After years of promising investors that millions of Tesla robotaxis would soon fill the streets, Elon Musk debuted his driverless car service in a limited public rollout in Austin, Texas. It did not go smoothly. The 22 June launch initially appeared successful enough, with a flood of videos from pro-Tesla social media influencers praising the service and sharing footage of their rides. Musk celebrated it as a triumph, and the following day, Tesla's stock rose nearly 10%. What quickly became apparent, however, was that the same influencer videos Musk promoted also depicted the self-driving cars appearing to break traffic laws or struggle to properly function.

While it may sound like the plot of a Black Mirror show, Americans can now purchase a flamethrower-wielding robot dog online. Ohio-based Throwflame opened sales for its'Thermonator' Tuesday, selling its 37-pound quadruped machine for 9,420 that is legal in all US states except Maryland. A demonstration video shows a Thermonator creeping and jumping through a forest before torching its surroundings with a 30-foot jet of fire spewing from a flame thrower on its back. The company did not describe its as a new-aged weapon, but touts the flame throwing robot as being used in wildfire control, agricultural management, entertainment and ice removal. Ohio-based Throwflame opened sales for its'Thermonator' Tuesday, selling its 37-pound quadruped machine for 9,420 Throwflame, based in Cleveland, claims to be the oldest flamethrower manufacturer in the US.

Amazon's Just Walk Out technology is touted as an AI-powered checkout system at its Fresh grocery stores, but new reports have claimed it used 1,000 people in India to monitor buyers. The company is now walking out on its own the technology that promised an innovative alternative to cashiers by using cameras and sensors to scan each item and is switching to a self-checkout shopping cart called Dash Cart. An Amazon spokesperson said they do have people watching cameras at Just Walk Out locations to annotate video images, but claimed the associates aren't monitoring customers. The Information first reported that Amazon's artificial intelligence technology just meant outsourcing hundreds of jobs overseas to workers who can watch you shop in real time. Amazon has referred to Just Walk Out as'a combination of sophisticated tools and technologies that added items to the shopper's'virtual cart' when they take an item off a shelf, and remove it when they put it back.

Amazon is removing Just Walk Out tech from all of its Fresh grocery stores in the US, as reported by The Information. The self-checkout system relies on a host of cameras, sensors and good old-fashioned human eyeballs to track what people leave the store with, charging the customers accordingly. The technology has been plagued by issues from the onset. Most notably, Just Walk Out merely presents the illusion of automation, with Amazon crowing about generative AI and the like. Here's where the smoke and mirrors come in.

Remember watching'The Jetsons' and wishing you had your own Rosey, the robotic maid? She did the cooking, the cleaning and everything else for George, Jane, Judy, Elroy and their dog, Astro. The idea of robot companions doing the mundane parts of life for us for a long time seemed fantastical - but not anymore. Today robots build our cars, sort our packages, and organize warehouses, but unless you work in one of those industries, you probably rarely interact with one. That could all change soon.

Jim O'Brien, general manager, Americas at RAVIN.AI, discusses how AI can be used as a tool to increase transparency in used car sales Consumers have turned the used car market into one of the hottest ever, with prices and sales volumes hitting record highs as new vehicles remain in short supply. But these sales of pre-owned vehicles are still challenging and complex for both buyers and dealers. So now is the time for AI technology, widely deployed in other parts of the auto industry from manufacturing to marketing to autonomous driving features, to play a larger role in making used car sales more efficient and transparent -- for both buyers and sellers. The explosion of used car sales means an explosion of opportunity for dealers -- and the salespeople that sell them. For those who do well, the rewards are great; the gross profit on a used car is between 12% and 15% of the total price, compared to about 7% for new cars.

Retail giants have increasingly leveraged in-store technology that allows customers to buy products without waiting in line for the cashier. By marrying advancements in artificial intelligence and computer vision, cameras and sensors, and deep learning algorithms, these locations permit visitors to shop by simply picking up goods or placing products in their carts, nixing the need for a cash register altogether. The trend appears to be catching on across the retail industry . Kroger and Albertsons have partnered with smart cart startup Veeve for a pilot that has rolled out in select stores. Amazon Go stores began opening to the public in 2018.

The Transform Technology Summits start October 13th with Low-Code/No Code: Enabling Enterprise Agility. Why would you need a robot with a ten-inch screen, camera, sensors, and a bunch of other gadgets to go around your home and make Wall-E noises? Because Amazon thinks it might be useful in the future. Astro, Amazon's latest innovation, looks a lot like an Echo Show on wheels. It packs a lot of interesting technology and shows just how far deep learning, sensor technology, and mobile robots have come.

Smart cities are a new-age revolution to maximize the utilization of technology, optimize the consumption of natural resources, and human capital to fuel sustainable economic growth and participatory governance. Smart cities are mostly employed across highly populated urban areas in major countries. For instance, these cities adopt a combination of cameras, sensors, and artificial intelligence to ensure constant monitoring along with their smooth and efficient working. This results in the emergence and adoption of smart business models and smart enterprises that depend on advanced technologies like artificial intelligence(AI), machine learning, computer vision, web technologies, telecommunications, etc. Markets and Markets expect that the market for global smart cities will grow from USD 410.8 billion in 2020 to USD 820.7 billion by 2025.

Amazon is set to open its first full-sized grocery store which will let shoppers walk out without having to pay a cashier. The 25,000-square-foot Amazon Fresh store, located in Bellevue, Washington, is set to open on June 17. It features an array of cameras and sensors that allows customers to skip the checkout line. The Just Walk Out technology uses computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning to track items placed in a cart or basket, and then tallies up the bill to be paid with the person's Amazon account or designated payment card. The Bellevue location will be the first full-sized store to offer the technology, while also allowing traditional payment methods.