LAS VEGAS // It may not seem like it at first, but the conspicuous red button in the centre console of the Lincoln MKZ I’m sitting in is perhaps the best example of how the world has changed over the past decade.
The car isn’t just a regular car – it’s a self-driving autonomous vehicle – and pushing the button would bring it to a screeching emergency halt.
It’s a necessary precaution installed by Ford, Lincoln’s manufacturer, and BlackBerry, the smartphone maker. The two companies are jointly developing the vehicle and recently received regulatory clearance to begin testing it on the icy roads of Canada.
They’re just about ready to do so, but in the meantime they’re giving rides to attendees at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The show itself is a juggernaut – attracting more than 165,000 attendees and nearly 4,000 exhibitors from around the world, it’s one of the world’s largest tech events. In its 50 years, CES has launched numerous game-changing technologies including the VCR, high-definition television and the first Xbox.
Add self-driving cars to the list. I had the fortune of riding in an autonomous SUV built by General Motors and Carnegie Mellon University at the 2008 show and the progress since then has been incredible.
Nine years ago, the hefty GM vehicle was buried under laser sensors, cameras, GPS devices and other hardware strapped to its roof, while its interior was swarming with computers, monitors and additional gear. It was like riding in a living lab.
Today’s sleek Lincoln, however, is nearly indistinguishable from any car you might see at the nearest dealer. Much of the technology that enables the vehicle to drive itself has melted away, hidden now within its normal aesthetics. Except, of course, for that red button.
Progress is evident in more than just appearance, of course. In the past year alone, self-driving cars have taken to the streets as taxis, trucks and buses in the United States, Singapore, Australia and elsewhere. Countries including Canada are running tests, while others have definitive rollout plans in place. UAE officials, for example, want to have autonomous vehicles on the roads by 2019.
Self-driving cars have also changed the tenor of CES itself since they first appeared here. In 2008, few vehicle makers gave much thought to the show, opting instead to unveil their latest innovations at auto-specific events.
But CES has since become vital to their marketing efforts. All of them, without exception, now splurge on giant booths and outdoor tents to showcase their developments. Top executives from the larger manufacturers have supplanted the likes of Bill Gates and other leaders from traditional technology companies in presenting keynote addresses.
“In recent years, CES has started to look more and more like an auto show,” Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn said in his keynote speech on Thursday. “We’re now competing on introducing new breakthrough technologies.”
Nissan, its massive booth right next to BlackBerry’s in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Centre, used this year’s show – which wrapped up yesterday – to unveil its long-term plan for self-driving cars. The Japanese company plans to have 10 vehicle models with self-driving functions by 2020, with autonomy coming in four phases.
The first phase, already under way, equips vehicles with ProPilot, a feature that lets cars drive themselves in a single motor-way lane. Phase two, which will allow for self-driving across multiple lanes, is due next year, while phase three will add auto-nomous city driving by 2020. The fourth and final phase, whose timeline the company won’t commit to yet, is full auto-nomy.
“The prototype is ready and it works perfectly well,” Mr Ghosn said in a round-table discussion with journalists after his speech. “This is ready today, but mass market is a completely different story.”
Other car makers also unveiled self-driving plans at CES with varying degrees of ambition. Ford, for example, wants to have vehicles without steering wheels or brake pedals on the roads by 2021, while BMW doesn’t expect fully autonomous vehicles until around 2030.
Faraday Future, a US-based start-up funded by Chinese billionaire Jia Yueting, kicked off this year’s show with a demonstration of its production-ready FF91 – an electric vehicle that will be able to find its own parking space.
The company spent much of 2016 mired in controversy, including delays at its Nevada plant because of funding shortfalls from its mysterious founder, but it’s part of a wave of new upstarts – including Tesla and Uber – that are pushing the old guard towards autonomy and vehicle electrification and connectivity.
Numerous studies are also now predicting that self-driving vehicles will take over large swaths of human jobs, replacing taxi and lorry drivers.
Nissan’s strategy, however, suggests at least one new category could arise with increased automation. The company plans to keep humans involved even with full self-driving, with remote operators taking over for robot cars that encounter problems they can’t independently solve.
Using satellite imagery and the car’s own cameras and sensors, human operators could plot routes around unexpected obstacles – construction zones or accidents, for example – much like air-traffic controllers do with planes.
That could make for an entirely new class of jobs while at the same time alleviating car occupants from having to actually drive.
