transforming

Shenzhen metro is transforming into an autonomous logistics network. The key is a legion of AI robovans

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During the day, Shenzhen’s stations look, in some ways, like those of any big city: full of movement, loudspeakers and announcements marking the passage of trains. But when traffic eases, something changes. In the same space where a few hours ago there were crowds, autonomous vehicles and small robots appear that move with precision, transporting packages from one point to another. There is no spectacle or artifice, just a different use of a familiar environment. The metro network, designed for travelers, is also beginning to serve urban logistics at a time when every minute and every square meter counts. The idea of ​​taking advantage of the subway to move goods does not arise on a whim. In Shenzhen, as in many large Chinese cities, surface traffic has become in an obstacle for daily logistics. Delivery companies deal with extreme urban density and the constant growth of e-commerce, which forces them to deliver faster and with increasingly tight margins. Using trains outside of peak hours allows us to alleviate this pressure and reduce costs, while at the same time making use of infrastructure that usually remains underused for much of the day. When travelers leave, robots stay According to the Xinhua agencyone of the officially documented pilots takes place on line 11 of the Shenzhen metro. Every night in Futian District, SF Express staff sort and pack packages, which are then loaded into metal cages. These cages are transported by means of a autonomous shuttle vehicle to the platform, where they are destined for the sixth coach of the train, enabled as a logistics car during off-peak hours. In less than thirty minutes, the goods cross the most congested stretch of the city and arrive at the Bihaiwan area, near the airport, where they continue their journey to the distribution center. The aforementioned operation is supported by a fleet of robovans. Nikkei Asia explains that These are small vehicles capable of moving autonomously along predetermined routes, where they transfer packages from a storage center to the subway loading area. Each one can transport up to 500 kilos and has a useful space of about 3 cubic meters. Another official test takes place on subway line 2, at Wanxia station, where delivery robots are able to board the train by themselves to deliver goods to stores 7-Eleven inside the station. The system, described by Guangdong Department of Transportationcombines autonomous route planning, laser sensors and a control system that allows it to move safely between passengers. The project, promoted by Shenzhen Metro Group, Vanke and Wanwei Logistics, remains in the testing phase and seeks to verify whether it can be applied on a larger scale in the city’s underground commercial network. The Chinese industrial ecosystem is one of the reasons why these types of projects are advancing so quickly. The aforementioned newspaper highlights that strong competition between national manufacturers has made key components such as LiDAR sensors cheaper and has driven the development of more efficient batteries and specific chips for autonomous driving. On this basis, production costs are significantly reduced. A robovan is already between 20 and 30% cheaper than a traditional commercial vehicle, and the difference increases by eliminating cabin space and the cost of the driver. The development of these initiatives is not without difficulties. Autonomous vehicles still depend on human supervision at various stagesespecially in the loading and unloading of goods. Its speed inside the stations is reduced to guarantee the safety of passengers, and that limits the operational pace. For now, operations remain limited and are far from mass application. Even so, they reflect a clear trend: the attempt to optimize each section of urban space, even the underground. Shenzhen functions as a laboratory for a model that seeks efficiency without altering the rhythm of the city. Ultimately, these tests speak less about technology than about management: about how a metro network can serve two different purposes while remaining, above all, a public service. Images | Guangdong Department of Transportation (1, 2, 34, 5) | Shenzhen Government (1) In Xataka | Many Spanish ports have become luxury resorts for the rich: owning a pleasure boat is increasingly difficult

His name is Run-ri, they come from China and they are transforming the capital of Japan

