👶🏽 The AI stroller

Plus: EV buyers spend big | Thursday, October 06, 2022

Open in app View in browser   Presented By the Charles Koch Foundation   Axios What's Next By Alex Fitzpatrick, Joann Muller and Jennifer A. Kingson · Oct 06, 2022 Artificial intelligence, smart sensors, and all manner of other high-tech advancements are showing up in gadgets for parents and caretakers, Alex reports today. Which parenting devices have you found particularly helpful? Let us know at whatsnext@axios.com. Today's newsletter is 1,112 words ... 4 minutes.     1 big thing: AI comes to parenting tech The Ella smart stroller. Photo courtesy GlüxKind   An artificially intelligent stroller with hands-free cruising is the latest new gadget meant to make parents' hectic lives just a little easier, Alex Fitzpatrick reports. Driving the news: The smart stroller, called Ella and made by Vancouver startup GlüxKind, is packed with parent- and caregiver-assisting tech. Electric motors help get the stroller up steep roads, sidewalks, and paths, similar to how pedal-assist e-bikes turn mountains into molehills. Onboard sensors watch for obstacles or dangers (like speeding cars), and alert whoever's pushing. Ella can drive itself — only when there's no baby inside! — if a child wants to be held rather than strolled. (There's also a "rock-my-baby" mode, meant to soothe a restless child or help one stay asleep even after their walk is over.) What they're saying: "We started with the autonomous-driving-when-empty mode," says GlüxKind chief product officer and co-founder Anne Hunger. "But because of other technology that we're packing into the stroller to enable that, we can also do a lot of other things." "So when the child is inside, the stroller is fully motorized going uphill, downhill, it's no effort — it's actually not pushing, it's more steering the stroller." "It also doesn't run away from you if you happen to let go on a downhill, because it senses the distance to the user and has automatic braking." Lots of other innovative parenting gadgets have recently hit or are about to hit the market, including: The Nfant Thrive, which uses sensors to calculate how much a baby eats during each feeding session, and can be used to tell if different positions lead them to eat more. The Keddle, a portable milk warmer from BisbeeBaby. The Owlet Dream Sock, a wearable monitor that tracks babies' sleep and monitors their heart rate, wakeup frequency, and more. Yes, but: The fanciest parenting tech is often pretty expensive — Hunger expects Ella to cost around $1,000 at first. That said, the company is also considering a long-term rental option — familiar to any parent who's looked into the widely popular but pricey Snoo Smart Sleeper bassinet. Alex's thought bubble: I don't think I'm alone in being a parent who struggles to find the balance between "I want the best possible parenting tools" and "I don't want to be broke." The key, I think, is to spend your money on what you truly think will make a worthwhile difference. If you live in hilly San Francisco, for instance — or if you or a loved one could use some help pushing a stroller around — the Ella's motor-assist tech could be a big help. What's next: GlüxKind is accepting pre-orders for the Ella stroller while planning for a wider push around CES 2023 in January, Hunger says. Share this story.     2. EV buyers are spending big Data: Edmunds. Chart: Madison Dong/Axios Visuals Many electric vehicle (EV) buyers are committing to monthly payments of $1,000 or more, per new data from automotive site Edmunds, Alex reports. Why it matters: It's another sign that EVs are still too expensive for many — though broader economic factors (such as rising interest rates) are also playing a role. EVs had an average transaction price of $61,955 in August, Edmunds says. By the numbers: Among EV buyers who financed their purchase in the third quarter of 2022, 26% are on the hook for $1,000 or more a month, per Edmunds. That's compared to 24% of plug-in hybrid buyers, 14% of traditional gas vehicle shoppers, and 4% of hybrid buyers. The big picture: It's not just EV buyers, as seen in the chart above. A record level of overall car buyers committed to $1,000+ monthly payments in Q3, at 14.3% compared to 8.3% in the third quarter of 2021. Big gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs — like the Ford F-150, RAM 1500, and Chevy Tahoe — topped Edmund's list of vehicles ranked by their share of $1,000+ monthly payments. What they're saying: "Ongoing inventory shortages are partly to blame, but this trend is also a reflection of consumer preferences," Edmunds' executive director of insights Jessica Caldwell said in a statement. "In the past decade, we've seen Americans embrace a bigger-is-better mindset by gravitating toward larger vehicles with more creature comforts, technology-heavy features and, more recently, electrified powertrains — but that all comes with added cost." "Rising interest rates combined with higher prices have sent monthly payments soaring to new heights." Share this story.     3. Layoffs are coming, for some Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios   Some CEOs are dusting off their supply of pink slips after several years of nearly nonstop hiring, Axios' Nathan Bomey reports. About 9 in 10 are expecting a recession in the next year, and 51% are considering workforce reductions over the next six months, according to a new survey of 400 U.S. CEOs by the consulting firm KPMG. Why it matters: Signs are adding up that the job market is cooling off — at least in certain pockets of the economy. Job openings plummeted by more than 1 million from July to August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. State of play: Areas where it seemed like the good times would never end — think the mortgage and tech industries — are likely to be hardest hit, KPMG CEO Paul Knopp tells Axios. Yes, but: The overall job market is not likely to fall off a cliff, Knopp says, as labor shortages continue plaguing some sectors. Share this story.     A message from the Charles Koch Foundation Is your top priority finding and retaining talent?     Get solutions designed to meet your talent needs. See how the Charles Koch Foundation and Society for Human Resource Management empower business leaders with the tools, resources and strategies needed to tap into new labor pools by focusing on skills over degrees. Be the first to get them here.     4. 📸 Ready for liftoff Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images   Members of NASA's SpaceX Crew-5 mission waved to the crowds Wednesday before launching toward the International Space Station. Left to right are Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina, NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Aunapu Mann, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Koichi Wakata. Their flight is the latest in NASA's Commercial Crew program, in which the space agency works with private companies like SpaceX to send astronauts to low-Earth orbit. Boeing is also set to fly astronauts aboard its Starliner craft but has faced several delays due to technical issues.     5. One fun thing: That's one expensive ball Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   The baseball Aaron Judge smacked out of Texas' Globe Life Field this week could make history beyond his setting the American League single-season home run record, Axios' Jeff Tracy reports. By the numbers: Judge's 62nd home run ball could sell for upwards of $1.25 million, per Goldin Auctions founder Ken Goldin. That would trail only Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball from 1998 ($3 million) as the most expensive ever sold. The top five: McGwire, No. 70: $3 million Babe Ruth, 1933 ASG: $805,000 Barry Bonds, No. 756: $752,000 Hank Aaron, No. 755: $650,000 Bonds, No. 73: $518,000 Yes, but: The fan who caught Judge's homer — cleanly! — hasn't revealed whether he plans to keep it, sell it, or give it to Judge as a career memento. Share this story.     A message from the Charles Koch Foundation The future of talent is skills over degrees — will you win it?     For businesses to compete in today's tight labor market, they need strategies to access this new labor force. Try implementing new tools developed by the Society for Human Resource Management and the Charles Koch Foundation to transform your hiring and win the best talent. Sign up to learn more.   A hearty thanks to today's What's Next copy editor, Patricia Guadalupe. Was this email forwarded to you? Get your daily dose of What's Next by signing up here for our free newsletter. Are you a fan of this email format? It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 300 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: