Drone truck startup Einride unveils new driverless vehicles for autonomous freight hauling

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The company’s cab-less prototypes are set to hit the road in 2021

Einride, the Swedish autonomous trucking startup, unveiled a new vehicle type that the company hopes to have on the road delivering freight starting in 2021. The vehicles, dubbed Autonomous Electric Transport (AET), came in four different variations. And much like Einride’s previous prototypes, they come without steering wheels, pedals, windshields, and, in general, no cab at all.

Einride has been in the business of releasing interesting, eye-catching prototype vehicles since it was founded in 2016. There was the cab-less Pod, released in 2017, which has been used in partnership with German logistics firm DB Schenker. The company also has electric trucks hauling freight for Oatly, the Swedish food producer. A year later, the company unveiled the T-Log, built to be more powerful than its predecessor for the job of (you guessed it) hauling tons of giant tree logs. Now it has a next-generation vehicle that it hopes it can put into production.

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Virgin Hyperloop selects West Virginia to test its futuristic transport system

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The certification center will serve as the location for testing, developing, and validating the technology

 Virgin Hyperloop One announced its plan to build a $500 million certification center to advance its vision of the future of high-speed transportation in West Virginia. The state will serve as a locus for testing, developing, and validating the technology that underpins the still-theoretical hyperloop system.

There is no fully functional hyperloop in the world, and it has never been tested with human passengers. But the federal government has recently laid out the framework for regulating the hyperloop, giving hope to companies like Virgin Hyperloop One that it may eventually break ground on a full-sized operational hyperloop system. To do so, it will still need to raise millions of dollars in funding, acquire the enormous tracks of land, and certify that the hyperloop can be operated safely. Which is all to say, the hyperloop is still very far off.

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Hyundai delivers first fuel cell trucks to Switzerland

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LUCERNE, Switzerland (Reuters) – South Korean carmaker Hyundai on Wednesday presented the first seven hydrogen-powered trucks to customers in Switzerland, out of 50 such vehicles scheduled this year to bring zero-emission commercial vehicles to European roads.

For long haul, proponents say hydrogen-powered trucks have an advantage over electric rivals as they have a greater range and require less charging times but their uptake and mass production has been slow because they are expensive.

However, a McKinsey study in January said that once relative efficiencies of the power sources and lifetime costs of a truck are factored in, green hydrogen could reach cost parity with diesel by 2030.

Hyundai has been partnering with Swiss companies to build a value chain covering the production of green hydrogen from hydropower, hydrogen charging stations and the service and maintenance of the trucks.

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IRJ 2020 Innovations Showcase: Siemens and Ballard develop hydrogen trains

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SIEMENS Mobility is currently developing a modular hydrogen fuel cell drive for its Mireo Plus H regional train platform, which will subsequently be integrated into other platforms.

The hydrogen-powered Mireo Plus H trains will be used on existing diesel routes and in regions where hydrogen is cheaply available.

The €12m project, in partnership with Canadian fuel cell producer Ballard Power Systems and the Rhine-Westphalian Technical University in Aachen (RWTH), plans to produce a usable fuel cell drive by 2021, with a planned range of 600km-900km in two or three-car trains.

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What happens if Uber and Lyft flee California? Look at Austin

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Line of rideshare vehicles driving in protest

 The ride-hail services are threatening to stop service in the Golden State to protest a judge’s ruling. They did something similar in Texas in 2016.

A California judge has ordered Uber and Lyft to treat drivers as employees; the companies say they’ll leave the state rather than comply.

RAFAEL RODRIGUEZ REMEMBERS the moment he learned Uber and Lyft were leaving Austin. “It was Mother’s Day, and I was with my girl in a restaurant,” he says. “I said, ‘Now I’m not paying for that piña colada.’” Today, he laughs about it. But in 2016, the situation was worrying. Rodriguez was a full-time driver for the ride-hail companies. Just two days later, the platforms ditched the Texas capital, frustrated that they had lost a ballot measure that forced them to fingerprint potential drivers for background checks. Rodriguez was out of a job.

Now, something similar might happen on a much bigger scale, in California. Earlier this month, a state judge ordered the ride-hail companies to treat ride-hail drivers as employees, instead of independent contractors. The companies had said they would stop operating in California on Friday, but an appeals court on Thursday delayed the effective date of the ruling until it could rule on the companies’ appeal.

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New ‘bullet’ plane could make private air travel more affordable

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Bullet-shaped plane that can travel at 460mph for more than 4,500 miles, costs just $328 per hour to operate and is set to revolutionize private air travel is unveiled

 The first official information and images of the Celera 500L were revealed by Otto Aviation Wednesday.

