Month: January 2017

Video shot and edited by Jennifer Hahn. (video link)

DETROIT—Volvo is among the leaders of the pack of automakers when it comes to autonomous driving. The various advanced driver assists in its current XC90 and S90 are some of the best we've tested, and the carmaker recently linked up with Uber to develop redundant systems in self-driving cars. But before there was the Uber collaboration, there was Drive Me, a multiyear research program that the company will use to look at how it, as a car maker, can contribute to a "sustainable society." In the video above, we speak to Trent Victor, senior technical leader of crash avoidance at Volvo, about the program.

Volvo chose this year's North American International Auto Show to hand over the first set of keys in the Drive Me program. It's in the process of recruiting 100 families in Gothenburg, Sweden, but the first lucky family is the Hains. Over the next few years, the Hains and the other participating families will be testing out a number of different research vehicles like the XC90 SUV seen in the video. In addition to testing out new iterations of self-driving systems, the vehicles will also be fitted with sensors and data loggers in the cabin to monitor the occupants.

Enlarge / Lol at Bowser's tiny iPhone.

After Nintendo's major Switch system event on Thursday, the game maker quietly published a cute, Bowser-filled video that unveiled a first for the company--and, honestly, for any game console: an app designed to track and control how the system is used.

This app, uncreatively named Nintendo Switch Parental Controls, is clearly targeted at parents who have kids playing the new home-portable hybrid. The app-reveal video, which Nintendo has published at its "Nintendo Switch family fun" page, shows an animated 3D Bowser grimacing and growling at the Bowser Jr. character while a narrator explains how the Parental Controls app, coming to iOS and Android, will let parents keep tabs on kids' play.

Enlarge / On March 4, 2016, SpaceX launched the SES-9 satellite on its Falcon 9 rocket from Florida. (credit: SpaceX)

A privately held company, SpaceX has kept its finances largely shrouded from public view since its founding nearly 15 years ago. But now the Wall Street Journal has obtained financial documents that provide a revealing look at the company's successes—and struggles—as it has sought to remake the global launch industry this decade.

The report, which reviewed finances for the company from 2011 through 2015, shows SpaceX made a modest profit until its catastrophic accident in 2015, when a Falcon 9 rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station exploded during its ascent to orbit. Despite revenues of nearly $1 billion in 2015, the company lost $260 million, the newspaper reported. Financial results for 2016, when SpaceX lost another rocket on the pad during a static fire test, were not available but are likely to be similarly grim.

Beyond the financial data, the documents also provide some detail about the plans company founder Elon Musk has for growth in his rocket launch business—and beyond. Musk, who still retains 54 percent of the company's ownership, has targeted 27 launches for 2017, and projects the company will launch 52 rockets by the year 2019.