WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Two U.S. senators said late on Wednesday that they had reached a bipartisan deal on legislation aimed at easing hurdles to getting self-driving cars to drivers.
U.Senator John Thune, a Republican who chairs the Commerce Committee, and Senator Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, said they had reached a deal on the legislation that would be voted on by the committee on Oct. 4.
They said they planned to release the text on Thursday.
James Dyson announced Tuesday he was investing £2.0 billion ($2.7 billion, 2.3 billion euro) into developing an electric car by 2020, a new venture for the British inventor of the bagless vacuum cleaner.
The 70-year-old British entrepreneur said work began two and a half years ago on a project which he hopes will help tackle the scourge of air pollution.
“Dyson has begun work on a battery electric vehicle, due to be launched by 2020,” he said in an email to employees, referring to his eponymous company.
It’s called the Aicon, and it’s sure to turn heads.
But once your car starts to get older, the speakers start to fade. Worse yet, they might buzz against a loose panel in your door, causing a distinctly un-rocking rattle every time the bass comes in. But a new design from Continental actually uses those vibrating door panels to great effect, and could simultaneously make car speakers obsolete and cut down on the weight of our cars in the very near future.
At the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA Cars 2017) in Germany earlier this week, Samsung SDI — the battery-focused division of Samsung — unveiled a new multi-functional battery pack capable of increasing the current range of electric vehicles. As explained by the Korean company, the battery enables cars to go between 600–700 kilometers (372−4343 miles), provided the right number of modules are installed.
“Its users can change the number of modules as they want as if they place books on a shelf,” says Samsung. “For example, if 20 modules are installed in a premium car, it can go 600 to 700 kilometers. If 10 to 12 modules are mounted on a regular sedan, it can run up to 300 kilometers. This pack is expected to catch the eyes of automakers, because they can design a car whose mileage may vary depending on how many modules of a single pack are installed.”
Electrek explains that automakers like Nissan and GM have been using prismatic cells in their battery packs. Samsung SDI began developing new “2170” cylindrical cells earlier this year, following the footsteps of Tesla, which was the first to do so with their “2170” battery cell.