Car that Responds to Your Moods; New Jaguar Land Rover Tech Helps Reduce Stress

Highlights

●        Jaguar Land Rover is developing new AI technology to better understand changes in the driver’s mood while behind the wheel 
●        Cabin settings will be altered in response to the driver’s facial expressions to help tackle stress
●        Reports suggest 74 per cent of people admit to feeling stressed or overwhelmed every day
●        New mood-detection system is one of a suite of technologies Jaguar Land Rover is exploring as part of its ‘tranquil sanctuary’ vision to improve the overall driving experience

Jaguar Land Rover is researching new artificial intelligence (AI) technology to understand our state of mind while driving – and adjust cabin settings to improve driver wellbeing.

The technology uses a driver-facing camera and biometric sensing to monitor and evaluate the driver’s mood and adapt a host of cabin features, including the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, media and ambient lighting. The settings will be altered in response to the driver’s facial expressions to help tackle stress. Reports suggest 74 per cent of us admit to feeling stressed or overwhelmed every day*.

The mood-detection system will use the latest AI techniques to continually adapt to nuances in the driver’s facial expressions and implement appropriate settings automatically. In time the system will learn a driver’s preference and make increasingly tailored adjustments.

Personalisation settings could include changing the ambient lighting to calming colours if the system detects the driver is under stress, selecting a favourite playlist if signs of weariness are identified, and lowering the temperature in response to yawning or other signs of tiring.

Jaguar Land Rover is also trialling similar technology for rear passengers, with a camera mounted in the headrest. If the system detects signs of tiredness, it could dim the lights, tint the windows and raise the temperature in the back, to help an occupant get to sleep.

Dr Steve Iley, Jaguar Land Rover Chief Medical Officer, said: “As we move towards a self-driving future, the emphasis for us remains as much on the driver as it ever has.

“By taking a holistic approach to the individual driver, and implementing much of what we’ve learnt from the advances in research around personal wellbeing over the last 10 or 15 years, we can make sure our customers remain comfortable, engaged and alert behind the wheel in all driving scenarios, even monotonous motorway journeys.”

The new mood–detection system is one of a suite of technologies that Jaguar Land Rover is exploring as part of its ‘tranquil sanctuary’ vision to improve the driving experience. Designed to create a sanctuary inside each of its luxury vehicles, the manufacturer is trialling a wide range of driver and passenger wellbeing features, to ensure occupants are as comfortable as possible whilst ensuring the driver remains mindful, alert and in control.

Mood-detection software is the next-generation of Jaguar Land Rover’s existing driver tracking technology. The Driver Condition Monitor, which is capable of detecting if a driver is starting to feel drowsy and will give an early warning to take a break, is available on all Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles.

Ather Energy Expands to Chennai City: Launches Ather 450 in its Second Market in India

After a successful run in Bengaluru, Ather Energy officially began accepting pre-orders from consumers for its Ather 450 in Chennai. This is the second city the company is entering after its commercial launch in June 2018.  Ather’s flagship scooter has seen great traction from owners and reviewers and has changed the market's expectation of two wheelers.

Last weekend, Ather offered early access test rides to its followers in Chennai and showcased the 450 prior to its official launch. The event was focused on the Ather community that the company has built and had fifty Bengaluru owners travel to Chennai to share their ownership journey. This pre-launch event saw resounding response and the Ather 450 has already sold out till November in Chennai. The company is now opening pre-orders for its second limited batch of deliveries.

The on-road price of the Ather 450 is INR. 131,683 and Ather 340 will be priced at INR.119,091 in Chennai. The price includes the regulation 2 helmets, along with the FAME 2 subsidy and other basics like insurance, road tax, GST, and other fees.

Ather had begun the installation of its Ather Grid points in Chennai in May 2019. Since then, Chennai has seen installation of ten fast charging points. These charging points can be found in malls like Forum Vijaya Mall, offices like AtWorks and cafes, restaurants, and even grocery stores. To encourage adoption of EVs in the city, Ather Energy will provide free charging at Ather Grid till December 2019 for all electric 4Ws & 2Ws and will add 40-50 more charging points to their network.

The company will be opening Ather Space, the experience center at Wallace Garden, Nungambakkam on 24th July. Consumers can test ride vehicles at Space and get an in-depth view of electric vehicles and their usage.

The company has announced free Ather One subscription for all the deliveries in 2019, starting with the September batch. The Ather One plan offers customers free access to; public and home charging; regular maintenance inclusive of consumables; breakdown assistance; and unlimited data services at only INR 700 + GST monthly.

The company is increasing the production capacity of its manufacturing facility to ramp up deliveries in Bengaluru and Chennai. The waiting period for the vehicles has come down enabling faster deliveries to customers in the last month.

