Electric Vehicles & Cars News - Page 53

A Tesla electric vehicle owner crashed into a tow truck on a highway in Moscow, seeing his car catch fire and explode. It wasn't a Michael Bay level explosion, but they're pretty big as you can see in the video below.

State TV channel Rossia 24 had video of the Tesla vehicle on the side of the road, "engulfed in flames and thick black smoke". We don't know what model of Tesla vehicle it was, but it's safe to say it doesn't matter - the car is in a bad way in that video. This isn't the first Tesla vehicle to crash, burst into flames, or explode -- but this is one of the downsides to battery-based vehicles.

Alexi Tretyakov, the owner and driver of the Tesla said that his car had Autopilot enabled and his hands-on the wheel, meaning that both Alexi and the Tesla cars semi-autonomous tech didn't see the tow truck, and crashed into it. Not a good look for Tesla right now.

A French inventor has managed to cross the entirety of the English Channel using his recently completed jet-powered hoverboard.

The French inventor is named Franky Zapata, and in the above video we can see him getting into his jet-powered hoverboard deemed "Flyboard Air". The board uses five small jet engines and just like most jet engines, they chug fuel. This means that Zapata had to stop at a boat in the middle of the channel to refuel his board.

According to Reuters, Zapata managed to make it 35 kilometers (21 miles), starting at Sangatte, France and landing at Saint Margaret's Bay in Dover, England. "For the last five to six kilometers I just really enjoyed it. Whether this is a historic event or not, I'm not the one to decide that, time will tell." said Zapata. Zapata has been working on the hoverboard machine for the last three years, but this isn't his only project, Zapata is also working on flying cars.

Tesla cars already have some really cool features and now there is some more apps teed up to soon be released on the electric cars. Tesla owners will soon be able to enjoy Netflix and YouTube in their glorious surround sound.

The CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk announced on his official Twitter account that Tesla's will soon gain the "Ability to stream YouTube & Netflix when car is stopped". It is unclear when these new video streaming services will be hit Tesla's, but Musks notes that when they do the apps will be incredibly immersive and create a "cinematic feel due to the comfy seats & surround sound audio."

Even though Musk says that YouTube and Netflix will only be available when the car is stopped, he does mention inside the Twitter thread that "When full self-driving is approved by regulators, we will enable video while moving". At first this inclusion of video streaming in a car seems like it could cause potential dangers for drives on a distraction level, especially if its being used while the driver is in motion. When used responsibly though, such as waiting to pick up a friend from a location, video streaming really could be a great way to pass the time comfortably and enjoyably.

Not only do we have the 2020 Tokyo Olympics coming next year where we'll see a gigantic push for 8K which will be the new standard for TV, streams, and video -- but the country will be pulling out autonomous taxis, drones, and AI during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Airbus, Aeroports de Paris and the Paris Transport Authority are looking at ways of deploying autonomous flkying taxis for the 2024 Paris Olympics, which would autonomously fly passengers from Charles de Gaulle Airport into the city. I can't even imagine a future like that, but it seems we're seeing it being taken seriously for a huge event with so many eyes on it -- reporting on autonomous flying taxis, the actual possible future of travel.

While it's being pushed as a time saver we know it'll only really appeal to those with deeper pockets who want to experience this, as well as the rich and famous. The normal bus or trains from the airport to Paris will take around an hour, so the time saving element -- as well as like Buzz Lightyear famously says in Toy Story that he's "falling, with style". You would definitely be arriving into Paris in style, in an autonomous flying taxi like a boss.

Computex 2019 - One of the most unique experiences of Computex 2019 this year would have to be my trip in the world's first smartphone driver assistance app that was assisting a car driving on the highways in Taiwan.

This is part of the VIA-AI package that is an open source platform to advance the development of self-driving applications, so that they're built quicker and keeping us even safer in the self-driving cars of the future. The company reached out and asked if we'd like to have a ride in the world's first demonstration of a smartphone driver assistance app... and it was quiet the ride.

Elon Musk is one of those people that gives off the "why not" vibe, and something to reinforce that observation is the newest addition to the line of Tesla vehicles. A ported version of Studio MDHR's Cuphead.