  • The ‘bullet’ aircraft is predicted to revolutionize private air travel
  • It can travel at a cruising speed of 460mph for more than 4,500 miles
  • Yet it uses eight times less fuel bringing hourly operating costs down to at $328
  • It is hoped the the lower costs will make it a competitor for commercial travel
  • The plan is powered by a RED A03 engine
  • Otto Aviation plans for first commercial deliveries by 2025 but a price for the aircraft is not yet known

The much-anticipated Celera 500L ‘bullet’ plane which is set to revolutionize private air travel has been revealed.

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Electric Brand’s eBussy modular electric van can turn into 10 different vehicles

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Sucks to suck, Optimus Prime.

When it comes time to buy a new vehicle, you usually need to make some choices. Are you looking for a sedan, an SUV, a minivan? If you’ve committed to a pickup truck, you can’t later turn it into a sports car. Which sucks, because most of us use our vehicles for many different purposes, and it’d be great if you could just swap out parts depending on your plans.

That’s one of the driving ideas behind the eBussy, an electric microbus concept from a German company called Electric Brands. The (sigh, unfortunately named) eBussy sports a retro-cute exterior evoking the swinging ‘60s, and a battery that promises a range of 124 miles on a charge. (You can also configure it with a larger battery for about 373 miles worth of driving range.) Roof-mounted solar panels help recharge while you’re driving, and regenerative braking can extend the range.

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Tesla rival Nikola scores deal to make thousands of 1,000-horsepower electric garbage trucks

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If Nikola (NKLA) founder Trevor Milton has his way, the garbage trucks emitting black smoke that troll the streets will eventually be a thing of the past.

 Milton and his team at Nikola took a giant step in that mission on Monday.

The upstart electric- and hydrogen-powered truck maker announced a deal with waste management giant Republic Services for 2,500 electric, zero emission garbage trucks. A dollar amount for the contract wasn’t disclosed. The deal is expandable up to 5,000 trucks. Full production deliveries are expected to begin in 2023 — road testing is set to commence in late 2021 and early 2022.

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Uber reports steep revenue decline, as delivery outpaces ride hailing.

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Uber’s revenue decline in the second quarter was the steepest since it went public in May 2019.

Uber said on Thursday that its revenue in the second quarter dropped 29 percent to $2.2 billion from a year ago and that its net loss narrowed to $1.8 billion, as the ride-hailing giant deals with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

The revenue decline was the steepest since Uber went public in May 2019, though total revenue was better than what Wall Street analysts had projected. Uber’s losses improved from $5.2 billion a year ago when it had heavy stock-based compensation costs after its initial public offering.

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Virgin Galactic debuts design of future Mach 3 high-speed aircraft, signs deal with Rolls-Royce

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Virgin Galactic is making strides toward its goal of creating high-speed commercial aircraft that operates a little closer to Earth than its existing passenger spacecraft. The company revealed the initial design of the commercial passenger airplane it’s creating that’s designed to fly at speeds in excess of Mach 3 — faster than the average cruising speed of around Mach 2 that the original Concorde achieved.

This concept design comes alongside a new partnership for Virgin Galactic, by way of a memorandum of understanding that the company signed with Rolls-Royce, one of the world’s leading aircraft engine makers. Rolls-Royce is also responsible for the engine of the Concorde, one of the only supersonic commercial aircraft ever used for passenger travel.

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Airbus’ new eVTOL that aims to usher in an era of flying taxis just took its first public flight – take a look at CityAirbus

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Airbus’ CityAirbus eVTOL aircraft. Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/picture alliance/Getty

CityAirbus is the new eVTOL being developed by Airbus’ helicopter division that aims to set the stage for a new era of intra-city travel with flying taxis.

The futuristic-looking demonstrator can carry four passengers with a range of 60 miles, traveling at 75 miles per hour.

Airbus demonstrated the eVTOL in public for the first time on July 20 during a visit by a German politician to the facility in Bavaria.

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The Boring Company: Elon Musk shares stunning station image and bus details

 

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The Boring Company founder Elon Musk shared the image with the caption “coming soon.”

The Boring Company, Elon Musk’s tunnel-digging venture, is getting ready to unveil its first public tunnel.

On Wednesday, Musk shared a new image with his 37 million Twitter followers. The new concept render appears to show one of the three stations planned for the Las Vegas Convention Center project. The two tunnels are designed to take 4,400 attendees per hour in one of two directions over a distance of nearly a mile. The work is part of a planned redevelopment of the center, and the tunnels are expected to be ready for the annual Consumer Electronics Show early next year.

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