DAILY INNOVATION BRIEF by Maryanne Kane, Journalist
DAILY INNOVATION BRIEF
By Journalists Edward Kane & Maryanne Kane
FLYING CAR THAT ACTUALLY DRIVES & FLIES
Source: Alef
- CA-based Alef Aeronautics Model A is a flying and driving car that will hit the market next year. It is specifically designed to let you fly out of a traffic jam. Here's what we know:
- Alef Aero Model A is an unusual competitor in the flying car market: it drives like a normal car and flies like a plane
- 8 propellers positioned on the front and back of the car to take off anytime
- Uses a technology called distributed electric propulsion with mesh over the rotor blades, allowing air flow through the vehicle
- To drive it uses 4 small electric engines in each wheel
- Road range - 200 miles
- Flying range - 110 miles
- Cruising speed in flight - 110 mph
- Driving speed capped at 35 mph
- All electric, eVTOL
- 1-to-2-seater
- Carbon fiber frame 17'x7' that fits into a parking space and garage
- To clear regulators, it will start at a low driving speed (25 to 35 mph), as an ultra-light vehicle like a golf cart
- Company says it takes just 15 minutes to learn how to operate
- Main financial investor is billionaire Tim Draper, who also funded Tesla
- CEO Jim Dukhovny calls it "Sci-Fi come to life"
- Priced at about $300,000. but when built at scale level, Alef says the price will drop and be a lot more affordable at about $32,000. which would make it a flying car for the masses
WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOUR PET HAS TO SAY?
Source: Winnie Kane & Stock
- Experts say through AI people and animals will be conversing within 1 to 3 years. Here's what we know:
- Many scientific projects are underway decoding what dogs, cats, bats and whales are saying
- AI is being used as a solution to enable humans and their pets to more fully communicate
- Experts are using bioacoustics, which are tiny, portable digital recorders, to record the sounds, tics and behaviors of animals that are too quiet for humans to notice
- The recordings will be databased to train AI to decipher their inscrutable communications and translate them into something more comprehensible to us
- Another AI model aims to translate a dog's barks and facial expressions
- I'd love to hear my Winnie's 1st conversation: she's a gourmet eater and it would probably start with filet mignon.
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