“Show me an autonomous system without a human in the loop and I’ll show you a system that is useless,” said Nissan research director Maarten Sierhuis during the company’s keynote. “The world is simply too complex.”
It’s a great explanation for why, despite all the progress of the past decade, there’s still that big red button to push.
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Company%20Profile
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday
Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)
Valencia v Levante (midnight)
Saturday
Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)
Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)
Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)
Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)
Sunday
Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)
Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)
Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)
End of free parking
- paid-for parking will be rolled across Abu Dhabi island on August 18
- drivers will have three working weeks leeway before fines are issued
- areas that are currently free to park - around Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Maqta Bridge, Mussaffah Bridge and the Corniche - will now require a ticket
- villa residents will need a permit to park outside their home. One vehicle is Dh800 and a second is Dh1,200.
- The penalty for failing to pay for a ticket after 10 minutes will be Dh200
- Parking on a patch of sand will incur a fine of Dh300
The specs
Price, base / as tested Dh135,000
Engine 1.6L turbo
Gearbox Six speed automatic with manual and sports mode
Power 165hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 240Nm @ 1,400rpm 0-100kph: 9.2 seconds
Top speed 420 kph (governed)
Fuel economy, combined 35.2L / 100km (est)
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
TOURNAMENT INFO
Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier
Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
The top two teams will qualify to play at the World T20 in the West Indies in November
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Ticket prices
- Golden circle - Dh995
- Floor Standing - Dh495
- Lower Bowl Platinum - Dh95
- Lower Bowl premium - Dh795
- Lower Bowl Plus - Dh695
- Lower Bowl Standard- Dh595
- Upper Bowl Premium - Dh395
- Upper Bowl standard - Dh295
Bio
Born in Dibba, Sharjah in 1972.
He is the eldest among 11 brothers and sisters.
He was educated in Sharjah schools and is a graduate of UAE University in Al Ain.
He has written poetry for 30 years and has had work published in local newspapers.
He likes all kinds of adventure movies that relate to his work.
His dream is a safe and preserved environment for all humankind.
His favourite book is The Quran, and 'Maze of Innovation and Creativity', written by his brother.
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Yuval Noah Harari, Jonathan Cape
Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani
Rating: 4/5
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
RESULTS
5pm: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Racing Festival Purebred Arabian Cup Conditions (PA) Dh 200,000 (Turf) 1,600m
Winner: Hameem, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Abdallah Al Hammadi (trainer)
5.30pm: Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Cup Conditions (PA) Dh 200,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner: Winked, Connor Beasley, Abdallah Al Hammadi
6pm: Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan National Day Cup Listed (TB) Dh 380,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner: Boerhan, Ryan Curatolo, Nicholas Bachalard
6.30pm: Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan National Day Group 3 (PA) Dh 500,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner: AF Alwajel, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
7pm: Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan National Day Jewel Crown Group 1 (PA) Dh 5,000,000 (T) 2,200m
Winner: Messi, Pat Dobbs, Timo Keersmaekers
7.30pm: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Racing Festival Handicap (PA) Dh 150,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: Harrab, Ryan Curatolo, Jean de Roualle
8pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh 100,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: AF Alareeq, Connor Beasley, Ahmed Al Mehairbi
Tips for avoiding trouble online
- Do not post incorrect information and beware of fake news
- Do not publish or repost racist or hate speech, yours or anyone else’s
- Do not incite violence and be careful how to phrase what you want to say
- Do not defame anyone. Have a difference of opinion with someone? Don’t attack them on social media
- Do not forget your children and monitor their online activities
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Kathryn Hawkes of House of Hawkes on being a good guest (because we’ve all had bad ones)
- Arrive with a thank you gift, or make sure you have one for your host by the time you leave.
- Offer to buy groceries, cook them a meal or take your hosts out for dinner.
- Help out around the house.
- Entertain yourself so that your hosts don’t feel that they constantly need to.
- Leave no trace of your stay – if you’ve borrowed a book, return it to where you found it.
- Offer to strip the bed before you go.
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
Last five meetings
2013: South Korea 0-2 Brazil
2002: South Korea 2-3 Brazil
1999: South Korea 1-0 Brazil
1997: South Korea 1-2 Brazil
1995: South Korea 0-1 Brazil
Note: All friendlies
The bio
Favourite food: Japanese
Favourite car: Lamborghini
Favourite hobby: Football
Favourite quote: If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough
Favourite country: UAE
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Company%20Profile
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
