CAMBRIDGE, MA—A multimodal system uses models trained on language, vision and action data to help robots develop and execute plans for household, construction and manufacturing tasks.

TOKYO—Engineers at Yazaki Corp. and NEC Corp. are using artificial intelligence technology to generate motion plans for wire harness assembly robots.

AUSTIN, TX— In 2022, the Elon Musk-led automaker reported annual deliveries of 1.31 million and production of 1.37 million electric vehicles. The new numbers represent delivery growth of 38% year over year and production growth of 35% year over year. In 2022, the company reported 40% growth year over year in deliveries from 2021.
In its last earnings call in October 2023, Tesla execs offered guidance that the company would notch at least 1.8 million deliveries for the full year, a number they had revised down from a 2 million goal earlier.

PORTLAND, OR— Until the invention of the Phillips screw, American assembly lines, craftsmen, and consumers used regular, slotted-head screws. But that design was problematic for three reasons: it was difficult to align the driver with the screw aperture; the driver tended to slip from the open ends; and the slot required a closely matching bit. The cruciform drive addressed those problems. 

ARMAGH, PA—The fire that consumed the Roadster Factory's 48,000 square-foot warehouse burned for more than a dozen hours and required around 100 firefighters from 13 local fire departments.

AMSTERDAM—Stellantis has agreed to partner with EV start-up Ample Inc. to integrate Ample’s modular battery swapping technology into Stellantis’ electric vehicles.

DETROIT—Stellantis is cutting one shift at its assembly plant here, where the Jeep Grand Cherokee is built, not because of a lack of demand but rather due to emissions regulations in California.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA—Google is facing controversy among AI experts for a deceptive Gemini promotional video released earlier this month that appears to show its new AI model recognizing visual cues and interacting vocally with a person in real time. 

MOLINE, IL—According to a CNBC interview with Jahmy Hindman, Senior Vice President & Chief Technology Officer of John Deere, Deere sees AI — specifically computer vision and machine learning — as essential to helping farmers address challenges like population increase and constantly changing weather conditions.

AUSTIN, TX—On Tuesday, December 12th, 2023, Tesla released a demo video showing the latest version of its prototype humanoid robot, Optimus Gen 2.