LAS VEGAS (AP) — The latest developments surrounding the consumer-electronics show in Las Vegas known as CES (all times local):
7:25 a.m.
Ford says it will triple the number of autonomous cars in its test fleet as it moves to accelerate development of self-driving cars.
At the CES gadget show in Las Vegas Tuesday, the company said it will add 20 Ford Fusion gas-electric hybrid cars to the fleet, giving it 30 to test on roads in California, Michigan and Arizona.
The company also announced that it would use the latest laser sensors made by Velodyne in its test vehicles. The 360-degree sensors are smaller and have a longer sensing range than the previous generation. They can fit into a side-view mirror rather than the old laser sensors that were housed in a globe on the roof.
Ford didn't give an estimate of when it might have an autonomous car available for the public to use.
— Tom Krisher, AP Auto Writer , Las Vegas
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6:05 a.m.
Sports clothing maker Under Armour is getting into the gadgets business with a set of wearable devices, headphones and a wireless scale.
Though Under Armour isn't first with any of these, it's trying to make it easy on consumers by designing products that connect wirelessly to each other or to its smartphone apps. A new version of its UA Record app seeks to integrate all aspects of your health and fitness — including nutrition, sleep and exercise — though a few features will require a companion app, MapMyRun. The apps are free and will also work with competing devices, such as Fitbit and Garmin watches.
Under Armour is offering a starter package, the UA HealthBox, for $400. It includes the scale, a chest strap to monitor heart rate and a fitness band to track steps and sleep. Each item is also sold separately. Beyond that, Under Armour is offering a shoe embedded with a chip to track exercise — even without a smartphone or any other GPS-enabled device for recording distance. The company is also making two headphones, including one that can measure heart rate at the ear.
Under Armour partnered with smartphone maker HTC for the HealthBox items and with Harman's JBL business for the headphones.
Most of the items will ship Jan. 22; the shoes and heart-rate headphones will come later.
— Anick Jesdanun, AP Technology Writer, New York
