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CNN 10
Russia Appears To Have Upgraded Four Of Its Military Installations In Kaliningrad Concerning NATO Members; Driverless Cars Continue to Evolve
Aired October 19, 2018 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN HOST: Today`s delivery of Friday comes with a bonus gift of awesome. I`m Carl Azuz, hope you`re having a great day so far. The first
story on our last show of the week plays out between Northern and Eastern Europe
In a part of Russia called Kaliningrad, satellite imagery, shared exclusively with CNN, indicates that Russia is on the move, appearing to
upgrade four of its military installations in Kaliningrad. This is significant because this Russian region is said to be on the doorstep of
NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. And that`s why NATO members are concerned about Russia`s action there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is NATO? Why is it important? And what`s its future? The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a political and military
alliance, established in 1949, that seeks to promote to stability in the North Atlantic area.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a will of the people of the world for our freedom and for our peace (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Led my Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, there are 29 member countries, and it`s HQ is in Brussels. NATO doesn`t have its own
troops, but relies on contributions of forces from its member countries. At NATO`s core is Article 5, which states, an attack on one member is an
attack on all NATO allies.
The collective defense principle was to protect Western European nations against the Soviet Union, but when the Soviet Union collapsed, NATO`s new
tasks ranged from being a bull walk (ph) against Al-Qaeda and Afghanistan to fighting human trafficking, and intercepting refuges in the
Mediterranean.
NATO is still extremely active, with some 4,000 U.S. troops in Poland and the Baltic states, and tens of thousands on 48-hour standby, bolstering
NATO`s allies and sending a clear message to Russia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Now we said Kaliningrad was on the doorstep of NATO. This Russia region is actually separated from mainland Russia. That what makes it an
exclave, a territory surrounded by other countries, and in this case, those nations include Lithuania and Poland.
Both of them are members of NATO. So if Russia appears to be fortifying its military in Kaliningrad, which the country has pointed out it has the
right to do, you can see why it would raise concerns among NATO allies.
They`re currently conducting military exercises in their own show of strength. CNN`s Fred Pleitgen is sailing with the U.S. Navy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN JOURNALIST: The USS Iwo Jima, off the coast of Iceland. In the hanger deck, marines gearing up for an air assault, retaliation, if
there`s an attack on a U.S. ally. The exercise, also a deterrent, as the North Atlantic region becomes more contested.
With this exercise, the U.S. and its allies are practicing their response in case a friendly nation gets attacked. While the adversary in this
exercise is fictitious, it comes at a time with growing tensions with the U.S. and Russia.
As the marines race to the Icelandic Coast, new evidence that Russia is beefing up its capabilities, right in the heart of Europe. CNN has
exclusively obtained satellite images from the Israeli firm, ImageSat International, seemingly showing massive construction work at Russia`s
bases in Kaliningrad, upgrading a nuclear storage facility, adding new bigger ammunition bunkers and upgrading the military airfield.
Is Vladimir Putin building up his military in Kaliningrad. Russia`s defense ministry didn`t respond to CNN`s request for information. But the
commander of U.S. naval forces in Europe and Africa tells me there`s a pattern of Russia upgrading its capabilities in the region.
ADM. JAMES G. FOGGO III, CMMANDER, ALLIED JOINT FORCE: They`re putting a lot of their modern weapon systems, anti-ship cruise missiles, radars, the
Bastion System, the S-300 and S-400, in there.
PLEITGEN: Sending a message of strength to Moscow, the U.S. and its NATO allies are gearing up for an even bigger exercise in Norway.
FOGGO: If they want to challenge us, we will challenge them. We`re not going to be intimidated by those systems that are out there.
PLEITGEN: And that challenge is now playing out in the North Atlantic region, with an increasingly assertive Russia and the U.S. showing it won`t
back down. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, aboard the USS Iwo Jima in the Atlantic Ocean.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Ten-second Trivia. What is measuring by the SAE autonomy scale, behavioral responsibility, banking security, driverless car levels or
robotic stability?
SAE originally stood for Society of Automobile Engineers, and the group has established levels of driverless car autonomy.
The U.S. Government estimates that human error is at least partly to blame in more than 90 percent of car crashes. Those who support the idea of
driverless cars, say the computers that run them can avoid the mistakes that people make.
But those have problems as well. Besides the potential for failures, malfunctions, errors, camera problems in heavy rain, one major concern of
critics is "What if the computers of driverless cars are hacked?" There may not be an answer for that, yet, but the driverless technology itself
continues to evolve.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELISSA BELL, CNN JOURNALIST: Autonomous driving, we`re told, is the way of the future. Autonomous cars featured heavily at this year`s Paris Motor
Show. But how can a computer deal with the randomness, the chaos of provision (ph) traffic? We decided to put that to the test.
Our co-pilots today are engineers developing the technology that`s already being sold to car markets, and where better to start than at the foot of
the Eiffel Tower. So now the car`s driving itself?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BELL: You`re not involved at all?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
BELL: No pedal, no wheel?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no. I got my hands on my knees.
BELL: Which should be a dangerous thing, given the cyclists, scooters and pedestrians, not to mention the bad drivers who do have their hands on
wheel. But Boonwae (ph) says the car senor`s are more efficient than the human brain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And as you can see, there is a pedestrian here. And we`re going to slow because it`s detected, and then when the pedestrian is
off the crossing area -
BELL: And even if the pedestrian is coming much faster than the car (ph) -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes.
BELL: - it`s programmed to stop?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BELL: The technology is part programmed, part learnt. Through it`s many cameras, sensors, computers and radars, the car`s artificial intelligence
allows it learn as it goes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just always focus on its own task which is driving me safely from point A to point B.
BELL: So that car did something very rude.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BELL: It just cut across you -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BELL: - and the car felt it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BELL: And it didn`t even complain (ph)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
BELL: There was no choosing (ph) (inaudible). There will always be an element of risk, right, even - even for computers?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The (inaudible) doesn`t exist. What we want to show is that we are both drive (ph) during one billion hours without any problems.
BELL: And that`s much better than human beings?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, of course.
BELL: Perhaps the most surprising thing about all this is that this is likely to be an evolution rather than a revolution. Already, all of the
sensors that exist on this car and allow it to drive autonomously exist on the sorts of cars that you would buy today, ordinary cars.
And so, what`s likely to happen is that, little by little, we will get in the habit of letting go of the steering wheel, until one day, all cars,
even here in the French capital, drive themselves. Melissa BELL, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: As if flying foxes weren`t creepy enough, just in time for Halloween, the Oregon Zoo released X-rays of several of its inhabitants.
They were taking during routine checkups at the zoo`s veterinary center.
So no animals were harmed in this perturbing production. I can`t say the same for some of the humans who see it, but the next time a chameleon tries
to change color on you, you can say, "Sorry, buddy, but I`ve seen right through you." Make no bones about it, there`s an X-ray of reasons why
people wouldn`t want X-ray vision, a skeleton of them, really (ph), and those animals X-rays were simply radiating them.
Those who are electromagnetically drawn to the idea are probably just operating on a different wave length. I`m Carl Azuz for "CNN 10."
END
