Electric Vehicles & Cars - Page 30

UPS has announced that it has teamed with UK-based tech company Arrival, where the two will built 35 new state-of-the-art electric delivery vehicles.

These new EVs will be capable of up to 150 miles of range, will pack Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) which is designed to improve safety, and reduce driver fatigue. The international director for automotive engineering in the advanced technology group at UPS, Luke Wake, said that the new deal will help UPS make new ways to further reduce emissions.

Arrival CEO Denis Sverdlov said the new delivery EVs will feature a unique wrap-around front window that provides drivers with a far wider field of view, which is better for seeing the road, obstacles, bikes, and pedestrians.

It hasn't been a good ride this week for Tesla, with the electric car company now issuing a recall for 123,000 Model S electric vehicles that were built before April 2016.

Tesla's Model S vehicles made before April 2016 have issues with corrosion in the bolts that hold the power steering system together, which as you can imagine, is a big deal. The company has been busy sending out affected Model S owners emails, explaining the recall and that replacing the bolts would be an hour long process.

This new Model S recall is the biggest in Tesla history, where back in 2016 the company recalled 50,000 electric cars over parking brake problems, while 90,000 cars were recalled in 2015 over seat belt problems. Tack this onto the end of Tesla stock being down earlier this week and now more with the news of the recall, and it's not looking good.

Tesla blew the world away when they unveiled their super-powered electric Semi truck, and now a new video has surfaced showing the electric truck speeding down a street. Check it out:

YouTuber Richard Fielder saw the Tesla Semi burning up residential streets, where the electric Semi truck sped past the 25 mph speed limit sign so fastly that its tires started smoking.

Tesla even states on the Semi website that it can "provide maximum power and acceleration and require the lowest energy cost per mile". The electric Semi truck can reach 0-60 miles per hour in less than 20 seconds, even when it's fully loaded. This clip however, is damn impressive and makes me want to see The Rock or Vin Diesel driving the Tesla Semi truck in the new Fast and Furious movie.

NVIDIA is partnering with German automotive components maker Continental, where together the two companies will produce a full-scale self-driving car platform.

NVIDIA's own Xavier chips will be used on the hardware side, with the company using their operating system and software from their DRIVE suite, while Continental takes care of its security certification experience with its LiDar radar technology, as well as their camera products.

Continental and NVIDIA are aioming for their self-driving car platform to hit level 2 autonomy, which will include smart cruise control similar to Tesla's Autopilot technology, right through to level 5 which would be a full self-driving car without steering implements. Wow.

CES 2018 - General Motors has just unveiled ambitious plans to mass product a self-driving car that would truly change the way we drive, as GM's autonomous car would ship without a steering wheel or pedals.

GM is one of the Big Three automakers in the US, with this news surely sending shockwaves throughout the automotive market ahead of the annual Detroit Auto Show that begins next week, following CES 2018. GM's new car will be a fourth-gen car in its driverless, all-electric Chevy Bolts, which are being tested in San Francisco and Phoenix streets as we speak.

GM President Dan Ammann told The Verge: "It's a pretty exciting moment in the history of the path to wide scale [autonomous vehicle] deployment and having the first production car with no driver controls. And it's an interesting thing to share with everybody".

CES 2018 - Volocopter has designed the worlds first fully electric autonomously manned multicopter which with the use of artificial intelligence can carry people from one location to another in cities.

Volocopters X2 has a very unique design and even appears to be quite confusing at first glance, but rather you should know it is just one large drone with comfortable seats. As you can imagine how an autonomous car ride would work, hop in, choose the destination via an app and enjoy a relaxing ride from point A to B; the X2 model has the very same principal.

Instead, a choice will be made from what can be assumed is a selection of designated landing spots.

CES 2018 - It can't be CES without some crazy contraption or concept vehicle, with Texas-based Bell Helicopters unveiling its new electric flying taxi.

Bell only has the cabin of the flying taxi on show at CES, with a future event to unveil its new electric flying taxi in detail. Bell's director of innovation, Scott Drennen, explains: "We're just keeping our particular propulsion system in configuration to ourselves right now, to keep our competition on their on their heels".

Drennen continued: "This vehicle is going to be a part of the Internet of Things. The customer will be experiencing a part of the Internet of Things as they travel in the vehicle, with the connectivity that's going to happen from the place they took off from to the place they're going, with the ability to connect to friends, workers, colleagues, et cetera".

