Here are our favorite GPS tracking news stories for Friday, June 7, 2013:
GPS Inventor Says Self-Driving Cars to Come
Brad Parkinson, former United States Air Force colonel credited with the invention of GPS, says that the future of GPS tracking technology is self-driving cars. Due to the advancement of GPS tracking technology, Parkinson said self driving cars could be just a few years away–especially since companies like Google are already testing them. Parkinson is now a professor at Stanford.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/07/tech/self-driving-cars-inventor-gps/
GPS Technology for Tsunami Warning Systems
The BBC recently reported that GPS tracking technology may soon be used to increase early warning time in the event of tsunamis caused by earthquakes. According to the report, GPS will be used to measure even the slightest changes in the geography of the coastlines in countries most likely to be affected by tsunamis to provide faster warnings than current tsunami warning systems which use seismic activity data.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22572096
NASA Working On GPS for Navigating Space
Popular Science reports that NASA is developing an “intergalactic” GPS system aimed at facilitating space travel anywhere in the universe. Navigation for space travel currently relies on radio signals sent from Earth, but those signals weaken with distance. The GPS project is designed to rely on light beams produced by neutron stars known as pulsars which spin rapidly and emit steady beams of light.
Source: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-06/nasa-working-intergalactic-gps
