Uber and Motional have entered a 10-year partnership for the IONIQ 5 electric vehicle robotaxis to hit the streets, ferrying UberX and Uber Comfort Electric passengers.

Ideally, these robotaxis will help Uber reduce vehicle downtime while improving customer satisfaction as wait times and fees are both lowered. Public launch is expected to start before the end of 2022, and expand to cities across the United States on a wider scale moving forward.

Data-driven insights will be shared from Uber to Motional to maximize passenger satisfaction while riding in these autonomous vehicles. Both companies worked together in 2022 for autonomous food deliveries using the rideshare's Uber Eats service for select customers in California.

Volvo's upcoming EX90 has great potential with its bi-directional charging that allows a flow from the vehicle back to the energy grid.

The Volvo EX90 uses bi-directional charging and may have the ability for owners to make energy utilization cheaper, more efficient, and more sustainable. The bi-directional charging would make it possible for an EX90 owner to power a house if there is a blackout or some other issue that occurs.

Ideally, many other EVs could be used to create a "virtual powerplant" that would be able to ease the strain of an overloaded electric grid.

AIRROBO is quite proud of its P20 robot vacuum which brings an impressive 99.2% cleaning efficiency to customers using the robotic device in their apartment or house.

The P20's 99.2% cleaning efficiency, based on the percentage of debris picked up, is specific to robot vacuum cleaners priced under $200 and based on the following criteria - three different debris types (rice, dust, dog hair), and included three different surface types (hard surface, low-pile carpet and mid-pile carpet).

As noted by Tommy Zhang, General Manager of AIRROBO, in a press statement:

"We're trying to alter the situation where the industry is too polarized. The fancy robot vacuum cleaners with redundant functions can only serve a limited number of people because of their price point. On the other hand, budget robot vacuum cleaners didn't actually help with "house chore freedom" because of their cleaning performance and quality. In doing so, we're excited to introduce the AIRROBO P20 - built upon the new design and completely improved features - to our global consumers for their daily floor cleaning."

German automaker Mercedes-Benz has high expectations that luxury car buyers will help usher in the transition from internal-combustion engines towards electric vehicles in the years to come.

The company is witnessing a trend towards EVs and wants to be carbon dioxide neutral by 2039. All Mercedes models will have electric versions by 2025 and will go fully electric-only after that year. In addition to being better for the environment - as automakers look to reduce CO2 emissions - Mercedes understand that it very well may be a better business decision as well.

Mercedes delivered around 31,000 EVs during the first two quarters of 2022 but has admitted it's essentially sold out of EV models through the rest of the year. Meanwhile, production will continue to accelerate as fast as possible - a difficult feat considering current semiconductor shortages and other logistical problems - though the company expects an easier time in 2023.

Yizhou Zhao won the NVIDIA #ExtendOmniverse contest with his "IndoorKit" for robotics simulation environments, enabling anyone to bring simulated bots to life with ease.

Contest participants were tasked with using the integrated development environment (IDE) of Omniverse Code and Omniverse while creating an extension that would benefit the community. The IndoorKit lets users click basic functions such as "add object," "add house," "load scene," "record scene," and similar buttons to easily environment aspects for the simulation.

Zhao is a Ph.D. student in statistics at UCLA and won the code contest aimed towards programmers, developers, engineers, technical artists, hobbyists and researchers - with the aim of creating Python-based tools for use in the metaverse.

Boston Dynamics has joined five other leading robotics companies to publish an open letter pledging that general-purpose robots should not be weaponized. Joining Boston Dynamics in the public statement were the following leading robotics companies: Agility, ANYbotics, Clearpath Robotics, Open Robotics, and Unitree.

Each company will ensure their "advanced-mobility general-purpose robots" and software that makes them run will not be weaponized. In addition, they will work to ensure customers also didn't weaponize any of the products for nefarious purposes. They will actively review plans customers have for their products, while also exploring features that would prevent any intended weaponization.

The industry leaders also want lawmakers to work with them to promote the safe use of the robots and prevent possible future misuse.

Honda has unveiled the Prologue, its first electric SUV, as the Japanese automaker continues to show its efforts to transition towards electric vehicles. The all-wheel drive SUV

The Prologue includes an 11-inch driver display panel and 11.3-inch audio/connectivity display in the vehicle. Honda chose to use physical buttons for heating and air conditioning instead of relying on touch-sensitive controls on the touchscreen display.

Honda's Prologue will also be larger than Honda's popular CR-V and has a "modern and fresh design" that Honda hopes will look especially shiny in dealership showrooms.

Keanu Reeves must have cloned himself a while back because the guy just doesn't stop: Keanu reportedly wants to direct Netflix's upcoming adaption of BRZRKR... a comic book that Keanu Reeves took to Kickstarter to fund last year.

BRZRKR is about an immortal warrior that fights through the ages, similar to how John Wick seems to be in the trilogy... while BRZRKR was written by Keanu Reeves and writer Matt Kindt, the warrior himself looks virtually identical to Reeves and beats the sh*t out of people throughout history.

The comic book is being adapted into a live-action movie that Reeves will start in the leading role while debuting on Netflix, but during a recent interview, the Matrix and John Wick star said he was definitely interested in sitting in the director's chair for BRZRKR.

Restaurants struggling to find human workers are finding robots to be a good way to augment staff, eliminating repetitive tasks in the back of house. In the future, robots will continue advancing from test labs into restaurant kitchens, with restaurant owners willing to invest in automation.

Restaurant hosts, baristas, and drive-through operators are at the greatest risk of robotic automation, and 76% of restaurants already are using 3 or more automated tools, according to a recent report from Capterra. For restaurants already embracing automation, the majority of workers also found it easy to use the tools while at work, an important metric as additional technology is added.

Diners tend to be oblivious to the automation that is already underway, and that is currently acceptable - it will take some time for them to become welcoming to robots and non-human automation that they must interact with directly. Everything from traditional restaurants to fast food restaurants and pizza shops have custom robots they can rent for monthly dues - or purchase outright - and see if their operations benefit.

Activision-Blizzard creates a new executive role that will discuss news regarding the merger with Microsoft.

As Microsoft's proposed Activision-Blizzard buyout looms, the Call of Duty publisher is gearing up for a big transition period and has appointed a brand new communications executive that will exclusively focus on the merger.

Activision today announced the creation of the Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Chief Communications Officer role that will help "share the company's strategic direction and lead its communications efforts." Activision appointed board member Lulu Cheng Meservey as the new comms exec.