Auto companies are more open than ever to look beyond what they are doing and explore what they see as the future of transportation. However, in order to move quickly, they are looking outside for allies to build on the strengths of each other. Taking another step in the same direction, Volvo is making progress with the partnership with Autoliv called Zenuity announced earlier. Building on Nvidia’s PX in-car AI computing platform, they plan a commercial rollout of cars with Level 4 autonomy by 2021.

Autoliv is a leading automotive safety company while Nvidia has been aggressively moving ahead in this space. Previously the company announced partnership with Baidu to work on development of autonomous vehicles. Nvidia’s Drive PX already powers autonomous vehicles on testing currently.

This partnership highlights how large corporations are more open to collaborations and the trend will continue in the time to come. While the software they are developing will be unique to Volvo in ways, Autoliv will have right to make the software available to other automakers through its existing relationships. Nvidia too will gain from this partnership as adoption by other automakers will give its PX platform a push across a wider range of vehicles.

“This cooperation with NVIDIA places Volvo Cars, Autoliv and Zenuity at the forefront of the fast moving market to develop next generation autonomous driving capabilities and will speed up the development of Volvo’s own commercially available autonomous drive cars,” said Hakan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars.

Jan Carlson, chief executive of Autoliv, said: “With NVIDIA, we now have full access to the leading AI computing platform for autonomous driving. Autoliv, Volvo Cars and NVIDIA share the same vision for safe, autonomous driving. This cooperation will further advance our leading ADAS and autonomous driving offerings to the market.”

To work towards safer autonomous vehicles, Nvidia also signed up ZF and Hella to build additional safety standards into its autonomous vehicle program. In another development, Nvidia also announced partnership with VW to leverage AI in variety of mobility services beyond autonomous vehicles. Together, they are also looking to support startups in the space with VW Data Lab.

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Travel photographers can’t wait to hear this. Your mobile phones could turn into an adventure photography device soon with the Buzz Technology’s, a British start-up, testing a pocket size phone case with drone technology fitted into it.

Dubbed “drone-in-a-phone” concept was recently selected as a finalist in British Inventor Project and could also be seen as an alternative to selfie sticks. Attached to an integrated drone, it would enable long flight times and high-resolution photography. The four-propeller drone is tethered to your mobile and, drawing battery from the phone, it is able to remain in flight for 25 minutes according to the website of developers Buzz Technology.

The device is slotted on a magnetic mounting. It can take action shots with less risk and more flexibility. If reversed, it could eliminate the need for a selfie camera. The small camera module enables a selfie pole to be built into a phone casing or housing. For hands-free recording, he camera can be added to various types of equipment.

Image: YouTube screenshot of Buzz Technology

The development has almost been wrapped up and the Kickstarter campaign is due to launch by September 2016.

To be notified when they are ready to launch so that you can try and get an early-bird offer, please leave your contact details here.

The post Drone technology that will take travel photography by storm appeared first on TravHQ.

Even if you are not a fan of extending your arm and shooting a self-portrait, you must be well aware of the term ‘selfie’. While sources claim that selfies have been around for ages, the improvements in camera technology and sharing platforms in recent years have made them popular among masses. Everyone from Darth Vader to David Cameron is shooting one. Smartphone manufacturers putting high res front cameras on their devices, hotels providing selfie sticks to guests (yes JW Marriott, Kimpton and some other hotels are doing that) are some indicators that this ‘thing’ isn’t going away anytime soon, or is it?

Selfies emerged as a popular trend among travel photographers

Meet ‘dronies’ or ‘drone selfies’, the more adventurous younger sibling of the selfie. A dronie is a self-portrait shot using a camera mounted on a flying drone. So instead of an image flooded with faces, you can shoot your beautiful surroundings while including all your friends in the frame. Thanks to the easy availability, tech savvy travellers are already using drones not only to shoot photos but also for beautiful short clips.

While many hotels and resorts are motivating people to shoot selfies at their property and post on their social media accounts, some of them have been offering custom drones to their guests and bragging their luxury properties. This new trend is catching up really well and we are guessing that 2015 will shape up as the year of drone selfies.

Follow #dronestagram, #droneselfie, #dronie or other similar hashtags on Instagram and you will be awestruck with the amazing photos and videos you will find. There are thousands of posts giving you enough motivation to buy a drone to carry on your next trip. Tourism New Zealand came up with the #NZDronie campaign allowing the travellers to shoot small clips using drone mounted cameras. The video would start close to the subject with the drone then flying away to include the splendid landscape. We are surely going to see more travel brands and destinations come up with campaigns revolving around drone photography.

At this point, drones suitable for the job come with a hefty price tag. DJI Phantom 2 Vision is a popular choice for aerial photography but the cost is just too steep for any casual photographer to even consider it. On top of that, drones are a bit fragile making it a risky investment. But just like any other technology, this will change with time. There are various ongoing drone projects that should see the light of day very soon. PlexiDrone is a project that we found listed on indiegogo.com.

It can carry different kind of cameras (including interchangeable lens mirrorless cameras). It can be controlled easily using your smartphone and also offers ‘Follow Me’ feature using GPS.

Another interesting campaign that we found was the ELF VRDrone. It is a small photo robot that is easy to carry and can be controlled using smartphones like the PlexiDrone. It also adds the feature of first person 3D view making use of Google Cardboard.

Zano is a palm sized lightweight drone for aerial photography which looks promising. It was showcased at the CES and the project has already raised a huge sum on Kickstarter.

Nixie, the winner of Intel’s Make it wearable is one of a kind camera drone that can be worn on your wrist. You can throw the Nixie in any direction, it will click a picture and come right back to you.

So there it is. You will soon have a crop of selfie drones buzzing around mountains and beaches. A whole new genre of Vine videos and Instagram posts are coming your way. Smile for the drone!

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