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Last February they were revealed Several graphics They found two things. What Japan is living a boom of “foreigners” arrivals As it is not remembered, and that this volume of travelers has triggered a flag above others: China. Then it was known that Japanese art schools had become In “Passport” For young Chinese, and who began to give them neighborhoods with Chinese than Japanese. Now the run-ri has landed. The birth of a phenomenon. I explained it a few days ago The Financial Times. The massive arrival of the Chinese middle class to Tokyo has resulted in an unexpected and deep phenomenon. What began as individual decisions, motivated by the search for stability, personal freedom and a safer life for their children, has become a migratory wave baptized as run-riterm that combines the idea of ​​prosperity and flight with the word Japan. Unlike previous migratory waves from China, these families arrive With considerable assetsa marked obsession with education and the firm conviction that Tokyo offers a more fair, rational and balanced environment than contemporary China. The 2020 pandemic and Shanghai’s confinement in 2022 acted as Psychological inflection point: Many discovered that the State could ignore the middle class, and decided to escape towards a perceived country as stable, safe and without extreme nationalisms. Tokyo as a refuge. Japan, despite his economic stagnation From decades, it offers social peace, reliable medical services, safe streets and an open education system in a context of Birth in collapse. That has facilitated the integration of thousands of Chinese children In public schools in Tokyoalthough he has also created an environment of fierce competition academic among newcomers. The epicenter of this transformation It’s bunkyodistrict that has become an educational and residential pole of this new diaspora. However, this concentration also generates tensions. The Times told Cases of some immigrants, such as CAO, an executive who sought to move again to escape the same rivalries and community dynamics that fled in China. Economic impact and effects. Chinese capital flow has caused a remarkable rise In real estate prices From Tokyo, especially in exclusive neighborhoods such as Azabu, Aoyama or Toyosu Bay. Real estate in luxury towers are sold up to 20% to buyers with Chinese names, and the Toyota Alphard It has become a status aspirational symbol among newcomers. For some, Tokyo is investment and second residencefor others, a definitive retreat. At the same time, a network of clandestine banks facilitates capital exit From China to Japanwith backpacks full of yen changed discreetly in improvised offices. This money circuit, in which families of High Chinese officialsunderlines the magnitude and complexity of the phenomenon. The cultural dimension. Plus: Run-ri is not limited to the economic. Together with high -level businessmen and professionals, a growing number of intellectuals and dissidents It is installed in Tokyo. Libraries Like Nowhere Party or One Way Street They have become spaces of freedom where prohibited books circulate in China and critical debates with Beijing are organized. Some, like him dissident jiathey find in the Japanese capital a shelter to live without fear, although they also feel the weight of having abandoned the political struggle in their country. The convergence of Chinese wealth and intellectual capital in Tokyo is configuring A unique community that mixes economic ambitions with cultural and political drives, to the point that analysts warn that Beijing could increase its surveillance on these networks. Japan, between opportunity and suspicion. For an aged country and in demographic declinethe arrival of these immigrants could become a revulsive, providing entrepreneurial energy and new innovation networks. Some economists even speak of the birth of Japan as a “migratory superpower”capable of integrating foreign talent without formally opening its doors. Of course, not everything is optimism: nationalist parties already They have warned of the risk of a real estate bubble caused by Chinese buyers, and sectors of the Japanese population perceive as humiliating that richer citizens of the neighboring country challenge the historical status of Japan as the most prosperous nation of Asia. Uncertain future. In short, the Run-ri phenomenonalthough incipient, its magnitude grows at a dizzying pace: it is estimated that in 2025 the Chinese in Japan They will reach the million. If the nation manages to manage this flow without becoming a cultural and economic shock, Tokyo could be consolidated as the largest integration laboratory of the new Chinese elite abroad. On the contrary, if it does not, the rise of social and political tensions could tarnish what for thousands of families has become the “Bolthole of the rising sun ”: a shelter to rebuild their lives away from a Beijing that they no longer feel like a home. Image | Pexels, Shankar s. In Xataka | A phenomenon that has already happened in New York is spreading throughout Japan: neighborhoods with younger than Japanese In Xataka | The Chinese are traveling in mass to Japan and not just for tourism. Many of them arrive so as not to return

Mark Zuckerberg is transforming an idyllic neighborhood of Palo Alto into his personal strength