CES 2018 - Pizza Hut just introduced the world's first fully autonomous delivery concept vehicle, partnering with Toyota with the e-Palette, an autonomous delivery van that could deliver fresh hot pizzas, too.

Pizza Hut US president Artie Starrs explains: "We are focused on technology-based solutions that enable our team members and drivers to deliver even better customer experiences. With Toyota, we are excited to be partnering with an undisputed leader in human mobility with a reputation for innovation, reliability and efficiency, as we define the pizza delivery experience of the future".

The company has plans to use current pizza delivery drivers in their testing, where Pizza Hut will take the data of delivery drivers in order to create a safer and more efficient platform in their algorithm.

Tesla's new mid-range Model 3 electric vehicle is right around the corner, with the car giant using the new Model 3 to make the quickest trip across the United States in an electric vehicle.

The Drive editor Alex Roy used Tesla's new Model 3 to drive from Redondo Beach, California to Manhattan, New York in 50 hours, 16 minutes, and 32 seconds. Roy made the journey with Model 3 owner Daniel Zorrilla, beating out his own time in 2016 when he used the Model S and Autopilot in 55 hours.

Even with the super-cold weather hitting most parts of the US right now, the Model 3 had its heater blasting away reducing the miles the electric vehicle could drive without charging. Still, it was able to complete the cross-country journey in just 50 hours, using $100 to charge their Model 3 in that time. Damn impressive.

CES 2018 - Nissan will be showing off the latest in its car technology at CES 2018 next week, with Nissan to unveil new software that comes from the medical field, and is capable of translating drivers' thoughts into actions where it would improve vehicle responsiveness.

This new software monitors drivers' brain wave activity to anticipate the intended movement, like turning the steering wheel, indicating, or braking. Nissan says that this system is 0.2-0.5 seconds faster than the driver, which is impressive on its own.

Nissan's new B2V technology is meant to make the driving experience better, with semi-autonomous technology like this increasing reaction times to the countless actions required when behind the wheel.

CES is just around the corner and what a better way to get around Las Vegas than to be sitting in one of the first "fully automated point-to-point ride-hailing experiences." Lyft and Aptiv now partnered together will be demonstrating the full experience of the self-driving car during this years CES by allowing for passengers to request a self-driving ride.

Recently, Aptiv a global automotive parts technology company focused on future mobility, announced a partnership with Lyft to demonstrate a full scale experience for self-driving cars. Both companies are offering rides to 20 pre-determined destinations throughout Las Vegas from January 9th until January 12th. Passengers will be able to request these self-driving rides from the gold lot of the Las Vegas Convention Center making this for a CES attendee only experience.

For those wondering if this is completely safe throughout the massively busy time of CES, stress not, as the demonstration of the self-driving car experience will be accompanied by a human "safety driver" located behind the wheel in-case anything does go wrong.

Back in December 2015, Apple filed a Patent Application that was titled "Autonomous Navigation System" which goes into a lengthy description of a navigation system that Apple might be implementing into their self-driving cars.

The "Autonomous Navigation System" is detailed to be equipped with full sensory depiction that will provide updates to driving routes used regularly by the driver. This "virtual characterization" will allow for a much more efficient way for Apple's self-driving cars to make continual updates to the stored driving maps.

According to AutoBlog the application reads as such: "the complexity and magnitude of computer systems required to be included in a vehicle to enable such real-time processing and responsiveness can present an unsuitably excessive investment in capital costs for each vehicle, thereby rendering the system impractical for usage on a wide scale."

Qualcomm has just been approved to test one of their new self-driving vehicles with three drivers on December 12, testing out their autonomous car technology in California alongside NVIDIA and others.

The new autonomous cars aren't made by Qualcomm, but they do have their in-house 9150 C-V2X chipset the San Diego giant announced a few months ago now. Qualcomm's new chipset provides the car with 360-degree non-line-of-fight awareness, as well as the ability to communicate with one another and with infrastructure like traffic lights.

VP of Product Management for Automotive at Qualcomm, Nakul Duggal, told CNBC that Qualcomm expects to be "a key player in the autonomous space". Qualcomm has now started field trials of the new 9150 C-V2X chipset in other parts of California, before it starts tests in Michigan, China, Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Lyft has partnered up with Aira, an assistive community that is dedicated to making those who have impaired vision lives much easier to manage. Lyft has decided to work with this company to make create a much easier way for those that have impaired vision to use the Lyft service and the answer is augmented reality.

