Tesla CEO Elon Musk hinted at when the company would build its all-electric pick-up truck.
Musk said via Twitter on Tuesday, December 26, that the company plans to build the consumer truck right after <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-model-y-features-2017-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tesla finishes its Model Y SUV</a>, which is slated to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-says-model-y-coming-in-2019-or-2020-2017-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">begin production in late 2019 or early 2020.</a> So that means it&#8217;s likely to be another two to three more years before Tesla&#8217;s pick-up hits the market.
&#8220;I promise that we will make a pickup truck right after Model Y. Have had the core design/engineering elements in my mind for almost 5 years. Am dying to build it,&#8221; Musk said.
<figure style="width: 752px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5a4290a3b0bcd51d008b6fba-752/screen%20shot%202017-12-26%20at%2010950%20pm.png" alt="Elon tweet" width="752" height="592" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image Credit: <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/945713737729634304">Elon Musk/Twitter</a></figcaption></figure>
While Tesla won&#8217;t begin to make the truck for a few more years, there&#8217;s a good chance we could get a sneak peek of the vehicle as soon as this year.
In April, Musk said to expect the company to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-unveiling-semi-truck-in-september-elon-musk-says-2017-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reveal the pick-up truck in 18 to 24 months</a>, which means the company could unveil it anytime between October 2018 and April 2019.
Given that Tesla generally reveals its cars a year before it actually begins production, Musk&#8217;s timeline of when the company will begin making the pick-up makes sense.
Musk also said via Twitter that the truck would likely be a little larger than an F150 and that it may have a &#8216;gamechanging&#8217; feature, but he did not share any details about what that feature might be.
<figure style="width: 746px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5a429f21b0bcd550328b6649-746/screen%20shot%202017-12-26%20at%2021130%20pm.png" alt="Elon Tweet about pickup truck feature" width="746" height="561" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image Credit: <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/945729229001334784">Elon Musk/Twitter</a></figcaption></figure>
Musk, of course, has been talking about building a pick-up truck for a while.
In 2013, he told Business Insider that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-pickup-truck-2013-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tesla planned to build a truck</a>, but he said that it would likely be five years before the company would get to it. And in July 2016, he reiterated in his Master Plan Part Deux that the company was working on vehicles to address all segments, including pick-ups.
Pick-up trucks aren&#8217;t the only new segment Tesla is pushing into.
In November, Tesla also revealed its first electric <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-semi-event-pictures-details-features-2017-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">semi-truck for commercial use</a>. The vehicle has 500 miles of range per charge, can go from 0-60 mph in five seconds without a trailer attached, and will go into production in 2019.

A mystery game-changing feature is in the works for the vehicle.

Elon Musk says Tesla's first pickup truck will be larger than an F-150

Advanced Transport

Elon Musk recently briefly discussed plans for Tesla's pickup truck on Twitter. He wants to add a gamechanging feature to the vehicle.

Elon Musk Says Tesla's First Pickup Truck Will Be Larger Than an F-150

"I promise that we will make a pickup truck right after Model Y."

Elon Musk Says Tesla’s First Pickup Truck Will Be Larger Than an F-150

Tesla is now taking Semi pre-orders from some European countries, as Norwegian food distribution company Asko has ordered 10 of the electric semi-trucks, <a href="https://electrek.co/2017/12/22/tesla-semi-orders-coming-from-europe-norway-asko-electric-trucks/">Electrek reports</a>.
Asko has already integrated a European electric truck into its fleet, but the company believes Tesla&#8217;s Semi has more advanced features.
“We have an electric truck today from a Dutch company, which we have had for almost two years,&#8221; <a href="https://e24.no/naeringsliv/asko-kjoeper-teslas-nye-lastebil/24217124">CEO Tore Bekken told E24</a>, Electrek first reported. &#8220;So, we think that Tesla is the one who has come the furthest with the technology so far. Therefore, we choose to book ten trucks from them.”
While some had doubts about Tesla&#8217;s ability to break into the trucking industry before it introduced the Semi, early orders indicate Tesla may beat expectations.
The electric trucks have impressive <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-semi-event-pictures-details-features-2017-11">features</a>, including a 500-mile range per charge and the ability to travel 400 miles on a 30-minute charge, impact resistant glass, an innovative cabin design, and the ability to go from 0-60 mph in five seconds without any cargo and in 20 seconds while carrying 80,000 pounds of cargo. But Tesla will ultimately be judged on the number of clients who buy and use the trucks over the long term.
These are the companies who have placed orders for the Tesla Semi so far:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/wal-mart-will-try-out-teslas-electric-semi-2017-11">Walmart:</a> One of the first major companies to reserve the trucks, the retailer has made aggressive investments in technology in recent years as part of its effort to compete with Amazon.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pepsico-tesla-orders/pepsico-makes-biggest-public-pre-order-of-tesla-semis-100-trucks-idUSKBN1E61FB">Pepsi</a>: Pepsi previously had the largest Semi order, reserving 100 trucks in December.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/anheuser-busch-orders-40-tesla-semis-2017-12">Anheuser-Busch</a>: The brewer announced it ordered 40 Semis in December.</li>
<li><a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/SYY-Quote">Sysco</a>: The food distributor has <a href="http://investors.sysco.com/annual-reports-and-sec-filings/press-releases/2017/12-08-2017-130003393">reserved 50 Semis</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ups-tesla-orders/ups-pre-orders-125-tesla-electric-semi-trucks-largest-order-yet-idUSKBN1ED1QM">UPS</a>: The delivery company placed the largest Semi order to date, reserving 125 trucks on Tuesday.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/dhl-orders-10-tesla-semis-electric-semi-trucks-2017-11">DHL</a>: The transportation and logistics company has reserved 10 Semis to add to its fleet.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-semi-truck-first-orders-meijer-grocery-chain-2017-11">Meijer</a>: Based in Michigan, the grocery chain has ordered four of the electric trucks.</li>
<li><a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/R-Quote">Ryder</a>: The transportation company reserved an unspecified number of Semis <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/teslas-electric-semi-truck-gets-orders-from-wal-mart-and-j-b-hunt-1510950438">in November</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/JBHT-Quote">J.B. Hunt</a>: The trucking company is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-big-rigs-reserved-by-jb-hunt-2017-11">set to purchase</a> &#8220;multiple&#8221; Semis, but hasn&#8217;t revealed the exact number.</li>
<li><a href="https://electrek.co/2017/12/22/tesla-semi-orders-coming-from-europe-norway-asko-electric-trucks/">Asko</a>: The Norwegian food distribution company has ordered 10 Semis.</li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/typesfast/status/931663245336653824">Flexport</a>: Ryan Peterson, the freight company&#8217;s CEO, announced the company has ordered one Semi.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2017/11/21/your-next-move-could-be-in-a-tesla-jk-moving-to.html">JK Moving</a>: The independent moving company has reserved four Semis.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2017/11/21/your-next-move-could-be-in-a-tesla-jk-moving-to.html">Loblaw</a>: After ordering 25 Semis, the Canadian supermarket chain announced plans to make its trucking fleet 100% electric by 2030.</li>
<li><a href="https://electrek.co/2017/11/22/tesla-semi-companies-confirm-electric-truck-orders/">Fercam</a>: Based in Italy, the trucking company has reserved a single Semi.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.girteka.eu/2255-girteka-logistics-first-in-europe-to-buy-the-new-tesla-truck.html">Girteka Logistics</a>: Not to be outdone by Fercam, the European transportation company also announced its plans to invest in one of Tesla&#8217;s electric trucks.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/dhl-orders-10-tesla-semi-trucks-1511891280">Fortigo Freight Services</a>: The Canadian logistics company reserved one Semi.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/exciting-news-from-best-transportation-tom-heimgartner/">Best Transportation</a>: The shipping company also ordered one Semi.</li>
<li><a href="https://jalopnik.com/every-company-that-has-pre-ordered-a-tesla-semi-to-date-1821082785">Mecca &amp; Son Trucking</a>: According to Jalopnik, this trucking company has reserved one Semi.</li>
</ul>

