China search engine giant Baidu Inc said on Monday it has obtained permits to operate fully driverless robotaxi services on open roads from two Chinese cities, the first of their kind in the country.
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Category: transportation – Page 195
FINHAUT, Switzerland — Switzerland is adding a much needed cog in the wheel to its energy supply with an underground hydropower plant that says it has capacity to store enough electricity to charge 400,000 car batteries simultaneously.
Developers of the 2.2 billion Swiss franc ($2.30 billion) Nant de Drance plant in the canton of Valais, which came online in July, say the facility operates like a giant battery.
Its six turbines tucked in a cavern 600 metres below ground between the Emosson and Vieux Emosson reservoirs have capacity of 900 MW, making it one of the most powerful pumped storage plants in Europe.
“Hello, we’ve been trying to reach you about your car’s extended warranty.” After years of seemingly unstoppable scam robocalls, this phrase is embedded into the minds of many of us. Last month the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced it was ordering phone providers to block any calls coming from a known car warranty robocall scam, offering hope that U.S. phone users may hear that all-too-familiar automated voice a little less often.
But there is more work required to crack down on these calls. After all, car warranty warnings are only one type of scam. To understand how robocallers reach us, and why it’s so hard to stop them, Scientific American spoke with Adam Doupé, a cybersecurity expert at Arizona State University.
[An edited transcript of the interview follows.].
Electric buses are great for municipalities. They are cheaper to operate and maintain than diesel buses, and they emit no pollutants. For passengers, they’re awesome because they’re comfortable, smooth, and relatively quiet. But, even a decade ago they were almost unheard of. The price of batteries has come down significantly in recent years, making electric buses a more viable option for many city transit agencies.
So, it’s no surprise that sales of electric buses have exploded as prices fell and made them the superior choice in most circumstances. In 2012, only 15 electric buses were put into service throughout Europe’s urban areas. In 2021, every fourth newly registered bus in Western Europe was electric. Now, they’re showing up all over the place in much greater numbers.
Recently, Solaris signed a contract for its 2000th electric bus, and the company says they think this means they’re on the right path.
The bizarre remarks were an answer to a question during a Shareholder meeting. Elon Musk was ask about the fate of Tesla if he had to step down as CEO after being forced to buy Twitter.
“Pamela” is an uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) developed as an entrepreneurial idea at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) for sampling a variety of surface water particles, from microplastic to plankton to salmon lice. The USV is a joint effort by an interdisciplinary team—Andrea Faltynkova, a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Biology, and Artur Zolich, a postdoc at the Department of Engineering Cybernetics.
Faltynkova studies microplastics in the ocean. Microplastics are bits of plastic smaller than 5 mm, which is roughly the size of the end of a pencil. While researchers know that microplastics can have negative effects on marine or freshwater organisms, there’s less known about how they affect human health. But studying microplastics is a challenge because of the nature of the substance itself, she says.
“Microplastics are so heterogeneous. It’s a very large, diverse group of particles. Not only that but they are very unevenly distributed. Microplastic is not like other dissolved pollutants that can be detected even in small quantities of water or soil. If you go and you take a liter from the sea, and there’s no plastic in it, can you conclude that there is no plastic in the sea?” she asked.
Are gas stations doomed in the long run, or is there an opportunity to reinvent them as a fast-charging destination stop for EV drivers?
Germany-based global ultrafast EV charging technology company ADS-TEC Energy sees the rise of EVs as a new opportunity for gas stations. Electrek spoke with John Tuccillo, global head of corporate and government affairs for ADS-TEC Energy, about what the reinvention of gas stations into superfast EV charging stations would look like and what it would take to make that happen.
Electrek: As we move to vehicle electrification, what do you think will happen to gas stations, and what are the challenges that gas stations face?
Tesla has teased its Optimus humanoid robot prototype with a new image ahead of a full unveiling planned for September 30th.
Earlier this year, CEO Elon Musk announced “Tesla AI Day #2” with “many cool updates” on August 19.
The original “Tesla AI Day” held last year was an event focused on the company’s self-driving program. The automaker also unveiled its Dojo supercomputer and announced plans for the “Tesla Bot” humanoid robot – now known as Tesla Optimus.
