Aptera says you’ll never need to charge its solar-powered three-wheeler. Lucid’s Air Pure sedan aims straight at Tesla. And many more are on the way.
Facebook outlines ambitions for augmented reality glasses.
Category: transportation – Page 291
Almost every time we talk about Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) concepts, we are looking at a scaled-down version of an aircraft that can carry four-five people and some cargo. And an Israel-based company, Urban Aeronautics is determined to create the first flying car and they are doing a pretty good job at it.
The flying car’s lift is generated by fully enclosed counter-rotating ducted fans that are placed both in the rear and front of the car. After years of testing, the company has unveiled a sleeker exterior this year that can zip past at a top speed of 150 mph (241 kph) and has a range of around 100 miles (160 km). The project noise levels from this are still 78 dB, which are quite acceptable for city limits, the company claims. The company has completed technology demonstrations using helicopter engines where the car has flown at low altitudes of 49 feet (15 m).
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The joys of riding in a car.
When I was a youngster, my grandparents delighted in taking me for a trek in their car, especially on the weekends. They would come to visit during the summers. A car ride included rolling down the windows of the vehicle and we would all relish the rushing cool breeze on those hot and muggy summer days as we drove leisurely along.
Since I wasn’t old enough to drive, they instead did all the driving activity. I did though have a hand in where we went. Let’s go to the store, I would clamor. Let’s drive past the school ground and wave at anyone there. Let’s go driving around the local park and see all the trees and the ducks in the pond.
Has any automotive enthusiast failed to hear the words “Back to the Future” and DeLorean DMC-12 mentioned in the same sentence at least once? We assume the opposite, so let’s just get to the part where other vehicles play the latter’s role.
Known formally as additive manufacturing, or AM, in the business, the process can make almost anything—even a car.
“For our OEMs, we were able to show a print rate 50% faster than they needed for value production and an assembly rate about 35% faster than they need for full-volume production,” Kevin said. “We have a dozen programs for multi component structures,” said Kevin. “Our first production programs are going to be in vehicles on the road in early 2022. And these are with brands that are within groups that are in the top five global automotive groups by annual volume.”
So, just to review, it’s: computer-designed parts, 3D printers making those parts, which are assembled by robots, in a much smaller space than typical assembly lines.
So no more River Rouge. The Czingers say that carmakers could replace assembly lines that had been a mile long with assembly stations like the one I saw, greatly reducing the lead time, cost, and complexity of car making. And you can switch the car model that you’re building with every new assembly. No more downtime during model-year changeover. And all those spare parts carmakers have to keep in warehouses for 10 years? They will be replaced by instant 3D printing of whatever spare part you need.
AIR says its AIR ONE aircraft, an all-electric two-seater eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) vehicle, will allow people to fly ‘on their own terms’.
Facebook’s tools for moderation are awful.
Social media websites are not great at moderation. Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and more all have issues with misinformation. On Facebook, misinformation and harmful content should be handled by the Facebook moderation AI. However, it’s a bit too crap.
There are a lot of movies and TV shows that depict a mass control takeover of self-driving cars.
This seems to be on our minds.
For quite good reasons.
If a malicious evildoer was somehow able to take command of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) such as self-driving cars, the outcome could be disastrous. This almost goes without saying. The usual portrayal in films is that the villain opts to have cars crash into each other. Well, that’s just for starters. The self-driving cars are rammed into anything that isn’t nailed down, and by gosh also steer into and collide with objects that are ostensibly nailed down too.
The subtle whirring of a battery-powered motor, the crunch of dried grass and leaves, and the whizzing of wind are all you will hear from the 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment of Australia’s Queensland Mounted Infantry as its soldiers rush through the brush on stealthy e-bikes.
The e-bikes are being trialed to see if they can provide a worthy option for speedy, silent, and safe on-the-ground reconnaissance.
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A truck fleet accident costs an average of $16,500 in damages and $57,500 in injury-related costs for a total of $74,000. “This does not include a broad range of ‘hidden’ costs, including reduced vehicle value (typically anywhere from $500 to $2,000), higher insurance premium, legal fees, driver turnover (the average driver replacement cost = $8,200), lost employee time, lost vehicle-use time, administrative burden, reduced employee morale and bad publicity,” said Yoav Banin, chief product officer at Nauto, which provides artificial intelligence driver and fleet performance solutions.
Emphasis on truck driving safety is well placed, considering other challenges that the trucking industry is facing.
Ranking first is a chronic shortage of truck drivers nationwide that could force fleet operators to hire less-experienced drivers who require operator and safety training. Driver compensation and truck parking ranked second and third, but immediately behind them in fourth and fifth position were driver truck fleet safety and insurance availability, which depends on safe driving records.