[{"id":767,"link":"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/novo\/rimac-launches-verne-as-radical-uk-bound-self-driving-two-seater\/","name":"rimac-launches-verne-as-radical-uk-bound-self-driving-two-seater","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/verne-front.jpg","alt":""},"title":"Rimac launches Verne as radical UK-bound self-driving two-seater","postMeta":[],"author":{"name":"admin","link":"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/author\/admin\/"},"date":"Feb 22, 2026","dateGMT":"2026-02-22 13:37:11","modifiedDate":"2026-02-22 15:19:40","modifiedDateGMT":"2026-02-22 15:19:40","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/novo\/\" rel=\"category tag\">NOVO<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/tech\/\" rel=\"category tag\">tech<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/novo\/\" rel=\"category tag\">NOVO<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/tech\/\" rel=\"category tag\">tech<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":0,"sec":0},"status":"publish","excerpt":"New spin-off aims to launch driverless taxis in Croatia in 2026, with the UK and Germany following a year later\nNew spin-off aims to launch driverless taxis in Croatia in 2026, with the UK and Germany following a year later\n\nRimac has unveiled Verne, its new spin-off that plans to launch an autonomous taxi service in the UK within the next three years.\nThe company, previously known as P3 Mobility, will launch with a radical two-seat electric hatchback designed from the ground up to ferry people around major cities in comfort.\nThe Verne \u2018robotaxi\u2019 majors on interior space, ergonomics and on-board entertainment. It is claimed to be roomier inside than a Rolls-Royce, with five different position settings for the \u201cextra-large\u201d seats that are designed for both work and rest. \nIn place of a traditional dashboard is a huge, 43in display screen, controlled via a touchpad on the centre console. This screen can be used for entertainment, such as watching videos, or for displaying information about the journey in progress. \nThere is no steering wheel nor any pedals.\n\u201cWe wanted to make the interior less automotive and more like a living room,\u201d said Verne designer Adriano Mudri, who also penned the Rimac Nevera.\nMudri added that the two-seat layout was chosen over a traditional four-, five- or seven-seat interior because \u201cnine out of 10 rides are used by one or two people\u201d.\n \nThe use of a bespoke ride-hailing app for the Verne service will also allow the interior to be pre-conditioned for a ride. This means a taxi could arrive already warmed to a passenger\u2019s exact preference on a cold day, for example. Even its interior scent can be decided ahead of time, the company said.\nIt added that customers can \u201crest assured\u201d that rides will not be cancelled, addressing a key stumbling block of traditional ride-hailing services.\nThe Verne taxi is underpinned by a new electric car platform that is said to be highly adaptable, suggesting it could spawn future variants according to regional needs. The firm said it was designed to suit \u201ca variety of locations, on different road types, under varying weather conditions and even taking local driving styles into account\u201d.\nIts autonomous driving systems were developed in partnership with Mobileye, an Israeli-based specialist owned by chip-making giant Intel. It has already been tapped by some of the world\u2019s most prolific car firms, such as Geely and the Volkswagen Group, for their own assisted driving systems.\n \nLATEST REVIEWS\n \nVerne\u2019s hatchback was designed from the inside out, the company said, with its exterior prioritising the neat integration of the required cameras and sensors, as well as aerodynamic performance.\nMudri said: \u201cWe deeply integrated cameras, radars, short- and long-distance lidars, and their cleaning systems. At the same time, we were able to simplify the appearance by removing the typical human-driven vehicle features. We got rid of the windshield wipers. The same goes for side-view mirrors. This makes the aerodynamic performance more efficient and allows for easier cleaning.\u201d\nThe taxis will be built in Crotia\u2019s capital, Zagreb \u2013 a move intended to \u201cput Croatia on the map as a country that encourages the development of key future technologies\u201d, according to Verne CEO Marko Pejkovi\u0107.\nThe service will initially operate from Zagreb, for which a 2026 launch is currently targeted. The UK and Germany are promised to follow in 2027, as the first two of 11 additional cities Verne has already signed agreements with.\nA series of \u2018motherships\u2019 will be built ahead of the service\u2019s launch in each city, serving as home bases for vehicle inspection, maintenance and charging."},{"id":724,"link":"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/novo\/we-trust-ai-with-life-and-death-decisions-but-humans-still-dont-challenge-the-ais-choices\/","name":"we-trust-ai-with-life-and-death-decisions-but-humans-still-dont-challenge-the-ais-choices","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/wired-brain.jpg","alt":""},"title":"We trust AI with life and death decisions, but humans still don't challenge the AI's choices","postMeta":[],"author":{"name":"admin","link":"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/author\/admin\/"},"date":"Feb 22, 2026","dateGMT":"2026-02-22 00:40:58","modifiedDate":"2026-02-22 00:42:26","modifiedDateGMT":"2026-02-22 00:42:26","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"open","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/novo\/\" rel=\"category tag\">NOVO<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/tech\/\" rel=\"category tag\">tech<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/you-have-missed\/\" rel=\"category tag\">YOU HAVE