Lifeboat Foundation

The imminent arrival of the self-driving car will change how people move around city streets, but they could do so much more.

The Tridika is a conceptual driverless electric vehicle I created to change how we use cars in our ever-growing cities, where space is expensive and limited. Inspired by Thyssenkrupp’s Willy Wonka-esque Multi elevator, the Tridika works like a self-driving car you can literally park next to your apartment and use as an additional room.

By harnessing the power of plasma, engineers may be on the cusp of a revolution in aircraft design and more.

Elon Musk, Tesla Motors CEO, is alluding to a big announcement about level 4 autonomy later this year. For now though, the technology is still in need of software improvements.

Tesla Motors has been starring in headlines recently, thanks to crashes attributed to the autopilot system, the announcement of the ambitious Master Plan, and the company’s acquisition of SolarCity. Now, Elon Musk, the company’s CEO, is attracting even more media attention.

When asked about Tesla’s progress toward Level 4 fully autonomous driving on a conference call, Musk teased, “what we’ve got will blow people’s minds, it blows my mind …it’ll come sooner than people think.”

Continue reading “Elon Musk Hints That Tesla Updates Will Soon Lead To Level 4 Autonomy” »

European Commission Vice -President Andrus Ansip, responsible for the Digital Single Market, and Commissioner Günther H. Oettinger, in charge of the Digital Economy and Society, welcome today’s publication of guidelines on EU net neutrality rules by the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC). The publication of these guidelines was foreseen in the Regulation on the first EU-wide net neutrality rules which was agreed by the European Parliament and Council last year (press release) and which has applied in all EU Member States since 30 April 2016. The Commission has worked closely with BEREC on the preparation of the guidelines.

Vice-President Ansip and Commissioner Oettinger said:

“Today’s guidelines provide detailed guidance for the consistent application of our net neutrality rules by national regulators across the EU. They do not alter the content of the rules in place which guarantee the freedom of the internet by protecting the right of every European to access internet content, applications and services without unjustified interference or discrimination. Our rules, and today’s guidelines, avoid fragmentation in the single market, create legal certainty for businesses and make it easier for them to work across border. They also ensure that the internet remains an engine for innovation and that advanced technologies and Internet of Things services like connected vehicles as well as 5G applications are developed today, and will flourish in the future. We are pleased with the intensive engagement with stakeholders in the preparation of the guidelines, which contributed to their quality.

Tesla took Ludicrous Mode to new heights today. Some subtle wiring changes and a major battery upgrade improved mileage and gave the Model S enough oomph to go from 0 to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds—within fractions of seconds of Ferrari and Porsche models.

The extra performance is largely attributed to a larger battery. Its 100kWh is a 10 percent increase from the previous largest option, and increases total distance for some models by up to seven percent.

Of course it comes at a price. The Model S now costs as much as $134,000—and as always you need to be able to charge it.

Continue reading “Tesla’s Model S Now Drives Like A Ferrari, Thanks To Bigger Battery” »

This is hands down the most impressive flying car I’ve seen to date.

It’s also the first electric automobile with a range of more than 300 miles.

The first prototype of DeLorean appeared in October 1976, and production officially began in 1981 in Dunmurry, a suburb of south west Belfast, Northern Ireland (with the first DMC-12 rolling off the production line on January 21). The car features gull-wing doors and an innovative fiberglass chassis and underbody structure, along with a brushed stainless steel body.

DMC became famous for its appearance and was modified as a time machine in the Back to the Future film trilogy. A little more than 8,500 DMC-12s left DeLorean’s factory in Northern Ireland between 1981 and 1983, until its founder John DeLorean’s was arrested by the FBI on charges of drug trafficking.

Actually, it is quite impressing that Texas-based DeLorean Motor Company could soon initiate again its production thanks to a new law which exempts small volume car manufacturers from the safety requirements applied to the newly cars. On January 27, 2016, in Humble, Texas location, the car maker announced that production will resume and “new” DMC-12’s will be rolling off the assembly line in early 2017.

Continue reading “DeLorean Motor Company will release new car in 2017” »

Driving a motor vehicle requires making tough choices in the heat of the moment. Whether slamming on the brakes in traffic or speeding up before a light turns red, split-second decisions are often a choice between the lesser of two evils. Sometimes, a choice could lead to bodily injury or even a loss of life.

As more self-driving cars reach the road, life-and-death decisions once made by humans alone will increasingly shift to machines. Yet the idea of giving that responsibility over to a computer may be unsettling to some.

Continue reading “Ray Kurzweil Explores How Self-Driving Cars Will Choose Between Life or Death” »