“All kinds of automation are great, BUT a city is about satisfying the quality of life of its residents before everything. Integrated dashboards with AI and robots, and tech-supported decision makings are a life-long technical dream of all generations of urban professionals, engineers, architects, but most of the people would agree that there would not be worse governance than the one of scientist government. For the simple reason that humans are sensitive entities more than rational ones, highly unpredictable and so far never completely understood by any science.”
PayByCar Raises $2M to Rethink How People Make Purchases From Their Vehicles
November 3, 2020 by
PayByCar has built a new, contactless method to pay for gas that does not require handling cash, cards, or tapping any apps. PayByCar’s partnership with the E-ZPass Group (24 tolling agencies across 18 states) allows vehicles to use their existing E-Zpass transponders and smartphones to serve as a form of identification at gas stations. Boston TechWatch caught up with CEO and Founder Kevin Condon to learn more about PayByCar and the opportunities to expand beyond gas payments to drive-thru food, curbside pick-up, commercial parking, and the rest of the in-vehicle economy.
NASA Prepares the Nation for Flying Taxis?
February 12, 2020 by
Autonomous eVTOLs (electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing systems) are coming sooner than you think.
CES 2020: A Smart City Oasis
January 14, 2020 by
Like the city that hosts the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) there is a lot of noise on the show floor. Sifting through the lights, sounds, and people can be an arduous task even for the most experienced CES attendees. Hidden past the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) is a walkway to a tech […]
Tackling Sustainability and Urbanization With AI-Enabled Furniture
June 12, 2019 by
At the turn of the twentieth century, the swelling populations of newly arrived immigrants in New York City’s Lower East Side reached a boiling point, forcing the City to pass the 1901 Tenement House Act. Recalling this legislation, New York City’s Mayor’s Office recently responded to its own modern housing crisis by enabling developers for the […]
5 Exciting Technologies That Need Your Execution Help
May 17, 2019 by
As a business advisor and technologist, I often think about the large array of opportunities for entrepreneurs as technology seems to be evolving faster and faster. Yet I still too often hear the question, “Can you give me a really sure-fire idea for starting my own business?” My standard answer is that ideas are a […]
Machines That Smell Trouble
February 19, 2019 by
Abruptly, I enter the cab escaping the arctic weather to confront something worse than freezing rain – body odor. Luckily, another taxi pulled to the curb and I continued my journey to last Tuesday’s RobotLab forum on Cybersecurity & Machines. Moderating a panel at the new Global Cyber Center, with John Frankel of ffVC and Guy Franklin of SOSA, I […]
The End Of Parking As We Know It
November 20, 2018 by
A day before snow decapacitated New York commuters, researchers at the University of Iowa and Princeton demurred the growth of urbanization as the leading cause for catastrophic storm damage. Wednesday’s report stated that the $128 billion wake of Hurricane Harvey was 21 times greater due to the population density of Houston, one of America’s fastest growing cities. […]