autonomous

The most drunk beer brands in each autonomous community of Spain, gathered on this map

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Beer does not pass through his best moment in Spain, but that does not mean that ours continues to be a country of reeds in which per capita consumption exceeds on average 50 liters. Yeah we go down to detail and we analyze what brand those rods or bottles are, however, things change from one community to another. In Galicia and the Balearic Islands Estrella Galicia reigns, in Andalusia Cruz Campo does it, in Catalonia Estrella Damm and in the Valencian Community and Cantabria Amstel. There is, however, one logo that dominates a good part of the map: Mahou. What has happened? That we have a new ‘photo’ of the beer sector in Spain. It does not show us data per capita consumptionevolution of demand or billing of the sector, but it does give us a clue about another equally interesting topic: the struggle between brands at a territorial level. He latest report ‘Brand Footprint’, prepared by Worldpanel by Numerator and published by Mahou San Miguel itself, reveals two interesting facts about the Spanish map. The first is that it remains highly segmented at a territorial level, with brands consolidated by region. The second is that, despite this diverse scenario, there is one brand that clearly leads: Mahou. Worldpanel by Numerator report. What exactly does it show? The Worldpanel by Numerator (formerly Kantar) report basically shows which brand is “the most chosen” in each autonomous community. To find out, the technicians carried out a survey with a “representative” sample of 12,500 homes spread throughout Spain, including the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands. The result, which you can see in the map that heads this post, is that Mahou leads in Asturias, Navarra, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Community of Madrid and Extremadura. And the rest of the country? It is dominated by brands that have become strong at a territorial level. Estrella Galicia stands out, for example, in Galicia and the Balearic Islands, Amstel in Cantabria and the Valencian Community, San Miguel in the Basque Country, Estrella de Levante in the Region of Murcia, Cruzcampo in Andalusia, Estrella Damm in Catalonia, Ambar in Aragon and Cerveza Tropical in the Canary Islands. The question remains as to what is happening in La Rioja. There the sample did not allow the authors of the report to reach a clear conclusion. It is not a bad balance for Mahou, who wanted to emphasize that the Worldpanel study proves that the brand has strengthened its presence “throughout the national territory” and maintains leadership in half a dozen regions. If compared with the 2025 study The firm loses the leadership of Cantabria in favor of Amstel and takes over Navarra, a territory that San Miguel controlled last year. The Madrid company also boasts of the weight of its brand in the shopping basket, establishing itself as one of the most popular in its branch. But… And Galicia star? The Worldpanel by Numerator map may catch your attention if you remember another on the same topic published in September and produced by Data Centric. It showed a ‘photograph’ quite differentwith Mahou based mainly in the Community of Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha and Estrella Galicia monopolizing Galicia, Asturias, Castilla y León, Extremadura, Cantabria, the Basque Country, Navarra, La Rioja, the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands and Melilla. What is the reason for this difference? To focus. Because? Although both reports are based on a quantitatively similar sample (DataCentric conducts 14,053 digital surveys), they do not seek exactly the same thing. The Worldpanel study points to “the most chosen beer” by Spaniards. DataCentric “favorite brands”. In his report he states in fact that the Hijos de Rivera brand receives “42% of the votes” compared to 14% for Mahou and leaves behind a reflection: despite how well positioned both Estrella Galicia and Alhambra are in their ranking, this status of “favorite brands” does not then translate to sales. “Both have significantly lower positions.” If we look at billing, for example, the business ranking of theEconomist shows that Mahou is in the lead, followed by Damm, Heineken and in fourth position Hijos de Rivera, the parent company of Estrella Galicia or 1906. In general, both the DataCentric and Worldpanel reports should be taken for what they are: studies with their strengths and weaknesses that help to better understand a sector that faces a challenging landscape. Although Spain is one of the EU countries that consume more beerthe industry deals with a youth that is changing their consumption habits and approach to alcohol and a market in which they are gaining more and more strength ‘without’ drinks. Via | DAP Image | Mahou-San Miguel In Xataka | Young people are stopping drinking beer like crazy. That’s why Mahou wants to sell you water as cosmetics

UK eyes a “hybrid navy” for the future. Navantia already has an autonomous proposal: the LASV75