Quote by Tarun Mehta, Co-founder & CEO, Ather Energy:

“After the successful launch in Bengaluru, we are excited to enter Chennai, where Ather was born. There is an incredible amount of excitement and awareness of electric vehicles in the city. This was evident in the pre-launch event when we sold out our first batch of deliveries before the official launch in Chennai.  Two out of three consumers pre-ordered a vehicle, some even before taking a test ride. We now believe that Chennai will be a bigger market than Bengaluru for us. We have spent the past year scaling up to meet the demand for Bengaluru and have been building more features and improvements on the 450. We have been experimenting with new forms of ownership like lease and are excited to launch the same in Chennai.”

The Product – The Ather 450 is exclusively designed to suit the city’s riding conditions. It has a top speed of 80 km/hr, a range of 75 km (IDC range of 107 km) and one of the quickest accelerations (0-40 km/hr) in the scooter category of 3.9 seconds. Also, for the first time in the category, Ather 450 comes with parking assist, which allows riders to reverse into tight parking spots.

The key differentiator of the Ather 450 is its intelligent features, seamless charging and ownership experience. The Ather 450 has a 7” touchscreen dashboard that allows onboard navigation with options of alternate routes and saved locations. It comes with the Ather app that enables push navigation from the phone to the vehicle dashboard, remote monitoring of the vehicle’s health and charge status.

The Ather 450 comes with a home charging Point, that will be installed by the company at either owners’ home or workplace. The company has introduced six major OTA updates on the vehicle since launch. These updates have enabled new improved features on the vehicle and the app, ranging from new ride modes, range and navigation improvements to ride statistics on the Ather app.

Josh Gates Explores Fabled City of Dwarka in Discovery's Latest Series 'Expendition Unknown' From July 12, 2019

Josh Gates, one of the world’s most passionate explorers, is set to embark on an epic adventure in India in search of the truth behind the fabled city of Dwarka – India’s very own Atlantis! Are the ancient manuscripts purely myths or could the legendary city of Dwarka be based on a real place? Josh Gates is going to join a team of scientists who believe that they may have discovered something under the water that could rock the foundations of history as we know it. Viewers will be able to witness the extraordinary story of Dwarka unfold in the special episode of ‘EXPEDITION UNKNOWN’ starting July 12, 2019 at 9 PM only on Discovery Channel.

According to scripture, Dwarka was an expansion of Lord Krishna's energy. It was described as a utopian city with opulent buildings gilded in gold.  Per the legend, Lord Krishna summoned divine powers to erect the towering city, which rose up out of the ocean, surrounded by a massive stone wall to protect the city from invaders. But in the wake of Lord Krishna's death, the glittering kingdom sank into the Arabian Sea and its glory faded into myth. Now, Josh is teaming up with world-renowned researchers who are dedicated to unearthing the truth behind the fabled city.

“The story of ancient Dwarka is an important religious tale, but as we examine submerged ruins surrounding the modern city by the same name, we’re discovering that the legend may be based on something historic,” says Josh Gates, as he dives into the waters of the Arabian Sea.

After investigating the coast of modern Dwarka, Josh heads to a dig site on Bet Dwarka, an island to the north, with a team of Indian archeologists who have recently discovered intriguing relics including the remains of a wall, pottery, and an enigmatic stamping-seal.

“Archaeologists have barely scratched the surface on this island, but the evidence is already mounting that there was a significant settlement here,” says Gates. “The items we've uncovered and especially the ancient seal demonstrates a vibrant culture here and strong indications of ritual and ceremony. But is it ancient Dwarka?”

Speaking about his experience, Josh Gates, adds, “I leave India entranced, swept up in thousands of years of myth, devotion and celebration. In time, archaeologists may find irrefutable proof that Dwarka isn't just a religious parable in an ancient text. I'm eager to see what archaeologists turn up next, but for the citizens of modern Dwarka and of the nearly billion Hindus around the world, this legend is more than just real. It's divine.”

EXPEDITION UNKNOWN is produced for Discovery Channel by Ping Pong Productions.

Join Josh Gates on his fascinating journey to uncover the myth of the legendary lost city of Dwarka; a special episode from the latest series ‘EXPEDITION UNKNOWN’ on July 12, 2019 every Friday at 9 PM only on Discovery Channel!

UL and Wintech Testing and Certification Combine to Provide Best in Class Testing and Certification Services

UL, a global safety science leader, announces the acquisition of Wintech Testing and Certification, a Telford, U.K.-based firm that provides testing and certification services to architects, building owners, manufacturers and others across the built environment community. The acquisition strengthens UL’s expertise in the field of building envelope evaluation, testing and certification, and offers greater access to global markets.