The trucks can travel 400 miles on a 30-minute charge.

Here are all the companies buying Tesla's electric semi truck

Companies are already placing orders for Tesla's electric semi truck. Norwegian food distribution company Asko is among many early adopters.

Here Are All the Companies Buying Tesla's Electric Semi Truck

Walmart, Pepsi, and Anheuser-Busch are among the early adopters.

Here Are All the Companies Buying Tesla’s Electric Semi Truck

Plant scientist Joanne Chory has $3 million more than she did last week.
On Sunday December 3rd, Chory was awarded one of the prestigious <a href="https://breakthroughprize.org/Laureates/2/L3823">2018 Breakthrough Prizes</a> in life sciences, an award given out annually to scientists by Silicon Valley tycoons including Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg. The team characterizes the awards as the “Oscars of science,” and started giving them in 2012 to applaud scientific advances in life sciences, fundamental physics, and math.
Chory won the prize for the research she&#8217;s done for the past 30 years to find new ways to grow heartier plants.
But she is now shifting gears to engineer a leafy green that could both feed the planet and suck carbon dioxide out of the air to curb climate change. Chory hopes that one day, this drought and flood-resistant crop can be grown as food while sequestering 20 times more carbon than today&#8217;s perennial grasses. It may taste like a chickpea, she said.
Chory estimates it will take roughly ten years and $50 million dollars to make the protein-rich plant a reality. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-earth-two-degrees-warming-2100-new-studies-2017-7">But the clock is ticking:</a> most estimates suggest by the end of this century, the Earth is on track to be at least 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than pre-industrial levels.
<figure style="width: 601px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5a26c55ff914c329008b7f52-1500/screen%20shot%202017-12-04%20at%2015514%20pm.png" alt="Climate change fighting plants could be yet another solution to our big problem." width="601" height="311" data-mce-source="The Salk Institute/Joanne Chory" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">One of the slides Chory used to present her idea for a carbon-capturing plant on Monday. Image Credit: The Salk Institute/Joanne Chory</figcaption></figure>
&#8220;Our world is at a crossroads,&#8221; Chory told a crowd in Palo Alto on Monday, a day after she won the prize. &#8220;We need to do something, do something soon, to help the planet not get so hot.&#8221;
Her team&#8217;s carbon-capturing plant idea is based on a polymer called ‘Suberin.’
“It basically is cork,” she said.
Suberin, Chory said, can store and retain carbon for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years in soil without biodegrading. A perennial plant with Suberin could therefore both purify the air and add more oxygen to the atmosphere. And, she said, the roots could be flood- and drought-resistant.
“A lot of coastal grasses make a lot of Suberin,” she said. “I think they’re keeping the water out of the plant.”
Chory has already figured out new ways to grow mutant plant shoots without light. She&#8217;s made certain plants grow taller in the shade by exposing their seeds to DNA-altering chemicals, and discovered a new class of plant hormones called ‘brassinosteroids’. Her work has also helped create more stress- and pathogen-resistant strains of crops for harsh conditions.
In order for Chory&#8217;s new plant creation to make a dent in global warming, she estimates it&#8217;d need to take up 5% of the world’s cropland. With that kind of space — a swath about the size of Egypt — she estimates the crop could capture 50% of current levels of global CO2 emissions from humans.
While the idea may still just be a hope, Chory thinks it&#8217;s probably a better strategy than trying to get people to reduce carbon emissions in other ways.
“I live in Southern California where no one’s reducing their carbon footprint by 50% — including myself,” she said.
Chory said she&#8217;s no green thumb — <a href="http://www.hhmi.org/insidelook/joanne-chory">she jokes that</a> she knows the insides of plants better than the outsides. But she&#8217;s hopeful that with enough breeding trial and error, she&#8217;ll be able to engineer a way to help the environment without changing her California lifestyle.

A scientist working on plants that fight climate change just won a $3 million prize

Earth & Energy

Joanne Chory has been researching plants for 30 years. She is researching a hearty edible plant that will also fight climate change.

A Scientist Working on Plants That Fight Climate Change Just Won a $3 Million Prize

"We need to do something, do something soon, to help the planet not get so hot."