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Grow PRK is an opulent neighborhood of Palo Alto in California, which for decades has been the dreamed home of lawyers, executives and renowned teachers. A place where wooded streets and single -family houses made up a quiet and community stamp. Until Mark Zuckerberg moved. The arrival of the founder of Meta to the neighborhood was noted. As He has reported The New York Times, ended this idyllic peace. The billionaire, whose fortune is estimated Right in 270,000 million dollars, it has invested 110 million dollars in the purchase of at least 11 properties, creating a residential macrocomplex that has brought with them pharaonic works, extreme surveillance and a deep discomfort among the neighbors who still remain. A monopoly in real life. What was previously a normal neighborhood has become the Zuckerberg personal monopoly board. Since 2011, it has gone acquiring the houses surrounding their main residence in a staggered manner In Englewood Drive and Hamilton Avenue. The offers, often of the double or triple of their market value, have caused one family to leave the neighborhood. To maintain a low profile, purchases were made through limited liability societies, with natural theme names such as ‘Pine Burrow’ or ‘Seed Breeze’. The result is that Zuckerberg now has an entire apple, with several empty properties in the middle of the worst housing that crosses California. The construction of a small city. Zuckerberg’s plan was not simply to accumulate houses, but to create a great complex to have all the comforts available. That is why five of the properties they acquired have merged into an enclosure that includes: The main residence where the goal CEO lives with his family. Guest houses. Gardens extensive and a pickleball track. A pool with a ‘hydrosuelo’ that allows it to be covered by complex to make parties. But its great residential complex also reaches the depths. And it is that underground, the project is even more ambitious. The work permits speak of basements, but the neighbors describe it as ‘bunkers’, or what colloquially already seems to name it as the “Batcueva of the billionaires.” And logically everything has meant having works almost uninterrupted for eight years, Filling the quiet streets of this noise neighborhoodmachinery and debris. This is something that has not only done in California Zuckerberg, but is also doing in Hawaiiwhere you are building mansions on land of almost 400 hectares in total. But when knowing the reason for these, the confidentiality of the plans is what we are. Zuckerberg is seen as an invader. The presence of the Meta CEO feels daily. Surveillance is one of the most conflicting points. There are security cameras that point to neighboring houses and a private security team that constantly patrol the streets of the neighborhood. And they even tell how the members of this team question people who simply walk down the street, as if they were intruders or suspects of something. One of the most affected people, Michael Kieschnick, a neighbor whose house is surrounded by all three sides by Zuckerberg properties, is one of the most critical voices when pointing out that “no neighborhood wants to be occupied.” Although this is precisely what he feels with the presence of the Meta CEO. “The billionaires are accustomed to creating their own rules” is the feeling that this neighbor has to see how the City Council initially rejected the initial construction plan. But then it has been slowly developing to be able to raffle the refusal that was given in 2016. The Zuckerberg family doesn’t see it that way. One of the spokesmen that has been authorized to talk to the press defends that the couple strives to be modelic neighbors. He ensures that intense security is necessary due to “specific and credible threats”, that cameras do not point to the properties of other people and that the events that are developed are notified with time. They even try to compensate for discomfort. In one of the last parties that took place in this complex, an ice cream cart was sent to the neighbors. And even when the works were developed and the noise could become very annoying, those affected with foamy wine, chocolates or donuts were presented. And even giving away headphones with noise cancellation. It is a new fashion among Millionaires. Zuckerberg is not the only one who has taken this path. Others like Jeff Bezos too has invested billions in mansions, ranches And even on an island as it is Billionaire Bunker who presented as ‘little’ problem the Not knowing how to manage your excrements. Of figures admired to “villains of the 21st century”. We are seeing precisely as the great technological figures that were highly respected by marking a turning point in our vision of the entire world, it is changing. Elon Musk himself has also caused the IRA of neighbors with a house in Texas which was supposedly modified without permits. Images | Goal The New York Times In Xataka | Larry Page wants to get lost on an island, but it is not decided which. So you bought five

North Korea is transforming its army into the Ukraine War. And the strangest thing is the response of South Korea

