Uber has launched public robotaxi rides in Las Vegas using Motional's Hyundai Ioniq 5 autonomous EVs with the aim of offering a full driverless service to the public in 2023. It will eventually expand to Los Angeles, where the two companies have been testing autonomous Uber Eats deliveries since May 2022. It's all part of a 10-year agreement between Uber and Motional to offer autonomous ride-hailing and deliveries. 

The taxi rides will be monitored by safety drivers, with the goal of launching a fully driverless service to the public in 2023. "Today, Motional becomes the first AV company to conduct all-electric autonomous rides on the Uber network for public passengers," said Motional VP Akshay Jaising. (Uber offered "autonomous" taxi rides using its own self-driving tech back in 2016, but riders were accompanied by engineers ready to take the wheel.) 

Lyft also partners with Motional, a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv. It beat Uber to the punch by launching Motional rides in Las Vegas in August this year with safety drivers on board. Lyft has also said it will ditch those drivers and offer true autonomous service by next year. 

Don't be surprised if that timeline changes, though. Apart from Motional, only Alphabet division Waymo and GM's Cruise are offering true driverless services at a reasonably large scale. The Waymo One service is operating in Phoenix and San Francisco, while Cruise rides are currently limited to San Francisco. Both operate only in specific areas of cities (which can be mapped out in great detail) and some vehicles still use safety riders.

Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick once said that the his company had to be "tied for first, at least" in the race to offer true driverless rides. Since both Uber and Lyft rely on Motional for self-driving tech, that's exactly what might happen.

The White House and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing co. (TSMC) have announced plans to build a second chip plant in Arizona, AZCentral has reported. That will boost the company's investment in the state from $12 billion to $40 billion, while heavily reducing US reliance on semiconductor imports. 

Both TSMC factories combined will produce 600,000 wafers per year. "At scale, these two [plants] could meet the entire U.S. demand for U.S. chips when they’re completed," the National Economic Council's Ronnie Chatterji told CNBC. "That’s the definition of supply chain resilience. We won’t have to rely on anyone else to make the chips we need."

The newly announced factory will produce cutting-edge 3-nanometer chips by 2026. The expansion marks one of the largest direct foreign investments in the US and the largest in Arizona. TSMC recently upgraded its plans at its first facility as well, announcing it will now manufacture 4-nanometer instead of 5-nanometer wafers. The first chips are set to be manufactured there starting in 2024, with Apple and NVIDIA reportedly among the first customers. 

The CHIPS and Science Act allotted $52.7 billion in loans and other incentives, plus billions more in tax credits, to encourage US semiconductor manufacturing investment. The legislation aims to boost private financing in chip manufacturing in the US.

President Joe Biden is set to visit the site of TSMC's first plant later today, but the White House announced other related news yesterday. The US Department of Commerce and the European Commission are striking a deal to implement an "early warning mechanism" related to semiconductor chain disruptions following a pilot program last summer. The aim is to improve forecasting of semiconductor supply and demand to achieve a balance between the two.

At the same time, the EU and US are implementing a "transparency" mechanism around public support provided to the chip sector. In other words, one side won't blindside the other with unexpected semiconductor subsidies that could put either at a competitive disadvantage. A similar issue came up during a recent visit by French President Macron, as EU leaders complained that the US Inflation Reduction Act was unfair to non-American companies. 

After launching it in the US earlier this year, Apple's Self Service Repair program has arrived in eight European countries. Customers there will be able to perform many of the most common fixes on the iPhone 12 an iPhone 13 lineups, along with MacBooks with Apple silicon (not Intel models). "The Self Service Repair Store provides access to more than 200 individual parts and tools, as well as repair manuals," Apple said in a press release. 

Spare parts and tools can be purchased at Apple's Self Service repair store in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. Apple said that they're the same ones, at the same prices, as those available to authorized repair providers. If you'd rather not purchase a tool for a one-time repair, you can rent a kit for a week at £54.90. Customers can send back replaced parts for refurbishment and recycling and potentially receive a credit.

A few examples of part prices include a battery module for £70.78 (€77.04), a display module for £282.28 (€327.11) and a camera module for £168.55 (€192.76). A lot of tools are required for an iPhone 13 repair, including a battery press, display press, adhesive cutter, various torque drivers and a magnetizer (among others), so the rental seems like a good solution. Also, it goes without saying that you should feel confident doing relatively complex repair jobs.

Apple

It's a good option for folks who may be far from an authorized Apple repair center. At the same time, you may want to compare the price of the parts, tool rental and your own time with the cost of a professional repair from Apple or a third party. 

"We believe the best technology for our customers and for the planet is technology that lasts, which is why we design our products to be durable and rarely require maintenance or repair," said Apple COO Jeff Williams. "But when a repair is needed, we want customers to have many options for safe, reliable, and secure repair."

That's well and good, but Apple was essentially forced into this position by right-to-repair rules both in the United States and Europe. The EU also wants you to be able to go back more than two generations for repairs. It recently proposed new rules that would require 15 components (batteries, displays, chargers, etc.) to be available for at least five years after a phone is released in the EU — or back to the iPhone X, in Apple's case. 