On Thursday, the US Federal Communications Commission officially voted to roll back Obama-era rules governing net neutrality.
Simply put, net neutrality means that all data on the internet is treated equally. An internet service provider can&#8217;t prioritize certain companies or types of data, charge users more to access certain websites and apps, or charge businesses for preferential access.
Advocates of net neutrality argue that it ensures a level playing field for everyone on the internet. Telecoms firms, however, are largely against it because of the additional restrictions it places on them.
Pro-net neutrality advocates have vowed to fight the FCC in the courts — but what might the American internet look like without net neutrality?
Take a look at Portugal. The country is bound by the European Union&#8217;s net-neutrality rules, but it allows for certain kinds of pricing schemes that hint at what a net neutality-less internet might look like.
The country&#8217;s wireless carrier Meo offers a package where users pay for traditional &#8220;data&#8221; for their smartphones — and on top of that, they can pay for additional packages based on the kind of data and apps they want to use, &#8220;zero-rating&#8221; those services.
<figure style="width: 600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5a1471fa3dbef4a7748b711a-1400/screen%20shot%202017-11-21%20at%20103429.png" alt="Net neutrality being voted down could result in internet packages like this." width="600" height="362" data-mce-source="MEO" data-mce-caption="(Translation to English via Google Translate.)" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">English translation via Google Translate. Image Credit: MEO</figcaption></figure>
Really into messaging? Then pay €4.99 ($5.86 or £4.43) a month and get more data for apps like WhatsApp, Skype, and FaceTime. Prefer social networks like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Messenger, and so on? That&#8217;ll be another €4.99 a month.
Zero-rating for video apps like Netflix and YouTube are available as another add-on, while music (Spotify, SoundCloud, Google Play Music, etc.) is another, as is email and cloud (Gmail, Yahoo Mail, iCloud, etc.).
Net-neutrality advocates argue that this kind of model is dangerous because it risks creating a two-tier system that harms competition — people will just use the big-name apps included in the bundles they pay for, while upstart challengers will be left out in the cold.
For example: If you love watching videos, and Netflix is included in the video bundle but Hulu isn&#8217;t, you&#8217;re likely to try to save money by using only Netflix, making it harder for its competitors. (Note: Hulu isn&#8217;t available in Portugal, but you get the idea.)
And without net neutrality, big-name apps could theoretically even pay telecoms firms for preferential access, offering them money — and smaller companies just couldn&#8217;t compete with that. (It&#8217;s not clear whether any of the companies named above have paid for preferential access.)
An ISP could even refuse to grant customers access to an app at all unless they (or the app company) paid up.
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California originally shared the Meo example <a href="https://twitter.com/RoKhanna/status/923701871092441088">on Twitter in October</a>, though he mischaracterised Portugal&#8217;s net neutrality laws.
&#8220;In Portugal, with no net neutrality, internet providers are starting to split the net into packages,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;A huge advantage for entrenched companies, but it totally ices out startups trying to get in front of people which stifles innovation. This is what&#8217;s at stake, and that&#8217;s why we have to save net neutrality.&#8221;
Yonatan Zunger, a former Google employee, <a href="https://twitter.com/yonatanzunger/status/933022965486120960">recently retweeted Khanna&#8217;s tweet, adding</a>: &#8220;This isn&#8217;t even the worst part of ending net neutrality. The worst part happens when ISPs say &#8216;we don&#8217;t like this site&#8217;s politics,&#8217; or &#8216;this site competes with us,&#8217; and block or throttle it.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500">
Basically, it&#39;s a huge giveaway to companies like Comcast and AT&amp;T, who get to charge everyone else piles of money for nothing they aren&#39;t doing now.
That money comes from your business, and from every company you buy things from &#8211; which means it comes from you.
&mdash; (((Yonatan Zunger))) (@yonatanzunger) <a href="https://twitter.com/yonatanzunger/status/933024240546193408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 21, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Portugal hints at what the American internet could eventually look like without net neutrality

Processed with VSCO with kp8 preset

Future Society

Net neutrality has been voted down by the FCC. A Portuguese wireless carrier shows us a possible version of our future internet without it.

Portugal Hints at What the American Internet Could Eventually Look Like Without Net Neutrality

Take a good hard look, America. This is your future.

