The patent’s abstract describes an autonomous navigation system that creates a “characterization” of a driving route. This route is created when drivers manually navigate along the route. Once that route has been manually driven a number of times to satisfy a “confidence indicator,” then the car can drive that route by itself. The characterizations can …

Nearly 150 years old, the Vienna State Opera House is one of oldest and grandest in the world. In German, it’s called the Wiener Staatsoper. In English, it’s Vienna State Opera. This is one of world’s most legendary opera houses. and with 1,709 seats, and room for 567 more standing, it’s also one of the …

“You will never be able to walk again” “Riding a bike is not really my thing, definitely not my preferred way to travel”, Sven Marx says today. “I used to love my motorbike, but that is too dangerous now.” Sven’s brain tumor surgery resulted in an impaired sense of balance and vision. A condition he …

Holiday travel sucks, and probably has ever since a bunch of shepherds, wise men, and angels converged on a stable in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. Every November, every December, every year, America’s highways and airports runneth over, and not in the good way. Thus, a question: What would it take to make the US a …

Mont Saint-Michel is on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches. … We planned our trip around the Bretagne region of France. … The buildings were built to accommodate both the meditative life of a monk and the pilgrims who would be visiting the island. The first … social …

2017 should have ended with SpaceX’s most dramatic launch yet: the long-awaited demo flight of its Falcon Heavy triple-booster rocket. It’s the vehicle that’s supposed to get the company into deep space someday, the cornerstone of Elon Musk’s “get us out of here” plan for saving the human race. Musk first targeted November for the …