When his designated driver robot, a SexyGirl, is stolen, Jonathan has to get a cheap replacement. It is a used LawnMan, named Reggie. The next day, when the insurance check comes in, he buys a new robot from the Land of Beautiful Women, a BlueBikini. Jonathan thinks he can finally get rid of Reggie, who is accident-prone, gets in fights and accidents, and is nothing but trouble. Unfortunately, his new robot, Friday, likes Reggie.

Ford is using two robotic test drivers – affectionately named Shelby and Miles – to trial its vehicles in extreme temperatures. The robots are conducting tests in environmental conditions that are too treacherous for any human worker to endure. Shelby and Miles can operate at temperatures ranging from -40 F to 176 F (-40 C to 80 C) as well as at extreme altitudes, Ford says. Their robotic legs extend to the accelerator, brake and clutch pedals, with one arm positioned to change gear and the other used to start and stop the engine. The tests are taking place at Ford's secretive'weather factory' in Cologne, Germany – a building the size of a football pitch that's dedicated to R&D work.

There must be a better way, some lament. It is taking too long, some say, and we need to try a different alternative. What are those comments referring to? They are referring to the efforts underway for the development of AI-based self-driving driverless autonomous cars. There are currently billions upon billions of dollars being expended towards trying to design, develop, build, and field a true self-driving car.

Do you know a smarmy person that thinks they always have a better idea or a canny way to solve a vexing problem? If so, you likely know that they often try to gleefully pop a balloon on existing approaches to solving things and offer a seemingly wholly new suggestion, somewhat out-of-the-blue, causing you to pause for thought about their eureka moment. Let's consider the realm of self-driving cars. There are billions upon billions of dollars being expended towards trying to design, develop, build, and field a true self-driving car. True self-driving cars are ones that the AI drives the car entirely on its own and there isn't any human assistance during the driving task.

This week, Lyft announced they'd hit the milestone of their 5,000th self-driving commercial ride. The company has a fleet of autonomous cars in Las Vegas that mostly shuttle riders between different hotels on the strip. Even more exciting for Lyft--and for the future of transportation--is that the robot drivers received an average rating of 4.96 stars out of 5. It will take a while for people to get fully comfortable with driverless vehicles, but it seems they're off to a decent start. Raj Kapoor, Lyft's chief strategy officer and business head of autonomous driving, shared this news in a presentation at Singularity University's Global Summit. He went on to tell the audience what's happening on the front lines of autonomous transportation, and what he sees as the biggest problems in the field that need solving.

Its face is made of a white plastic casing and two cameras. Its black "eyes" focus relentlessly forward, using algorithms and machine learning rather than human reflexes and intuition to spot objects in its path. Two struts pumps the car's pedals while a metal arm--its three robotic digits attached to the steering wheel--calmly transports human cargo to their destination. This is IVO, your robot chauffeur. IVO, short for Intelligent Vehicle Operator, is a different spin on the autonomous car.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. Last week, a pedestrian was killed by one of Uber's self-driving cars in Arizona. The Grand Canyon State has an incredibly lax regulatory oversight of autonomous vehicles as it works to attract Silicon Valley companies. But almost every state thinking about regulating autonomous vehicles is doing so incorrectly. They are bringing a 19th-century mindset to a 21st-century problem.

Carmakers and technology companies need to be far more transparent as they push forward, experts said. "It's important that we all learn from this accident and we make these technologies even better, said Alain Kornhauser, a professor at Princeton University and a leading authority on driverless cars. "To that end Uber must release all of the data leading up to this crash. If this releases some of Uber's intellectual property, so be it."

News reports tell us driverless cars are on the brink of ubiquity. This would soon mean driverless trucks could become commonplace, resulting in millions of truck drivers being replaced by robots. Very credible, unless you think about it for, say, more than 30 seconds. Maybe it's just me and my heartbreaking experience at the New York World's Fair in 1964, where I saw robots in the kitchen, video telephones and yes, driverless cars that also flew. We were promised that they would be here soon.

Uber's Self-driving Truck Just Went On A Massive Beer Run Uber wants to fly you to your destination in a drone Uber's Self-driving Truck Just Went On A Massive Beer Run Remember this scene from Total Recall? It might not be too long before your Uber rides take on a strikingly similar feel thanks to the company's new AI lab. On their company blog this week, Uber excitedly announced the acquisition of machine learning startup Geometric Intelligence. Part of GI's mission is to "redefine the boundaries of machine learning through innovative, patent-pending techniques." What does that mean for Uber?