Building a house by hand can be both time-consuming and expensive. Some homebuilders have chosen to automate part of the construction instead.
A new Ukrainian homebuilding startup called <a href="http://passivdom.com/en/">PassivDom</a> uses a 3D printing robot that can print parts for tiny houses. The machine can print the walls, roof, and floor of PassivDom&#8217;s 410-square-foot model in about eight hours. The windows, doors, plumbing, and electrical systems are then added by a human worker.
When complete, the homes are autonomous and mobile, meaning they don&#8217;t need to connect to external electrical and plumbing systems. Solar energy is stored in a battery connected to the houses, and water is collected and filtered from humidity in the air (or you can pour water into the system yourself). The houses also feature independent sewage systems.
Since the startup launched in spring 2017, it has received more than 8,000 preorders in the United States for its homes, which start at $64,000. The first 100 ones will be delivered in January 2018.
Check out the homes below.
<h2>PassivDom&#8217;s smallest model measures 410 square feet and ranges from $64,000 to $97,000, designer Maria Sorokina told Business Insider.</h2>
<figure style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="slide-image-large on-image" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/58e5472677bb7050008b69f6-1200/passivdoms-smallest-model-measures-410-square-feet-and-ranges-from-64000-to-97000-designer-maria-sorokina-told-business-insider.jpg" alt="PassivDom's smallest model measures 410 square feet and ranges from $64,000 to $97,000" width="1200" height="799" border="0" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Passivdom</figcaption></figure>
<h2>The 775-square-foot model ranges from $97,000 to $147,000.</h2>
<figure style="width: 1100px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="slide-image-large on-image" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5a3299834aa6b5b51a8b4b94-1200/the-775-square-foot-model-ranges-from-97000-to-147000.jpg" alt="The 775-square-foot model ranges from $97,000 to $147,000." width="1100" height="382" border="0" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Passivdom</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Here&#8217;s what the house looks like when you walk in the front door. It&#8217;s a large open space with a small kitchen and floor-to-ceiling windows.</h2>
<figure style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="slide-image-large on-image" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/58e547278af578622c8b66c0-1200/heres-what-the-house-looks-like-when-you-walk-in-the-front-door-its-a-large-open-space-with-a-small-kitchen-and-floor-to-ceiling-windows.jpg" alt="Here's what the house looks like when you walk in the front door." width="1200" height="799" border="0" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Passivdom</figcaption></figure>
<h2>This model doesn&#8217;t include a separate bedroom, which means residents need a sleeper sofa. A small bathroom is located near the kitchen.</h2>
<figure style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="slide-image-large on-image" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/58e547258af578f9028b6a18-1200/this-model-doesnt-include-a-separate-bedroom-which-means-residents-need-a-sleeper-sofa-a-small-bathroom-is-located-near-the-kitchen.jpg" alt="This model doesn't include a separate bedroom, which means residents need a sleeper sofa." width="1200" height="799" border="0" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Passivdom</figcaption></figure>
<h2>PassivDom can make custom models as well. The premium models come with furniture, a kitchen, a bathroom, engineering systems, an energy supply, a water tank, and a sewage system.</h2>
<figure style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="slide-image-large on-image" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/58e547268af57843238b45dd-1200/passivdom-can-make-custom-models-as-wellthe-premium-models-come-with-furniture-a-kitchen-a-bathroom-engineering-systems-an-energy-supply-a-water-tank-and-a-sewage-system.jpg" alt="PassivDom can make custom models as well." width="1200" height="799" border="0" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Passivdom</figcaption></figure>
<h2>The homes also offer the possibility of living off the grid.</h2>
<figure style="width: 800px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="slide-image-large on-image" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/58e561ee8af578622c8b677e-1200/the-homes-also-offer-the-possibility-of-living-off-the-grid.jpg" alt="The homes also offer the possibility of living off the grid." width="800" height="531" border="0" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Passivdom</figcaption></figure>
<h2>&#8220;We should have opportunities to live in nature away from civilization, but have comfortable conditions of a traditional house,&#8221; Sorokina said. &#8220;This technology can allow us to live in the woods, on mountains, or on the shore — far away from people and infrastructure.&#8221;</h2>
<figure style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="slide-image-large on-image" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/58e555df77bb70872c8b5c68-1200/we-should-have-opportunities-to-live-in-nature-away-from-civilization-but-have-comfortable-conditions-of-a-traditional-house-sorokina-said-this-technology-can-allow-us-to-live-in-the-woods-on-mountains-or-on-the-shore--far-away-from-people-and-infrastructure.jpg" alt="&quot;We should have opportunities to live in nature away from civilization&quot;" width="1200" height="848" border="0" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Passivdom</figcaption></figure>
<h2>To make a PassivDom home, the team maps out the plan for the 3D printer in its factories in Ukraine and California. Layer by layer, the seven-axel robot prints the roof, floor, and 20-centimeter-thick walls, which are made of carbon fibers, polyurethane, resins, basalt fibers, and fiberglass.</h2>