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The classic image of a navy is still easy to recognize: large ships, large crews and long campaigns far from port. But the future that is being drawn around the Royal Navy adds another layer. It is no longer just a matter of building larger or more sophisticated ships, but of combining them with autonomous platforms designed to take on specific missions alongside them. That’s where it comes in Navantia UKthe British subsidiary of the Spanish Navantia, with the LASV75: a proposal for that “hybrid marine” that the United Kingdom wants to explore. The concept appeared on the scene in the Farnborough Combined Naval Eventan event for the naval sector held in the United Kingdom. According to Navantia, the LASV75 has been designed in the country and is framed in a very specific idea: combining manned warships with unmanned escorts and autonomous technologies, including drones. The announcement also comes after the British subsidiary to complete the acquisition of Harland & Wolff assetsa movement with which it has reinforced its industrial presence beyond Spain. LASV75 is, in essence, a large autonomous ship surface conceived from the beginning to operate without a crew. Naval News details that the concept is based on a 75-meter modular hull and a displacement of more than 1,000 tons, a scale that distances it from the idea of ​​a small naval drone. The company proposes it as a platform capable of accompanying conventional ships, acting as escort or serving as support in broader operations. The key is that it is not born as an adapted boat, but as a design thought from the keel to function without personnel on board. A proposal for a navy with manned ships and autonomous escorts The usefulness of the LASV75 is not understood as that of a vessel specialized in a single task, but as that of a platform that changes depending on what it carries. It will be prepared for possible missions such as surveillance, escort, electronic warfare and attack-related operations, always linked to the installed payload. This precision helps us not to oversize the concept: it is not that the ship can do everything by itself from day one, but that Navantia UK presents it as a modular base for different missions. The promise is in that capacity for reconfiguration. Thinking about an autonomous system for relatively controlled waters is not the same as thinking about a platform capable of sustain presence in tough scenarios. Simon Jones summed it up at Farnborough with the example of the North Atlantic: to have a persistent and credible capability in severe cold conditions, you think you need something of this size. The other piece of the concept is how all of those systems connect to the ship. In the mockup presented during the event, a deck prepared for different payloads, interchangeable sensors and a modular mast arrangement could be seen. Everything is designed with standard interfaces, aligned with NATO, so that the modules are as interoperable and interchangeable as possible. It is a relevant detail in an allied naval force. For a proposal like this not to remain an attractive model, something more earthly is needed: shipyards capable of manufacturing it with rhythm, precision and scale. Navantia UK is investing 157 million pounds (about 181 million euros) in its four British centers, Appledore, Arnish, Belfast and Methil, with the intention of turning them into some of the most advanced facilities in Europe. Among the improvements is an automated panel line in Belfast, designed to make large pieces of steel faster, safer and more accurately. The idea is to bring these shipyards closer to the concept Shipyard 5.0 that the company already applies in Spain. The account raised by the company is not only about technology, but also about manufacturing. If, as Navantia suggests, an unmanned vessel can be built at a significantly lower cost than a conventional one and, furthermore, be produced with a certain amount of repetition, it fits better in a navy that seeks to increase its presence without multiplying human and industrial costs. The company adds to this logic a specific objective: to reduce the usual design and construction times of large naval vessels by up to 30%. So we are looking at a ship with a date of entry into service? Not really. What Navantia UK has taught It’s a concepta proposal to enter a conversation that is already open: what navies will be like when large manned ships have to coexist with autonomous escorts, interchangeable sensors and platforms designed and built with shorter deadlines. There the company plays a double card: the accumulated experience of a Spanish group with programs such as the F-100 frigates and the S-80 submarines, and a British industrial base that wants to gain weight in the future hybrid navy. Images | Navantia In Xataka | Four years ago, Spain was left without an essential weapon for war. Airbus is rebuilding it in Seville

Neither Robotaxi nor Cybercab. Elon Musk is having a hard time naming his autonomous taxi, and now it’s French sparkling water to blame

