Automotive news

Consumer & Gadgets

Vehicle miles traveled: An improved, but imperfect, traffic metric

Opponents of new developments often argue that more construction will bring more traffic, frequently convincing developers to reduce the scale of their projects or seek out less densely populated areas to build. Although ...

Engineering

Waymo unveils virtual driver model to test autonomous car crash avoidance

Autonomous vehicles are already a reality on some of our streets and could become a major part of future transportation systems. Safety, of course, is the main concern, as with all vehicles. To help evaluate and improve its ...

Automotive

China car exports jump 73% in May as high fuel prices raise interest in EVs

China's passenger car exports jumped 73% year-on-year in May to around 809,000 vehicles, an industry group reported Wednesday, as higher gasoline and diesel prices due to the war in Iran raised interest in electric vehicles.

Engineering

Machine learning predicts wind shear 15 seconds ahead with less than 5% error

Wind shear, a sudden change in wind speed or direction, is a major cause of aviation incidents; it was responsible for 18% of aviation accidents in 2022. Predicting wind shear events is a priority for aviation safety because ...

Business

How do jet fuel changes actually affect airfares?

As concerns grow over global fuel supplies and the cost of flying, new research from the University of Adelaide shows the relationship between jet fuel prices and airfares is not as simple as passengers might think. The study ...

Energy & Green Tech

Researchers demonstrate hydrogen as a viable aviation fuel

Researchers from Swansea University are celebrating their role in a major aviation milestone following the successful completion of a four-year international program led by Rolls-Royce and easyJet to demonstrate hydrogen ...

Engineering

NASA's X-59 aircraft flies supersonic for first time

NASA's experimental X-59 aircraft marked a major milestone Friday, June 5, when it flew faster than the speed of sound for the first time, setting the stage for demonstrating its quiet supersonic capabilities later this year.

Hi Tech & Innovation

Europe opening up to self-driving taxis

Self-driving taxis, already booming in the United States and China, are emerging in Europe, with major companies launching trials this year in several capitals and the European Union set to step on the accelerator Monday.

Automotive

New technology makes it possible to be a seafarer—on land

Uncrewed vessels can navigate themselves and notify operators when they need support from shore-based navigators. However, such ships also require an international regulatory framework. Now, the first version is in place, ...

Automotive

Metros cut car use in European cities, but trams fall short

People drive significantly less in European cities with a metro system than in cities that only have trams or no rail-based public transport at all. This is shown by a new study from the Complexity Science Hub (CSH), published ...

Engineering

Composite metal foam could lead to safer hazmat transportation

A new study finds that composite metal foam (CMF) can withstand tremendous force—enough to punch a hole in a railroad tank car—at much lower weight than solid steel. The finding raises the possibility of creating a safer ...

Automotive

Volkswagen to develop own assisted driving chip in China

Germany's Volkswagen said on Wednesday it would develop an in-house assisted driving chip for its business in China as it seeks to recover from sagging sales in the world's largest auto market.

Energy & Green Tech

Electric vehicles could strain Quebec's power grid

Electrification of vehicles is necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but in Quebec the increasing weight of the battery-powered vehicles could cause electricity demand to rise well beyond projections.

Software

Q&A: Virtual tire development improved by modeling software

Before a car rolls off the production line, manufacturers run virtual tests on it. Simulating tires is particularly challenging since they are subject to extreme stress when driving over potholes and bumps. This is where ...

Automotive

Nation's largest fleet of police Cybertrucks to patrol Las Vegas

The nation's largest police fleet of Tesla Cybertrucks is set to begin patrolling the streets of Las Vegas in November thanks to a donation from a U.S. tech billionaire, raising concerns about the blurring of lines between ...

Automotive

NASA takes one step closer to launching quiet supersonic jets

A supersonic jet plane designed to make very little noise took flight for the first time this week, cruising over the southern California desert just after sunrise in what could be the first step toward much faster commercial ...