In a future where the world’s car fleet is rapidly transitioning to electric vehicles, gas stations will be forcefully downgraded to simple convenience stores and consequently, they will lose a significant revenue stream brought in by people stopping for gas but buying something at the convenience store.
Continue reading… “Shell to start installing electric vehicle chargers at its gas stations”
We live in a time where Level 5 autonomous cars are close to becoming a reality, and more than one company is working towards bringing humans to Mars. Consider all this, it’s almost surprising that flying cars haven’t taken to the skies yet. But it turns out we may not have to wait too long: Airbus is planning to test a prototype, not only for a flying car but an autonomous flying car.
Continue reading… “Airbus is planning to make autonomous, flying cars by 2017”
Divergent 3D, a Los Angeles-based startup that hopes to disrupt automotive manufacturing, has raised $23 million in a Series A funding round led by technology venture capital fund Horizons Ventures. The company will use the funding to help it commercialize its manufacturing platform, which uses 3D printing to produce the chassis of an automobile. The platform produces 3D printed joints, which it calls a Node, that can be connected with carbon fiber structural materials to build a strong and light chassis.
Continue reading… “3D Printing startup raised $23 million to disrupt how cars are made”
Tesla’s software timeline to fully autonomous driving on its new Autopilot hardware can be somewhat complicated. There’s ‘Enhanced Autopilot’, which in itself offers several different features, and there’s ‘Full Self-Driving Capability’, which despite its name will not enable self-driving for a while, but could still be useful to Tesla drivers very soon.
Much of the focus in the technology world currently is on artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data – and how they will affect the way we use products and how machines operate. But developing just as quickly, although with slightly less hype, is 3D printing, or additive manufacturing (AM), which is going to have at least as big an impact on how we make things as AI et al. The process creates products by depositing layers of material, generally ground metal or plastic, to a template, lasering that material into place and repeating the process to build the required product – anything from replacement hips to jet engine parts.
Continue reading… “3D Printing will change the way we make and design in 2017”
Investment in autonomous vehicle technology entered overdrive in 2016, and 2017 is gearing up for more of the same. In the last six months of 2016, the first public self-driving taxi service hit Singapore roads, courtesy of NuTonomy, while Uber followed suit a month later in Pittsburgh. The question of self-driving cars becoming a reality on roads around the world is no longer an “if,” it’s a big fat “when.”
Continue reading… “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”
Last March, we heard a crazy rumor that someone was starting a single-marque Tesla racing series alled Electric GT. Then, in November, we saw the first working prototype of the Model S P85+ race car. At the UK’s Autosport International Show on Friday, Electric GT officially unveiled the first racing-spec Tesla with a live demonstration of the new P100D version.
Continue reading… “Tesla race car does 0-60 in 2.1 seconds”
Singapore’s shipping ports are already among the busiest and most efficient in the world. Now the city-state is exploring a new way to make them run even better: convoys of driverless trucks operating between terminals. The idea is that a lead truck will be driven by a human, with the follower vehicles being automated.
Continue reading… “Self-driving trucks to haul cargo between shipping terminals in Singapore”
Arconic – The Road Ahead from WIRED Brand Lab on Vimeo.
“Until we get to that driverless era, we’ve got a slow-moving parking lot that’s working at a glacial speed in major cities literally all over the world,” says Futurist Thomas Frey, founder of thinktank DaVinci Institute.
Continue reading… “Understanding the Disruptive Impact of Tomorrow’s Transportation”
Half of today’s car owners will not want to own a vehicle and more and more will want self-driving and electric cars in future, a survey of car manufacturing bosses has found. As fewer people see the need to buy a car, a majority of automotive executives believe the industry will increasingly focus on making money from peripheral digital services to be used with their vehicles.
Continue reading… “Fewer car owners and more driverless vehicles in future”
BMW unveiled a concept for the interior of driverless cars on Wednesday at a press conference in Las Vegas at CES. The concept, dubbed the BMWi Inside Future, showcases how BMW envisions its autonomous vehicles may look when they start to hit the market. The interior concept is centered on connectivity and includes a panoramic display that can be operated just like a touchscreen — except physical contact isn’t necessary.
Continue reading… “BMW unveils futuristic concept for the interior of its driverless cars”
Remember the guy we featured a few months ago who 3D printed a functional scale model of a Subaru EJ20 flat-four? Well, he’s got another creation, and this one’s even better. It’s a replica of the LS3 V8 found in the last-gen Chevrolet Camaro, and aside from a few fasteners and bearings, it’s entirely 3D printed.
Continue reading… “3D-Printed V8 engine works just like the real thing”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.