Lifeboat Foundation

Les chercheurs de l’Université Jiaotong du Sud-Ouest ont dévoilé mercredi, à Chengdu, un nouveau prototype de train à sustentation magnétique, également appelé ‘maglev’ (magnetic levitation). Selon ses concepteurs, l’engin pourra, à terme, rivaliser en vitesse pure avec le transport aérien.

Avec le Transrapid de Shanghai, dont la vitesse maximale est de 430 km/h, la Chine dispose déjà du service commercial ‘maglev’ le plus rapide au monde. Mais avec le nouveau prototype de train dévoilé cette semaine, l’empire du Milieu espère bien disposer, dans un futur proche, d’un moyen de transport qui ira jusqu’à près de deux fois plus vite.

Supraconductivité

Continue reading “La Chine présente son train ‘maglev’ qui pourrait atteindre les 800 km/h” »

Moscow has revealed a plan to spend $2.4 million on a giant database containing information about every single city resident, including passport numbers, insurance policies, salaries, car registrations – and even their pets.

It will also include work and tax details, school grades, and data from their ‘Troika’ care – Moscow’s unified transport payment system, used on the metro, busses and trains.

The new proposal will undoubtedly increase fears about ever-growing surveillance in the Russian capital, where the number of facial recognition cameras has recently been increased.

This robotic combat vehicle willl be supporting troops and tanks in the future. 😃

The Type-X Robotic Combat Vehicle acts as an “intelligent wingman” to ground troops. Explore it here.

Continue reading “Robotics Firm Unveils New Type-X Robotic Combat Vehicle” »

The automaker is doggedly sticking with the clean fuel that has taken a backseat to batteries. The hydrogen-generation station at the Long Beach port, the first that’s megawatt-scale and 100% renewable, will fuel arriving Toyota Mirai sedans and its Project Portal semi.

Circa 2012

If you’ve seen (or read) Katsuhiro Otomo’s classic Akira, you have, at one point or another, thought, “Man, I’d love to tear it up on Kaneda’s motorcycle.” One dude in Japan spent 10 million yen to make that dream come true, and he’s currently riding it across the Land of the Rising Sun to raise money for charity.

Continue reading “Guy spends 7 years and $121K to build working Akira motorcycle” »

SONDORS has just pulled up the curtain on its first-ever electric motorcycle, the SONDORS Metacycle. The new commuter electric motorcycle may just be the first truly low-cost electric motorcycle capable of both city and highway riding.

Of course terms like “affordable” and “low-cost” will always be relative.

But to put things in perspective, we live in a world where the $29799 Harley-Davidson LiveWire is considered largely a commuter electric motorcycle, though with enough power for some impressive drag races as well.

Flying by yourself in a single-seater flying car is the lavish lifestyle vision of the future we deserve.

is it a car? is it a helicopter? no, it’s carcopter. conceived by french start-up, MACA, this hydrogen-powered concept aims to revolutionize the way we travel. with its aerodynamic body and theoretical top speed of 153 mph (246 kph), this prototype in question is designed for a racing scenario. it intends to be the first (manned) flying hydrogen formula 1 car. the highly-futuristic vehicle is set to be shown at annual tech event, CES 2021.

One of electric aviation’s greatest challenges (beyond safety certification) is mass production. Designing a working prototype is now table stakes in this industry. As Tesla found out, heavy manufacturing at scale can easily bankrupt even the most well-funded companies.

To solve this problem, Archer turned to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), which produces about 4 million cars per year at its 100 manufacturing facilities and 40 R&D centers. FCA described it as a mutually beneficial arrangement: It gains experience electrifying vehicles (where it lags behind), and Archer gains access to low-cost manufacturing expertise. FCA already helped design the aircraft’s cockpit and will allow the production of “thousands of aircraft” per year, according to a company spokesperson. The first aircraft is scheduled to be revealed in early 2021 with the first public flights in 2024.

Delays are likely given the complexity of launching, literally, a new vehicle. But the announcement fulfills the initial prediction made last year by John Hansman, director of MIT’s International Center for Air Transportation: “You’ve seen some shakeup in electric aviation, but also see it get closer to reality” in 2020, he said. “It’s clear there will be the emergence of a new class of electric airplanes. In 2021, you’ll see hybrid and battery aircraft in service or close to being in service.”