Uber is giving drone deliveries another go in a partnership with Flytrex

Ride-hail and delivery giant Uber on Thursday announced a new partnership with drone operator Flytrex to begin testing an autonomous delivery-by-air system by the end of the year.

As one of the few drone providers with Beyond Visual Line of Sight authorization from the FAA, Flytrex already partners with Walmart and DoorDash on similar programs. The company said it’s delivered more than 200,000 meals to suburban US households in the past three years.

This isn’t Uber’s first foray into drone deliveries. Under its then aviation arm Uber Elevate, the company tested the tech in a partnership with McDonald’s in 2019. Uber sold its aviation division to Joby Aviation in late 2020.

Uber shares didn’t move much on the announcement, up about 1% in premarket trading.

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Roblox answers Google’s Project Genie, launching the open beta for its “4D” AI creation tool

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The tool allows users to generate interactive objects that can be used in gameplay, such as a drivable car or a flyable plane, as opposed to static 3D objects.

Roblox’s “4D” system relies on rule sets called schemas that create objects out of multiple parts, allowing cars to have a body and movable wheels, for example.

“We expect to soon include schemas that cover the range of thousands of objects in the real world,” the company said.

The move to bring the tool out of early access and into open beta appears to be a response to Google’s Project Genie, which allows users to generate “playable” worlds out of a text or image prompt. Gaming stocks like Roblox, Take-Two, and Unity Software have dropped in the days since Project Genie’s release, though Wall Street analysts largely believe the market reaction to be unjustified, as interactivity through Google’s tool is limited.

Roblox's 4D creation feature is now available in open beta | TechCrunch

Roblox’s “4D” system relies on rule sets called schemas that create objects out of multiple parts, allowing cars to have a body and movable wheels, for example.

“We expect to soon include schemas that cover the range of thousands of objects in the real world,” the company said.

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