Lifeboat Foundation

Germany on Monday rolled out the world’s first hydrogen-powered train, signalling the start of a push to challenge the might of polluting diesel trains with costlier but more eco-friendly technology.

Two bright blue Coradia iLint trains, built by French TGV-maker Alstom, began running a 100-kilometre (62-mile) route between the towns and cities of Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervoerde and Buxtehude in northern Germany—a stretch normally plied by diesel trains.

“The world’s first hydrogen train is entering into commercial service and is ready for serial production,” Alstom CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge said at an unveiling ceremony in Bremervoerde, the station where the trains will be refuelled with hydrogen.

If your truck is completely autonomous, why would you need a cab? Volvo Trucks believes that you don’t and that’s why they built a new all-electric and autonomous truck without a cab called Vera.

Claes Nilsson, President of Volvo Trucks, the idea behind Vera:

“The full potential of the transport industry is yet to be seen. Everything suggests that the global need for transportation will continue to significantly increase in the coming decade. If we are to meet this demand in a sustainable and efficient way, we must find new solutions. In order to secure a smoothly functioning goods flow system we also need to exploit existing infrastructure better than currently. The transport system we are developing can be an important complement to today’s solutions and can help meet many of the challenges faced by society, transport companies and transport buyers,”

Continue reading “Volvo unveils all-electric and autonomous truck without a cab” »

This open-air helicopter takes joyrides to new heights 🚁.

Dr. Willem-Jan Renger, head of the Innovation Studio at HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, is driving citizen engagement in smart city planning using methods generally seen in computer game creation, as part of an international consortium of cities, IRIS.

Why do we need to engage citizens in urban planning?

The most important thing to know [when planning a city] is what do citizens want… What do they need? If we start talking to people, they bring key concerns that they have on their level to the table. One such concern in Utrecht was there’s some street racing going on and some nasty incidents. When we were dealing with issues that the citizens had put forward, traffic safety was something we considered combining with smart street lighting solutions by creating some clever combinations to help pedestrians to cross the street, for example, or give cars feedback on the basis of their driving.

Lucid Motors, the electric car startup that aims to compete with Tesla, will receive an eye-popping $1 billion in funding from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the kingdom announced on Monday. The investment will finance Lucid Motor’s 2020 commercial launch of its first electric vehicle, the Lucid Air. Meanwhile, Tesla’s stock dipped by as much as 2 percent in early trading on news of the investment.

The deal is a major win for Lucid, which has languished over the last year as it failed to secure the funding necessary to start making its luxury electric cars. News of the talks comes weeks after Saudi Arabia purchased 5 percent of Tesla and emerged as a central player in Elon Musk’s failed effort to take the company private again. Musk cited conversations with the director of the Saudi fund as the impetus for his push to take Tesla private.

I am all for recycling of plastics but I would prefer we stop using petroleum based plastics and instead use hemp based plastics that are biodegradable. I have better materials for roads and paths that could last for hundreds of years. If you want to know more get in touch with me.

Officials with the Dutch city of Zwolle have announced the opening of a new bike path made using recycled plastic. The bike path is part of a nationwide effort to recycle more user end products. The bike path was made using a modular design called PlasticRoad by a pipe-making company called Wavin.

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With iOS 12, Apple is giving third-party apps more flexibility and new capabilities within CarPlay. As an example, for the first time, you can use other apps besides Apple Maps as your preferred navigation software for Apple’s in-car platform. With that change now possible, Google Maps and Waze are both planning to support CarPlay and have begun beta testing.

Unfortunately it’s not a beta test most of us can join, so you’ll have to wait for the proper release before you can use either of these in your own vehicle through CarPlay. But some early screenshots posted by 9to5Mac provide a good preview of how Google Maps and Waze will look once that happens.

Filling up a hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) is one of those unknowns that many buyers might not consider until it’s time to actually head to a station and fill up for the first time. We are in the unique position to try out many of the latest and greatest vehicles, including a handful of FCEVs.

A key part of the ownership experience is the fueling experience, including finding stations and the physical process of fueling up the vehicle. Thankfully, filling up is a fairly painless experience, but it is different enough to warrant a quick introduction.

Continue reading “A Look At Hydrogen Fueling Infrastructure In 2018” »

BMW’s self-driving motorcycle can start, stop, and navigate all by itself, but the company says creating a fully autonomous vehicle wasn’t its intention.