Aira agents will now be able to call Lyfts for Aira users, the Aira agents will be able to convey essential information such as the location of the vehicle, the drivers name, pick-up spot, fare cost and estimated time of arrival.

The agents will also stay connected to the passenger when traveling in Lyft to ensure a safe means of transportation to the desired location, to top this off the agents take it one step further and even give directions for the last 50 feet of the walk, making sure clients have arrived to where they needed to go.

Tesla sent shock waves throughout the transportation industry when it unveiled its new Semi electric truck, but how have pre-orders been going since? Amazingly well, that's how.

According to Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, Tesla Semi pre-orders have been doing extremely well, and could be as high as 1230 vehicles so far. Jonas said in a note that Business Insider got their hands-on: "The game-changing capabilities and economics of the Tesla semi potentially set off separation between the technology leaders and the laggards among carriers, shippers, truck OEMs and suppliers".

When you've got companies like Pepsi, Walmart, and Sysco pre-ordering the electric Semi trucks from Tesla, it's easy to get excited. Pepsi has reportedly ordered 100 new Tesla Semi trucks, while Walmart has committed to 15 of them. UPS has stepped up, pre-ordering 125 new Tesla Semi trucks, their biggest order yet.

Ubisoft is working on what the future of autonomous driving could be like, teaming with car maker Renault on a VR experience for Renault's autonomous car.

Renault's concept car 'Symbioz' packs an Oculus Rift headset, with Ubisoft providing the VR experience that changes based on the immediate surroundings. So picture yourself sitting behind the drivers seat, with the car driving itself and you slide on your VR headset, playing games or watching a movie or TV episode.

Ubisoft explained in a news release: "The driver dives into an immersive universe which progressively changes from a realistic representation of both the vehicle and its immediate surrounding, to a futuristic and surrealist landscape".

BMW has announced it has partnered with battery developer Solid Power, which was a company that was 'spun-out' of the University of Colorado Boulder, and has been working on solid state rechargeable batteries since 2012.

Doug Campbell, founder and CEO of Solid Power said in a statement: "Since the company's inception, the Solid Power team has worked to develop and scale a competitive solid state battery paying special attention to safety, performance and cost. Collaborating with BMW is further validation that solid state battery innovations will continue to improve electric vehicles".

Solid state batteries are the in-thing right now for EV battery companies and the future of autonomous cars, as they pack larger energy density, which extends the range of EVs, and they have much less chances of catching fire and exploding - while supporting rapid recharging.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics over 3.8 million Americans operate vehicles as their way of income, truck driving being the largest profession employing about 1.7 million people. With these statistics in mind it can be easily said that when self-driving cars become the norm a very substantial amount of Americans will be effected and may result in a country wide job loss across any industry that is in need of a vehicle to operate.

A report from Intel has surfaced and the company has predicted at least $7 trillion will invested into the Passenger Economy by 2050.

The report reads: "Autonomous driving technology will enable a new "Passenger Economy" worth US $7 trillion - more than the projected 2017 GDPs of japan and Brazil combined."

Tesla has just squashed ride-sharing and commercial use of their electric vehicles charging up their Tesla cars at Supercharger stations, with their new Supercharger Fair Use policy prohibiting new commercial drivers from charging up their vehicles at Supercharger stations.

Tesla has been expanding its network of Supercharger stations, where back in April the company said it wanted more than 10,000 Supercharger stations before the end of the year. For the last few months there has been growing concern over the heavy traffic at Supercharger stations, which are now congestion points for drivers... so you can see how that's not good.

At the end of 2016, Tesla announced new fees for charging your electric vehicle, where the company said it would start charging drivers additional costs if they leave their cars at Supercharger stations after their car has finished charging. It was an attempt to eliviate the congestion problems, but now that more Uber and other ride-sharing giants alongside commercial users.

Founder and CEO of NVIDIA, Jensun Huang showed the audience in Tokyo how NVIDIA DRIVE and it's scalable architecture will be the future for autonomous driving software, saying that "It will be a functional safe operating system, with incredible algorithms, and all kinds of applications built on top."

What will be powering NVIDIA's next generation DRIVE platform is called Xavier, which is the worlds most complex system on a single chip. "Xavier is coming out of the fab and we can't wait to put in the hands of car companies and roboticists all over the world" said Huang

On NVIDIA's blog post about Huangs speech they explained what the advantages of Xavier would provide "With Xavier, applications will process sensor data from outside and within the car, using deep neural networks to deliver applications built on 360-degree surround perception coupled with eye tracking, gesture recognition and natural language understanding."