MISSED<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/novo\/\" rel=\"category tag\">NOVO<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/tech\/\" rel=\"category tag\">tech<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/you-have-missed\/\" rel=\"category tag\">YOU HAVE MISSED<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":0,"sec":0},"status":"publish","excerpt":"We trust AI with life and death decisions, but humans still don't challenge the AI's choices\nby Georgie Gould, University of Surrey\nedited by Lisa Lock, reviewed by Andrew Zinin\n Editors' notes\n The GIST\n\nAdd as preferred source\n________________________________________\nCredit: Pixabay\/CC0 Public Domain\nAI systems already decide how ambulances are routed, how supply chains operate and how autonomous drones plan their missions. Yet when those systems make a risky or counterintuitive choice, humans are often expected to accept it without challenge, warns a new study from the University of Surrey.\nThe research, published in the Annals of Operations Research, looked at the use of optimization algorithms in relevant areas such as transport, logistics, health care and autonomous systems. Optimization algorithms are systems that decide the best possible action by weighing trade-offs under fixed rules such as time, cost or capacity. Unlike prediction models that estimate what will happen, optimization algorithms choose what should be done.\nOptimization algorithms decide what gets prioritized, delayed or excluded under strict limits such as weight, cost, time and capacity. Yet those decisions are mathematically correct but practically opaque.\nThe research team's findings imply that our increasing \"blind trust\" creates serious safety and accountability risks in the increasing areas of everyday life where optimization algorithms are used.\nUsing a classic optimization challenge known as the Knapsack problem, the research demonstrates how machine learning models can learn the structure of an optimization decision and then explain it in plain language. The method shows which constraints mattered most, why certain options were selected and what trade-offs pushed others out.\nThe study shows how organizations can challenge optimization algorithms before their decisions are put into practice. Rather than replacing existing systems, the approach works alongside them, using machine learning to analyze decisions and explainable AI to reveal why one option was chosen over another and which constraints and trade-offs shaped the outcome.\nDr. Wolfgang Garn, author of the study and associate professor of analytics at the University of Surrey, said, \"People are increasingly asked to trust optimization systems that quietly shape major decisions. When something looks wrong, they often have no way to challenge it. Our work opens those decisions up so humans can see the logic, question it and intervene before real-world consequences occur.\"\nThis is particularly important for autonomous systems such as delivery drones. Drones must constantly decide which packages to carry while balancing battery life, payload weight and safety requirements. Without transparency, regulators and operators cannot easily justify or audit those decisions.\nRather than replacing existing optimization software, the approach works alongside it. Machine learning is used in this approach to analyze solutions, explain feasibility and identify brittle or high-risk decisions before deployment.\nThe research introduces a structured framework that ensures explanations are tailored to real decision makers. Instead of technical outputs, systems can provide human-readable reasoning, such as: \"Too many heavy items were selected, or battery limits were prioritized over delivery value.\"\nDr. Garn continued, \"Regulators are starting to ask harder questions about automated decisions. If you can't explain why your system chose one option over another, you'll struggle to get approval\u2014or defend yourself when something goes wrong. This framework makes that explanation possible.\""},{"id":718,"link":"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/tech\/how-eyes-affect-our-perception-of-a-humanoid-robots-mind\/","name":"how-eyes-affect-our-perception-of-a-humanoid-robots-mind","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/eyes-can-affect-our-pe.jpg","alt":""},"title":"How eyes affect our perception of a humanoid robot's mind","postMeta":[],"author":{"name":"admin","link":"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/author\/admin\/"},"date":"Feb 22, 2026","dateGMT":"2026-02-22 00:34:01","modifiedDate":"2026-02-22 00:38:08","modifiedDateGMT":"2026-02-22 00:38:08","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/tech\/\" rel=\"category tag\">tech<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/you-have-missed\/\" rel=\"category tag\">YOU HAVE MISSED<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/tech\/\" rel=\"category tag\">tech<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/you-have-missed\/\" rel=\"category tag\">YOU HAVE MISSED<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":0,"sec":0},"status":"publish","excerpt":"How eyes affect our perception of a humanoid robot's mind\nby Tampere University\nedited by Gaby Clark, reviewed by Robert Egan\n Editors' notes\n The GIST\n\nAdd as preferred source\n\nResearchers used artificial intelligence to generate images of a humanoid robot, both with and without eyes. Credit: AI generated images: Dennis K\u00fcster\nEyes are said to be the mirror of the soul. Eyes and gaze direction guide attention, evoke emotions and activate the brain's social perception mechanisms. Researchers at Tampere University and the University of Bremen conducted a study examining how people perceive the minds of humanoid robots. Mind perception refers to the way humans detect and infer that other people, beings or even objects possess consciousness, emotions and cognitive states.