Amazon may use its drone delivery service to analyze customer’s homes, offering ‘recommendations’ from its store or third-party services like gardening or roof repairs (see our review of the best drones).

The patent, granted on Wednesday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), shows how the drones would use cameras to take photos during its descent. The photos would then be sent to a computer system to be analyzed, and recommendations would appear as mobile notifications or banner adverts when the customer visits the storefront.

See Also: How drones will change our retail experience, our cities and our skies

Amazon provides an example of what the recommendation could be: “The one or more service provider computers may analyze the data and identify that the roof of the location is in disrepair and in need of service. Subsequently, the one or more service provider computers may generate and provide a recommendation to the customer informing them of the identified property and offering an item or service that is appropriate for the identified property (e.g., a roof repair service recommendation).” US

Another example would be fertilizer or an arborist, if the drone spots dying trees in the back garden.

The introduction of local services provides Amazon with another route into everyday lives. The company did not say how it would find all the local services and how it would display them.

For customers that don’t want their house analyzed, Amazon has said it will be opt-in, if it ever becomes a reality. Drones that arrive at houses would still be required to record video in-case of an accident or technical fault, but would not send the data back to a commercial system.

Amazon has filed a number of weird drone patents over the past few months, including a zeppelin that acts as a mobile hub for deliveries and a drone beehive for deliveries in city centers.

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Data center provider CentralColo has announced a comprehensive rebranding, starting with a name change. It is now called Element Critical and will be pursuing an “aggressive acquisition strategy” to combat the limited customer data center choices.

Element Critical currently has two data center facilities in Northern Virginia and Silicon Valley. It is looking to expand at a rate of two to three properties each year, with a possible interest in international acquisitions.

See also: How data center consolidation will change how we store data

“We live in a world where one size doesn’t fit all and the combination of data center elements change more frequently than ever before,” states Ken Parent, CEO of Element Critical. “We’re designing solutions ranging from a customer moving a lab into a data center for the first time to hyperscale Artificial Intelligence companies requiring liquid cooling for their 30-45 kW racks. We’ve assembled an impressive roster of industry veterans who possess the vision necessary to execute upon a simple proposition – translate data center requirements into custom solutions for less than the big box providers.”

A new world for data centers

It’s been a wild few years for data centers. It’s a bit of a wild west feel as IoT needs, as well as heavier content loads driven by new technologies like AR/VR, are driving a land-grab around capacity. At the same time as large cloud providers like Amazon, Microsoft and Google are building out their offering, “on-prem” data centers run by companies themselves are consolidating and modernizing, due to mergers and tech upgrades.

As well, pressures to move compute capacity to the edge to accommodate growing networks of linked devices, from wearables to autonomous cars, will continue as will the needs of data-acquiring firms to manage and process that data as efficiently and cleanly as possible.

Parent says within these forces at work, there are opportunities to acquire data centers with some existing client base but whose footprint needs optimization across to unlock value.

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The Trump administration on Tuesday published the latest guidelines for self-driving cars, the first update since taking over from the Obama administration. The 36-page report, called Version 2.0 by Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, continues the same hands-off approach to the emerging industry, with guidance being “entirely voluntary” with “no enforcement mechanism.”

Most of the questions raised in the guidance mimic what was found in the Obama report last year. These include questions on validation, cybersecurity, road tests, and hardware failures.

See Also: Who is responsible for autonomous car regulation?

The rather light report comes as a bill, called the SELF DRIVE Act, makes its way through the Senate. The House of Representatives has already passed the bill, which would transfer regulatory power to Congress and let thousands more self-driving cars test on public roads.

The report does make mention of state regulations, warning the states against setting up too many regulations. Most of the states that have a large self-driving presence have already partly legalized road tests or give major auto and tech companies a pass to test on roads.

A coalition of tech and auto companies, including Waymo, Uber, Ford, Volvo, and Lyft, praised the announcement in a statement:

“The Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets is pleased to see the Trump Administration continuing the work to bring fully self-driving vehicles to U.S. roads. With more than 35,000 motor vehicle deaths in 2015, the potential safety benefits of fully self-driving technology are too important to delay.”