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It will soon be a year since Tesla’s first autonomous taxis began to roll And to this day the creature still does not have an official name. AND not because Elon Musk hasn’t tried. First it ran into the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and now it has been a French sparkling water company. rookie mistake. Tesla may have the technology of the future rolling on the streets, but when it held the ‘We, Robot’ event in 2024 in which it presented the Cybercab, it forgot a small detail: it announced the name without having officially registered the brand. This is where Unibev comes into play, a French beverage company, which saw the perfect opportunity to troll the richest man in the world. The patent troll. What Unibev did is a clear case of patent thief (or troll, as they would say in ‘Silicon Valley’). Taking advantage of Tesla’s oversight, six days after the announcement, the company registered the name Cybercab and it doesn’t seem like it’s because they want to call their sparkling water that way, but rather to simply be annoying. The company already had a history of trolling Musk and in addition to Cybercab they also registered Cybertaxi, Robocab Systems, XCab, Cyber ​​Diner, Teslaquila, Teslaquila Hard Seltzer and With a Touch of Musk. Some horny ones. The answer. The USPTO suspended Tesla’s application because Unibev had beaten them to it, but Tesla did not sit idly by and filed a lawsuit of more than 150 pages in which they accuse Unibev of bad faith and having acted as a patent thief. Having registered before is not synonymous with victory, since simply proving that Unibev does not manufacture vehicles the authority should rule in favor of Tesla. In their application, Unibev said they could use the name for “a car, a ship or a plane.” It seems easy enough to dismantle, the problem is that the litigation could extend until 2027. If Unibev wins the dispute, Tesla could be forced to negotiate the use of the name outside the US and even have to use another name in certain markets. And ‘robotaxi’?. Tesla too tried to register the trademark ‘Robotaxi’but the USPTO told them that nanai. The reason had nothing to do with any patent thief, but because it is “used to describe similar products and services of other companies. (…) This expression appears to be generic in the context of the applicant’s products and/or services.” The USTPO comes to say that it is too standard a name, it would be like registering the ‘taxi’ trademark. There is still more. The organizational chaos does not end with taxis, the same thing also happened with its autonomous minibus, presented with great fanfare as “Robovan.” The problem is that Tesla announced it without first having verified that the brand was already registered by an Estonian delivery company. Tesla has had to look for less attractive alternatives such as “Robobus”, “Robus” or “Cyberbus”. About launching autonomous vehicles with super-advanced technology, well, that’s all the paperwork. Image | tesla In Xataka | Tesla robotaxis are autonomous, except when driven by a man from Texas

While Europe looks at Ukraine, the US has sounded the alarms for Spain on a closer front: losing two autonomous cities

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In July 2002, a handful of Moroccan soldiers landed on the islet of Perejil and raised a Moroccan flag there. The Spanish response came days later with a military operation so rapid and measured that it ended up becoming one of the diplomatic-military episodes strangest of the recent Mediterranean. What worries Spain. While Europe concentrates much of its military attention in Ukraine and the eastern flank of NATO, a much closer concern is growing in Spain: the south of the Strait. The problem is not just Morocco or the military balance in the Maghreb, but the change in the United States’ attitude toward the region. The appearance in Washington of official documents that describe Ceuta and Melilla like cities “under Spanish administration” in Moroccan territory has generated unprecedented alarm because it breaks a historical diplomatic taboo. For decades, the sovereignty of both cities was considered out of the question for Western allies. Now some American political sectors are beginning to treat her as an open dispute susceptible to future negotiation. US pressure. Spanish concern does not arise solely from a parliamentary report, but from the political context that surrounds it. Republican congressman Mario Diaz-Balartclose to Marco Rubio’s entourage and aligned with positions very favorable to Rabat, has not only publicly defended that Ceuta and Melilla are “in Moroccan territory”, but that the own report encourages the State Department to promote diplomatic talks about their status. All this coincides with the deterioration of the relationship between Donald Trump and the Spanish Government for military spendingNATO and the disagreements over Iran. In certain strategic Spanish sectors, the feeling is beginning to spread that Washington increasingly considers most useful to Morocco as a regional and less essential partner to Spain within its Mediterranean architecture. Morocco and the new balance. The most profound change may be occurring on the other side of the Strait. Morocco has been accelerating for years its military modernization through agreements with the United States, Israel, Türkiye and France, while also promoting its own arms industry. Since 2021, industrial projects linked to drones, weapons and advanced military production have multiplied. At the same time, Rabat has consolidated his diplomatic position in Washington after the American recognition of Western Sahara. For many Spanish analysts, the problem is no longer just migratory pressure or specific border crises, but the emergence of a regional power much more militarily connected to the West and increasingly secure in its strategic position. Spain is left out. The other big concern is that Spain seems have been left out of the new network of military alliances in the Maghreb. Italy has become the main strategic partner of Algeria in the Mediterranean, expanding defense agreements, industrial cooperation and military coordination with one of the most powerful armies in Africa. Morocco, meanwhile, close ties with Washington, Paris and Tel Aviv. Spain has managed to rebuild diplomatic relations with both neighbors, but it hardly has any relevant agreements on defense matters. This vacuum is beginning to be perceived as a serious problem in certain strategic circles, especially when linked reports to the Ministry of Defense they already admit that “South of the Strait of Gibraltar, military pressure is a reality.” Ceuta and Melilla as vulnerable points. That is why the reports of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies raise with increasing clarity the need to a specific plan defense for Ceuta and Melilla. The focus goes far beyond the military and includes logistics, cybersecurity, maritime surveillance, institutional resilience and protection of critical infrastructure. Fear does not necessarily point to an open conventional conflict, but rather to hybrid scenarios constant pressure: migration crises, diplomatic tensions, partial blockades or political attrition campaigns. Autonomous cities thus appear as especially sensitive enclaves due to their logistical dependence and geographical isolation. A brutal return: geography. If you like, all this reflects something broader: the return of geography as a central factor of European politics. For years, Spain observed the Maghreb mainly from a migratory and commercial perspective, while the greatest threats seemed to be far from the western Mediterranean. But the war in Ukraine has accelerated regional rearmament and has reorganized alliances throughout the area. And in the midst of this transformation, Spain begins to discover that one of its potentially most delicate fronts is not in the Baltic or in Eastern Europe, but just in the other side of the strait. Image | US Army In Xataka | The US threatened to take the Rota base to Morocco. Spain has buried it with an unbeatable offer: more territory In Xataka | ANDhe tunnel between Spain and Morocco seemed like a chimera. Now a tunnel boring machine manufacturer says it is viable

