NYC’s First Self-Driving Shuttle Service Optimus Ride Commences

This week NYC’s first-ever autonomous vehicle shuttle service began operation in Brooklyn. Known as Optimus Ride, the organization features a half-dozen, six-passenger electric vehicles. Running on a continuous loop, the shuttles trek 1.1 miles from the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the New York City Ferry dock on the East River. They aim to service 500 passengers per day from the compound which houses 400 companies and …

Audi’s Skateboard-like e-tron Electric Scooter

With a range of 12.5 miles and a max speed of 12.5mph, Audi’s concept electric scooter, the e-tron, rides like a skateboard—with users controlling the 26-pound vehicle by shifting their weight. That said, a handlebar grants one-handed use and also solves a problem with scooters: user inability to deliver hand signals. It will be priced at €2,000 upon release in 2020 and comes with several …

AlterEgo Listens to the Voices in Your Head

24-year-old inventor Arnav Kapur’s wearable device AlterEgo, which we previewed during this year’s Ted Fellows announcement, aims to assist people with communication problems by reading the voices in their head. According to Smithsonian Magazine, the technology does so through “a system of sensors that detects the minuscule neuromuscular signals sent by the brain to the vocal cords and muscles of the throat and tongue.” These …