Genesis dealership count triples
Genesis now has 35 exclusive storefronts across the U.S., helping to edge the premium brand away from mainstream Hyundai.
How to know if your car is tracking you, risking higher insurance
By Isabel Contreras | NerdWallet
A recent New York Times investigation revealed some automakers sell data on driving behavior, like speeding, hard breaking and late night driving, which can then be purchased by car insurers. This data, known as “telematics” data, could be used to price already high auto insurance rates for the drivers of those vehicle models.
Car insurance companies already use telematics data in their pay-per-mile and telematics programs. Good driving behavior can result in discounts and perks, while bad driving behavior can mean increased rates or even dropped coverage. Customers sign up for these programs likely with the understanding that they are giving up their driving data, since they must either download an app or install a telematics device in their car in order to participate.
But the New York Times investigation found instances where drivers were unknowingly tracked by their car, and their driving behavior was sold and led to increases in their auto insurance premiums. Here’s what to know.
The self-driving industry fumbled away public trust. Now it seeks a remedy
With a backlash brimming, the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association is seeking to regain trust in self-driving technology. Only 9 percent of U.S. consumers tell AAA they trust the tech.
New device could identify which babies will struggle with breastfeeding
Doctors traditionally use a finger to gauge how well a baby suckles, but researchers at UC San Diego have come up with a new way to more precisely measure just how well each child gets the job done.
Led by engineer James Friend, a team in the university’s Medically Advanced Devices Laboratory rigged up a “non-nutritive suckling system” by connecting a digital vacuum sensor to an ordinary disposable pacifier, allowing for 60 seconds of real-time continuous measurement.
“We establish normative data for the mean suck vacuum, maximum suck vacuum, suckling frequency, burst duration, sucks per burst, and vacuum signal shape,” the authors said, noting that sophisticated statistical analysis and even machine learning, a fundamental method of what many call artificial intelligence, was brought to bear to sift patterns from the analysis of 91 babies measured with the device.
Some might wonder, what’s the point? Why so much focus on measuring and analyzing the most basic of human reflexes?
NASA announces another delay to Boeing Starliner launch
The first crewed flight for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner will have to wait a little bit longer but is still targeting a May launch. The mission is now slated for no earlier than May 21 at 4:43 p.m, NASA revealed Tuesday.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were sitting in the capsule last week atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 with just two hours to go before launch.
Issues with a valve on the ULA rocket forced a scrub of that launch attempt and a rollback of the rocket from the pad to change the valve, pushing the launch date to what was supposed to be as early as this Friday.
NASA said the valve issue on the ULA rocket’s upper Centaur stage was resolved, but Boeing teams found a new issue on the Starliner spacecraft itself.
“Starliner teams are working to resolve a small helium leak detected in the spacecraft’s service module traced to a flange on a single reaction control system thruster,” according to a NASA press release. “Helium is used in spacecraft thruster systems to allow the thrusters to fire and is not combustible or toxic.”