Month: February 2021

Enlarge (credit: Aurora)

Autonomous driving startup Aurora announced on Tuesday that it has scored a partnership with Toyota to build self-driving taxis based on the Toyota Sienna minivan. Aurora says it's aiming to have a fleet of Sienna prototypes ready for testing on public roads by the end of the year. Denso, a major Japanese auto parts manufacturer, will also contribute to the project.

It's a significant win for Aurora, which has struggled to figure out its business model in a fast-changing industry. A couple of years ago, Aurora's plan was to supply self-driving software and sensors to auto-making incumbents. The company had a partnership with Volkswagen that was supposed to lead to Aurora's technology being incorporated into Volkswagen's vehicles, with plans to launch a self-driving taxi service. But the two companies parted ways in 2019, calling Aurora's strategy into question. Aurora did sign an investment deal with Hyundai around the same time, but they've said little about that relationship since then.

Later in 2019, Aurora pivoted to long-haul trucking as the first application for its self-driving technology. Some consider trucking to be an attractive market for a self-driving startup because freeways are a relatively simple environment for software to understand. Last month, Aurora announced a partnership with truck maker PACCAR to build self-driving semi trucks.

Enlarge / Retiring Sen. Richard C. Shelby, R-Ala. (credit: Scott J. Ferrell | Getty Images)

Nearly two years ago then-NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine made a remarkable appearance before a Senate committee to discuss US leadership in space. He was feeling the pressure to keep deadlines—something NASA struggles to do given the scope and complexity of its projects. At the top of Bridenstine's mind was remaining on track for a June 2020 launch of an uncrewed Orion spacecraft to the Moon.

"I think we as an agency need to stick to our commitment," he told a handful of senators in the committee meeting. "If we tell you, and others, that we’re going to launch in June of 2020 around the Moon, I think we should launch around the Moon in June of 2020." Then, referencing the commercial space industry, he added, "We have amazing capability that exists right now that we can use off-the-shelf in order to accomplish this objective."

This may not sound too dramatic, but in the realm of space policy and Congressional hearings, this was heresy. Congress had created the Space Launch System rocket in 2011, and forced it upon an unwilling White House. Now, they were being told the space agency did not actually need the large rocket to fly the very missions it was created for. Days later, Bridenstine took this heresy further when he suggested SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket could boost humans to the Moon.

Enlarge / How would Johnny Silverhand deal with this ransomware threat?

Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red announced that it has "become the victim of a targeted cyberattack" that allegedly exposed the source code for many of its games.

In a message the developer shared on Twitter Tuesday morning, the hackers allege that they stole the closely guarded source code for Cyberpunk 2077, Gwent, and The Witcher 3 (including an unreleased prototype of the last). Documents "relating to accounting, administration, legal, HR, investors relations and more" were also allegedly compromised.

While the hackers apparently used ransomware software to lock CDPR out of certain parts of its systems, the company says it should be able to restore access to the data through backups. The company also remained defiant in the face of a ransom demand of an unspecified amount, saying it wouldn't negotiate, despite a threat to release the stolen data. "We will not give in to the demands nor negotiate with the actor, being aware that this may eventually lead to the release of the compromised data," the company wrote. The demand came with a 48-hour deadline.