The report also said companies that integrate self-driving cars would receive preferential treatment in future infrastructure programs. President Trump has said there will be a $1 trillion infrastructure plan for the U.S., involving roads and bridges, but it has yet to be published.

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Drive.ai and Lyft have announced a partnership to test self-driving cars in the San Francisco Bay Area. The trial will look into how Lyft can optimize the passenger experience, and expand Drive.ai’s technical capabilities with thousands of autonomous miles.

Lyft has made a few big self-driving announcements in the past few months, including a research partnership with nuTonomy and the launch of its own self-driving division.

See Also: Waymo could be a $70 billion business, says Morgan Stanley

“We’re committed to improving people’s lives with the world’s best transportation,” said Taggart Matthiesen, senior director of product of Lyft. “We’re thrilled to partner with Drive.ai to pilot self-driving cars in the Bay Area, and together help shape the future of transportation and ultimately the future of our communities.”

Drive.ai is looking to “develop a roadmap for broader commercialization” during the trial. The startup is currently building a retrofit kit, making the deployment of a self-driving system much cheaper for automakers or taxi services.

Still someone in driver’s seat

Like all tests in California, an engineer will be inside the Drive.ai vehicle at all times, to take over when necessary.

“Self-driving cars have the potential to save lives, reshape cities, and dramatically benefit the environment. Pilot programs like this are vital to build awareness and familiarity with autonomous vehicle technology, and Drive.ai is committed to working with great businesses like Lyft in order to do so,” said Drive.ai CEO Sameep Tandon.

Lyft has seen its market share rise over the past few months in the U.S., as Uber struggles to move past a series of setbacks. The second largest ride-sharing company holds between 20 and 30 percent of the market, peaking at 40 percent in San Francisco, according to data from The Information.

That growth in market share may have pushed Lyft to become more focused on self-driving. Before 2017, it looked likely that Lyft would work exclusively with General Motors, at one point the two companies even discussed an acquisition.

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Google has launched its own augmented reality kit for developers, called ARCore, a lighter version of the company’s Tango platform that does not require any specialized hardware to run.

ARCore is a light software development kit, similar to Apple’s ARkit, which is able to track motion, understand flat surfaces, and estimate where the light will be for accurate shadows.

See Also: Glass restarted after two years in the dark

The SDK is currently available on Android 7.0 Nougat and its successor Android Oreo. It will work on the Google Pixel and the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. Google is aiming for 100 million supported devices by the end of the year, according to The Verge.

Google has been working on Project Tango for three years now, launching specialized smartphones with Lenovo and Asus. The devices had depth perception functionality, because of the dual-cameras, creating the “six degrees of freedom” found on high-end virtual reality (VR) headsets.

Not a lot of consumer interest yet

While the project attracted developer attention, the two devices launched didn’t receive consumer interest. Google is now looking at ARCore as a possible bridge for consumers that are interested in augmented reality, but don’t want to spend $500 on a single purpose smartphone.

Google did not say if it plans to launch an ARCore supported Glass device in the near future.

Like Apple’s ARkit, Google’s demos have focused on animated objects appearing on surfaces and interior design. IKEA is building a new app that will show its entire catalogue in AR on iOS.

As its Google, there is an obvious ulterior motive to making AR easily accessible, visual search. In the future, a user may be able to pull out their phone and see information on businesses in the street, alongside featured stores and offers. Apple has already patented a similar idea.

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IBM announced on Wednesday that it has been awarded a two-year, nine-month contract to continue providing cloud services to the U.S. Army.

The $135 million contract is a follow-up from the previous agreement IBM signed with the U.S. Army’s Logistics Support Activity (LOGSA) in September 2012. Under the previous contract, IBM said it helped the Army save $15 million in operational costs, due to a managed service agreement.

