While many of the flashy, marquee mobility and transportation demos that go on at CES tend to be of the more... aspirational variety, Honda's electric cargo hauler, the Autonomous Work Vehicle (AWV), could soon find use on airport grounds as the robotic EV trundles towards commercial operations. Honda first debuted the AWV as part of its CES 2018 companion mobility demonstration, then partnered with engineering firm Black & Veatch to further develop the platform. The second-generation AWV was capable of being remotely piloted or following a preset path while autonomously avoiding obstacles. It could carry nearly 900 pounds of sutff onboard and atow another 1,600 pounds behind it, both on-road and off-road. Those second-gen prototypes spent countless hours ferrying building materials back and forth across a 1,000-acre solar panel construction worksite, both individually and in teams, as part of the development process.

Abstract-- Future Moon bases will likely be constructed using resources mined from the surface of the Moon. The difficulty of maintaining a human workforce on the Moon and communications lag with Earth means that mining will need to be conducted using collaborative robots with a high degree of autonomy. In this paper, we explore the utility of robotic vision towards addressing several major challenges in autonomous mining in the lunar environment: lack of satellite positioning systems, navigation in hazardous terrain, and delicate robot interactions. The competition provided a simulated lunar environment that exhibits the complexities alluded to above. This argues for a high degree of intelligence on each agent and a robust multi-robot The need to transport resources from Earth is a serious coordination system to ensure long-term operation. In-Situ Resource some of the key challenges towards autonomous robots Utilisation (ISRU), where resources are extracted on for collaborative space mining: lack of satellite positioning other astronomical objects and exploited to support longer systems, navigation in hazardous terrain, and the need for and deeper space missions, has been proposed as a way to delicate robot interactions.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has high hopes for the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica, which will replace its has-been stalwart, the Town and Country, which has been in production for 26 consecutive years. On Tuesday, the Italian-American automaker received a big endorsement from Google for its next-generation family hauler. The tech company is buying 100 Pacificas to advance its self-driving car technology. "Working with Google provides an opportunity for FCA to partner with one of the world's leading technology companies to accelerate the pace of innovation in the automotive industry," Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne said. Jack R. Nerad, executive editorial director for Kelley Blue Book, said the deal makes sense for both companies: for Fiat Chrysler, because it looks good to partner up with a Silicon Valley giant with deep pockets; and for Google, because it's picking a multi-passenger vehicle with an advanced power train.