<figure style="width: 820px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="slide-image-large on-image" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/58e547518af57819568b5a1d-1200/to-make-a-passivdom-home-the-team-maps-out-the-plan-for-the-3d-printer-in-its-factories-in-ukraine-and-california-layer-by-layer-the-seven-axel-robot-prints-the-roof-floor-and-20-centimeter-thick-walls-which-are-made-of-carbon-fibers-polyurethane-resins-basalt-fibers-and-fiberglass.jpg" alt="To make a PassivDom home, the team maps out the plan for the 3D printer in its factories in Ukraine and California. Layer by layer, the seven-axel robot prints the roof, floor, and 20-centimeter-thick walls, which are made of carbon fibers, polyurethane, resins, basalt fibers, and fiberglass." width="820" height="524" border="0" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Passivdom</figcaption></figure>
Doors, windows, appliances, an alarm system, solar panels, and the septic, electrical, healing, cooling systems are then added.
<h2>Depending on the model, the whole process can take under 24 hours. The design and production of larger houses with more specifications and finishes, like the one below, can take up to a month. If a house is pre-made, it can be shipped the next day.</h2>
<figure style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="slide-image-large on-image" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/58e560e88af57859008b6b02-1200/depending-on-the-model-the-whole-process-can-take-under-24-hours-the-design-and-production-of-larger-houses-with-more-specifications-and-finishes-like-the-one-below-can-take-up-to-a-month-if-a-house-is-pre-made-it-can-be-shipped-the-next-day.jpg" alt="Depending on the model, the whole process can take under 24 hours." width="1200" height="617" border="0" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Passivdom</figcaption></figure>
PassivDom is not the only company using 3D printing to build homes. The San Francisco-based housing startup <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/house-built-one-day-apis-cor-2017-3">Apis Cor</a>, <a href="http://3dprintcanalhouse.com/">Dus Architects</a> in Amsterdam, as well as <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/eustaciahuen/2016/06/30/the-worlds-first-freeform-3d-printed-house-is-slated-to-open-in-2017/#6adf355d5947">Branch Technology</a> from Chattanooga, Tennessee, say they can construct homes in mere days or weeks.
The startup believes 3D printing is a cheaper, more efficient way to build homes that it can sell at a (relatively) affordable price. &#8220;Over 100 million people do not have a roof over their heads,&#8221; Sorokina said. &#8220;It is necessary to build more affordable houses.&#8221;

These sustainable homes are completely self-sufficient.

A robot can print this $64,000 house in as little as 8 hours

Passivdom is able to 3D print components to build small, sustainable homes in just hours. The homes are then assembled by a human worker.

A Robot Can Print This $64,000 House in as Little as 8 Hours

Are these the sustainable homes of the future?

A Robot Can Print This $64,000 House in as Little as Eight Hours

Cryptomania has propelled two lesser-known cryptocurrencies to record highs Tuesday, forcing one exchange to halt trading.
Coinbase on Tuesday halted trading of red-hot <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/ltc-usd?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest">litecoin</a> and <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/eth-usd">ether</a>, according to cryptocurrency watcher CoinDesk. The publication <a href="https://twitter.com/coindesk/status/940629075185602560">tweeted</a> a photo showing Coinbase &#8220;temporarily disabled&#8221; trades of the two digital coins on its platform.
Coinbase&#8217;s <a href="https://status.coinbase.com/">status page</a> showed ethereum and litecoin were experiencing major outages.
Both litecoin and ether hit all-time highs Tuesday morning.
Ether hit $600 a token, while litecoin gained more than 40% to $312.
<figure style="width: 912px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5a3019cf0b0f272e008b4b09-912/screen%20shot%202017-12-12%20at%2010159%20pm.png" alt="Screen Shot 2017 12 12 at 1.01.59 PM" width="912" height="575" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Coinbase</figcaption></figure>
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Across the market for digital coins, new investors are pouring in. The 10 largest cryptocurrencies were all trading in the green Tuesday, according to data provider <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/">CoinMarketCap</a>.
At the time of print, the entire market nearly reached $500 billion. Cryptocurrencies volumes approached record highs above $35 billion.
The launch of bitcoin futures by Cboe Global Markets, the Chicago exchange group, further pushed bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies into the spotlight. The new futures market, which went live Sunday, could pave the way for a bitcoin-linked exchange-traded fund and dampen bitcoin&#8217;s spine-tingling volatility. Of course, the 1,000% plus returns across the market has also piqued the interest of Wall Street and Main Street investors.
Enthusiasts think the new found interest in the crypto-world will intensify in 2018.
&#8220;2018 will be the year of mass public awareness for bitcoin and cryptocurrency,&#8221; Perry Woodin, CEO of Node40, said in preparded remarks sent to Business Insider. &#8220;It is going to be the year when every friend and relative will want to know how much you have and how to purchase it.&#8221;
Still, many market watchers see a massive bubble in the crypto-market. Even Mike Novogratz, a famed hedge fund manager turned crypto-investor, called it &#8220;the biggest bubble of our lifetimes.&#8221;
Litecoin&#8217;s founder also chimed in on the frenzy. The former director of engineering at crypto exchange Coinbase tweeted a dire warning for potential litecoin holders Monday night:
&#8220;Sorry to spoil the party, but I need to reign in the excitement a bit…,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/SatoshiLite/status/940353265585160192" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he wrote</a>. &#8220;Buying LTC is extremely risky. I expect us to have a multi-year bear market like the one we just had where LTC dropped 90% in value ($48 to $4). So if you can&#8217;t handle LTC dropping to $20, don&#8217;t buy!&#8221;
A spokeswoman for Coinbase told Business Insider, &#8220;The site is seeing high traffic volume at the moment and some users may be experiencing intermittent service outages.&#8221;