See also: IBM drops $200mm on new home for Watson

The new contract adds cybersecurity and cognitive computing to the package. IBM will apply the risk management framework (RMF) used by the entire U.S. federal government, which replace legacy IT security standards.

“Over the past four and a half years, LOGSA has benefitted from the business and technical advantages of the cloud,” said LOGSA Commander Col. John D. Kuenzli. “Now, we’re moving beyond infrastructure as-a-service and embracing both platform and software-as-a-service, adopting commercial cloud capabilities to further enhance Army readiness.”

Keeping an eye on assets

IBM’s Watson platform will be deployed to predict when a vehicle needs maintenance and will use an analytics tool to view unstructured, structured, and sensor data of other Army assets.

“The solution, part of the Watson IoT for Manufacturing and Industrial Products product suite, includes IBM Predictive Maintenance and Quality System, an integrated solution that monitors, analyzes, and reports on information gathered from devices and equipment and recommends maintenance procedures,” said IBM.

“It also includes Watson Explorer, a cognitive exploration and content analysis platform that enables users to securely capture and analyze both structured and unstructured data. With the platform, the Army will look to extract enhanced insights from its vehicle data and recommend optimal repair methods and procedures. By combining tactical vehicle sensor and maintenance data, the Army better understands the health of its vehicles and can take proactive repair measures.”

IBM has already tested Watson’s cognitive computing on 10 percent of the Army’s Stryker vehicle fleet. With the new contract, that percentage is set to increase.

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Google is building an artificial intelligence team in Beijing, China, despite having its search engine and mobile app store banned in the country.

The search giant has been recruiting heavily over the past year, and in May hinted that an AI research team based in China could be on the cards, according to the Financial Times.

See Also: Neura AI aims to make the connected home truly smart

Engineering talent in China has forced many Western companies to set up research and incubators, allowing them to hire even when their services are banned.

Google is going up against local search rival Baidu, which has invested heavily into AI research and self-driving cars over the past three years. Like Google, Baidu has unveiled an autonomous shuttle service and is embedding AI into its search engine.

Alibaba and Tencent, who with Baidu make up the “big three” in China, also spend a lot hiring engineering talent from top Chinese universities.

Google has around 600 employees based in China, mostly focused on advertising.

China wants to lead

The Chinese government has set a goal of becoming a world leader in AI by 2030. It already has one of the largest engineering talent pools, although experts still think the U.S. and Britain has an edge when it comes to division leaders.

Google has had a tough relationship with the Chinese government. Seven years ago, the company accused the government of a cyberattack that tried to find information on human rights activists. Shortly after, Google stopped censoring search results in the country, and was quickly banned.

The relationship is apparently warmer now, but Google is far away from having its services unbanned, if it even wants to work under China’s censorship.

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The IOTA Foundation will be the platform sponsor for the upcoming Hack4Climate conference, taking place from November 12 to 16 in Bonn, Germany, alongside the UN Climate Change Conference.

A blockchain hackathon for climate change is scheduled to last all four days. Developers will team up with climate experts to build unique solutions using distributed ledger technology (DLT).

See Also: For future transactions, in blockchain we trust

“Our team is very happy to welcome IOTA Foundation as platform sponsor,” said Nick Beglinger, CEO of the Zurich-based Cleantech21 foundation and initiator of Hack4Climate. “IOTA’s focus and unique strengths regarding Internet of Things (IoT) are key tools in the fight against climate change. Climate action requires absolute transparency, and transparency requires completely reliable data.”

Developers will look into ways of verifying air monitoring data and enabling IDs for refugees escaping areas of severe climate change, using blockchain as the framework for new tools.

“We have fully committed to this first Hackathon, because IOTA is all about building a better world, and tackling climate change is a huge part of it,” said Dominik Schiener, co-founder of IOTA and Hack4Climate jury member. “IOTA is already working with many leading organizations from the private and public sector across the world as we were created because of the understanding of how important IoT is for making the global economy more sustainable. Starting with Hack4Climate, we aim to bring the climate and DLT communities together.”