What are the dates in each autonomous community for the selectivity exam?

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Let’s tell you what they are the dates of the PAU for each autonomous communitythe old selectivity which has also been known as EvAU or EBAU. This is one of the most important exams for students in Spain, the one that will determine which university degree they can take. Although almost all communities hold the exams on very similar or even the same dates, there are some exceptions. Therefore, we are going to give you the list with each of the communities and their specific dates, so that you know when it is your turn. Dates of the 2026 selectivity in Spain Below we leave you a list of the dates on which the university entrance tests will be carried out in each autonomous community. You will have two dates: the ordinary and extraordinary call. This way, you will know in each case. Andalusia: Ordinary call on June 2, 3 and 4, and the extraordinary call on June 30, July 1 and 2 Aragon: Ordinary call on June 2, 3 and 4, and the extraordinary call on June 30, July 1 and 2 Ceuta and Melilla: Ordinary call on June 2, 3 and 4, and the extraordinary call on June 30, July 1 and 2 (they are governed by the Andalusian calendar) Canary Islands: Ordinary call on June 2, 3, 4 and 5, and the extraordinary call on June 30, July 1 and 2 Asturias: Ordinary call on June 2, 3 and 4, and the extraordinary call on July 6, 7 and 8 Cantabria: Ordinary call on June 2, 3 and 4, and the extraordinary call on June 30, July 1 and 2 Castile-La Mancha: Ordinary call on June 8, 9 and 10, and the extraordinary call on June 29, 30 and July 1 Castile and León: Ordinary call on June 2, 3 and 4, and the extraordinary call on June 30, July 1 and 2 Catalonia: Ordinary call on June 9, 10 and 11, and the extraordinary call on September 2, 3 and 4 Community of Madrid: Ordinary call on June 1, 2, 3 and 4, and the extraordinary call on June 30, July 1 and 2 Valencian Community: Ordinary call on June 2, 3 and 4, and the extraordinary call on June 30, July 1 and 2 Basque Country: Ordinary call on June 2, 3 and 4, and the extraordinary call on June 30, July 1 and 2 Estremadura: Ordinary call on June 2, 3 and 4, and the extraordinary call on June 30, July 1 and 2 Galicia: Ordinary call on June 2, 3 and 4, and the extraordinary call on June 30, July 1 and 2 Balearics: Ordinary call on June 2, 3 and 4, and the extraordinary call on June 30, July 1 and 2 Rioja: Ordinary call on June 2, 3 and 4, and the extraordinary call on June 30, July 1 and 2 Murcia: Ordinary call on June 2, 3 and 4, and the extraordinary call on June 30, July 1 and 2 Navarre: Ordinary call on June 2, 3 and 4, and the extraordinary call on June 24, 25 and 26

