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AutoX expands robotaxi operation zone to 1,000 sq km

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Alibaba-backed AutoX, a developer of Level 4 fully autonomous cars, or “robotaxis”, now claims to operate “China’s largest autonomous driving area”.

The total area covers 1,000 square kilometers, including a 168-square-kilometer fully driverless zone. AutoX robotaxis are able to navigate all the public roads inside the 1,000 square kilometer area.

Expanding the total autonomous driving area to over 1,000 square kilometers is an important step towards making the robotic taxi service a reality in the daily lives of people in China. [Read more…] about AutoX expands robotaxi operation zone to 1,000 sq km

Consumers are willing to pay for ecosystem services

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Many consumers are willing to pay for improved environmental quality and thus non-market values of impacts of food production on, for example, water quality, C sequestration, biodiversity, pollution, erosion or GHG emissions may even be comparable to the market value of agricultural production.

Diverfarming project elucidated how consumers value agro-ecosystem services enabled by diversification and provided consumer perspectives for developing future agricultural and food policies to better support cropping diversification.

The researchers quantified consumers’ willingness to pay for the benefits of increased farm and regional scale diversity of cultivation practices and crop rotations. [Read more…] about Consumers are willing to pay for ecosystem services

Droughts longer, rainfall more erratic over the last 50 years in most of the West

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Dry periods between rainstorms have become longer and annual rainfall has become more erratic across most of the western United States during the past 50 years, according to a new study published by the US Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service and the University of Arizona.

Against the backdrop of steadily warming temperatures and decreasing total yearly rainfall, rain has been falling in fewer and sometimes larger storms, with longer dry intervals between.

Total yearly rainfall has decreased by an average of four inches over the last half century, while the longest dry period in each year increased from 20 to 32 days across the West, explained co-senior author Joel Biederman, a research hydrologist with the ARS Southwest Watershed Research Center in Tucson, Arizona. [Read more…] about Droughts longer, rainfall more erratic over the last 50 years in most of the West

Chinese robotics sector files ‘44 percent of total global patents’

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The Chinese robotics sector generated almost half of total global patents in the most recent year available, according to a new report. 

The figure was published in the Annual Report on the Development of the Robot Industry in China, jointly written by HRG International Institute of Research and Innovation as well as the China Institute of Science and Technology Evaluation.

The two organizations produced what they call the 2021 Blue Book of the Robot Industry, based on their research. [Read more…] about Chinese robotics sector files ‘44 percent of total global patents’