There will be 15 pre-workshops for developers and climate experts interested in the Hack4Climate conference. For more information, check www.hack4climate.org.

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Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has made another apprehensive comment on the future of artificial intelligence development, saying the country with “[artificial intelligence] superiority most likely cause of WW3” on Twitter.

Musk, the most prominent critic of AI development, was responding to a comment by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said the nation that leads in AI will be “leader of the world.”

The comment is just the latest from Musk, who has taken to Twitter previously to call on governments to regulate AI and to say AI is vastly more risky than the situation in North Korea. In past comments, Musk has likened AI development to “summoning the demon” and called it an existential threat.

His heavy criticism of the development has led him into arguments with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, an avid AI enthusiast. Several AI experts have also denounced Musk’s comments.

AI a “national concern”

Almost all the leaders on the global stage have started to invest in research and development of AI for national means, in some way. The Chinese government recently said it wants to be a leader in AI by 2030 and will invest heavily in companies working on the technology.

See Also: In an AI-powered world, what are potential jobs of the future?

Musk recently added his name to alongside 100 others asking for the United Nations to actively regulate autonomous weapons development, before it is deployed on the battlefield.

Even with all the criticism, Musk has founded an AI research firm, called OpenAI. The startup recently showed its technical prowess in the online strategy game DoTA 2. Musk has also founded Neuralink, which is reportedly developing brain-computer interfaces.

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Samsung is the latest technology company to receive a permit to test self-driving cars in California, but does not plan on launching its own automotive anytime soon.

The South Korean electronics giant will instead work on ‘control systems’ for self-driving vehicles. It has already conducted tests in its home country with Hyundai cars.

See Also: Samsung challenges Google with Connect Home Wi-Fi mesh

Samsung has a major investment in Renault which could be used as a partner in the self-driving development, although it has not publically tested its technology in a Renault vehicle.

The company acquired vehicle audio firm Harman for $8 billion last year, seen as a power move to enter the in-car entertainment and self-driving market.

Even though Samsung has not made as large a footprint in the self-driving market as Google, Baidu, and Uber, it has the funds and talent available to make it a prominent player.

That said, the Galaxy S8 maker may find it difficult to attract partners when rivals are showing millions of autonomous miles driven or advanced artificial intelligence, two things Samsung hasn’t shown.

Samsung’s largest rival in the mobile industry, Apple, has also kept its self-driving developments quiet. It was only a few months ago that the iPhone maker received a permit in California, and has only just started testing three Lexus cars on public roads.

Apple is reportedly planning to launch a shuttle service for employees, going from Palo Alto to the Infinite Loop headquarters. Samsung has not said if it will launch a similar service, or what cars it intends to test in California.

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Domino’s and Ford have partnered to test a self-driving pizza delivery service to customers in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The partnership will be part of Ford’s research into how customers respond and interact with self-driving vehicles.

Randomly selected customers will have the option of trying the self-driving delivery service, according to The Verge. An engineer will be driving the vehicle and researchers will be in the back, taking notes.

See Also: How drones will change our retail experience, our cities and our skies

The customers will retrieve the pizza by using a unique four digit code that opens the Heatwave Compartment, where the pizzas are kept warm. Ford is looking to see if customers are nervous picking the delivery up from outside their home and how their interact with the car’s screens.

“We don’t want to wait until we get everything done on the tech and remove the driver,” said Sherif Marakby, vice president of Ford’s autonomous vehicles division. “We’re trying to start doing the research. We still are working on the technology, because it’s not ready to be put on public streets. It’s simulating that the vehicle is in autonomous mode.”

Domino’s recently announced its very own vehicle for delivering pizza, the DXP. The car is built for endurance and accessibility, two features that Marakby sees as key in the delivery business.

The restaurant chain has tested robots and drone delivery services as well, as a possible way of delivering pizza faster in heavily congested cities.

Ford wants to have a self-driving vehicle road ready by 2021 and is looking at taxi and delivery services as the key benefactors of its autonomous technology. The company may start by selling its vehicles directly to businesses, before launching a commercial vehicle for individuals.