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Russia and North Korea confirmed In April an open secret: that Pyongyang It is cooperating With Moscow in the War of Ukraine at various levelsincluding from troops to military arsenal. In return, Russia is giving North Korea what longs for: a functional army and a military capacity that could represent a challenge to global strategic balance. Thus, the strangest thing is the position of South Korea. Seoul’s silence. I remembered this week The Guardian. Although South Korea reacted rapidly to condemn the launch of ballistic missiles by North Korea in May, his government kept absolute silence when a KN-23 missile North Korean (designed precisely to attack South Korean objectives) hit a residential building in kyiv, Killing 12 civilians. That omission was not an isolated case: there was no answer when Russia displayed An anti -aircraft system To protect Pyongyang, or when it was learned that Russian instructors They were training to North Korean drones operators in their own territory. All this points, According to analyststo a disturbing lack of understanding by Seoul about the scope of the military transformation that is experiencing North Korea, a fed transformation not (alone) into theoretical exercises, but in the real crucible of war in Ukraine. A metamorphosis. According to Ukrainian military intelligence, North Korea supplies 40% of ammunition that Russia uses in its offensive against Ukraine. In parallel, Pyongyang has accelerated its own arms production and has sent an initial contingent of 12,000 soldiers to the Russian region of Kursk, a figure that has grown with another 6,000 troopsmilitary engineers, bridge experts and railways, logistics staff, military police, electricians and even interpreters. Although officially these soldiers unfold in reconstruction tasks, the real gain for Kim Jong-un lies in what their troops They are learning: Modern War, Coordination of Combined Weapons, Management of Recognition and Attack Drones, Electronic War and Technological Systems unknown so far for its Army. And more. Moscow’s support has also been translated into Technology Transfersincluding improvements in the precision of KN-23 ballistic missilesalready used against urban centers such as Járkov. According to Ukrainian intelligence, North Korean soldiers captured They revealed such an extreme ideologization that they tried to commit suicide biting their own veins to avoid being interrogated. One of them proudly said would return to your country as a hero for having fought in a modern war. Political calculation It is the other leg that slides. While Zelenski warns directly To South Korea that the time to act is now, before thousands of North Korean missiles and improved drones begin to threaten Seoul or Tokyo, the South Korean authorities seem look. The posture, According to expert Yang Ukresponds to a delicate balance Between strategy, internal policy and economic considerations. The reason? Openly recognize the danger of North Korean rearmament and his experience in combat would imply have to answer With firm measures (including perhaps sending weapons to Ukraine), something deeply unpopular among the South Korean population. In addition, Lee Jae Myung’s government is committed to a pragmatic foreign policy focused on economic recovery, in a context where Russia was one of its main commercial partners before war. On the political level, the South Korean ideological division revolves around the position against the north: while the right insists on the rearme and the hardening of the defense, the left Defend the dialogue And he maintains that South Korea has no obligation with Ukraine. The recent political crisis derived from the attempt of declare martial law He has left many officials reluctant to expose themselves publicly or make decisions that may be subject to political attacks. Between ambiguity and paralysis. If you want, Seoul’s hermeticism can be understood as an extension of its traditional “strategic ambiguity”, an unwritten doctrine of not getting involved in international conflicts that may put their own relations with key actors such as China or Russia at risk. However, some analysts warn that this position is staying dangerously outdated Faced with threats that evolve in months while military bureaucracy continues to work with planning times that require years. Godzilla level. He told the Guardian The retired general Chun In-bum that South Korea faces a threat comparable to a “level 10, super Godzilla”, but his institutional apparatus still acts as if only saw a tiger. In his opinion, the South Korean military doctrine remains anchored in a paradigm prior to the era of drones and is not adapted to face an adversary that is assimilating, In real timethe lessons of the most brutal conflict of the 21st century. From its point of view, the country is in front of a train that approaches at full speed, and is still in time to move or prepare, but not for much more. Reconfigured future. In short, the Military cooperation Public between Russia and North Korea is already leaving a mark on the Asian power structure. Moscow is integrating Pyongyang into its logistics chain and long -term supplies, in an alliance that could alter regional military balance even after the war ends in Ukraine. Meanwhile, South Korea seems willing to Keep observing From the barrier, trapped between fear of conflict, economic calculation and a political class immobilized by polarization. The problem is that northern neighbors seem to be gaining experience, technology and internal prestige to full machine for his role in a real war. And in that scenario, the question no longer points to whether that experience will turn against Seoul, but rather when. Image | Morning Calm, Getharchive In Xataka | North Korea has been sending armament for months to Russia. In return, Russia is giving him what longs for her: a functional army In Xataka | Russia gave animals, artillery and raw to North Korea. His last gift places his army at another level: space

