Baidu Inc has secured the first permits in China to offer commercial fully driverless robotaxi services to the public on open roads. Apollo Go, Baidu's autonomous ride-hailing service, is now authorized to collect fares for robotaxi rides - completely without human drivers in the car - in Chongqing and Wuhan, two of China's largest megacities.

With the ever-increasing interest in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles, adopting Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) is an important decision to reach higher vehicle autonomy and better safety. The lidar market for automotive applications will grow to US$8.4 billion by 2033, according to IDTechEx report "Lidar 2023-2033: Technologies, Players, Markets & Forecasts".

Patients with severe respiratory or lung diseases require intensive treatment and their lung function needs to be monitored on a continuous basis. Researchers have developed a technology whereby noises in the lungs are recorded using a textile vest with integrated acoustic sensors. The signals are then converted and displayed visually using software. In this way, patients outside of intensive care units can still be monitored continuously. The technology increases the options for diagnosis and improves the patient's quality of life.

Nitrates and nitrites give processed meats their characteristic pink color and robust flavor. Although many consumers want to limit consumption of these preservatives because the substances can form potentially cancer-causing compounds, knowing how much is in a food has been difficult to determine. Now, researchers have developed a color-changing film that consumers can stick onto foods and easily analyze nitrite levels by snapping a picture with a smartphone.

A researcher is creating a portable, wearable device for rapid gas analysis that could detect illness immediately. Advancements in micro-gas chromatography in the past 20 years have demonstrated great potential for the development of powerful portable gas analysis devices. But it remains a challenge to achieve efficient separation and rapid detection for effective gas analysis in a highly integrated and cost-effective platform, as well as in a mobile device.

Powercast Corporation and InPlay have created a platform for designing battery-free, maintenance-free, long-range wireless IoT sensor systems that deploy easily for monitoring in the retail, medical, warehousing and industrial IoT markets.

This premium article explores emerging applications for wearable motion sensors, particularly focusing on telemedicine and remote patient monitoring, digital physical therapy, wearables in clinical trials, and more.

Researchers have figured out how to engineer a biofilm that harvests the energy in evaporation and converts it to electricity. This biofilm has the potential to revolutionize the world of wearable electronics, powering everything from personal medical sensors to personal electronics.

In recent times, we have all experienced the value of diagnostics used in the comfort and ease of our own homes. Imagine if we could look for other infectious diseases just as easily, with less invasive, self-administered, highly accurate, and reliable tests. With the convergence of advances in telehealth and biotechnology, this is the direction that the diagnostics industry is heading towards.

Ecologists won't always need expensive and bulky equipment to measure vegetation in the wild. Scientists have discovered a modern heads-up display works pretty well. Researchers set up a Microsoft HoloLens as a mixed-reality sensor to feed VegSense, their application to measure understory vegetation, plant life that grows between the forest canopy and floor.

A pioneering project, which aims to develop advanced sensors for use in robotic systems, could transform prosthetics and robotic limbs. The research project aims to develop sensors which provide enhanced capabilities to robots, helping improve their dexterity and motor skills, through the use of accurate pressure sensors which provide haptic feedback and distributed touch.

This premium article gives an introduction to inertial measurement units (IMU) and explores the opportunities and challenges associated with MEMs-based IMUs.

A team of researchers have developed a water-activated disposable paper battery. The researchers suggest that it could be used to power a wide range of low-power, single-use disposable electronics - such as smart labels for tracking objects, environmental sensors and medical diagnostic devices - and minimize their environmental impact.

When the Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering at The University of Sheffield was looking for a way to accurately 3D print bioelectronic sensors, it reached out to Intertronics for support. The company supplied mixing and dispensing equipment to improve the consistency and quality of the mix, achieve better printing definition, and reduce blockages in the nozzle of the 3D printer.

Scientists have created the first completely digitally manufactured plasma sensors for orbiting spacecraft. These plasma sensors, also known as retarding potential analyzers are used by satellites to determine the chemical composition and ion energy distribution of the atmosphere.

LAIIER addresses use cases that other sensor platforms cannot, and can outfit everything from an in-construction new build to a centuries-old landmark. LAIIER's big vision is to create physical and digital functionality on surfaces across the building, turning floors, ceilings, and walls into a mesh network of sensors that monitor a building's vital signs 24/7.

Wrist-worn health devices can be combined with machine learning to detect COVID-19 infections as early as two days before symptoms appear,

Vertical farming, the practice of growing crops indoors on vertically stacked layers, has received no small amount of interest over the last few years. The recent IDTechEx report, "Vertical Farming 2022-2032", details the economic and technological factors shaping this rapidly growing industry.

Researchers show how a gold CD's thin metallic layer can be separated from the rigid plastic and fashioned into sensors to monitor electrical activity in human hearts and muscles as well as lactose, glucose, pH and oxygen levels. The sensors can communicate with a smartphone via Bluetooth.