Wintech Testing and Certification is a privately-owned firm that offers testing and certification services to the building envelope market. Wintech Testing and Certification’s unique laboratory facilities are among the largest in the U.K. and are accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS). Wintech Testing and Certification also holds accreditation from UKAS as a certification body operating several schemes involving certification of windows, doors, curtain walls, and rainscreen cladding. Over the last twenty-five years, Wintech Testing and Certification has contributed to many high-caliber projects throughout the United Kingdom and Europe.

“UL and Wintech Testing and Certification have a shared mission and complementary businesses. We are relied upon by the building materials community for the services and knowledge that they need to enhance public safety, meet regulatory demands, protect brand value and successfully access the global market,” said Kevin Faltin, vice president of UL Building and Life Safety Technologies division. “Working as one, UL and Wintech Testing and Certification will continue to grow the vision that has brought us together, that of becoming a global leader in the field of building envelope evaluation, testing and certification.’’

Wintech Testing and Certification’s employees will join and strengthen UL’s existing building envelope team. The group’s building science thought leadership and global center of excellence will be based out of the Telford, U.K. headquarters.

“We are excited by this opportunity to join forces with UL and provide best-in-class services to the building envelope community,” said Gailord Nepp, former managing director of Wintech Testing and Certification and now European business development manager - Building Envelope Services for UL. “Our group’s shared reputation for delivering industry leading services and in-depth industry knowledge will continue to strengthen our position as leaders in the field of building envelope evaluation, testing and certification. Joining forces with UL will allow us to significantly accelerate our growth and access to global markets, in addition to providing our clients with a broader range of complimentary services and expertise. Clients can rest assured that customer service and technical quality will remain our top priorities, and that our newly integrated capabilities will deliver even more value.’’

The transaction closed on June 28, 2019. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

ThoughtWorks Ramps Up India Investment with New Mumbai Office

ThoughtWorks, a global software consultancy, recently ventured into India’s financial capital and set up a new office to cater to its BFSI clientele. As part of ThoughtWorks’ continued growth in India, the Mumbai office offers clients technology consulting, product driven strategies and platform thinking to thrive in a sector that is heavily driven by cutting edge technology demands.

ThoughtWorks’ new office will accelerate engagements with Indian Business Houses (IBHs) by providing digital and data management capabilities at scale and by mobilizing emerging tech like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for FinTech businesses. The investment in the new geography supports ThoughtWorks’ vision of revolutionizing India's BFSI industry through tech excellence and data driven insights. ThoughtWorks’ proven presence in the financial services sector comes from working with several global financial institutions and their captive centers on strategic digital transformation journeys in both Mumbai and Pune.

Speaking on the company’s plans to strengthen its foothold in the sector, Sudhir Tiwari - Managing Director, ThoughtWorks in India said, ‘’The Indian BFSI industry is experiencing a seismic shift. Banks are turning to digital natives like ThoughtWorks to build digital platform capabilities and deliver exceptional service at scale. Banks are working on the business imperative of creating futuristic systems and architecture by putting technology at the core of their organization. For us and our India growth plans, Mumbai, India’s financial capital, makes perfect sense as the next step. We are delighted to set foot into the city and leverage our more than 25 years of tech expertise here.’’

ThoughtWorks’ Mumbai office is located at the Hiranandani Business Park in Powai and serves as a launchpad for experienced technologists and full stack developers. ThoughtWorks will also invest in nurturing its employees through high intensity training and programmes. The Mumbai center will initially be supported by ThoughtWorks’ Pune office, with plans to further expand its workforce in the city.

This recent addition takes the total number of ThoughtWorks’ India offices to seven, with the other six spread across Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, and Pune.

World First Installation of 16 CPU Server Based on the Newest Cascade Lake Processors Was Carried Out in Russia

Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, today announced that BullSequana S1600 servers with up to 24 TB DRAM has officially become available in Russia and has already been put into operation at the first Russian customer site. The platform can be used for real-time data analysis as well as with data management systems such as SAP HANA, Oracle and PostgreSQL. BullSequana S are based on the new generation Intel® Xeon Cascade Lake processors with new Optane DC Persistent Memory. With the release of these new processors, new UBox interconnect bus with support up to 16 and 32 processors became available.

BullSequana S is the platform for SAP, Oracle, PostgreSQL landscapes and Big Data deployments, for which high performance is crucial. With the total memory up to 24 TB DRAM the platform also accelerates data lakes deployment and is a complete solution for real time data processing, which makes it perfect choice for financial and medical systems, retail, manufacturing and transport.

BullSequana S1600 work effectively with real time data management systems, like SAP HANA. Migrating servers to the latest Intel® Xeon® Cascade Lake processors has made available new Optane™ DC Persistent Memory. In addition, the servers received SAP certification to operate with SAP HANA solutions. With the help of Optane™ DC Persistent Memory it is possible to cut costs up to 20% for large clusters virtualization projects and to increase performance by 30% for small and medium-sized SAP HANA landscapes with no cost increase. Thus, customers get the best possible price-quality ratio.

