Fox News chief Washington correspondent Mike Emanuel has the latest on Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's statements about recent air traffic control incidents on'Special Report.' Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy recently announced that artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to detect and address air traffic risks, following a slew of near-misses and fatal plane crashes across the country. Duffy told FOX 5 DC that officials are implementing AI to "identify and address potential air traffic risks nationwide," potentially aiding in preventing tragedies like the fatal Jan. 29 midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) that claimed the lives of 67 people. Following the Potomac River crash, which involved a commercial plane and an Army Black Hawk helicopter, Duffy announced a plan to build a new "state-of-the-art" traffic control system that will equip locations with better technology to reduce outages, improve efficiency and reinforce safety. Duffy told FOX 5 that when investigators were looking into how to prevent collisions, they asked themselves, "Are there any other DCAs out there?" Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy speaks during a news conference following up on the issuance of the National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report on the mid-air collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, on Tuesday, March 11.

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A headless robot about the size of a labrador retriever will be camouflaged as a coyote or fox to ward off migratory birds and other wildlife at Alaska's second largest airport, a state agency said. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities has named the new robot Aurora and said it will be based at the Fairbanks airport to "enhance and augment safety and operations," the Anchorage Daily News reported. The transportation department released a video of the robot climbing rocks, going up stairs and doing something akin to dancing while flashing green lights.

When transit systems experience delays, the reason usually isn't very interesting: congested streets, medical emergencies, mechanical problems. But the cause of a recent holdup on San Francisco's MUNI system at least had the virtue of being novel. On Sept. 30 at around 11 p.m., an N Line streetcar ground to a halt at the intersection of Carl Street and Cole Street because an autonomous vehicle from Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors, had halted on the streetcar tracks and wouldn't budge. According to the city's transportation department, the 140 passengers riding the N line that evening were stuck in place for seven minutes before a Cruise employee arrived and moved the driverless conveyance. This incident, which was not reported in the media at the time, is one of many in which autonomous vehicles roaming San Francisco's streets have disrupted the city's transportation network.

In a narrow glimpse of the increasingly automated future awaiting humanity, 10 silver robots shaped like ice-cream carts are delivering Southside Flying Pizza to hungry Austinites in Travis Heights and the Central Business District. The company behind the three-wheeled machines is hoping to grow its fleet exponentially and be part of a technological revolution in how people receive their deliveries. "Robots are your friends," said Luke Schneider, CEO of Michigan-based Refraction AI. "Robots are going to make your life more convenient. They're going to make your city more sustainable, and they're going to make your life better." The battery-powered devices, called REV-1s, go up to 15 mph and can recognize traffic lights and signs.

The Transportation Department is funding research to build artificial intelligence-powered drones and trying to get a better understanding of how autonomous vehicles could be manipulated to harm the public. The agency's Volpe National Transportation Systems Center on Thursday began soliciting teams to develop open-source artificial intelligence tools that allow drones to fly without a human operator. The team would ultimately build a drone capable of locating targets and dodging obstacles without outside intervention. Selected vendors would also need to provide secure facilities where government engineers can store and test autonomous drones and cars. The 12-month contract is only open to companies and universities located within 25 miles of Arlington, Va., according to the solicitation.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday urged Congress to approve legislation giving the federal government new powers to disable or destroy threatening drones, according to testimony viewed by Reuters. David Glawe, DHS's undersecretary for intelligence and analysis, and the department's deputy general counsel Hayley Chang, will tell the Senate committee that oversees the department that it needs new authority. 'Terrorist groups overseas use drones to conduct attacks on the battlefield and continue to plot to use them in terrorist attacks elsewhere,' the officials' testimony said. Officials said the number of drone flights over sensitive areas or suspicious activities has jumped from eight incidents in 2013 to an estimated 1,752 incidents in 2016, citing federal statistics. 'This is a very serious, looming threat that we are currently unprepared to confront.

Uber Technologies Inv. hopes to use drones in San Diego to deliver food as part of an innovative commercial test program approved by the federal government on Wednesday. Dara Khosrowshahi, the company's chief executive officer, described how deliveries could be expected in between five to 30 minutes depending on if they were done by humans or drones. 'Push a button and get food on your doorstep,' he said, according to Yahoo Finance. Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber's chief executive officer, described how deliveries could be expected in between five to 30 minutes The executive was speaking to a crowd during an on-stage interview with Bloomberg at a Uber Elevate conference in Los Angeles when he said that Uber had become the largest food delivery business in the world. The CEO has been a skeptic of the flying car program but seems to be playing a different tune as of late.

Apple and Amazon were passed over in a program spearheaded by the Trump administration that would have given them a greater say in how the drone industry is regulated. On Wednesday, the US Transportation Department announced 10 winning drone pilot projects that will help more unmanned aerial vehicles take to the skies. Among the winners were Silicon Valley tech giants Google, Intel, Qualcomm and Microsoft. However, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said there are'no losers' and she thinks dozens of the applicants not chosen could be greenlighted by the FAA in the coming months. Selected winners will be able to conduct experimental drone flights that are beyond the rules outlined by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

WASHINGTON – Elaine Chao, a former top U.S. labor official, was sworn in on Tuesday to lead the U.S. Transportation Department, which overseas aviation, vehicle, train and pipeline safety. Chao, a former U.S. labor secretary and deputy transportation secretary, took office hours after the U.S. Senate voted 93 to 6 to confirm her. Chao, 63, will face key decisions on how to regulate the growing use of drones and automakers' plans to offer self-driving cars. She will also be a key player in President Donald Trump's Cabinet if his administration pushes ahead with a major infrastructure spending program, as the businessman-turned-politician promised during last year's presidential campaign. "Your leadership and your experience will serve well as the secretary of transportation, overseeing what we anticipate will be historic investments in our nation's roads, bridges, airports and above all in our future," said Vice President Mike Pence, who administered the oath of office to Chao.

Any doubt that driverless cars, trucks and buses are on a fast track to join their human counterparts on the nation's highways may be knocked aside Tuesday, when the Department of Transportation releases long-awaited guidelines for the development of autonomous cars. The guidelines, which specify safety criteria and promise to eliminate red tape, will help "bring lifesaving technologies to the roads safely while providing innovators the space they need to develop new solutions," said the U.S. Department of Transportation in an early summary released Monday. Automakers and tech companies have been barreling ahead in their race to churn out driverless vehicles, prompting the government to play catch-up when it comes to how to regulate the technology. Under the guidelines, car manufacturers and researchers will be required to submit to a "15-point safety assessment" for driverless cars, including how the vehicles respond to system failure, whether they make data available for crash reconstruction and even whether their artificial intelligence software takes driving ethics into account. The Transportation Department will hasten approval or rejection of special exemptions to regulations for driverless cars, with an upper limit of six months.