Coinbase halts ether and litecoin trading as crypto market approaches $500 billion

Bitcoin and other virtual money. Cryptocurrency stock market graph on virtual screen.

Coinbase halted trading of red-hot Litecoin and Ether, as Ether hit $600 a token and Litecoin gained more than 40% to $312.

Coinbase Halts Ether and Litecoin Trading Due to Crypto Market High

Litecoin hit a record of $312, while ether soared to more than $600 for the first time.

Coinbase Halts Ether and Litecoin Trading as Crypto Market Approaches $500 Billion

The self-declared Space Kingdom of Asgardia, a nation founded by a Russian aerospace engineer and billionaire, just deployed its first satellite into orbit.
Asgardia is currently a non-profit non-governmental organization based out of Vienna, Austria. But its leaders want to eventually <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/asgardia-space-nation-law-2016-10">build a kingdom in space</a> that mines asteroids and defends planet Earth from meteorites, space debris, and other threats.
&#8220;Asgardia will be a space nation that is a trans-ethnic, trans-national, trans-religious, ethical, peaceful entity trying to settle the humanity in space,&#8221; Ram Jakhu, the director of McGill University&#8217;s Institute of Air and Space Law and one of Asgardia&#8217;s founding members, said during a June press briefing.
<figure style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5a299067a3b47440028b46be-1024/asgardia-1-nanosat-space-nation.jpg" alt="asgardia 1 nanosat space nation" width="1024" height="768" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">The Asgardia-1 nanosat. Asgardia; Lena De Winne/Twitter</figcaption></figure>
Its new satellite is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/asgardia-first-space-country-satellite-2017-6">called Asgardia-1</a>. The blocky object is technically called a nano satellite or &#8220;nanosat,&#8221; weighs about as much as a newborn baby, and is roughly the size of a loaf of bread.
<a href="http://asgardia.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Asgardia</a>&#8216;s tiny spacecraft contains a 512-gigabyte hard drive loaded with &#8220;the nation&#8217;s constitution, national symbols, and the personally selected data of the Asgardian citizenship,&#8221; according to a statement emailed to Business Insider.
&#8220;Asgardia-1 has now been deployed in a low earth orbit,&#8221; the statement said, &#8220;making Asgardia the first nation to have all of its territory in space.&#8221;
But at least one space law researcher says that, legally speaking, the feat may be &#8220;much ado about nothing.&#8221;
<h2>Asgardia&#8217;s first satellite</h2>
The plan to launch the satellite was announced during a press briefing and June 13, and the effort was funded by Asgardia co-founder <a href="https://ashurbeyli.eu.com/bio.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Igor Ashurbeyli</a>, a Russian aerospace engineer and billionaire.
Asgardia worked with several companies to make its mission possible. <a href="https://nearspacelaunch.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NearSpace Launch</a> helped design and build Asgardia-1, and aerospace company Orbital ATK <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCZ28hyGvK0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launched</a> the nanosat inside a Cygnus spacecraft bound for the International Space Station.
The Cygnus left the space station on Wednesday, rocketed to a higher altitude, and shot Asgardia-1 and two other nanosats into space with a <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/2281.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spring-loaded cannon</a> built by NanoRacks.
<div></div>
Asgardia-1 won&#8217;t do much more than <a href="https://data3.nsldata.com/asgardia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">orbit Earth</a> from about 280 miles above the planet, though it does store data submitted by Asgardian citizens. There are currently <a href="https://asgardia.space/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">about 154,000 citizens of Asgardia</a>, and the first 100,000 to register were promised 500 kilobytes of space each for upload on the hard drive (500 kb is less than the data used by one frame of a typical DVD video).
&#8220;Maybe the photo of your little cat or of your neighbor, of your mother, or a child&#8230; whatever comes to your mind, this will be for as long as Asgardia exists. In other words, forever,&#8221; Ashurbeyli said in June.
All the files Asgardians uploaded are visible to fellow citizens, and the platform is accepting more for future spacecraft. So far, nearly 14,000 Asgardians have contributed files, including poems, personal letters, songs, and photos of weddings, cats, dogs, birds, aliens, and even President Donald Trump shaking the hand of India&#8217;s prime minister, Narendra Modi.
Asgardia-1 will slowly fall toward Earth over the next five years and eventually burn up in the planet&#8217;s atmosphere. But Ashurbeyli said in June that the data uploaded will be copied to future Asgardian satellites, as well as spacecraft that go to &#8220;the moon and anywhere in the universe &#8230; Asgardia will be.&#8221;
<h2>&#8216;Much ado about nothing&#8217;?</h2>
With the satellite successfully deployed into space, the nation will now turn to its parliamentary elections that run through March 2018, according to Asgardia&#8217;s statement.
&#8220;Anyone who is 18 or older, and has accepted the Constitution of Asgardia, will automatically be assigned to an electoral district which represents their spoken language,&#8221; the statement said.
<figure style="width: 2000px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/57fe2a644046dd9d078b533c-2000/asgardia-space-nation-website-logo.jpg" alt="asgardia space nation website logo" width="2000" height="1500" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">An illustration of Asgardia&#8217;s original emblem. Asgardia.space</figcaption></figure>
Asgardia has enough people who&#8217;ve applied for citizenship to qualify for consideration as a state by the United Nations, since the minimum is 100,000. But it&#8217;s unlikely the world will acknowledge Asgardia as a sovereign nation, even now that it has claimed territory in space.
&#8220;Legally speaking this is much ado about nothing,&#8221; <a href="https://law.unl.edu/frans-von-der-dunk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Frans von der Dunk</a>, a professor of space law at Nebraska College of Law, told Business Insider in an email. &#8220;The concept of territory has been pretty well defined in international law, and it does not include &#8216;artificial&#8217; territory such as satellites anymore than it does include ships, aircraft or oil platforms.&#8221;
Asgardia, he added, is &#8220;nowhere near a state in the classic sense of the word — even if you accept that the satellite has quasi-territory.&#8221;
But the biggest problem for Asgardian sovereignty, von der Dunk said, is the lack of a permanent population in space. Even then it&#8217;s a stretch, he said, citing several examples of nations, including Palestine and Taiwan, which have territory and a large permanent population, yet lack a functional government — and thus aren&#8217;t recognized as states. (Legal experts also <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/a3zveg/asgardia-nation-space-data-storage-off-planet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">see other issues</a> beyond Asgardia&#8217;s territorial claims and statehood, as Motherboard previously reported.)
Business Insider previously contacted the <a href="http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/index.html">United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs</a>(UNOOSA) for clarification on whether <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-laws-that-keep-space-from-spiraling-out-of-control-into-a-political-war-zone-2016-9">current space law</a> would permit the existence of a nation and territory in space, but UNOOSA representatives did not answer our query.
Instead, UNOOSA directed us to the text of <a href="http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties.html">five UN treaties</a> that govern activities in outer space. Article II of the first and most important part of that legal framework, called the <a href="http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/outerspacetreaty.html">Outer Space Treaty</a>, prohibits &#8220;national appropriation&#8221; of anything in outer space &#8220;by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.&#8221;
But von der Dunk doesn&#8217;t think Asgardia, or something like it in the future, couldn&#8217;t eventually form a recognized nation or state in space.
&#8220;This may be the germ that 50 years from now will create a true nation in outer space,&#8221; von der Dunk <a href="http://popsci.com/dont-count-on-asgardia-becoming-legit-space-state" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Popular Science</a> last year.
<h2>How to build a space kingdom</h2>
<figure style="width: 2000px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/594009c7bf76bb47028b591e-2000/asgardia-space-nation-colony-inside-illustration.jpg" alt="asgardia space nation colony inside illustration" width="2000" height="1904" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">An illustration of a space colony. Asgardia/James Vaughan</figcaption></figure>
For now, Asgardia&#8217;s proclaimed territory — i.e. Asgardia-1 — is actually bound by US law, since American companies launched it from US soil aboard a primarily NASA-funded mission.
But Asgardia&#8217;s founders eventually want to launch a space station and have people live there permanently.
&#8220;We&#8217;ll start small and eventually people will be going there, and working, and having their own rules and regulations &#8230; This facility will become an independent nation,&#8221; Jakhu previously told Business Insider.
No public details exist yet as to what an early colony might look like, how big it will be, or what expense it&#8217;d incur. However, building space stations of any size or kind and putting people on them is a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-rocket-cargo-price-by-weight-2016-6">very, very expensive</a> proposition. The football-field-sized ISS, for example, took 18 nations and more than <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-rocket-cargo-price-by-weight-2016-6">$100 billion to build</a>. Meanwhile, the cheapest ride to orbit today is SpaceX&#8217;s Falcon 9 rocket, which costs between about <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/reusable-rockets-musk-bezos-space-colonies-2017-3">$43 million</a> and <a href="http://spacenews.com/spacexs-new-price-chart-illustrates-performance-cost-of-reusability/">$65 million</a> per launch.
An Asgardia spokesperson declined to disclose the organization&#8217;s funding when Business Insider asked in October 2016, but claimed billionaire backer Ashurbeyli had put forth a substantial amount of money (via his company, Aerospace International Research Center) to keep the Asgardia project going.
Asgardia&#8217;s organizers have drawn plenty of criticism, but Jakhu brushes it off.
&#8220;Anyone who tries out-of-the-box things is initially ridiculed,&#8221; Jakhu previously said. &#8220;Everything that&#8217;s amazing starts with a crazy idea. After a while, science fiction becomes science fact, and this is an idea which is just being initiated.&#8221;
This story was updated with new information after its original publication on December 7, 2017.
Disclosure: The author of this post registered as a citizen of Asgardia as part of his reporting.

Unfortunately for Asgardia, legal experts are singing a different tune.

"Space Kingdom" Asgardia says it's the first nation with all of its territory in orbit

The self-titled "Space Kingdom" plans to mine asteroids for resources and defend the planet from celestial objects, such as meteorites and space junk.

"Space Kingdom" Asgardia Says It's the First Nation with All of Its Territory in Orbit

The "nation" wants to defend Earth from celestial threats.

“Space Kingdom” Asgardia Says It’s the First Nation with All of Its Territory in Orbit

