Waymo is working on autonomous Ram ProMaster Vans for goods deliveries

FCA was Waymo’s first OEM partner in 2016, deal will continue post-merger with PSA.

Could the stereotype of "<a href=white van man" come to an end once Waymo integrates its tech into the Ram ProMaster van?"/>

Enlarge / Could the stereotype of "white van man" come to an end once Waymo integrates its tech into the Ram ProMaster van? (credit: FCA)

Late on Tuesday night, Waymo and Fiat Chryler Automobiles announced that they are strengthening the partnership between the two companies that began back in 2016. Waymo will be FCA's sole autonomous driving technology partner for developing so-called L4 (geofenced or otherwise operational design domain-limited autonomous driving) technology. Additionally, Waymo and FCA are going to develop autonomous Ram ProMaster commercial vans for driverless deliveries.

"With this next step, deepening our relationship with the very best technology partner in this space, we’re turning to the needs of our commercial customers by jointly enabling self-driving for light commercial vehicles, starting with the Ram ProMaster. Adding Waymo’s commitment to partner with us to deploy its L4 fully autonomous technology across our entire product portfolio, our partnership is setting the pace for the safe and sustainable mobility solutions that will help define the automotive world in the years and decades to come,” said FCA CEO Mike Manley in a statement.

"FCA was our first OEM partner and we’ve come a long way together. Today, we’re expanding our partnership with FCA with the Waymo Driver as the exclusive L4 autonomy solution for this global automotive company. Together, we’ll introduce the Waymo Driver throughout the FCA brand portfolio, opening up new frontiers for ride-hailing, commercial delivery and personal-use vehicles around the world,” said Waymo CEO John Krafcik.

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China set to launch an ambitious lander mission to Mars

China copies NASA description of landing as “seven minutes of terror.”

On July 17, 2020, a Long March 5 rocket rolls out for the launch of a Mars rover this week.

Enlarge / On July 17, 2020, a Long March 5 rocket rolls out for the launch of a Mars rover this week. (credit: STR/AFP via Getty Images)

On Sunday, an orbiter built by the United Arab Emirates launched to Mars. Next week, possibly as early as Thursday, July 30, NASA will launch is large, 1.05-ton Perseverance rover toward the red planet.

Sandwiched in between these to missions, however, is China's first interplanetary spacecraft. With its ambitious Tianwen 1 mission, China will attempt to orbit and land on Mars on its first attempt, subsequently deploying a rover. This is significant, because the typical mode of exploration is to first flyby a new world, then enter orbit, and only then send a spacecraft to land and potentially rove around.

China has the benefit of learning from NASA's exploration of the red planet, of course. Even before Perseverance, NASA has landed eight spacecraft successfully on the surface of Mars over a period of decades.

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Strafanzeigen wegen Regierungskritik in Griechenland

Kritische Äußerungen im Internet werden verfolgt. Journalisten stehen unter Druck. Alles, was sie sagen oder schreiben, kann gegen sie verwendet werden

Kritische Äußerungen im Internet werden verfolgt. Journalisten stehen unter Druck. Alles, was sie sagen oder schreiben, kann gegen sie verwendet werden

Videoportal: Twitch erweitert um Profisport

Real Madrid und Arsenal London sind schon auf Twitch, weitere Fußballvereine folgen – ab sofort in einer eigenen Hauptkategorie. (Twitch, Amazon)

Real Madrid und Arsenal London sind schon auf Twitch, weitere Fußballvereine folgen - ab sofort in einer eigenen Hauptkategorie. (Twitch, Amazon)

Legion Phone Duel: Lenovo bringt schnelles Gaming-Smartphone nach Deutschland

Nach Jahren wird es in Deutschland wieder ein Smartphone unter Lenovos eigenem Namen geben: Das Legion Phone Duel kommt mit starker Hardware und richtet sich an Gamer. (Lenovo, Smartphone)

Nach Jahren wird es in Deutschland wieder ein Smartphone unter Lenovos eigenem Namen geben: Das Legion Phone Duel kommt mit starker Hardware und richtet sich an Gamer. (Lenovo, Smartphone)

Warning for Twitter Users in Japan Following Supreme Court Copyright Ruling

Twitter users in Japan are facing uncertainty after the Supreme Court ruled that people who retweet copyright-infringing images can have their details passed to copyright holders. The case centered around the posting of an image that was posted to Twitter without permission and was then retweeted in an automatically cropped format.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Twitter PirateWith more than 330 million active users, Twitter is a true internet giant that gives anyone with an internet connection and an account to have their say on whatever they like.

Whether insightful, provocative, or even thoughtless, the overwhelming majority of tweets cause no legal issues. Every now and again, however, cases can attract the attention of lawyers who believe their clients’ rights have been breached.

Of course, copyright infringement is one of the most common issues and a case in Japan has put Twitter users on notice, not only concerning what they post to the platform but also what they can safely retweet to others.

The controversy began in 2014 when a photographer found that one of his images featuring a lily had been copied from his website and posted to Twitter without his permission. Additionally, he found that other users had retweeted the image from their own accounts. A Twitter feature meant that the retweeted images were cropped, removing the photographer’s name.

The photographer wanted to discover not only the identity of the original poster but also the retweeters so took the matter to court. The Tokyo District Court found that the original posting of the image infringed the photographer’s copyright but dismissed the claims against the retweeters.

Dissatisfied with the decision, the photographer took his case to the High Court handling intellectual property matters. That court agreed with the lower court that the original image posting had breached the photographer’s copyright. In respect of the retweeters, however, the High Court found they had violated the photographer’s moral rights, due to the Twitter cropping feature that removed his name, identifying him as the creator of the photograph.

As a result, the High Court ordered Twitter to hand over the email addresses not only of the original poster but also those of three other Twitter users who retweeted the image.

Twitter appealed the decision to the Supreme Court and essentially took responsibility for the cropping of the images, a feature that wasn’t under the control of its users. The company argued that any decision against them could have a chilling effect on its platform. The arguments fell on deaf ears.

In a decision handed down yesterday, the Supreme Court ordered Twitter to hand over the email addresses of the three retweeters after finding that the photographer’s rights were indeed infringed when Twitter’s cropping tool removed his identifying information.

Four out of five judges on the bench sided with the photographer, with Justice Hayashi dissenting. He argued that ruling in favor of the plaintiff would put Twitter users in the position of having to verify every piece of content was non-infringing before retweeting. The other judges said that despite these problems, the law must be upheld as it is for content published on other platforms.

“Twitter has 45 million users in Japan. It is hoped that the company will take action,” Presiding Justice Saburo Tokura said, as reported by Japan Times.

What the photographer will do with the emails addresses of the Twitter users is unclear but given the legal action undertaken thus far, it seems somewhat likely that similar could follow against the infringers.

Perhaps more importantly, around 45 million Twitter users in the country, most of whom won’t have heard about the case, will now be exposed to action, if they don’t take precautions over what they retweet. There is a possiblity that Twitter itself will find a solution but the company is yet to make an announcement.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.