It has pledged to spend $1 billion over five years to Argo AI, an artificial intelligence startup.

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Self-driving startup nuTonomy said it hopes to launch a commercial ride service in Singapore by the second quarter of 2018, possibly in partnership with local ride-hailing service Grab.

Originally an MIT spin-off, nuTonomy has worked on self-driving software for three years. It started trialling its tech in Singapore in 2016, and expanded its shuttle program later that year.

See also: nuTonomy comes home with Boston self-driving tests

nuTonomy chief executive Karl Iagnemma said to Reuters that he hopes the service will start in summer, though it could be pushed back to the third or fourth quarter. Iagnemma did not say if this transport service would be ride-hailing, ride-sharing, or a shuttle.

Singapore is a hotbed for emerging technologies, with drones, IoT, and self-driving cars all tested in the city state. NuTonomy received little resistance as it expanded its trial program, and the commercial service will, we assume, see the same safe passage.

Working with Grab could be a way to build nuTonomy’s fleet quicker, possibly using drivers in the interim stage between semi-autonomous and driverless. A Grab partnership also opens up the doors to wider South-East Asian deployment, as the company is active in several countries.

NuTonomy is also working on a trial in the U.S. with ride-sharing service Lyft, expected to launch later this year in Boston. Lyft recently announced that it would be creating its own self-driving division, leading some to question the partnership between it and General Motors.

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The Colorado Department of Transportation has said it will deploy a self-driving truck to protect road crews from speeding vehicles by the end of this fall, potentially extending the program to cover all road maintenance if the trial is a success.

The self-driving truck will act as a “crash truck”, which moves slowly behind road crews. The trucks are currently manned by a single driver, who faces the brunt of the damage if an accident happens.

See Also: Forrester: self-driving to make global economy “unrecognizable” by 2035

In Colorado, 21,898 crashes and 171 fatalities were reported on work zones between 2000 and 2014, according to CNN Money, highlighting the need for crash trucks and other buffers.

The self-driving truck will follow a lead vehicle further ahead via radio waves, taking notice of worker movements and other factors. The self-driving technology is developed by Kratos Defense, a supplier of autonomous vehicles for the U.S. army.

“People talk about automation and will this displace workers. Here’s a case where I think everyone will agree we want to get workers out of these trucks,” said Shailen Bhatt, the executive director of the Colorado Department of Transportation.

One truck so far

Colorado has purchased one truck for the trial and will buy more if the trial is successful. Officials said that former drivers of crash trucks will be given other roles in the road crew.

Trucks are expected to make up a significant amount of the self-driving industry’s value, according to a report by Strategy Analytics and Intel. The business-as-a-mobility sector could be worth $3 trillion by 2050, most of the value coming from long-haul shipping, another job with a high turnover rate.

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Google’s self-driving division Waymo has announced it will be retiring the Firefly car, the nearly iconic pod-like vehicle that was manufactured in-house to experiment.

Waymo is now moving to mass produced vehicles, like the Chrysler Pacifica minivan. It received 600 minivans from Fiat Chrysler last year and is in the process of outfitting the vehicles with Lidar, sensors, and artificial intelligence.

See Also: Waymo working on competitor to Uber’s self-driving trucks

“Now that we’ve moved to our next phase — letting members of the public use our self-driving cars in their daily lives — we’re ready to retire our fleet of Fireflies and focus on integrating our latest technology into vehicles like our new self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivan,” said YooJung Ahn, lead industrial designer and Jaime Waydo, lead system engineer, in a blog post.

“By focusing on mass-produced vehicles like the Pacifica minivan, we’ll be able to bring fully self-driving technology to more people, more quickly.”

A move to a more collaborative approach

The move to a mass-produced vehicle shows the change at Google from wanting to build the hardware, software, and underlying services to a more collaborative approach, where it works with Fiat and ride-sharing service Lyft to improve transportation.

