A quick look at census data (more than 11,000 people turn 65 each day in the U.S.), along with my own rough calculations, suggest that several hundred people are turning 70 each day in the great state of California, and every 10 minutes or so, one or more of them email me about their license renewal adventures with the DMV. I get the usual, always entertaining horror stories about testing: ("They put in ridiculous questions that do not pertain to driving," said 75-year-old Dahana Klerer of Newport Beach, who flunked twice and added, "I'm not a stupid person but they make you feel really stupid.") California is about to be hit by an aging population wave, and Steve Lopez is riding it. His column focuses on the blessings and burdens of advancing age -- and how some folks are challenging the stigma associated with older adults. "I had no problem," said 79-year-old Ruth Gleason of Ridgecrest, who added: "Thank you and Steve Gordon at the DMV for working to alleviate the test-taking fears for over-70 CA drivers."

When Curt Garner became Chipotle's first CIO in 2015, the only technology used for online restaurant ordering was, "believe it or not," a fax machine, he says. Seven years later, the Newport Beach, Calif.-based company is piloting a system with a robotic arm dubbed "Chippy" that prepares the fast-casual chain's famed fried salt-and-lime chips homemade every day without human labor, with the aim of tailoring output to the daily needs of each restaurant. "We are using robotic technology to do all the manipulation that a human would be doing in that process," says Garner, noting that "Chippy" is currently in use in only one of Chipotle Mexican Grill's 3,000 stores but use will expand. "We've spent several months in our lab refining the recipes and the processes to make it possible." The former Starbucks CIO didn't waste time jumpstarting the restaurant chain's digital transformation in 2016, applying and evolving his "learnings" from Starbucks to pilot a digital ordering system that would enable Chipotle customers to order online in advance and pick up their food from a drive-through window -- without use of speaker boxes or menu boards typical of drive-through fast-food restaurants. Removing the physical speaker box on site was a simple concept but a key part of a bigger digital transformation Chipotle kicked off in 2018 that led to an explosion in business, in large part because the digital ordering system required less human labor during the pandemic.

A recent Model S crash that killed three people has sparked another Federal probe into Tesla's Autopilot system, The Wall Street Journal has reported. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is conducting the investigation and said it's currently looking into more than 30 incidents involving Tesla's Autopilot. The accident occurred on May 12th in Newport Beach's Mariners Mile strip, according to the Orange County Register. The EV reportedly struck a curb and ran into construction equipment, killing all three occupants. Three construction workers were also sent to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Federal authorities are investigating whether a Tesla involved in a crash that left three people dead and three others injured last week in Newport Beach had its Autopilot system activated at the time of the wreck. A special crash investigation team was sent for the May 12 incident on Pacific Coast Highway, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Wednesday. In that crash, Newport Beach police were called around 12:45 a.m. to the 3000 block of Pacific Coast Highway, where they found a 2022 Tesla Model S sedan had crashed into a curb and hit construction equipment. Three people were found dead in the Tesla; they were identified last week as Crystal McCallum, 34, of Texas; Andrew James Chaves, 32, of Arizona; and Wayne Walter Swanson Jr., 40, of Newport Beach, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Three construction workers suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said, adding that the department's Major Accident Investigation Team had been brought in.

New feature comes on the heels of VERB's Attribution feature announced in May 2021 for the verbLIVE livestream ecommerce platform NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. and SALT LAKE CITY, July 26, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verb Technology Company, Inc. (Nasdaq: VERB) ("VERB" or the "Company"), a leader in interactive video-based sales enablement applications, including interactive livestream ecommerce, webinar, CRM and marketing applications for entrepreneurs and enterprises, today announced that it is introducing A I capabilities to its sales enablement platform. The new feature set called "Pulse" is the first iteration of VERB's artificial intelligence initiatives designed to make it easy for anyone to sell, giving pros and newbies alike a real competitive advantage. The new feature will be available in August 2021. Designed by sales people for sales people, Pulse helps automate management of their customer relationships and interactions. Based on prior activities and behavior, Pulse guides users through behavior-driven prompts, reminders, and suggested actions for specific customers.

By now, every second company worldwide uses at least one application powered by artificial intelligence. But large barriers for adoption remain. What are those blockers and how can we innovate to remove them? SAP reveals the priorities for its new AI-focused SAP Innovation Center in Newport Beach and kicks off an innovation campaign with HeroX to accelerate the impact of enterprise AI. AI has entered our daily lives.

By now, every second company worldwide uses at least one application powered by artificial intelligence (AI). But large barriers for adoption remain. What are those blockers and how can we innovate to remove them? SAP reveals the priorities for its new AI-focused SAP Innovation Center in Newport Beach and kicks off an innovation campaign with HeroX to accelerate the impact of enterprise AI. AI has entered our daily lives.

A state economic development board on Thursday approved an $8 million tax credit for General Motors as the company looks to expand its autonomous vehicle division with more than 1,100 hires in California. The GM tax credit was among more than $91 million in California Competes incentives for 114 companies approved at a board meeting in Sacramento of Gov. Jerry Brown's GO-Biz agency. The credits range from GM's $8 million to $20,000 for MinowCPA Corp., an accounting firm that plans to hire eight people in Newport Beach and Santa Ana. GM promises to hire 1,163 workers at an average salary of $116,000. San Francisco is the hub for GM's autonomous vehicle research and development since the company acquired Cruise Automation last year, said Kevin Kelly, a GM spokesman.

ONTARIO, CA and NEWPORT BEACH, CA April 4, 2017 The Safariland Group ("Safariland"), the parent company of VIEVU and a leading global provider of safety and survivability products designed for the public safety, military, professional and outdoor markets, and Veritone, a leading provider of artificial intelligence solutions, today announced their intent to enter into an agreement to integrate their product offerings to apply artificial intelligence to uniquely extract and process crucial data from police body-worn camera footage. The Veritone Platform will be available to Safariland's law enforcement agency customers as a complement to VIEVU's body-worn cameras, accessories and software, later this year. The integration will allow VIEVU's customers to upload large volumes of video and audio recordings into the Veritone Platform and process them in near real-time, enabling law enforcement personnel to rapidly extract actionable information for use in investigations, monitoring and training, as well as to respond more quickly and efficiently to public record requests. "The Veritone Platform will enable law enforcement agencies to save thousands of hours of manual searching by using intelligent audio and video analysis, allowing them to focus time and resources on more mission-critical tasks," said Chad Steelberg, chief executive officer of Veritone. "The Veritone Platform uses more than 40 best-of-breed cognitive engines, ranging from transcription and face recognition to sentiment analysis to object recognition, which will provide VIEVU's users the ability to derive comprehensive, actionable insights from their body camera footage in near real-time.

One of the more far out automotive ideas shown at CES 2017 was Toyota's Concept-i. It is a car that strives to become a kind of digital life form. Designed by Toyota's CALTY Design Research in Newport Beach, California along with UX created by the Toyota Innovation Hub in San Francisco, the Concept-i car explores the potential of automotive AI. The exterior design doesn't subscribe to traditional category cues of performance or luxury cars. The shapes are futuristic in a funky kind of way.