of Everything.

December 26th #Unmanned Driving#

Tianjin opens road tests for driverless cars

News in brief: In 2018, China's driverless technology entered the road testing stage. Following cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Chongqing, Tianjin also joined in, opened driverless road testing, and issued the first batch of road test licenses.

After years of accumulation, China's unmanned driving technology has received strong support from the government and has achieved good results. Patented technologies related to autonomous driving, such as "unmanned vehicles, unmanned vehicle positioning methods, devices and systems" , won the 2018 China Patent Award. Not long ago, Beijing issued the "Beijing Intelligent Connected Vehicle Industry White Paper (2018)" , proposing to take the 2022 Winter Olympics as an opportunity to fully promote the application of intelligent connected vehicles and lead the rapid development of the national autonomous driving industry.

Mr. Wang said: The expansion of the road testing scope of driverless technology truly reflects the progress of related technologies. At the same time, more and more companies are participating in road testing, and the actual implementation projects are also increasing, which makes us feel the acceleration of the commercialization of driverless technology.

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Thursday, December 27, 2018

1984 - Today

Multinational collaboration completes artificial comet scientific experiment

The artificial comet experiment is a research project jointly conducted by the United States, Britain and Germany. The general principle of the project is to use artificial satellites to release metal barium at high altitudes to create celestial phenomena similar to comets, and to conduct other scientific research through observations of artificial comets. Scientists hope to gain a deeper understanding of the interaction between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetic field, how the solar wind interferes with artificial satellites and Earth's communications and power lines, and how it affects Earth's weather.

▼What other major technological events do you know that happened today in history? Feel free to tell us in the comment section below!

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