Europe’s first autonomous taxi is in Zagreb and has Chinese brains

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One of the “attractions” if you travel to the United States or China is to take a ride in a robotaxi because until now Europe was a mere spectator. And although Madrid plans to start testing At the end of the years, a Balkan country has advanced in the old continent and it is not Germany (the Teutonic giant It is the engine of Europe in automobile industry): it is Croatia. Zagreb has become in the first European city to have a commercial robotaxis service that anyone can use, because although they are in an initial phase, it is not experimental or a closed test. Zagreb’s new robotaxis. The milestone is led by Verne, a Croatian startup that emerged from the Rimac Group ecosystem and that for this adventure has teamed up with the Chinese autonomous driving company Pony.ai and Uber. The service opera with 10 Arcfox Alpha T5 electric vehicles from the Chinese manufacturer BAIC equipped with Pony.ai’s seventh-generation autonomous driving system. Each unit incorporates 34 sensors, including 14 cameras, nine LiDARs and four radars, a combo that allows them to detect objects in a radius of up to 650 meters and adapt in real time to urban traffic. The idea is the following: you request the trip from the Verne app, which manages the reservation, payment and tracking (later it will also be implemented in the Uber app). The vehicle arrives autonomously and you unlock the door from your phone, get in and arrive at your destination without a human driver at the wheel. The autonomous fleet covers the center of Zagreb, the Novi Zagreb neighborhood and the airport, from 07:00 to 21:00, although the idea is to expand coverage to the entire city. Why is it important. This launch breaks a barrier that Europe has had to cross for years. While the United States has Waymo operating in several cities and China operates fleets of hundreds of robotaxis in Shanghai and Guangzhou, the old continent was entangled in fragmented regulatory frameworks, heterogeneous infrastructures and a conservative regulatory position towards autonomous cars. Zagreb just changed it. That Zagreb goes down in history as the first European city is symbolic and is also just the beginning: Verne is immersed in talks and permits with 11 cities in the EU, the United Kingdom and the Middle East and has another 30 locations under study on the table. If the service proves to be secure and scalable in Zagreb, it will likely become the regulatory and operational benchmark for the rest of the continent. Of course, there is something that should be taken into account: the core of the technology is Chinese. Context. Autonomous driving has been in the development and deployment phase for more than a decade, although the rates are very different depending on the location. Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, is the most advanced benchmark with operations in several American cities and expansion plans to London by the end of 2026. In Europe there have been several lukewarm initiatives, such as autonomous buses WeRide in Leuven (Belgium), taxis Volkswagen MOIA Level 4 in Berlin or more recently, Norway has dared to withdraw your supervisor in his autonomous bus. Croatia has gone further: it has dared to take the step with a taxi open to the general public. Verne was born in 2019 within Rimac Group with the aim of developing an urban mobility ecosystem based on autonomous electric taxis. After receive almost 180 million euros through Croatia’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan and years of work with the authorities to create a favorable regulatory framework, the project is now a reality. How have they done it. The operating model It is built on three pillars: Pony.ai provides autonomous technology, one of the most mature systems in the world, with thousands of kilometers tested in Asia. Verne operates and manages the fleet as a local player with direct knowledge of the Croatian regulatory environment. Uber provides distribution and customer access from day one. Simply put, everyone focuses on what they do best. In parallel, Verne is building its own factory in Lučko, near Zagreb, where it will produce its own autonomous two-seater vehicle designed specifically for driverless urban transport, so it will have no steering wheel or pedals. This move has strategic implications for both Verne and Europe since it would mean eventually stopping depending on Chinese hardware to have its own technology and production process. Yes, but. Zagreb may be the first city with robotaxis in Europe open for commercial use and Verne may be Croatian, but the technology is Chinese and that means relying on an external player: Pony.ai supplies the driving system and BAIC manufactures the vehicles. In its favor, this pattern is not exclusive to Verne: other initiatives from the old continent follow the same trend with the exception of Wayve (Cambridge) or Mobileye (owned by Intel, born in Israel). But as the saying goes: evil of many… The second point of friction is regulation. In this initial phase of the deployment, the cars circulate with a safety operator on board who does not touch the steering wheel: his role is not to drive, but to intervene only if the system fails. The elimination of the driver depends on the European authorities giving the green light, for which there are no defined deadlines. Verne has declared that he will do it “as soon as possible.” In Xataka | Autonomous cars are beginning to change a paradigm: we no longer need four seats in a taxi In Xataka | No more greeting the driver: Norway launches the first bus where there is not a single human in control Cover | Verne

