Boom Supersonic’s prototype passenger jet, the XB-1, has officially gone supersonic. The human-piloted demonstrator hit Mach 1.122 (or 1,385 kilometers per hour) at a 10.7-kilometer altitude over the Mojave Desert on 28 January—marking a major step in Boom’s plans to market commercial aircraft flying roughly twice as fast as today’s subsonic airliners by 2030. In… Continue reading Supersonic Passenger Jet Prototype Surpasses Mach 1
Author: IEEE_Spectrum
The Starting Line for Self-Driving Cars
The 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge was a spectacular failure. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency had offered a US $1 million prize for the team that could design an autonomous ground vehicle capable of completing an off-road course through sometimes flat, sometimes winding and mountainous desert terrain. As IEEE Spectrumreported at the time, it was “the… Continue reading The Starting Line for Self-Driving Cars
EV Batteries Last Way Longer Than Expected
The rhythms of real-world driving enable EV batteries to live far beyond the predictions of laboratory tests, according to a new study from Stanford University. Thereport, published in December inNature Energy, suggests that EV batteries could last 38 percent longer than previous lab-based estimates. That means drivers could get as much as 314,000 kilometers (195,000 miles) more out… Continue reading EV Batteries Last Way Longer Than Expected
Driverless Buses Provide New Routes for Robotaxi Tech
In the race to develop autonomous vehicle technology, some companies are steering away from robotaxis to explore a different avenue: driverless buses. With an anticipated shortage of qualified bus drivers looming and concerns growing about the relative inefficiency of robotaxis, companies are opting to equip city buses with advanced levels of autonomy. This a far… Continue reading Driverless Buses Provide New Routes for Robotaxi Tech
China’s GWM Bids for World’s Top Motorcycle With the Souo S2000
CES, as its critics are wont to complain, is getting harder and harder to distinguish from a car show. And this year was no exception. In the Las Vegas Convention Center’s West Hall, where mobility was the theme, the spectacular collection of vehicles on display made it clear that the revolutions in electricity, autonomy, or… Continue reading China’s GWM Bids for World’s Top Motorcycle With the Souo S2000
The Toyota Prius Transformed the Auto Industry
In the early 1990s, Toyota saw that environmental awareness and tighter emissions regulations would shape the future of the automotive industry. The company aimed to create an eco-friendly, efficient vehicle that would meet future standards. In 1997 Toyota introduced the Prius to the Japanese market. The car was the world’s first mass-produced hybrid vehicle that… Continue reading The Toyota Prius Transformed the Auto Industry
More EVs Migrate to Tesla’s Chargers, With Some Bumps
It’s a replay of the VHS versus Betamax war, but with higher stakes for a warming planet: A battle over EV charging standards finds Tesla winning decisively, as major automakers abandon their Combined Charging System (CCS) plugs in favor of Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS). It’s another black eye for a CCS infrastructure that’s… Continue reading More EVs Migrate to Tesla’s Chargers, With Some Bumps
Donut Lab’s New Motor Brings Power to the Wheel Hub
In-hub wheel motors are among the most tantalizing and yet elusive of electric-vehicle technologies. And now, after decades of failures and near-misses, a donut-shaped electric hub motor was among the sweetest offerings at the recent CES show in Las Vegas. The motors come from Donut Lab, a spin-off of Finland’s Verge Motorcycles, which uses Donut’s… Continue reading Donut Lab’s New Motor Brings Power to the Wheel Hub
A Hybrid Car That’s Also a Supercar
Aside from having four wheels, it’s hard to see what a US $30,000 Toyota Camry has in common with a $3 million Ferrari F80. But these market bookends are examples of an under-the-radar tech revolution. From budget transportation to hypercars, every category of internal-combustion car is now harnessing hybrid tech. In “As EV Sales Stall,… Continue reading A Hybrid Car That’s Also a Supercar
As EV Sales Stall, Plug-In Hybrids Get a Reboot
Automakers got one thing right: Electrified cars are the future. What they got wrong was assuming that all of those vehicles would run on battery power alone, with gasoline-electric hybrid technology bound for the technological scrap heap. Now the automaking giants are scrambling to course correct. They’re delaying their EV plans, rejiggering factories, and acknowledging… Continue reading As EV Sales Stall, Plug-In Hybrids Get a Reboot