Electric Vehicles & Cars News - Page 55

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.