Yes thats right. The side-scrolling shoot 'em up game created by Studio MDHR will soon be ported over to the Tesla Model 3, Model S and Model X. Why may you ask? because why the hell not. Musk commented on the port saying "Cuphead, we've got working, [The developers] have been helping us make it work. It's a cool game. It's insanely difficult. It's sadistically difficult. It's a twisted plot. It's dark. It looks like some cute little Disney thing and you're like, 'This plot is very dark."

Musk has previously spoken out about attempting to get the Unity game running on his line of Tesla vehicles, and it seems that goal has been somewhat achieved since Cuphead was developed using Unity. According to Maja Moldenhauer, who is one of the developers at Studio MDHR, the ported version of Cuphead is "looking nice and clean". Cuphead is planned to launch on Tesla's everywhere sometime this summer.

CES 2019 - Harley-Davidson has just unveiled its new LiveWire electric motorcycle with pre-orders opening up ahead of its release in August, where it will cost $29,799 - not too bad considering its the first electric motorbike from the company famous for motorcycles.

The new LiveWire has some wicked takeoff speeds where it will go 0-60MPH in 3.5 seconds, and it'll do so with a "futuristic" sound. Harley-Davison is bringing bikes into 2019 with LTE connectivity inside of the LiveWire that will let you remotely check on your bike, retrieve service numbers, and you'll be able to see if someone is trying to hijack your ride. If someone does, don't worry - it can be tracked with its built-in GPS.

Harley-Davidson says its new electric motorbike is good for around 110 miles of urban riding, but there are other bikes from Zero Motorcycles that push further up to 163 miles riding around the city. The LiveWire takes its own market with its power, tech (especially LTE) and super-styled looks.

Elon Musk has just unleashed a Christmas surprise for Tesla owners, with a few new Easter Eggs included in the latest over-the-air update to its fleet of electric vehicles. One of them includes the ability to fart, yes fart, on-demand.

As you can see from Kevin Pereria's tweet, one of the Easter Egg's in the new update are called Emissions Testing Mode, which gives drivers six different fart noises to choose from. This is an awesome troll for people who haven't read this news, or don't own a Tesla as you'll get a Tesla vehicle owner driving their friends around trolling them with fart noises... coming from THE CAR. Hat tip, Mr. Musk.

The six different fart sounds are themed around Musk's companies and marketing, including:

Volvo has been working on autonomous car technology for a while now, and has just announced that it has inked a deal that will see six of its autonomous trucks carrying limestone from a Brønnøy Kalk to a Norway port, which is a 3-mile or so journey.

Most of these deals for trucks at mines would involve a fleet of trucks being made, and then deployed to the mine where the mine would get drivers in and using the trucks. This deal is Volvo's first end-to-end autonomous offering, where it means the mining company is paying Volvo for each metric tonne its autonomous trucks are delivering. This means that Volvo will want to make its trucks the most efficient they can, as they won't be paid if they fail or are filled with problems.

The new autonomous trucks are already being tested in Norway, with the full service going live towards the end of 2019. Volvo Trucks' Director of Autonomous Solutions, Sasko Cuklev said: "It is exciting to reach this point where we introduce autonomous solutions. By working in a confined area on a predetermined route, we can find out how to get the best out of the solution and tailor it according to specific customer needs. This is all about collaborating to develop new solutions, providing greater flexibility and efficiency, as well as increased productivity".

Over the next 12 months we're going to see the explosive launch of 5G connectivity, with Qualcomm already out and ahead of the competition with its Snapdragon products and 5G modem designs, but NTT DoCoMo along with Mitsubishi have set world records with their 5G trials.

The two Japanese giants teamed up to run 5G connectivity tests in outdoor trials in Japan's Kanagawa Prefecture, where the world's first 5G transmission that exceeded 20Gbps using one terminal. At a distance of 32.8 feet (10m) the tests hit a peak speed of 27Gbps, while at 328 feet (100m) away the connection was still an incredible 25Gbps. The proof-of-concept 5G trials used a single mobile terminal, and 500MHz of spectrum within the 28GHz band.

NTT DoCoMo and Mitsubishi Electric used a 16-beam spatial multiplexing in "line-of-sight conditions, where massive-element base-station antennas on the wall of a building directed beams to mobile-terminal antennas installed on the rooftop of a vehicle" reports Mobile World Live.