The EU also passed a law requiring USB-C charging for mobile devices by the end of 2024, meaning that Apple will have to eliminate its Lightning connector on iPhones by that time. The law represents an effort to eliminate e-waste in the form of cables, since even owning two Apple devices (an iPad Pro and an iPhone) requires two separate cables. 

Waze is France's most popular navigation app, to the point that it was recently updated with three regional accents (Toulouse, Provençal and ch'ti). So it makes sense that Waze elected to partner with French automaker Renault to launch a new, dedicated version of the app for cars. It's available on infotainment systems via Google integration, starting with the Austral Hybrid and Megane E-Tech EV. 

To be clear, it's already possible to use Waze on Android Auto by installing it as an app from your smartphone. What's different is that Renault drivers can now install the app directly to the infotainment system and use it without the need for a mobile device.

"When you drive, you can experience safer and more convenient journeys while eliminating the hassle of using a smartphone," Waze wrote on its blog. "With this new experience, Renault drivers will have all Waze real-time routing, navigation and alerts, plus settings, preferences and saved places, built into their car display."

Renault's latest multimedia system supports CarPlay and Android Auto wirelessly and has a number of apps like Google Maps and Spotify pre-installed — with no need to connect your phone for those apps. You can install Waze either from the Play store in the above vehicles' infotainment systems, or from Renault's dedicated app. 

Waze appears set to expand to other vehicles and brands, saying it's "looking forward to bringing this excellent driving experience to more users across the globe in 2023." So if you prefer Waze to Google Maps and have a car that supports Android Auto, you may be able to switch soon. 

If you've been waiting for a deal on Samsung's 4K Smart Monitor M8 as a good business, content creation and even entertainment monitor, now is the time to act. Just ahead of the holidays, it's on sale at its lowest price ever of $400 in multiple colors, both at Amazon and Samsung's online store. 

As a computer display, the Smart Monitor M8 offers UHD (3,840 x 2,160) resolution at up to 60Hz, along with HDR10+. The VA panel offers a decently bright at 400 nits, a 4-millisecond response time and up to a billion colors, with 99 percent sRGB coverage. Input-wise, you get USB-C and Micro HDMI 2.0 inputs, along with a USB-C charging interface. Finally, it has a detachable SlimFit Cam for video calls, making it a solid choice for work or light content creation.

Other features include the ability to change the angle and position with the high-adjustable stand, along with a game bar that makes it easy to switch between cloud services. And with Samsung TV Plus and Alexa built in, you can watch streaming content, play games and even do work activities without the need to be plugged into a PC. Normally the white model sells for $700 and the color models for $730, so you get a $300 off (43 percent) on the former and $330 (45 percent) on the latter.

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After sticking to markets in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, smartphone company Nothing may launch a future model in the US, founder Carl Pei told CNBC. He said that the Nothing Phone 1 isn't available stateside because the company wasn't ready to deal with the complexities of the market. "Now we are in discussions with some carriers in the US to potentially launch a future product there," he said.

As co-founder of OnePlus, Pei is well-acquainted with the US market. And Nothing does sell its Ear Stick wireless buds in the US, which makes up a third of that product's sales. "It’s definitely a market where there’s already a lot of interest for our products. And if we launch our smartphones there, I’m sure we could obtain significant growth," he said. 

However, the different US carrier bands and other issues make launching a new device complicated for a startup. "The reason why we didn’t launch in the US is because you need a lot of additional technical support, to support all the carriers and their unique customizations that they need to make on top of Android," Pei said. "We felt that we weren’t ready before."

The Nothing phone 1 has a unique, light-up transparent back, and is designed to compete in the mid-range against devices like Apple's iPhone SE. The company said it has sold 500,000 units since it launched in July, along with 600,000 of its wireless earbuds. It expects to see $250 million in revenue in 2022, over ten times what it made the year before.

However, Pei has previously said that the company has a "zero-percent margin" on the phones, due to issues like a strong US dollar and less-than-favorable terms from suppliers. "The goal is to be profitable in 2024," he said. "We are not profitable right now."

As part of its goal to have zero-emission aircraft enter service by 2035, Airbus has announced the development of a hydrogen fuel-cell engine designed to for airplanes. Unlike Rolls-Royce's recently announced jet engine that burns hydrogen directly, it would use an electric motor just like fuel-cell cars, while emitting only H20. It could eventually be employed in commercial aircraft that could carry up to 100 passengers around 1,000 nautical miles (1,150 miles), the company said.

Airbus plans to test the engine by the middle of the decade on its A380 MSN1 aircraft, "currently being modified to carry liquid hydrogen tanks," it said. However, the technology appears to be designed for smaller, regional type aircraft that use more efficient propeller, rather than jet engines. 

"Fuel cells are a potential solution to help us achieve our zero-emission ambition and we are focused on developing and testing this technology to understand if it is feasible and viable for a 2035 entry-into-service of a zero-emission aircraft," said Airbus VP for zero-emission aircraft, Glenn Llewellyn. 

