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All the recent aviation disasters and close calls have people worried about the safety of flying. The midair collision that killed 67 near Washington, D.C., last month was the worst disaster. But there was also the plane that crashed and flipped over upon landing in Toronto, the fiery plane crash in Philadelphia and a plane crash in Alaska that killed 10, as well as two small planes that collided in Arizona. Those all came before the scary moment this week in Chicago when a Southwest Airlines plane had to abort its landing to avoid crashing into another plane crossing the runway. A plane landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport also had to perform a go-around maneuver Tuesday to avoid getting too close to another aircraft departing from the same runway. That’s not to mention the time earlier this month when a Japan Airlines plane clipped a parked Delta plane while it was taxiing at the Seattle airport, or the security concerns that arose after stowaways were found dead inside the wheel wells of two planes and aboard two other flights. In addition, a United Airlines plane caught fire during takeoff at the Houston airport and a passenger opened an emergency exit door on a plane while it was taxiing for takeoff in Boston. So of course people are wondering whether their flight is safe? What happened in the worst cases? The Jan. 29 collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter killed everyone aboard both aircraft. It was the deadliest plane crash in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five on the ground. After that, there hadn’t been a deadly crash of any kind involving a U.S. airliner since February 2009. crasd Everyone survived that crash. Crashes are more common involving smaller planes, like the single-engine Cessna that crashed in Alaska on Feb. 6, or the two small planes that collided in Arizona on Feb. 19. Ten people including the pilot were killed in the Alaska crash, and two died in the Arizona one. A medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia on Jan. 31, killing the six people onboard and another person on the ground. That Learjet generated a massive fireball when it smashed into the ground in a neighborhood not long after taking off from a small airport nearby. How worried should I be? Fatal crashes attract extraordinary attention partly because they are rare. The track record of U.S. airlines is remarkably safe, as demonstrated by the long stretch between fatal crashes. But deadly crashes have happened more recently elsewhere around the world, including one in South Korea that killed all 179 people aboard in December. There were also two fatal crashes involving Boeings troubled 737 Max jetliner in 2018 and 2019. And last January, a door plug blew off a 737 Max while it was in flight, raising more questions about the plane. Federal officials have been raising concerns about an overtaxed and understaffed air traffic control system for years, especially after a series of close calls between planes at U.S. airports. Among the reasons they have cited for staffing shortages are uncompetitive pay, long shifts, intensive training and mandatory retirements. President Donald Trump added to those concerns when he blamed the midair collision over Washington D.C. on the obsolete air traffic control system that airports rely on and promised to replace it. Even with all that, officials have tried to reassure travelers that flying is the safest mode of transportation. And statistics back that up. The National Safety Council estimates that Americans have a 1-in-93 chance of dying in a motor vehicle crash, while deaths on airplanes are too rare to calculate the odds. Figures from the U.S. Department of Transportation tell a similar story. What is being done? The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating these recent crashes and close calls to determine what caused them and look for ways to prevent recurrences. There have already been troubling revelations about the midair collision, but it will take more than a year to get the full report on what happened. The NTSB always recommends steps that could be taken to prevent crashes from happening again, but the agency has a long list of hundreds of previous recommendations that have been ignored by other government agencies and the industries it investigates. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has said the public is right to say that crashes like the recent ones are unacceptable. That is why he plans to make sure safety is paramount as he leads the agency that regulates all modes of transportation. I feel really good about where were at and where were going and the plans we have in place to make sure we een make the system safer and more efficient than it is today, Duffy said in a Fox News interview. Josh Funk, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Amazon on Wednesday unveiled a generative-AI infused Alexa that it says will allow the popular voice assistant to have more personality, check a users tone and even plan romantic dates. But unlike before, when Alexa was offered for free on any Alexa-enabled devices, customers will have to pay Amazon a monthly fee of $19.99 for the revamped voice assistant, which it calls Alexa+. However, the generative-AI powered Alexa will be free for Prime members, who pay the company a monthly or annual fee for