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
Author: IEEE_Spectrum
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
9 Intriguing Engineering Feats for 2025
This story is part of our Top Tech 2025 special report. Methane Measurements for the Masses All Illustrations: Greg Mably From high above us, satellites track devastating emissions of the greenhouse gases that will alter our climate. So far, their data has been private, shared only with companies or governments. MethaneSAT is changing that. Launched… Continue reading 9 Intriguing Engineering Feats for 2025
The Top 10 Transportation Stories of 2024
IEEE Spectrum‘s transportation coverage drew just under half a million visitors in 2024. Readers came to learn the latest news about advances in electric vehicles and battery technology, sustainable energy alternatives, transit infrastructure and logistics, and AI and emerging risks. One of our more popular articles reported on an issue at the intersection of technology… Continue reading The Top 10 Transportation Stories of 2024
The Man Behind Hydrail
IEEE Life Senior Member H. Stan Thompson has lived a couple of professional lives. For decades, he was a planning engineer and futurist at Bellsouth Telecommunications, which was formed from the merger of two Regional Bell Operating Companies around the time AT&T (“Ma Bell”) was forced to break up in 1984. When he retired in… Continue reading The Man Behind Hydrail