The company didn't provide any more details, but fuel-cells are a well-known technology for cars. They're far less efficient than battery electric vehicles (BEVs) if you count fuel production and conversion to electricity. However, they have more range, are faster to refuel and lighter — with the latter, of course, being essential for aircraft.  

As mentioned, Rolls-Royce just announced the successful test of a jet engine powered by burning hydrogen directly, another possible technology for future air transport. The company converted a Rolls-Royce AE 2100-A, a regional aircraft engine used in turboprop commuter planes, to work with the novel fuel source. However, the tech could theoretically be scaled up for larger planes.

There are still some major hurdles to overcome before hydrogen could ever be used to power airplanes. It takes four times as much hydrogen as regular fuel by weight for the same range, and the fuel must be kept under pressure. And of course, hydrogen is highly explosive, so aircraft systems for storage and distribution would need to be extremely reliable and durable — again adding weight. Still, it might be the only option available for aircraft in the near future, as battery technology is still much too heavy unless used for very short flights.

Corning's Gorilla Glass is used in a lot of high-end smartphones, and now the company is promising even tougher displays with its latest version, Victus 2. The new glass composition offers improved drop performance on rough surfaces like concrete, the company says, while offering the same scratch resistance as the original Victus.

The first Victus glass released two years ago promised that your screen could survive drops of two meters (6.5 feet), but the new version ups the ante. Corning said it aimed to create glass that was durable enough to "better survive drops from waist height onto rougher surfaces," to start with. It also noted that smartphones are 15 percent heavier and 10 percent larger than they were four years ago, which increases the stress on the display.

Corning

"In lab testing, Gorilla Glass Victus 2 survived drops of up to one meter on a surface replicating concrete," the company said, noting that competing solutions could fail at half a meter or less. At the same time, "Victus 2 continued to survive drops up to two meters on a surface replicating asphalt and maintained scratch resistance up to four times better than competitive aluminosilicate," according to Corning.

There's no word on which devices will get Victus 2 displays first, but I wouldn't go dropping one on the road to test the claims — they're based on lab tests, unlike typical random phone drop accidents. There's no doubt the screens are widely used though. Corning said that its product is "designed into more than 8 billion devices by more than 45 major brands." Apple is a major investor in the company, having poured in $250 million in investments several years ago.

Logitech's Litra Glow has been a big success since it launched early this year, giving streamers an easy way to create soft and flattering illumination for their faces. It's already quite affordable at $60, but now it has dropped back to an all-time low price of $50 on Amazon.

The Litra Glow promises to be safe on the eyes for all-day streaming, while providing a "natural, radiant look across skin tones." You also get cinematic color accuracy via Logitech's TrueSoft technology, regardless of skin tone. It's ready to use out of the box thanks to the five presets with different brightness levels and color temperatures, or you can create custom options using the G HUB software. As a bonus, any presets you create can be assigned to the G Keys on a Logitech G keyboard or mouse. 

It's now on sale for $50, matching its all-time low price. You can find other soft- and ring-style lights from Elgato and others, but most from any recognizable name brand are considerably more expensive. The Litra Glow is already a great buy with Logitech's promised color accuracy, and now Amazon's discount makes it even more affordable.

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Sony has launched an interesting product called Mocopi, consisting of six motion-tracking bands worn on your hands, feet, back and head, with a price of 49,500 yen (about $358). The aim is to let you track your body to create videos or operate avatars in real time with metaverse apps like VRChat. It even offers an SDK that lets you import motion data into 3D animation apps. 

Apparently a play on the term "mocap," (motion capture) Mocopi's six color-coded, lightweight motion sensors use "proprietary technology and a smartphone" with a dedicated app, according to Sony. "Normally, video production using motion capture requires dedicated equipment and operators," Sony wrote. "By utilizing our proprietary algorithm, 'Mocopi' realizes highly accurate motion measurement with a small number of sensors, freeing VTubers [virtual YouTubers] and creators involved in movie and animation production from time and place constraints."

On December 15th, Sony will provide a software development kit (SDK) that links the motion capture data with metaverse services, along with the real-time development platform Unity and Autodesk's animation/mocap app MotionBuilder. "This SDK expands the use of motion data for activities such as full-body tracking, thereby facilitating the development of new services in areas such as the metaverse and fitness."

In a how-to video (below), Sony shows how you can pair the sensors with the app, strap them to your body and calibrate them. From there, you can start dancing or do other movements and see the in-app avatars ape your actions. A second video showcasing some avatar animations (above) looks good, but does reveal typical motion capture issues like jitter and foot sliding. 

It's an ambitious product aimed at not only people interested in the metaverse, but animation professionals and filmmakers as well. Sony notes that you can use existing VRM avatars and export recorded videos in the MP4 format, provided you have a device with iOS 15.7.1 or Android 11. Reservations are set to start in mid-December 2022 and it will go on sale in late January 2023, but there's no word yet on North American availability.