Most Read: Flying Taxi Gets FAA Certification, Nissan Self-Driving Cars Launch In Japan

Here are IoT World Today's most-read stories this week:

Flying Taxi Company Archer Aviation Gets FAA Commercial Certification

Flying taxi company Archer Aviation has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to begin operating electric aerial vehicles (EAV) commercially.

The Part 135 Air Carrier and Operator Certificate allows Archer to refine its systems and procedures like commercial airlines.

The certificate validates that Archer has demonstrated to the FAA its adherence to the necessary policies and procedures to begin operating aircraft commercially in accordance with the FAA’s safety and operational standards.

Archer is the second flying taxi maker to receive a Part 135 certificate from the FAA, following air taxi company Joby Aviation, which received its FAA certificate in 2022.

The Part 135 certificate allows Archer to carry United Airlines passengers to and from airports on Archer flying vehicles once Type Certification is received, which could be as soon as next year. United and Archer are planning to conduct commercial operations together.

Read more about Archer’s air taxi operations

Nissan Self-Driving Cars Hit the Road in Japan

Japanese automaker Nissan has showcased its in-house developed self-driving tech as part of its plan to provide autonomous mobility services by 2027.

The public demonstration was carried out on the streets around the company’s global HQ in Yokohama, a city of 3.8 million people located to the south of Tokyo.

The demo featured an electric Nissan LEAF prototype equipped with an extensive sensor suite comprising 14 cameras, 10 radars and 6 lidars, and was designed to illustrate the tech’s progress in dealing with challenging urban scenarios.

This was a significant increase in roof-mounted sensors compared with earlier prototypes previously demonstrated by the company, expanding the detection area around the car and also enabling more accurate identification of its surroundings.

The resulting improved functionality saw the LEAF easily coping with a series of complex scenarios in traffic, as it predicted the behavior of pedestrians, conducted lane changes when merging and judged when to safely enter intersections.

Find out more about Nissan’s self-driving mobility plans

Mitsubishi Robot Sets Guinness Record for Solving Rubik’s Cube

Mitsubishi Electric Corp.’s TOKUFASTbot recently secured the Guinness World Records title as the fastest robot to solve a Rubik's Cube, shaving 0.075 of a second off the previous record to finish the puzzle in 0.305 second — not quite eye-blink territory, but close.   

By comparison, the Guinness record for a human solving a Rubik’s cube is a relatively sluggish 3.47 seconds, set by “speedcuber” Yusheng Du in 2018.

In a real-time video of the solve, a scrambled cube is held by six robot appendages, a blur of motion and a brief clatter ensue, and voila, a satisfyingly solved cube appears. To allow a human to observe the process, Mitsubishi slowed the playback 42x. Even then, it only takes nine seconds.

See the robot’s high-precision positioning technology in action

Nvidia CEO: Next Wave of AI Highlights Advances in Robotics

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he believes that generative AI and accelerated computing will “redefine the future” during a keynote at the annual Computex event in Taiwan.

“Today, we’re at the cusp of a major shift in computing,” Huang said. “Generative AI is reshaping industries and opening new opportunities for innovation and growth.”

Nvidia has positioned itself as a leader in the AI space. Its accelerated computing hardware including its GPUs is sought after by businesses looking to power and scale new generative AI applications and services.

Huang said AI is redefining accelerated computing across consumer-facing AI PCs and enterprise-level computing platforms in data centers.

“The future of computing is accelerated,” Huang said. “With our innovations in AI and accelerated computing, we’re pushing the boundaries of what’s possible and driving the next wave of technological advancement.”

Uncover all of Nvidia’s announcements at Computex

Homeland Security Unveils Emerging Technologies Road Map

The Department of Homeland Security has unveiled its first agency-wide road map for pursuing emerging technologies like AI, advanced sensing and cybersecurity. 

The Innovation, Research and Development (IRD) Strategic Plan, developed at the direction of Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas, seeks to guide the department’s research and development investments overcoming budget cycles, bring research activities under a common framework and facilitate collaboration with outside entities.

The plan highlights eight Strategic Priority Research Areas (SPRA) to pursue: Advanced Sensing, AI and Autonomous Systems, Biotechnology, Climate Change, Communications and Networking, Cybersecurity, Data Integration, Analytics, Modeling and Simulation and Digital Identity and Trust.

Find out more about Homeland Security’s emerging tech road map