Five years ago, advances in autonomous cars inspired the founders of BrainBox AI to pursue a related goal: autonomous buildings. The company’s AI system uses data like weather forecasts to predict a building’s thermal conditions, then adjusts its AC or heating output accordingly. Launched last year, the technology now controls temperatures for more than 40 million sq. ft. of building space, helping reduce carbon footprints by as much as 20% to 40%. —Alejandro De La Garza
The Best Inventions of 2020
