Some decades ago we were expecting that by now we’d be comfortably riding in our own self-driving car. Clearly, that didn’t happen, but, folks, don’t despair. We have the world’s first all-electric flying race car. Do we really need a flying racecar? Well, I think not, but in any case meet theAirspeeder MK3that made today its first flight over the deserts of South Australia. The Alauda Airspeeder Mk3, defined by the company as a full-sized remotely-operated electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle (eVTOL), weighs 100kg and can fly at speeds over 120 kilometers per hour....

Self-driving electric buses are here, and they’re cruising round Málaga Singapore In March 2019, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and Volvo Buses launched the ‘world’s first’full-sizedelectric autonomous bus trials, and last month Singapore’s first commercial driverless bus service was announced. The service will cover two routes at Singapore Science Park 2 and Jurong Island over a three-month pilot, during which time data will be collected to assess the viability of the on-demand service as well as passenger safety and service reliability....

Yesterday, leading tech company Baidu launched China’s first commercial fully autonomous taxi service. 10 of the company’s Apollo Go are now operating atBeijing’sShougang Park – one of the venues of the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics – covering a 3 square kilometer range with eight pick-up/drop-off stops, reportedShanghai Daily. With no driver behind the wheel, Baidu aimsto deliver a real driverless experienceà la Waymo, although for now,a safety staff member occupies the front passenger seat to take over in case of an emergency....

It is not the best of times for self-driving car startups. The past year has seen large tech companies acquire startups that were running out of cash and ride-hailing companiesshutter costly self-driving car projectswith no prospect of becoming production-ready anytime soon. Yet, in the midst of this downturn, Waabi, a Toronto-based self-driving car startup, has just come out of stealth with an insane amount of $83.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Khosla Ventures, with additional participation from Uber, 8VC, Radical Ventures, OMERS Ventures, BDC, and Aurora Innovation....

Fifteen years ago, a novel written by a certainScottish womanwas rejected by twelve publishing houses. Eventually she was published by a small time publisher and the rest is history. How much has the scenario changed since then? Is it easy to approach big name publishers with your passion project? Nope. The attitude of big publishers with a brand name has not changed a bit in decades. But their clout over what gets published is eroding fast, all thanks to the new publisher in town....