Firefly has been the main vehicle of choice for Waymo over the past two years, as it transitioned away from the Lexus RX450h SUVs that made up most of its fleet.

The automobile had no steering wheel and had a speed limit of 25 mph. Waymo says that it will continue to use Fireflies for ceremonies and a few will be at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.

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Finland could be the first country to have a regular autonomous shuttle service, with city transportation officials aiming to debut the service this fall.

Tests have been ongoing since August 2016, when the shuttle was first deployed on a quarter-mile course with 12 passengers on board.

See Also: Scandinavia leaps ahead of everyone in IoT deployment

Since then, improvements have been made to the sensors and self-driving software. It is now able to run longer routes and could be used for multiple purposes, including last mile deliveries and as a taxi for the elderly.

Targeting six biggest Finnish cities

Sohjoa, the EU-backed project that counts Finland’s six most populated cities, Finnish universities and transport officials as members, will release finalized information on the route, schedule, and launch date later in the year, according to Curbed.

The autonomous shuttle aims to reduce car ownership by making public transportation quick, direct, and safe. Finland is already promoting several other projects that look to improve public transportation options and reduce carbon emissions.

Finland has become a hotspot for self-driving cars due to its transport laws not restricting the testing or deployment of autonomous vehicles. A car technically does not need a driver in Finland, meaning as long as the tech is safe, it has a place on the road.

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Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, and Tata Motors are collaborating in the U.K. on a scheme called Autodrive, which is working on communication systems for self-driving cars.

The most recent test, held in Nuneaton, a town in Warwickshire, England, looked into several safety systems aimed at reducing accidents. These included emergency warning technology and collision warnings, displayed through sound or visual alerts to the driver. The cars also transmit warnings to other self-driving cars nearby.

See Also: Self-driving car trials to hit UK roads in 2019

Other tests focused on communicating traffic light changes, showing free parking spaces in the nearby area, and telling cars behind that the car in front is breaking with force. Autodrive expects the introduction of these technologies, if adopted widely, to significantly reduce the amount of accidents on the road.

The next stop for Autodrive is Milton Keynes and Coventry, where it will continue to test the safety technologies on segregated sections of roads, according to Wired. The cars will move to public roads before the end of 2018, when the project is set to finish.

The U.K. has made several legislative changes to make the country more appealing to automakers that want to test self-driving technology. It legalized the testing of self-driving cars and, through the government’s innovation agency Innovate UK, has invested millions into startups and consortiums pursuing safer and cleaner transport solutions.

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Jawbone, once rivaling Fitbit for the top spot in the fitness wearable market, has begun liquidation proceedings after years of lackluster product launches and job cuts.

Hosain Rahman, the CEO and co-founder of Jawbone, has already established a new startup, Jawbone Health Hub, which will work on connected products for the health industry, says The Information.

See Also: Wearable sales to double by 2021, says IDC

Most employees still with the company have already moved over to the new startup, although the exact number of employees is not yet known.

Rumors of a new health product started to spread earlier this year, around the same time Jawbone stopped updating its Bluetooth speakers and wearables. The move to health comes as Fitbit and Apple are both planning to add more health services to their wearables devices.

New startup won’t be consumer-focused

The new startup is expected to be far less consumer-focused than Jawbone, selling products directly to hospitals and doctors. The company has not said what products it intends to launch, with Rahman remaining silent on hardware and software plans.

Jawbone started in 1999 as an audio company called AliphCom, originally building “military grade audio devices”. The company’s early success with well designed Bluetooth headsets and speakers led them to double down on the wearable market, which turned out to be a major misstep.

In the past few years, Jawbone has lost its shine, with faulty products, slow service updates, and crappy customer support. It also entered into a legal battle with rival Fitbit, both claiming that the other stole confidential information. Fitbit ended the legal case in December 2016, and supposedly tried to purchase the faltering company a few days after.

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Continental, a German auto manufacturer, has announced plans to test a “robo-taxi” in Frankfurt. The CuBe (Continental Urban mobility Experience) will be a blueprint for the future development of autonomous shared transport in urban areas.

