Tuesday, December 23, 2014
U.S. Economy Grew By 5% in Third Quarter of 2014
The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported a real surprise for us this morning (12/23/2014). The first growth estimate as reported by the BEA for the third quarter was 3.5%. Then on the second estimate for third quarter growth they reported that the economy grew in real terms by 3.9%. Then this morning they released their third estimate for third quarter GDP growth at 5%. This is really good news. It will be interesting to see the first estimate for 4th quarter growth, when it is released in late January 2015.
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
BMW Made A Car That Parks Itself By Talking To Your Watch
BMW Made A Car That Parks Itself By Talking To Your Watch
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BMW is back at CES next month with a self-driving i3 that finds a space in a multi-story car lot, parks itself, and comes back to the driver when summoned through a smartwatch app. And it doesn't even need GPS.
The i3 research vehicle does something similar to what Audi showed off two years ago, but unlike the self-parking A7 that used a combination of onboard sensors and beacons to traverse the garage, BMW takes it a step further.
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BMW modified the i3 with four laser sensors that provide a 360-degree view of what's around the car, navigating around other vehicles, columns, and pedestrians, sans-driver. It then finds an available space, parks, locks itself, and waits for the driver to call it through a voice command on their smartwatch.
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But like Audi's system from 2013, there's a rub. The Remote Valet Parking Assistant needs a digital map of the parking garage to navigate safely. BMW touts it as a way to ditch unreliable GPS in a car park, but it's just another part of a larger infrastructure puzzle that's going to be difficult to work out before these self-parking systems come online.
Sure, it's no self-drifting 1-series, but it's helluva lot more useful.
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