the “wolf pack” robots with all kinds of autonomous weaponry

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China has turned robotics into a state issue. In the last five-year plan, the country made clear its total commitment to autonomous robots, agentic AIthe development of your semiconductor industry and 6G as the great ‘cloud’ to give life to Physical AI. Within the technological commitment, we already knew that robot dogs were of great importance. What we didn’t expect is that they already had packs of robodogs ready to go into action. And all this under a brain that makes them work like a swarm. Robowolves. The Asian giant has been performing simulations with these robot dogs armed. The advantage of these units is that the base is the same for all, but they can be customized so that they carry whatever is needed: from weapons to sensors of all kinds. Each one weighs about 70 kilos and can carry another 25 kilos, so the versatility when it comes to having ‘extras’ for attack, reconnaissance, transportation and supplies is maximum. And they can be operated remotely by humans, but the key to the Chinese system presented by the state channel CCTV (as stated SCMP) is that they can also be under the control of a central AI. Herd. We have already mentioned that one of China’s objectives is physical AI, AI being the software that controls – the brain – and the robot the hardware that has contact with the real world -the dog-. Within a show of force, television highlights operations such as “urban cleanup” in which a pack of ‘wolves’ operates through a shared detection network that acts as a collective brain. It is an autonomous mode and decision-making is joint within the group. As in a pack of flesh and blood wolves, each one has different roles. And they have names. ‘Shadow’ is the recognition, giving information about the situation to the rest of the group. ‘Polar’ is the one that offers logistical support and ‘Bloody’, as its name suggests, is the one that can carry weapons such as grenade launchers, missile launchers and automatic rifles. What’s scarier is that the group can automatically maneuver into tactical formations thanks to that swarm control system to surround targets, block them, and ultimately open fire. One of those responsible for researching the Atlas weapons system in China pointed out that these drones “understand” the intentions of others and can execute collaborative actions even in the absence of communication signals with the command. Utility? Operate in situations where satellite signals are not available. An example of one of the ‘Polar’ Limitations. Although it may seem like science fiction – and it is – these units are not perfect. The army itself has revealed on occasion that robodogs lack armor, so they are easily shot down even with light fire. They have recognized that the idea is no longer to achieve perfection, but to advance in the demonstration that they can replace human troops with robots, minimizing casualties in the event of open conflict. There is also something more underlying: as in a pack, the strength is not in the individual, but in operating together as CCTV claims these swarms of robots can do. And another limitation (and thank goodness) is that, although robots are capable of identifying and focusing on targets autonomously, they cannot attack without human confirmation. And a ‘Bloody’ show of strength. The reports shared by CCTV indicate that the algorithms of this system allow collaborative tasks to be carried out between different types of weapons. For example, coordinating attacks between ground and aerial drones, but also guiding laser weapons. One case is an algorithm that allows robots to prioritize targets, such as neutralizing the most threatening ones first, leaving less important targets aside. And Zhang Wei, a researcher at the China Electronics Technology Group corporation, pointed out that the goal is to achieve robots with “full autonomy on a large scale”, a scenario in which many different drones operate collaboratively without human intervention, achieving objectives and making decisions in complex missions autonomously. Total commitment to robotics. As always, you have to take anything that comes from any government with a grain of salt when talking about this type of thing, since (and even more so now) propaganda is super important. However, it is undeniable that China is betting heavily on the development of robotics and that these robowolves are not a render like the ‘space destroyer’ that they showed a few weeks ago. They are already carrying out simulated missions and we have seen them in other scenarios, such as in the daily life of different firefighting units. helping carry out reconnaissance missions and firefighting. And, deep down, I can’t get out of my head how cool these things were when we saw them in the movies and how scary it is when they seem to be one step away from becoming a reality. Image | CCTV/China In Xataka | China has asked Russia for an airborne battalion and training. That can only mean one thing: they are preparing a landing

The first “autonomous” car in history dates back to 1958 and had a peculiar problem: it smelled like fish

