Tomorrow's technology (today)

Since last week’s post about the tech use at beehiiv, I got another 10 or so questions about tech I recommend for specific business cases. As I’d talk with the readers who wrote in over email, something else became obvious. People (in general), are not as familiar with everything happening in AI right now.

• Self-driving cars are capable of pulling out of the parking spot, and driving to pick you up, even if you’re hours away.

• Robots are on the market, and people are taking them to shopping malls to carry their bags. BMW had made an order for 100,000 robots to work on the assembly line.

• Entire companies are built using just AI app (without software engineers), and are making millions.

• A university student in his dorm room built a nuclear fission reactor with little prior knowledge, just AI telling him what to do.

So today, we’ll catch-up on where things are with AI (and I’ll cover the toolkit we can access today after that as per the questions).

Let’s get into it.

Self-Driving Cars

Cars today drive themselves. It’s not a ‘concept’ or a cool demonstration. It’s real, and they’re on the road today.

Heres’s the rundown:

• Waymo, from Google’s parent company, can drive fully autonomously in any mapped city. It’s a ride-service like Uber, but without the drivers.

• Tesla launched Smart Summon, where the car can back out of the parking spot, drive to you, and you just get in, like a valet.

• Toyota is just about to sell a fully autonomous chauffeur. A custom SUV, only available in Japan, that completely drives you around on its own.

In the west, Tesla is leading the way by far. But everyone’s curious to see where Rivian, Polestar, the major manufacturers break into this.

Robotics Are Working In Factories

Do you remember Boston Dynamics? Their robots are so good it’s scary. Just watch this video.

The robot makes itself a ramp with scrap wood to get to higher ground on the fake construction site, carries the bag up, drops it off for the worker, and does a crazy flip dismount back to the ground level.

If you’re worried about robots taking factory jobs, they already are (see Figure below, for an example). These robots can complete human tasks using advanced technology to see, problem solve, and build. They’re not great, but they’re improving quickly.

The idea that you’re ‘worried’ about it is old. Ask yourself how you’re living with it.

Here’s the rundown:

• Boston Dynamics (the entire company), was purchased by Hyundai. This makes Hyundai a global leader in robotics.

• Figure Robotics just did a deal with BMW to get their robots in the South Carolina. They’ve signed a second deal for 100,000 robots (customer not yet announced).

• Skydio is releasing automated drones that helps with ‘defence,’ inspecting shipments, and emergency response situations. Will drones be policing us soon?

Will we have robots in our homes soon? Maybe (give it a year or two). But realistically, most businesses will slowly start adding robots to their workforces (if they’re not already).

Honourable Mention

While not specifically AI or robotics, this is just awesome.

• Archer: creating taxis to fly you 20-50 miles to and from major cities. For example, going from downtown Manhattan to Newark EWR Airpot in just 6 minutes (it can take up to 60-90 minutes in traffic).

Air taxis all over the world (as long as they’re safe), will be a game-changer.

Creating Software Companies Without Software Engineers

Don’t get me wrong, I know for sure that engineers are not going anywhere, especially the great ones. I’ve been fortunate to work with many, but I also know what it’s like to see all the powerful technology around us, without the knowledge and skills to actually make anything myself.

In these cases, using AI can be a major factor in finishing that working demo, and cutting down costs to build it.

Here’s the rundown:

• Lovable.dev. A full stack engineer (a software developer who can code what people see on the internet, and the back-end that runs it), with a simple message. Check their hall of fame.

• Replit. Create full apps with prompts, just like the ones we type into ChatGPT.

• Cursor. If you’re already coding (or working with the AI code you generate from the above two apps), this will guide and help you write additional code as needed.

• Supabase. This is not an AI app. But, if you’re creating with AI, you’ll need a kind of “filing cabinet” to store everything. This is an industry standard right now, so familiarizing yourself with this app helps.

I’m so confident this stack can help you build a fully functioning app, I’ll be building one myself. Stay tuned for more, I’ll keep you posted.

The Bigger Picture

Every day, I talk to at least one person who’s not using AI. We’re one to two years from driverless cars taking us from one place to another (they already are in some cities), but some have never tried AI.

Robots are already taking people’s jobs, but companies have policies telling employees not to use AI.

A kid with no hardware experience built a nuclear fission reactor in his dorm room. Many have never asked ChatGPT to help them with so much as writing an email, or editing a report.

There’s a gap that’s getting bigger and bigger. Every day someone goes without at least trying AI, is another day they fall further behind. It’s time to get it. Please start.

Feel free to reply if you have any questions!

Now, a word from this week’s sponsor.