German carmaker BMW has demonstrated the use of electrophoretic technology, enabling a vehicle’s surface to rapidly change colour. The futuristic concept has potential for a number of interior and exterior applications.
And they can detach while still in motion.
Three former SpaceX engineers launched a company to develop autonomous battery-electric trains that they believe can help to improve the efficiency and emissions of railroads, a press statement reveals.
Luminar, a laser lidar startup led by one of the youngest U.S. billionaires, has a new partnership with Mercedes-Benz that includes supplying sensors for its luxury vehicles and gathering on-road data from them to improve automated driving. The German carmaker also bought a small stake in the tech company.
Luminar’s Iris lidar will be integrated into future Mercedes planned for its next-generation platform to improve safety and help them operate autonomously during highway driving, the companies said. Details including specific models that will use the sensor and when they’ll be available for sale to customers aren’t being disclosed. Mercedes also acquired 1.5 million Luminar shares as part of the partnership, founder and CEO Austin Russell, 26, tells Forbes.
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Mile-long, slow-moving diesel trains loaded with cargo chugging slowly across the U.S. could be a thing of the past one day if stealth startup Parallel Systems has its way. The Los Angeles company thinks the future of freight lies in autonomous battery-powered trains that squeeze far more capacity out of existing rail lines.
Founded by a trio of former SpaceX engineers, including CEO Matt Soule, Parallel’s idea for smaller, flexible zero-emission trains pulling no more than 50 cars and operating with greater frequency than traditional behemoths that haul over 150 boxcars at a time caught the attention of tech-oriented venture firms, including Anthos Capital, Congruent Ventures, Riot Ventures and Embark Ventures. With their backing and from other investors, Parallel just raised $49.6 million to refine prototypes and software for its futuristic trains and, eventually, shift more freight hauling from trucks.
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Continue reading “SpaceX Veterans Aim To Shake Up Freight Rail With Electric, Robotic Trains” »
Circa 2021
DETROIT – The EV Revolution is in full-swing right now. Tesla just passed the trillion-dollar valuation mark. Lucid Group just rolled out its first cars with 500+ miles of driving range. Rivian just had the biggest initial public offering since Facebook.
Every legacy automaker — from Ford to GM to Volkswagen — is investing tens of billions of dollars iino electrifying their fleets. The EV Revolution has arrived.
Continue reading “The Forever Battery That Promises to Change the EV Industry” »
A new metal 3D printing technology could revolutionize the way large industrial products like planes and cars are made, reducing the cost and carbon footprint of mass manufacturing.
Why it matters: 3D printing — also called additive manufacturing — has been used since the 1980s to make small plastic parts and prototypes. Metal printing is newer, and the challenge has been figuring out how to make things like large car parts faster and cheaper than traditional methods.
On Tuesday, January 4, Panasonic announced that Redwood Materials would start supplying copper foil to its battery production facility in Giga Nevada. The Japanese tech giant announced the news during the 2022 CES tech trade show.
“Our work together to establish a domestic circular supply chain for batteries is an important step in realizing the full opportunity that EVs have to shape a much more sustainable world,” said Allan Swan, the President of Panasonic Energy of North America, at the latest CES tech trade show.
Redwood Materials, which former Tesla CTO JB Straubel founded, will be supplying Panasonic with copper foil made from recycled materials. The company recycles scripts from discarded electronics like cell phone batteries, laptops, power tools, and even scooters and electric bicycles. Redwood extracts materials like cobalt, nickel, and lithium, which are usually mined, from discarded electronics.
The FT reviewed hundreds of patent applications by Meta and found references to a “virtual store” where users could buy virtual products, as well as objects that correspond to real-world items that have been sponsored by third-party brands.
A patent reviewed by the FT said brands would go through a bidding process to “sponsor the appearance of an object” inside a virtual store.
Meta’s head of global affairs Nick Clegg told the FT in an interview that the business model for the metaverse would be “commerce-led”.
Could the University of Michigan’s lithium-sulfur battery be the breakthrough electric vehicles have been waiting for?