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Nowadays, and with few exceptions such as Cybertruckautomobile design is moved by very clear trends. However, in the 1950s and in the midst of the space age, the sky was the limit. Some examples are the amazing General Motors Firebird Ihe Zündapp Janus that you don’t know if it comes or goes or the refrigerator with wheels called BMW Isetta. At that time was born the Golden Sahara IIa car truly ahead of its time. It was so far ahead that it brought driving assistance and full connectivity (of what there was). It is, in short, the grandfather of today’s smart car. A crazy repair idea. If I say George Barris you may not know who I’m talking about, but if I reveal that he is the creator of the Batmobile things change. Well, back in 1953 the car designer had a car accident with his Lincoln Capri: crashed into a hay truck and as a result, the top of the vehicle was destroyed. Probably many of us would have taken the car to the workshop or scrapyard based on the mechanic’s bill, but Barris invested a whopping $5,000 and what was left of his battered Capri (which had a 200 horsepower V8 engine) was built into the Golden Sahara. Be careful, to give you an idea of ​​the inverted grassland: in the 50s the luxurious Cadillac Eldorado It cost $7,750.. Clean slate in the form of an ultra-futuristic car. Equipment from another era. At a time when FM radio was an extra, Barris himself tells its most differential design elements: hand-molded steel panels, vertical design headlights installed in fenders and bullet-type bumpers, fins integrated into the fenders, lounge-type seat with bar furniture on the sides, a removable bubble dome for the roof. Kontinent Media …and paint of with sardines The streamlined design was finished with a two-tone 24-karat gold finish (hence its name) instead of the classic chrome and a paint that shone like a diamond. Barris was looking for a finish never seen before, so he came up with a natural way to achieve a pearlescent touch before that type of paint became popular: with fish scales. As explained the designer in an interview with Jonnie King for his “Hall of Fame Legends” series: “So Shirley and I went to the fishmonger, and I remember that the fish looked very pearly. I had the fishmongers turn all the sardines so that their bellies could be seen until I found the one with the gold. We took it, removed the scales, put it in a jar, took it to the store and mixed it with a natural cellulose clearcoat and toner lacquers. Then I gave it a base of matte white and I sprayed it on top, and it turned out a spectacular pearly gold. The only problem was that it was very difficult to smell because it smelled like fish.” An even more extravagant Golden Sahara II. In 1954 the first Golden Sahara was born and from ’56 to ’58 Barris teamed up with Jim Street and Bob Metz to give it a twist until they found the Golden Sahara II. For this second generation, Goodyear added Translucent and luminous tires to replace the conventional white band tires of the time. It is just the tip of the iceberg of a car that is surprising both on the outside and (especially) on the inside. But Metz also gave it a good facelift and modified the windshield, hood and roof of the vehicle, he put quad headlights and rear fins. And it went from having a radio and steering wheel to truly futuristic technology: with panels on the upper part of the dashboard where it housed a television, tape recorder and even a refrigerator for its bar. It is said that the total cost of the Sahara exceeded $75,000 of the time. Under the hood: ahead of its time. Jim Rote’s electronics It was what made the difference compared to the cars of that era and brought it closer to ours. The steering wheel gave way to a fighter-style central joystick and implemented voice control for tasks such as opening the doors or starting the engine. Likewise, it integrated proximity sensors in two antennas on the front bumper, so that it could brake autonomously. What happened to him. In his days of wine and roses he went to fairs like the Petersen Motorama (his debut), he appeared in ‘cinderfella‘ (1960) with Jerry Lewis, Ed Winn and Judith Anderson and also in the competition ‘I’ve got a secret‘, in 1962. But in the 60s it disappeared from the front page and was relegated to ostracism for half a century, until it returned in style and restored in the Geneva Motor Show of 2019 from the hand of Goodyear. In Xataka | Make your old stickerless car a historic vehicle. A shortcut to circulate through Madrid without fines that does not always work In Xataka | The Bugatti Veyron was a unique car. And we say “was” because Bugatti has decided to betray him with nostalgia Cover | Matti Blume