free delivery and other perks. At a media event held in New York City, Amazon executives showed off the update to the ten-year old digital assistant with the new features aimed at boosting sales and interactions with Alexa-enabled devices. The company says Alexa+ is able to have conversations with a more natural, humanlike flow and can learn more about a user such as dietary preferences or allergies the more its used. Im not just an assistant, Im your new best friend in the digital world, Alexa+ said during an onstage demo on Wednesday. At the event, Panos Panay, Amazons vice president of devices & services, listed off the other things the voice assistant can now do, such as create study plans, text a babysitter and call an Uber ride for a friend. He and other company executives also said Alexa can fetch videos from Ring cameras such as checking whether a user’s dog was walked that day and is able to remember handwritten recipes, emails and other documents shared with it. Shes smarter than shes ever been before, but shes also approachable, Panay said. Alexa is built into products such as smart speakers, Amazons Fire TVs and earbuds. The Seattle-based tech giant launched its popular voice assistant in 2014 alongside its first Echo device, which responds to voice commands. Panay said Amazon has sold more than 600 million Alexa-enabled devices and that user engagement grew 20% last year compared to 2023. Some market estimates have shown Alexa holds the largest market share among voice assistants. The revamped Alexa uses large language models, including some developed by Amazon and others by Anthropic, the generative AI startup the tech giant has poured billions into. Alexa+ has a model-agnostic system, allowing it to select the best AI model for the tasks it wants to complete, said Daniel Rausch, Amazons vice president for Alexa and Echo. Amazon says it will start rolling out early access to Alexa+ in the U.S. next month. It will then roll it out in waves internationally, starting with certain Echo devices. The upgraded assistant will be available across Alexa-supported devices, but some features are only built for products with screens. Amazons announcement came more than a year after the company teased an early version of an AI-infused Alexa at a media event held to show off new devices. At the time, Amazon had said it was working on a speech-to-speech model that would allow Alexa to exhibit humanlike attributes, such as laughter and phrases like uh-huh during conversations. During the demo on Wednesday, Amazon highlighted features it had previously kept under lid. In one exchange, Panay showed the new Alexa a video of the crowd in the room to test a feature that apparently allows it to sense the surrounding mood. Panay asked Alexa+ if the crowed looked pumped to which it responded the room full of journalists were paying attention to you and excited. Like its predecessor, Alexa+ is enabled when users say the voice assistant’s name but executives on Wednesday said users now only have to say that wake word once before having a prolonged, back and forth exchange. Still, demonstrators would occasionally say Alexa again if it seemed like the voice assistant didn’t catch something. Amazon competes in the smart speaker market with other tech giants, including Apple and Google. Though it has had success in selling devices, the companys other goal driving Amazon purchases through Alexa has been more challenging to pull off. Amazon has said Alexa customers have used their device to shop. However, many rely on it mostly for menial tasks, such as playing music, asking questions or checking the weather. A subscription fee for the revamped Alexa will allow the company to offset costs related to AI development and help its devices operations become more profitable. Haleluya Hadero and Wyatte Grantham-Philips, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Deere investors voted overwhelmingly against a resolution aimed at its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts on Wednesday, continuing a pattern of shareholder distaste for anti-DEI measures despite Republican political pressure on executives. During a webcast of its annual meeting, executives with the farm equipment maker said only 1.3% of votes cast were in support of a resolution calling on the company to report on racial and gender hiring statistics “to prove it does not practice discrimination.” The resolution was filed by the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative-leaning Washington think tank that has opposed many corporate diversity efforts. Two other resolutions aimed at restricting social action by Deere won similarly low levels of support. Deere’s meeting was closely watched because in July it became one of the first major U.S. companies to back away from supporting programs such as LGBTQ+ pride events. Numerous other U.S. companies have retreated from DEI in recent months, particularly as the Trump administration has stepped up threats to companies and institutions that engage in those efforts. But many investors and executives see DEI efforts as necessary to address underrepresentation of certain populations in management roles. On Tuesday, Apple investors voted in defense of the company’s DEI policies, as did Costco investors in January. Ross Kerber and Utkarsh Shetti, Reuters
Category:
E-Commerce
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