The CuBe will be fitted with driver assistance programs and sensors already embedded into Level 2 cars found on the road today, like the Tesla Model S. Continental is adding a laser sensor to the car, and will build self-driving software that is personalized for a shared experience.

See Also: Continental rolls into BMW’s self-driving consortium

“The future of individual mobility in cities is autonomous and electric, and it will become part of the shared economy,” said Continental Executive Board member, Frank Jourdan. “This is why we’re developing cross-divisional solutions for driverless robo-taxis… we will be starting with practical testing this year.”

Continental in a perfect positon?

Jourdan thinks Continental is in a perfect position to be the leader in driverless pods, as it already supplies sensors, actuators, control units, and networking technology to automakers. Delphi, a rival parts supplier, is also working on its own self-driving system.

“The trials will be used to identify all the essential technical requirements that enable safe, driverless passenger transport in urban areas,” said head of the self-driving project, Dr. Andree Hohm. “This helps us to find answers to questions about our product strategy and to deliver leading technology for individual mobility in the future – including driverless systems.”

Continental has not mentioned any tests outside of Frankfurt, although the company does cite the congestion in cities like Berlin and London as major issues, which could be fixed through robo-taxis.

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Fitbit is on schedule, as its boss James Park keeps reminding us, to launch its next smartwatch by the end of the year. We don’t know what the smartwatch will be called, though Blaze 2 seems likely, but thanks to leaks we know its design and some of the hardware improvements.

Images obtained by Wareable show a similar large display design to the Blaze – which we have already seen in a Yahoo Finance report – alongside a new heart-rate arrangement that uses two red lights and one blue light.

The company’s previous devices have used a green light to track heart-rate because blood absorbs the light. However, it reflects red light, which allows it to penetrate deeper into the skin, providing a more accurate heart-rate and new biometrics like blood oxygen levels.

This should help close the gap between Fitbit and the Apple Watch when it comes to heart-rate accuracy. Fitbit is also reportedly improving the accuracy of GPS for the new smartwatch.

It won’t be just hardware this year, Fitbit is planning to launch an app gallery that will come with a selection of launch apps, before opening to the wider developer community. The company has reportedly tapped Pandora to be the launch partner for music, after unsuccessfully trying to partner with Spotify.

See Also: Morgan Stanley: Fitbit needs better software to survive

The firm is in a precarious position, once the dominant player in the wearable market, it has lost significant marketshare to Apple and Xiaomi. Other brands, like Garmin and Samsung, are providing customers with alternatives to the standard smartwatch and fitness tracker options.

This new smartwatch has most of the improvements people have asked of Fitbit, but delays and rumors of poor performance could ruin the new device before it even hits the store shelves.

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In the interim between semi-autonomous and self-driving, cars will need to be able to switch modes with relative ease. Ford has shown one possible way to move to self-driving mode, by making the steering wheel and brake pedals removable.

In a patent granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Ford shows how the wheel and pedals could be manually removed and refitted for testing the car. Customers would be able to move from autonomous to manual, simply by attaching the parts back to the car.

See Also: Ford spends billions to meet ambitious self-driving goal

Once removed, the parts that connect to the steering wheel are folded away inside the dashboard. An airbag is fitted inside the front dash, replacing the one in the steering wheel.

Ford’s patent looks to a future where customers are able to choose between manual and self-driving. This is expected to be between 2025 and 2050, a time when people will still be allowed to drive, but cities and metro areas begin to move to a fully driverless system.

Commuters from outside the city may drive into town, before switching to a driverless mode.

Ford is aiming for a self-driving vehicle on the road by 2021, though it is expected to be part of the company’s own ride-sharing app. Customers won’t be able to purchase the cars until at least 2026, according to the company’s head of research.

What’s odd about the patent is Ford plans to skip Level 3 autonomy and go straight to Level 5, the highest level of self-driving. In that future, the computer will control the car in all environments.

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