The recent advances in computer speed and algorithms for probabilistic inference have led to a resurgence of work on planning under uncertainty. The aim is to design AI planners for environments where there might be incomplete or faulty information, where actions might not always have the same results, and where there might be tradeoffs between the different possible outcomes of a plan. Addressing uncertainty in AI, planning algorithms will greatly increase the range of potential applications, but there is plenty of work to be done before we see practical decision-theoretic planning systems. This article outlines some of the challenges that need to be overcome and surveys some of the recent work in the area. In problems where actions can lead to a number of different possible outcomes, or where the benefits of executing a plan must be weighed against the costs, the framework of decision theory can be used to compare alternative plans.

Not widely known by the AI community, elevator control has become a major field of application for AI technologies. Techniques such as neural networks, genetic algorithms, fuzzy rules and, recently, multiagent systems and AI planning have been adopted by leading elevator companies not only to improve the transportation capacity of conventional elevator systems but also to revolutionize the way in which elevators interact with and serve passengers. In this article, we begin with an overview of AI techniques adopted by this industry and explain the motivations behind the continuous interest in AI. We review and summarize publications that are not easily accessible from the common AI sources. In the second part, we present in more detail a recent development project to apply AI planning and multiagent systems to elevator control problems.

One of the biggest potential pitfalls for developers of autonomous vehicles is psychological: Will most people trust the cars enough to ride in them? It might not be easy to win people over, but it's possible--if a Boston startup's recent tests are any indication. On Tuesday, NuTonomy co-founder and president Karl Iagnemma shared early reactions from people who have ridden in cars controlled by his company's software. "The feedback has been really interesting, and I would say overwhelmingly positive," Iagnemma said at a press briefing, during which NuTonomy and its parent company, Aptiv (NYSE: APTV), announced plans for a new Boston office focused on autonomous vehicles and other mobility technologies. "We've found," Iagnemma continued, "that once people get into one of these cars, typically there's a little bit of maybe nervousness or apprehension because it is a little surprising to see that wheel turn by itself for the first time.

After remaining tight-lipped for years, Apple is now more than eager to share how much progress it's making on self-driving car technology. AI research director Ruslan Salakhutdinov made a presentation this week that revealed more of what the company's autonomous driving team has been up to. Some of the talk was familiar, but there were a few new examples of how far the fledgling project had come. To start, Apple has crafted a system that uses onboard cameras to identify objects even in tricky situations, such as when raindrops cover the lens. It can estimate the position of a pedestrian even if they're hidden by a parked car.

In my last blog, I talked about the simplicity of the electric engine compared to the internal combustion engine and how this changes everything. From climate to the structure of the auto industry to the way we store, manage, and distribute energy, electric cars are having tremendous impact. But what I left out of that discussion was the Internet of Things. The fact is, most electric cars are connected cars – connected through the Internet of Things. This means that sensors in the car constantly communicate with mission control (the manufacturer), sending data on the status of components in real time.

It's November 22, 2028 and Sarah, a young mother, gives her two children a kiss goodbye before buckling them into the driverless car that will bring them to school. Sarah doesn't have a car and has no plans to buy one. Living in a suburb, she has run the numbers and the result is clear: It's much cheaper to order a car only when she needs one. The "robo-taxi" has also made her life easier, but only after such vehicles upended the business models which carmakers had relied on for decades. The revolution is already underway, with every major brand racing to create autonomous electric cars and trucks that will always be just a few clicks of a smartphone away.

Street signage is the iconography of the automobile age. It's like highly functional pop art: silhouettes of schoolchildren, white arrows, rectangular cries of WRONG WAY and, most central of all, the ubiquitous stoplight. The traffic light might be the first part of that iconographic world to be transformed, or vanish altogether, once we are fully in the age of autonomous cars. Robots, after all, won't need signs to optimize the way they move through urban landscapes. Urban-transportation experts have been busily creating computer simulations to show how this might work.

Alex Karpenko hands me a camera and tells me to run. We're standing on a pier in San Francisco, and the device in Karpenko's hand is an unreleased prototype of a new, software-driven video camera called Rylo. Karpenko wants me to see what he and co-founder Chris Cunningham show recruits and investors when they ask why they should get involved. Karpenko says I don't have to worry about where to point the camera, or try to hold it still. So I grab the camera--a small, oblong 360-degree shooter with a lens on either side--and start running.

It is an age-old ethical dilemma that's only become more complicated in the era of driverless cars; in the face of an unavoidable disaster, would you sacrifice one person to save the lives of many? While recent studies have found that most people would prefer self-driving cars act in a way that minimizes harm, many also noted they would not ride in a car that's prepared to kill them in such a scenario, according to New Scientist. But now, a team of scientists has designed a way to put the decision in the hands of the human passenger. With a so-called'ethical knob,' riders could tune a car's settings so it operates as'full altruist,' 'full egoist,' or'impartial' – allowing it to decide based on the way you value your own life relative to others'. While recent studies have found that most people would prefer self-driving cars act in a way that minimizes harm, many also noted they would not ride in a car that's prepared to kill them in such a scenario.

Are you a veteran of L.A.'s current dating scene? Even in the New Los Angeles, with Lyft and Uber giving us cheaper rides and two-thirds of voters passing Measure M, dating without a car is still playing the game with a serious handicap. "I don't mind that you don't drive," a woman I'd been dating for six months told me last year as she drove us to dinner at Broken Spanish for my birthday. L.A. Affairs chronicles the current dating scene in and around Los Angeles.