“Why is our goal to live as long as possible? My father can’t go to the bathroom by himself. He can’t shower by himself. He doesn’t know where he is or why.”
You might not have to buy a Lucid Air or Mercedes to listen to spatial audio in your car. Dolby and Swedish firm Dirac are collaborating to demo more immersive in-car audio technology. The partnership melds Dirac’s optimization algorithms with Dolby Atmos support to deliver 3D sound as well as improve audio quality across the board. The combo can compensate for poor cabin acoustics (such as reflective surfaces and awkward speaker placement) while promising advanced sound staging normally reserved for home theaters.
The two companies are showcasing their teamwork in demo cars, but you may have to wait a while to hear it in a vehicle you can drive. The first car to take advantage of Dolby and Dirac tech is the Nio ET7. The electric sedan won’t come to Europe until later this year, and the Chinese brand has yet to commit to a North American expansion.
Still, the efforts might go some way toward democratizing Atmos and quality car audio. You might not need to buy a luxury car (or a pricey option package) to listen to spatial sound or otherwise enjoy the quality you normally get at home. Audio performance could be a particularly strong selling point as self-driving cars rise to prominence. If your car is going to be a lounge on wheels, you’ll probably want the speaker system to match.
The correspondence with the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was obtained by the House Jan. 6 committee.
Ferrari has announced at an investor presentation that it will 60 percent electrified by 2026, including the EV it promised last year. At that point, 40 percent of its cars will be combustion and 60 percent will be either hybrid or all electric. The eventual aim is to become carbon neutral by 2030, but even then, it will continue to develop internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
By 2026, Ferrari will offer “three powertrains with distinctive driving emotions,” it said. It’ll borrow hybrid powertrain tech from its F1 and other racing experience, while its electric engines will be “designed, handcrafted and assembled in Maranello to ensure a unique driving experience also derived from racing solutions.”
Ferrari unveiled its first production plug-in hybrid, the SF90 Stradale, back in 2019. It now has four separate model lineups with the Stradale and 296 GTB plug-in V6 hybrid, along with the pure ICE 812 Superfast V12 and Roma V8 models. So in effect, half its lineup is already electrified, as Autocar points out. That mix will soon change, though. The luxury automaker also confirmed that it’s much-anticipated Purosangue SUV will arrive in September as a pure ICE vehicle, to start with.
As for the EV set to arrive in 2025, Ferrari is aiming to have “strong commonalities” with its current combustion engines. “The first electric Ferrari will be rooted in our racing heritage and will draw from a broader technical reservoir while preserving all its authenticity and consistency,” said CEO Benedetto Vigna, adding that it will be “really unique from many different points of view.”
The batteries will also be assembled by Ferrari in Maranello in dedicated e-building facility “where electric engines, inverters, and batteries will be designed, handcrafted and assembled,” the company said. It also revealed that it would limit self-driving autonomy to “Level 2/2+” and that “connectivity is first and foremost provided to enhance the ownership experience and the relationship with the client.”
Rainn Wilson, the actor who played Dwight Schrute on The Office, thinks his iconic character would be up to more than just selling Dunder Mifflin paper if the show was still on the air today.
The actor is accused of four counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
After Sony and Honda announced plans to form a separate company for their joint electric vehicle partnership, they’ve now given it a name. Yes, the new business is called Sony Honda Mobility Inc. and will be established in Tokyo before the end of 2022, with EV sales set to start in 2025, Sony said in a press release.
Each company holds an equal 50 percent share, with Honda executive Yasuhide Mizuno appointed chairman and CEO, and Sony EVP Izumi Kawanishi president and COO. As Sony detailed previously, the partnership will utilize “Honda’s cutting edge environmental and safety technologies, mobility development capabilities, vehicle body manufacturing technology, and after-sales service management experience.” Meanwhile, Sony will contribute “imaging, sensing, telecommunication, network and entertainment technologies.”
Honda is far behind rivals in EV development, with its only electric car being the Honda E — but it’s accelerated its plans of late. Earlier this year it unveiled a partnership with GM to co-develop a series of affordable EVs using a global architecture and GM’s Ultium battery technology. The aim is to have Honda and Acura SUVs going on sale in North America by 2024.
Honda also announced plans last year to shift its entire vehicle lineup to EVs and fuel-cell vehicles by 2040. As part of that, it’s going to invest $40 billion and launch 30 new EVs by 2030. Sony, meanwhile has already showed not just one but two electric vehicles of its own design, the Vision-S EV and Vision-S 02 electric SUV. It’s not clear how all Sony Honda Mobility fits into all these plans, but we should be learning more about it in the near future.
Enduring a pandemic, racism, violence, misogyny, the erosion of rights and mass death is taking a cascading toll on American workers.
Uber is rolling out its airport reservation service to more locations not only in the US, but also in other countries just as people are becoming more comfortable with traveling again. The service’s Reserve at Airports service rolled out to over 20 airports across the US in 2021, giving arriving passengers the power to reserve Uber Black and Uber Black SUV rides for up to 30 days in advance. Now, the service is available at 55 airports around the world, 39 of which are in the US. The new additions to the list of airports where passengers can schedule pick-ups are:
Austin (AUS)
Burbank (BUR)
Indianapolis (IND)
Jacksonville (JAX)
Las Vegas (LAS)
Los Angeles (LAX)
Minneapolis – St. Paul (MSP)
Milwaukee (MKE)
Montreal (YUL)
Oakland (OAK)
Orange County (SNA)
San Antonio (SAT)
San Diego (SAN)
San Francisco (SFO)
San Jose (SJC)
Tampa Bay (TPA)
Vancouver (YVR)
Bologna (BLQ)
Cape Town (CPT)
Johannesburg (JNB + HLA)
Milan (LIN + MXP)
Nice (NCE)
Paris (CDG)
Rome (CIA + FCO)
Uber’s Reserve service has special tools ordinary rides don’t have access to. In addition to allowing customers to reserve a ride 30 days in advance, it can also track their flight information and automatically adjust their reservation time. That way, they can be sure a driver is waiting for them by the time they land, even if their flight gets delayed. Drivers can also wait for passengers for up 60 minutes without extra charge, giving them ample time to get their luggage or grab a bite before stepping out of the airport. Plus, passengers don’t have to lug around heavy suitcases for long, since their rides will pick them up at the curb.
The company originally launched its Reserve option back in 2020 to help customers “meet those moments that call for more assurance.” It matches passengers with drivers from the start, even if they reserve a month in advance, and it also presents them with an exact fare when they book. The service will certainly be more expensive than a bus ride, but it does sound like a great option for those who don’t want to have to worry about catching a cab the moment they arrive at their destination.
This piece is part of Gizmodo’s ongoing effort to make the Facebook Papers available to the public. See the full directory of documents here.
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