The cutting edge architecture allows to consolidate GPU, storage and processing resources in a single server to handle all intelligent enterprise workloads.

UBox interconnect bus with third generation Atos eXternal Node Controller (XNC) has become available for BullSequana S servers upgrade over 8 processors and up to 24 TB DRAM. Thus, the companies can increase the number of processors depending on their business needs (at 2 CPU increments). BullSequana S technology allows you to add capacity without operation interrupt. In addition, you can reuse existing modules (for example, storage systems) and combine them with new ones in order to reduce operation cost. Thus, a single solution provides ease of management, scales down costs and deployment time of small to very large configurations. Currently, one server can be scaled up to 16 processors. In the second half of the year, 32-processor configurations will become available.

“We are proud of the fact that the first server based on 16 Cascade Lake processors was launched by us in Russia. The ability to scale the server as needed and configure it with a large set of internal disks allows to adapt the platform to specific business tasks and simplify new application life cycle - says Roman Gots, Head of Big Data and Security, Atos Russia - With the ability to dynamically scale up to 32 processors and up to 48 TB RAM and 64 TB NV-RAM platform combines exceptional performance and flexibility for customers to protect infrastructure investments“.

BullSequana S is an open platform, which dynamically configures for smart digital business development. The platform is scaled as needed and support large number of internal drives, which helps to adapt it for specific business tasks and simplify application life cycle.

Free Animal Vaccination Camps by Indian Immunologicals on ‘World Zoonosis Day’

Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL), a leading biologicals company, today organized free Vaccination Camps in over 170 centres across the country. The market leader in veterinary biologicals and one of the largest animals & human health players in India, IIL has been organizing these Vaccination and Rabies awareness camps at Veterinary dispensaries, NGOs and Veterinarians across the country every year on “World Zoonosis Day” which is observed every year on the 6th of July. Around 50,000 doses of RAKSHARAB (anti-rabies vaccine) produced by IIL was administered free of cost in as many as 20 states and Union Territories through veterinary dispensaries, NGOs etc.

Diseases that transmit from animals to human beings are called Zoonotic diseases and 70% of all emerging diseases that affect humans are zoonotic in nature. In India, occurrence of Rabies is prevalent and accounts for more than 90% of all zoonotic cases reported in the country. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates around 1.75 million dog bite cases every year causing around 59,000 deaths worldwide each year with majority of cases (95%) taking place in Africa and Asia. A 2015 study, published in peer-reviewed PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases estimates about 20,800 rabies deaths every year in India - the highest in the world at 36% of total deaths due to rabies.

The economic cost of dog mediated rabies has been estimated to be $ 8.6 billion. The high incidence of rabies in India is due to large uncontrolled stray dog population in India. Stray dogs account for nearly 80% of the canine population in India. There are several reasons for the high incidence including poor vaccination. Prophylaxis through vaccination is the most cost-effective intervention to reduce incidence of disease. Several countries have been able to reduce the number of rabies related human deaths through vaccination of dogs.

On the occasion of World Zoonosis Day, Dr.K. Anand Kumar, Managing Director, Indian Immunologicals Limited said, “IIL is truly a One Health company, playing a significant role in providing cost effective tools for the control of various zoonotic diseases in the country including the dreaded Rabies. Working with various other stake holders including the common public, IIL is determined to eradicate disease.”

“IIL wishes to spread the message that preventive vaccination is a proven and cost-effective means to minimize incidence of zoonotic diseases. Effective implementation of Swachh Bharat programme and preventive vaccination would vastly improve the health status of the country,” added Dr. Prasanna Deshpande, Deputy Managing Director, Indian Immunologicals Limited.

In addition to Rabies, other Zoonotic diseases such as Brucellosis, Leptospirosis, Swine Flu, Porcine Cysticercosis, Nipah, Zika etc. also affect human beings. Awareness, accurate diagnosis, improvement in sanitary conditions, prophylactic vaccination are all measures that need to be taken to restrain/eradicate spread.

Indian Immunologicals Limited (a subsidiary company of National Dairy Development Board) is leading biologicals manufacturer. Through extensive research, the company has delivered affordable vaccines for the consumers in India. IIL continues to be a leading manufacturer of animal rabies vaccine (Raksharab) and human rabies vaccine (Abhayrab) in the country. IIL’s CYSVAX is the world’s first vaccine for Porcine Cysticercosis in Pigs. Cysticercosis is a very important zoonotic disease and it is understood that it is a prime cause of epilepsy in humans. Vaccinating Pigs against Porcine Cysticercosis can help significantly reduce the incidence of epilepsy in humans.