IATA’s sensitivity about 5G sensors
The US government says will not delay a deadline for airlines to refit planes with new sensors to address possible 5G interference, despite concerns the 1 July cut-off date could cause travel disruption.
Airlines are warning they will not be able to meet the deadline and may be forced to ground some planes.
Telecoms firms have previously delayed 5G rollout to allow airlines to adapt.
In the US, the radio frequencies being used for 5G are in part of the spectrum known as C-Band, which could interfere with aircraft altimeters, which measure a plane’s height above the ground.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) blamed supply chain issues for delaying the upgrade of aircraft systems, said to cost the airlines US$638 million.
“Airlines did not create this situation. They are victims of poor government planning and coordination,” said Nick Careen from IATA.
“Half-measure solutions have been foisted upon airlines to implement at their own expense and with little visibility into their long-term viability,” Careen added.
Godfather of AI takes a swipe at artificial intelligence
Interesting comments this week from 75-year-old Geoffrey Hinton, a man seen as the godfather of artificial intelligence,
Hinton, who announced his resignation from Google in a statement to the New York Times, said he now regretted his work with AI.
He told the BBC some of the dangers of AI chatbots were “quite scary”.
“Right now, they’re not more intelligent than us, as far as I can tell. But I think they soon may be.”
Dr Hinton went on, “We’re biological systems and these are digital systems. And the big difference is that with digital systems, you have many copies of the same set of weights, the same model of the world.
“And all these copies can learn separately but share their knowledge instantly. So, it’s as if you had 10,000 people and whenever one person learnt something, everybody automatically knew it. And that’s how these chatbots can know so much more than any one person.”
Dr Hinton stressed that he did not want to criticise Google and that the tech giant had been “very responsible”.
“I actually want to say some good things about Google. And they’re more credible if I don’t work for Google,” he told the BBC.
EU targets lack of union with digital multimodal ticketing
The European Union has been meeting to discuss multimodal ticketing – or the lack of it – in the EU.
European Commission Transport policy advisor Charlotte Nørlund-Matthiessen told an EU probe, “Today we have very little true multimodal digital mobility services available. Multimodality is a new landscape, with so much potential.”
The EU is working on new legislation aimed at improving booking of tickets across different modes, such as rail, bus, air and maritime transport.
The EU will look at where there currently is market failure when it comes to ticketing. “We found in our impact assessment that there is in fact market failure, namely when it comes to sharing of data,” said Nørlund-Matthiessen.
Agustín Reyna, director of legal and economic affairs at the European Consumer Organisation, said there is a case for intervention on an EU level.
“There is a need to address multimodal and cross-border ticketing, and this is more important than ever if we want people to choose sustainable transport.”
“Everybody would agree, booking cross-border is very cumbersome.”
According to Reyna, the main question is what data needs to be available, and under what conditions.
“Because rail operators, like in any other industry, can decide under which conditions they share the data, from a pricing perspective but also on the content side.
“An operator makes the assessment, whether it is better to keep data to themselves, or to give access to that data. In this, the interest of the company will always prevail.”
Uber’s bad news followed by good
Ride share tech giant Uber has warned that if Australia’s Department of Workplace Relations is given the power to set standards for gig workers it could see them forced to work rostered shifts and banned from taking jobs for multiple delivery and ride-share platforms.
Uber argues the Australian federal government’s proposed changes reflect an “employment” style of regulation that will reduce availability of services and increase costs for companies, which would be passed on to consumers.
Better news for Uber, fintech Stripe has signed a “strategic payments partnership” with Uber. The pair will work together initially on selected services in eight of Uber’s biggest markets, including the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Mexico, Australia and Japan.
Financial terms of the deal are under wraps, but it expected that a significant component will come from commissions that Stripe will make from each transaction that it powers on Uber’s platform.
Uber rival Lyft will remain a customer of Stripe’s, Stripe president Will Gaybrick confirmed to TechCrunch.
