‘Space planes’ will soon be used for commercial hypersonic travel.
Private companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are some of the private companies that in recent years have been developing space vehicles designed to launch multiple times.
The way commercial and military entities view orbital missions has been transformed due to the recent development of propulsion and spacecraft design that includes lower-cost, reusable boosters and capsules. The companies develop innovative engine designs, 3-D printing and use the same booster repeatedly. They aim to transform commercial aircrafts into so-called hypersonic space planes that are capable of carrying passengers. The new aircrafts are powered by engines that burn hydrogen fuel with oxygen from the atmosphere but without the moving parts essential of the common rockets. In addition, the planes would travel at least five times the speed of sound, which is about 3,500 miles an hour; in comparison, conventional jetliners typically fly at 500 mph. More »
Autonomous vehicles with no human backup will be put to the test on roads next year.
Seeing a car with no human backup is moving closer to reality after two companies announced a partnership to test fully-autonomous cars on public roads in 2018.
Two companies, Delphi, a U.K.-based company with U.S. headquarters in Metro Detroit which is an automotive electronics and parts maker, and Transdev, a French transport company, are planning to use autonomous taxis and a shuttle van to carry passengers on roadways in France.
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Spilled nails left dozens of vehicles stranded on a 15-mile stretch of 91 Freeway, Corona.
Several motorists headed east on the 91 eastbound freeway in Corona were stranded at the border of Orange and Riverside counties after running over spilled nails and screws, according to the California Highway Patrol logs. The incident happened at 11 a.m. Thursday between the Weir Canyon Road and McKinley Street exits and left approximately 40 vehicles stranded with flat tires over a fifteen-mile stretch. According to reports, a construction vehicle possibly had accidentally spilled the nails on the road. The vehicle that spilled the nails on the 15-mile stretch of 91 Freeway has not been discovered yet, the California Highway Patrol said. More »
The largest battery factory in Europe is being built by Daimler.
Daimler, one of the few major automakers developing all-electric vehicles, begins construction on a $562 million lithium-ion battery factory in Germany, officials unveiled a few days ago. The German automaker is planning to spend $11 billion on 10 new electric models that would be brought to the market by 2022.
Mercedes-Benz manufacturer Daimler is currently producing its own battery packs through its ACCUmotive subsidiary. A few months ago, they announced an important multi-million investment in a new battery plant in Kamenz, Germany, which will assemble lithium-ion battery packs for Mercedes and Maybach vehicles, as well as energy storage batteries.
The new production facility will be environmentally conscious. Mercedes says that the factory will be carbon-dioxide neutral. The facilities will be supplied with energy from a combined heat and power plant and solar power – a photovoltaic plant in combination with stationary battery storage units. By the end of 2020, the factory will have a total of over 1,000 employees and thus today’s number will be more than doubled.
The new production facility will stretch across 262,000 feet. It is scheduled to go into operation in mid-2018- just in time for Mercedes’ first all-electric vehicle- the new ‘EQ’ SUV. In addition, the German automaker has several other electric vehicle programs, like its all-electric Urban eTruck. Daimler is also currently building 1,500 all-electric Mercedes-Benz vans for Germany’s largest independent logistic firm, Hermes.
Last week, Daimler subsidiary Mercedes-Benz Energy has entered into a partnership with Vivint Solar to Solar to sell residential storage batteries along with solar panels in California.
Major battery factories are currently under construction in other European countries: Poland, Hungary, and Sweden. However, some of these factories are actually being built by Asian giants planning to move into Europe. There are also eight battery factories under construction in China.
Tesla Inc has recalled nearly two-thirds of Model S and Model X vehicles made last year to fix a parking brake issue.
Following the biggest ever recall for the company, announced on Thursday, shares of the luxury electric car maker were down nearly 1 percent to settle at $302.77 in afternoon trading.
The vehicles affected are roughly 53,000 of Model S and Model X electric cars built between February and October of 2016. 31,000 of them were sold in the U.S. More »
Tesla bucks the tradition and the company is going to release the Model 3 with a single central display.
After almost a year of rumors and speculation, Elon Musk has confirmed that Model 3 will not feature a head-up display. That means everything, from navigation to music, will be on the one display.
There will not be a traditional gauge cluster behind the steering wheel, and no head-up display, either; no speedometer, fuel gauge, temperature gauges, rev counter, or even a clock in front of the driver. More »
President-elect Donald Trump has warned that German carmakers will pay a border tax of 35 per cent on cars imported to the U.S. market.
Trump said that in an interview with a Geman newspaper a few days ago. His words drew sharp criticism from Berlin and hit the carmakers’ shares.
In the interview, Trump criticized German automakers such as BMW, Volkswagen and Daimler for building factories in Mexico and importing the cars to the U.S. market. More »
Donald Trump’s Cadillac One, the upgraded presidential limousine, will make its debut at his inauguration on January 20.
A total of $15 million has been paid by General Motors to develop the vehicle.
Some of the pictures that went viral show that the presidential car also known as The Beast will have features much more impressive than some of the past ‘beasts’ used by Trump’s predecessors. More »
Tesla Motors Inc. has announced the activation of Autopilot features for cars equipped with the “Hardware 2” camera and sensor set.
Tesla is now beginning to roll out upgraded software to customers with newer cars that launched in October. All Model S and Model X electric cars built since then are fitted with Hardware 2 that includes eight cameras, radar, 12 ultrasonic sensors and a new supercomputer. More »
Panasonic Corp. and Tesla Motors Inc. are planning to begin production of solar cells and modules at a factory in Buffalo, New York.
Japanese electronics company and U.S. electric car maker said Tuesday they finalized an agreement. Panasonic would pay capital costs for the manufacturing and Tesla made a long-term purchase commitment.
The factory in Buffalo is under development of SolarCity, More »