In the race to build autonomous vehicles, General Motors is determined not to be left behind.
Last year, it <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gm-is-buying-cruise-automation-and-taking-the-lead-on-driverless-cars-2016-3">bought Cruise Automation</a>, a startup based here, to jumpstart its self-driving car efforts. On Tuesday, GM demonstrated what it and Cruise have been working on, giving a select group of reporters a test drive in one of their autonomous vehicles.
&#8220;This is a big moment for me, personally, and for General Motors and for Cruise,&#8221; Kyle Vogt, Cruise&#8217;s CEO, said.
GM plans to mass produce its self-driving cars in a matter of &#8220;quarters, not years,&#8221; company president Dan Ammann said. He declined to specify when, exactly, the company plans to start selling them.
&#8220;Stay tuned,&#8221; he said.
In the meantime, Ammann, Vogt, and their colleagues were eager to show off their self-driving cars. Although GM and Cruise have been internally testing prototype vehicles for more than a year, this was the first time the companies had given members of the media or the general public a ride in them.
GM&#8217;s self-driving vehicles are basically modified versions of its Bolt electric vehicles. GM has added some 40 sensors to the vehicles, include an assortment of radar and lidar devices, as well as hundreds of pounds and several miles worth of cables.
The automotive giant has <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/general-motors-cruise-production-ready-2017-9">designed the vehicles to be mass produced</a> in its Orion, Michigan, factory. It&#8217;s already built 180 test vehicles.
GM and Cruise rolled out their first generation test vehicles only in May 2016. The version of the car GM and Cruise demonstrated on Tuesday is their second-generation test vehicle, which debuted this past June and includes a complete collection of sensors. They already have a third generation prototype in production; that vehicle, unlike its predecessor, includes redundant systems.
<h2>GM&#8217;s autonomous car offered a safe — but not smooth — ride</h2>
My ride got off to an inauspicious start. For the event, Cruise handed out iPhones that media members could use to summon one of their cars using the company&#8217;s app. That app, which works similarly to Uber or Lyft&#8217;s ride-haling apps, is actually the same one Cruise employees use to catch a ride with one of its cars. Only in our case, Cruise allowed us to choose from one of several pre-set destinations, rather than setting one on our own.
It took several minutes for my car to arrive in front of the Dogpatch Studio here, where GM was holding the event. But instead of stopping for me, the car drove right on by and returned back to the place it had been parked at before.
So, my Cruise helper summoned another car. That car too passed us by. But after traveling around several blocks, it came back to pick me up.
The car then proceeded to take us on a drive via city streets through the Portrero Hill neighborhood in the eastern part of this city. For about 20 minutes, we went up and down the area&#8217;s steep hills before returning to the studio.
Riding in the Cruise vehicle was a little more unnerving than <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/waymo-demos-autonomous-vehicles-at-california-testing-site-2017-10">my recent ride in one of Waymo&#8217;s latest self-driving cars</a>. Waymo&#8217;s demonstration was held at its testing facility in Central California, and even though its car had no driver and had to contend with people driving, walking, and biking, the ride felt staged and artificial.
In this demonstration, a Cruise employee sat behind the steering wheel, ready to take over if anything happened and another sat in the front passenger seat calling out potential obstacles and alerting the driver to the car&#8217;s upcoming path. Even so, this was a real-world test and felt like felt like it.
San Francisco is a notoriously difficult city to drive in, thanks to its steep, narrow streets, frequently heavy traffic, and often brazenly incautious bicyclists and pedestrians. Cruise&#8217;s car had to navigate around multiple double-parked trucks while contending with oncoming traffic, avoid pedestrians randomly crossing the street, be on the lookout for cars and bicycles as it crested hills, and negotiate four-way intersections where it sometimes encountered cars with impatient drivers.
The car made it through the course without incident — we never came close to an accident, and the Cruise employee behind the wheel never had to take manual control of the car. And that was impressive, far more so than Waymo&#8217;s car navigating through a staged course.
But Cruise clearly has some things to work on. The ride, while safe, was anything but smooth.  In fact, it often felt herky-jerky. We would accelerate as we turned a corner, slow down abruptly right after that, speed up soon after until we came close to the next intersection, then brake fairly suddenly at a stop sign.
<h2>The car sometimes seemed hesitant</h2>
And the car seemed overly cautious, even hesitant at times. In navigating around one double-parked truck, it slowly nudged out to peer around it, then slowly pulled around it in the oncoming lane. In the same situation, a human driver likely would have gone much more quickly in order to avoid any potential oncoming traffic.
<figure style="width: 2000px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5a1e01873dbef425008b8cb9-2000/img0877.jpg" alt="General Motors' second generation prototype self-driving vehicle, in which reporter Troy Wolverton got a test ride." width="2000" height="1377" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">General Motors&#8217; second generation prototype self-driving vehicle, in which I got my test ride. Troy Wolverton</figcaption></figure>
Early on in my ride, the vehicle had to negotiate a particularly challenging stretch. In front of us was a double-parked truck. Just beyond that, on the other side of the street was another double-parked truck. In between and among the trucks were construction workers. And there were cars both behind us waiting for us to go and in front of us, heading the opposite direction.
The Cruise vehicle moved slowly and prudently into the oncoming lane. It nudged out just a bit to better see the traffic heading toward us. When things were clear, it pulled out. But then, while pointed in the wrong direction in the opposite lane, it just stopped. After waiting for two cars to go around the truck on their side and pass us going the other way, it finally went around the truck on our side and proceeded on.
Of course, a human driver might also have struggled with that scenario. But a human driver, even a cautious one, would likely have navigated around the obstacles more smoothly.
Right now, Cruise is far more focused on making its cars safe than worrying about how smoothly they drive, Cruise&#8217;s Vogt said. Not only is safety crucial for autonomous vehicles, but it&#8217;s a far harder problem to solve, he said.
Vogt expects Cruise to spend more time improving smoothness and polishing other aspects of the rider experience next year as the company nails down the safe driving aspect of the cars.
Making the cars drive more smoothly &#8220;Is the easiest part of the process,&#8221; he said.
<h2>I could see more than the car&#8217;s screen showed</h2>
Like Waymo&#8217;s autonomous cars, Cruise vehicles have screens on the backs of the driver and passenger seats that show in graphical form what the car &#8220;sees&#8221; around it. Other cars on the road show up as grayish blue boxes, people as blue cylinders.
<figure style="width: 2000px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5a1e00ecf914c329008b6a2e-2000/gmcruise112817incartablet.png" alt="A screenshot from the screens inside GM's self-driving cars, showing what they see around them." width="2000" height="1501" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">A screenshot from the screens inside GM&#8217;s self-driving cars, showing what they see around them. General Motors/Cruise</figcaption></figure>
Generally, whenever cars or people were close by, they showed up on the screen. You could see rows of boxes representing parked cars and cylinders crossing the street in tandem with the people they represented.
But sometimes the screen didn&#8217;t seem to register objects immediately. When we came to an intersection at the top of one hill, it took a while for the screen to show a car parked on the opposite corner, long after I saw it out the window.
More disconcertingly, sometimes the screen didn&#8217;t display some objects at all. As we approached one intersection, the screen registered the car coming up the street on our left. But it never showed the car coming up to the intersection from our left. Similarly, the pedestrians walking on the sidewalk that we passed never showed up on the screen, even though they were walking only a few feet away from the parked cars that were displayed.
Cruise&#8217;s cars can actually see a lot more than what they show on their screens, Vogt said. The company decided to limit what they display, because it found that when it showed more objects, riders found all the information &#8220;overwhelming,&#8221; he said.
<h2>GM is focusing first on the ride-hailing market</h2>
GM sees ride-hailing services as the initial market for these vehicles, Ammann said. The automotive giant is still working out the details of how it will approach that market. GM has invested some $500 million in Lyft, but Ammann said it wouldn&#8217;t necessarily partner with that company in all cases to offer ride-hailing services.
<div style="width: 640px;" class="wp-video">
<video class="wp-video-shortcode" id="video-113132-1" width="640" height="358" preload="metadata" controls="controls"><source type="video/mp4" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/11/5a1e03ef3dbef4ae448b884d-640-359.mp4?_=1" /><a href="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/11/5a1e03ef3dbef4ae448b884d-640-359.mp4">https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/11/5a1e03ef3dbef4ae448b884d-640-359.mp4</a></video></div>
In some cases, GM might offer automous ride-hailing services through partnerships; in others, it may offer them by itself, he said. Either way, GM plans to maintain control of the fleet of cars it deploys, he said.
The company&#8217;s focus on the ride-hailing market has played into the testing of its autonomous vehicles, Ammann said. It and Cruise are focusing on testing their cars in dense, busy cities in part because those are the biggest markets for ride-hailing services. The companies have already been <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gm-cruise-automation-testing-self-driving-cars-san-francisco-2017-10">testing their cars in San Francisco</a> and plan to begin testing them in Manhattan in the first quarter.
GM is one of several major companies developing autonomous vehicles. Among the others are Uber and Google spinoff Waymo. Like GM, those companies see the ride-hailing industry as among the most promising early markets for such cars.
<h2>Cruise and GM are concentrating on cities</h2>
However, Cruise&#8217;s Vogt took pains to differentiate his company&#8217;s development effort from that of Waymo. Waymo has undertaken a years-long effort to create autonomous cars and has done much of its real-world testing either in suburban environments such as Mountain View, California, and Chandler, Arizona, or at its testing facility at a decommissioned Air Force base in California&#8217;s Central Valley. Collectively, its cars have driven some 4 million miles autonomously, the company announced on Monday.
By contrast, Cruise has gotten to the point it&#8217;s at in just 18 months, Vogt noted. And while it also tests its cars in suburban Phoenix, much of its real-world testing is being done in urban environments.
Vogt and other GM officials declined to say how many miles its cars have driven, but they argued that the city miles they&#8217;ve driven count for much more than the miles its competitors have logged in the suburbs. That&#8217;s because incidents such as having to make a left-hand turn or having to pull into the oncoming lane of traffic to route around a blocked lane occur much more frequently in cities than in the suburbs. In some cases such incidents occur more than 40 times more often in cities than in suburban areas, he said.
That difference &#8220;really puts into perspective … the value and challenge in operating in these urban environments,&#8221; Vogt said.