The transforming potential of the AI ​​is right in what we do not see

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In 2017, while imparting an Aerospace Engineering course, Catherine Garland realized that their students did not know where they had kept their projects. Moreover, he realized that they didn’t even understand the question. He commented with his teammates and together they discovered that the problem was Much more widespread What they could imagine. “The concept of files of files and directories, essential for the understanding of computers by previous generations, was a gallimatism for modern students,” They explained. The students did not feel the need to organize anything, because they were enough to know the name of the file so that Windows Search either Spotlighth in macOS Locate the document they wanted to access. At that time we did not realize, but that small generational change is key to understanding that the impact of ‘Deep Research’ type tools goes far beyond intellectual work. The great disorder Adrian Sulyok Many years before all this, in a huge Las Vegas warehouse some operators tried to organize 1,500,000 boxes of shoes. Zappos technicians, which for years have been A reference of the Internet sale in the USThey experienced with several taxonomies and organizational systems, but none of them managed to satisfy them completely. Every day, “new shoes arrived and old shoes came out, the stations changed and with them the styles. When a supplier created a new line, you did not simply move everything down to make room next to the previous line. When a line was interrupted There was no way to recover everything to fill that space. ” They discovered that the only way to adapt To the market movements efficiently was to reorganize the warehouse every time there was one. And, of course, that was unsustainable. What they did was exactly the same as Garland’s students, randomly place their shoe boxes and use a database to determine where each aja was in case of needing: a chaotic warehouse and a search engine. As Chris Anderson said in his system analysis“random access (which) works best for bits in disc units, is also excellent for atoms in warehouses.” And this has implications. If we take into account that Now we create more data than ever And that, in modern economies, knowledge is the “main necessary input” for production, the really interesting question is why we do not hug the great disorder. Where is the knowledge? Gabriella Clare Marino The problem, as Luis Garicano explained A few months ago, “that knowledge (key in productive systems) is rooted in individuals who have limited time to work.” Although nobody often realized it, the big question we have asked ourselves again and again For more than 200 years it is: “How do we organize to better use that knowledge?” And, for these purposes, when we talk about knowledge we do not talk about anything theoretical; We refer to “the ability to solve the problems that arise naturally in any process”, of know-how, knowing how to do things. It doesn’t matter if it is a doctor in the face of a disease, a plumber in the face of a leak or an administrative in front of a form. So far we have solved it based on dividing the work, creating economies of scale and building stable production chains. That is: based on forming Hyperspecialists in specific processesto allow them to work as much as possible in their field of experience and to ensure that there is a structured (and simple) way that these processes are gathered with each other. If we think of abstract, it is a system very similar to that of folders and directories. If we think about the productive social structure of humanity as a huge machine to process information, transmit it and distribute it, we realize that everything is involved in boxes. Its structure is based on knowledge hierarchies (Engineers above operators), on access routes (long productive chains to move goods, services or people between departments), directories (platforms and logistics networks) and well -segmented transformation processes. When the model does not give more of itself In this way, a production chain is not only a succession of machines, companies and processes: it is a way to structure knowledge, that each person knows what they have to know at the time and the place that is needed to manufacture any product. That is A very good idea And with enormous potential: it is enough to see the productivity boom that lived in the last century. The problem is that, as in the shoes warehouse, it also has problems. Each new process, each technological innovation, each productive sector that ceases to be useful … Add complexity to the management of that thick knowledge tree which is the globalized society. The intuition that “great disorder” could make a lot of sense in the current context is on the table for years. The great “but” has always been that, to the extent that knowledge adhered to individuals, we could not extract it, process it and organize it as Zappos did. Or, rather, we couldn’t. And then the AI ​​arrived And, before her, the digitalization of knowledge and monitoring of the work of tens of millions of people. With all those data under your arm, New artificial intelligence functionalities “They suppose a shot to the flotation line of much of the current intellectual work.” And, as I said Our partner Javier LacortBeyond the incremental improvements, we talk about systems that “can navigate the web, analyze multiple sources, synthesize information and produce detailed reports on a matter. And with a level of sophistication that is dangerously approaching the work of many human analysts. In any field. “ In the end, we see an analogous process that occurred with the search engines. Where we used to need an encyclopedia and a series of “physical” bridges to get to knowledge (editorials, distributors, etc.) suddenly there was only one search box. This relational change with the knowledge that opened us to “great disorder” takes one step with the AI. 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