Tesla robotaxis are autonomous, except when driven by a man from Texas

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Taking a trip in an autonomous taxi is an unsettling feeling of a future that is already here. However, even if the driver’s seat is empty, we now know that sometimes there is a person at the controls who is controlling it remotely. It happened recently with Waymo and now we have learned that Tesla does it too. Self-employed, sometimes. They count in Futurism that Tesla has recognized (after being required by the US Senate) that it has human operators who can take complete control of the vehicle in certain situations. These operators are located at the headquarters in Austin, Texas, or Palo Alto, California. Exceptional situations. As explained in the letter sent to the Senate, this is “As a security measure in exceptional cases (…) as a last resort once all other available intervention actions have been exhausted.” When this remote mode is activated, the operator cannot exceed 16 kilometers per hour. For example, it is used if the vehicle is stuck on a road. Why is it important. Self-driving taxi companies like Waymo and, now, Tesla, have gone to great lengths to hide these types of remote interventions because it is a way of admitting that we are far from 100% autonomous driving. At the beginning of the year, Elon Musk boasted that their robotaxis were circulating without a safety monitor, but shortly after we learned that what they had really done was converting that safety monitor into a vehicle with a driver that followed each robotaxi. The Waymo case. The leading robotaxis company in the US was the first to recognize human intervention in driving their cars. It also happened as a result of authorities’ scrutiny of its technology. However, unlike Tesla’s system in which the human takes full control of the vehicle, in Waymo the human intervenes to guide the stuck vehicle, but does not drive it directly. The workers who carry out these interventions do so from the Philippines. Risks and criticisms. Tesla speaks of “exceptional cases”, but refused to give details about the frequency of these interventions, which for the Senate was insufficient since remote driving entails significant risks. If, for example, there is latency in the network, it would cause a delay in the remote driver’s orders and may have consequences. Tesla defends itself by arguing that revealing that information would “reveal highly sensitive trade secrets and confidential business practices” that Tesla needs to maintain its “competitive position in the autonomous vehicle industry.” Image | Xataka In Xataka | The robotaxis did not need a driver, but Waymo has ended up paying delivery drivers to close ajar doors

“Citizen surveillance and autonomous weapons deserved more deliberation” OpenAI robotics director resigns

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A week ago we were just saying that “A dead king, a king“: Anthropic passage to pure ostracism after being considered a “risk to the supply chain” of the United States practically overlapped with the announcement of the US Defense Administration agreement with OpenAI in record time. Behind the scenes: the reasons for the no from the company led by Dario Amodei and the unknown of the terms of that agreement that installs ChatGPT on the Pentagon computers. A few days later, Caitlin Kalinowski says goodbye at his position at OpenAI, citing the military use of artificial intelligence as the reason. The resignation. Caitlin Kalinowski, head of the OpenAI robotics team since November 2024, announced her departure from the company a few hours ago in publications from X and from LinkedIn. He makes it clear that his decision is about principles and not people and expresses respect for Sam Altman and the team. In his brief statement there are two lines that, in his opinion, the company did not think about enough internally: The surveillance of American citizens without judicial supervision. Autonomous weapons capable of firing without human supervision. Tap to go to the post Context. The resignation occurs in the midst of Anthropic’s departure from the Pentagon (the transition will last six months), the entry of OpenAI and in the midst of a debate about how far AI companies should go in their collaboration with the US military establishment: Anthropic stood before the Pentagon drawing strict lines on domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons. OpenAI reached an agreement with the Department of Defense to deploy its models on a classified government network in a move that has been interpreted as opportunistic. According to the company led by Altman, the agreement excludes domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons, but the damage to its reputation had already been done: thousands of people uninstalled ChatGPT by way of cancellation. Why it is important. The goodbye of Caitlin Kalinowski is the first public and nominative resignation from a senior position at OpenAI motivated by ethical disagreements over the military use of AI explicitly. And this sets a precedent in the industry insofar as it exposes the internal fracture in the most influential company in the sector, placing OpenAI in a delicate situation before those who use its tools, its staff and also before society. And finally, it makes more clear than ever the need to legislate on artificial intelligence and its civil and military uses. Maybe Europe is behind in the AI ​​battlebut a long time ago he set about the arduous task of establish a regulatory framework. Which Kalinowski does not say. In the comments of her post on Kalinowski does not say it clearly, but when an agreement of this magnitude has already been signed and its CEO makes it publicthere is no room for much maneuver from within: resigning with a public statement like yours is one of the few pressure maneuvers left to exert. Consequences. For OpenAI, the pressure is growing and it faces more departures and more cancellations if it does not clearly show what its red lines are in a credible and verifiable way: the militarization of AI is something we are experiencing in real time. For the AI ​​industry, it is more fuel on the fire of the self-regulation debate. And Anthropic gains reputation, although in the short term it has lost an important agreement and its new status may put its existence in check. In Xataka | The US has decided to shoot itself in the foot and destroy one of the best AI companies in the country In Xataka | Sam Altman says he’s terrified of a world where AI companies believe themselves to be more powerful than the government. It’s just what you’re building Cover | Caitlin Kalinowski

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