The company expects to begin production "within quarters."

GM just gave the first public ride in its self-driving cars

GM's Cruise subsidiary has gotten off its first public demonstrations to a safe, albeit bumpy ride. The company expects to improve the user experience.

GM Just Gave the First Public Ride in Its Self-Driving Cars

Another company has entered the race.

What is being done to the Canadian landscape is shameful.

At one end of the keystone XL oil pipeline, there is a scene you must see to believe

Oilsands Aerial Photo

The Canadian end of the Keystone XL oil pipelines offer a staggering view of what it takes to extract the oil which travels along the pipeline.

At One End of the Keystone XL Oil Pipeline lies a Scene You Must See

One end of the Keystone XL Oil Pipeline looks like another world.

At One End of the Keystone XL Oil Pipeline, There Is a Scene You Must See to Believe

<a href="http://www.briangreene.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Brian Greene</a>, professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University and co-founder of the <a href="http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">World Science Festival</a>, explains what we know about time travel so far. Following is a transcript of the video.
Brian Greene: I’m Brian Greene, professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University and co-founder of the World Science Festival.
It&#8217;s critical that you realize that there are two types of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/science-time-travel-physics-2016-1">time travel</a>, and they are radically different. Time travel to the future? Definitely possible.
We know how to do it because Einstein showed us the way over a hundred years ago. It’s surprising how few people actually really know about this in their bones. He showed that if you go out into space and travel near the speed of light, and you turn around, and you come back, your clock will be ticking off time more slowly. So, when you step off it&#8217;s going to be the future on planet Earth. You will have time traveled into the future.
He also showed that if you hang out near a nice strong source of gravity — a neutron star, a black hole — and you kind of get right near the edge of that object, time also for you would slow down real slow relative to everybody else. And therefore, when you come back to Earth, for instance, it&#8217;ll again be far into the future.
This is not controversial stuff. Any physicist who knows what they&#8217;re talking about agrees with this. But the other kind of time travel — to the past is where the arguments start to happen because many of us don&#8217;t think that time travel to the past is possible.
The main proposal that people at least consider worthy of attention for traveling to the past does make use of a weird concept called <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/neil-degrasse-tyson-wormhole-black-hole-interstellar-2014-11">wormholes</a>. A wormhole is something that really … <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/einstein-unique-genius-way-thinking-2017-5">Albert Einstein</a> again discovered. The guy has like got his name written over everything in this field.
It&#8217;s a bridge, if you will, from one location space to another. It&#8217;s kind of a tunnel that gives you a shortcut to go from here to here. Now he discovered this in 1935 but it was subsequently realized that if you manipulate the openings of a wormhole — put one near a black hole or take one on a high-speed journey — then time of the two openings of this wormhole tunnel will not take off at the same rate, so that you will no longer just go from one location in space to another, if you go through this tunnel — through this wormhole — you&#8217;ll go from one moment in time to a different moment in time. Go one way, you&#8217;ll travel to the past, the other way, travel to the future.
Now again, we don&#8217;t know if wormholes are real. We don&#8217;t know if they are real whether you&#8217;ll be able to go through them. So, there are all sorts of uncertainties here. Most of us think that you&#8217;re not going to actually go on a whirlwind journey through a wormhole to the past. But it&#8217;s still not ruled out.

Einstien showed how traveling to the future is possible, but that may not transfer to going back to the past.

There are two types of time travel, and physicists agree that at least one of them is possible

Hard Science

Physics support the possibility of time travel to the future. Arguments on whether the same can be said for traveling to the past are less certain.

/Author

Business Insider

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At One End of the Keystone XL Oil Pipeline, There Is a Scene You Must See to Believe

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There Are Two Types of Time Travel, and Physicists Agree That at Least One of Them Is Possible

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