\nMind perception is often divided into agency and experience. Agency refers to abilities such as thinking, self-control and evaluating the consequences of actions. Experience, on the other hand, encompasses the capacity to feel emotions. Humans have a strong tendency to attribute such mental qualities to various phenomena and objects, such as food-delivery robots. However, not all humanoid robots on the market have facial features that can be interpreted as eyes.\nThe experiments conducted by the researchers showed that robots were perceived as having greater agency and experience when they had eyes. The research is published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition.\nResults benefit humanoid robot designers\nIn the study, the researchers first used AI to generate a large set of realistic-looking humanoid robots. Each robot was modified into two versions: one with eyes and one without. Images of these robots were then presented in two separate experiments to a large group of participants.\nRegardless of whether the robots appeared childlike or adult, and whether the eyes were displayed on a facial screen or embedded directly into the facial structure, the robots with eyes were consistently judged to possess greater agency and experience.\nProfessor Jari Hietanen from Tampere University, who led the study, highlights that the effect of eyes was also evident in an experiment that did not rely on conscious self-assessments. This finding suggests that the presence of eyes increased mind perception at an early, preconscious level of information processing.\n\"This study demonstrates that eyes are far more than an aesthetic detail\u2014they can shape how people perceive the social and moral status of robots. This is significant, because the perception of a mind influences empathy, willingness to cooperate and even how people treat technology ethically. These findings have direct implications for the design of humanoid robots,\" notes Professor Hietanen."},{"id":674,"link":"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/novo\/usa\/","name":"usa","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/poster1.jpg","alt":""},"title":"USA","postMeta":[],"author":{"name":"admin","link":"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/author\/admin\/"},"date":"Feb 21, 2026","dateGMT":"2026-02-21 22:48:09","modifiedDate":"2026-02-22 00:38:23","modifiedDateGMT":"2026-02-22 00:38:23","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/novo\/\" rel=\"category tag\">NOVO<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/tech\/\" rel=\"category tag\">tech<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/you-have-missed\/\" rel=\"category tag\">YOU HAVE MISSED<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/novo\/\" rel=\"category tag\">NOVO<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/tech\/\" rel=\"category tag\">tech<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/you-have-missed\/\" rel=\"category tag\">YOU HAVE MISSED<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":0,"sec":0},"status":"publish","excerpt":"text iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii         ggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb"},{"id":502,"link":"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/uncategorized\/urnek\/","name":"urnek","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/R.jpg","alt":""},"title":"SVIJET","postMeta":[],"author":{"name":"admin","link":"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/author\/admin\/"},"date":"Feb 17, 2026","dateGMT":"2026-02-17 13:24:18","modifiedDate":"2026-02-18 21:39:54","modifiedDateGMT":"2026-02-18 21:39:54","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/novo\/\" rel=\"category tag\">NOVO<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/tech\/\" rel=\"category tag\">tech<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/uncategorized\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Uncategorized<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/novo\/\" rel=\"category tag\">NOVO<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/tech\/\" rel=\"category tag\">tech<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/uncategorized\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Uncategorized<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":1,"sec":51},"status":"publish","excerpt":"Warner Bros. Discovery backs Netflix merger while reopening Paramount talks"},{"id":237,"link":"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/uncategorized\/study-at-lund-university\/","name":"study-at-lund-university","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/LUND-scaled.jpg","alt":""},"title":"Study at Lund University","postMeta":[],"author":{"name":"admin","link":"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/author\/admin\/"},"date":"Feb 11, 2026","dateGMT":"2026-02-11 14:31:20","modifiedDate":"2026-02-18 21:42:05","modifiedDateGMT":"2026-02-18 21:42:05","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/bh-svijet\/\" rel=\"category tag\">BH svijet<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/novo\/\" rel=\"category tag\">NOVO<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/tech\/\" rel=\"category tag\">tech<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/uncategorized\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Uncategorized<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/bh-svijet\/\" rel=\"category tag\">BH svijet<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/novo\/\" rel=\"category tag\">NOVO<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/tech\/\" rel=\"category tag\">tech<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/stardustradio.co.uk\/category\/uncategorized\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Uncategorized<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":0,"sec":14},"status":"publish","excerpt":""}]