IEEE Spectrum, Contributor
Articles
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Once a secret project, Google's autonomous vehicles are now out in the open, quite literally, with the company test-driving them on public roads and, on one occasion, even inviting people to ride...
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Diesel: The Dark-Horse Contender For Cleaner, Greener Cars?Though about half the new cars sold in Europe are diesels, the technology has never had much traction in the United States, partly because much stricter U.S. clean air regulations made it virtually untenable. But several years ago Daimler and Volkswagen introduced cars powered by clean diesel...
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Is China Backing Away From Electric Vehicles?(EDITOR'S NOTE: This article offers another look at China's evolving plans for electric cars, also covered last week: China's Electric Car Plans Unrealistic, Focus Now On Hybrids) China's ambitious goals for electrification of its automotive fleet call for 10 percent of the cars expected to be...
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Dynamic Pricing For Parking Spaces Begins To SpreadThe LA Times published a story over the weekend about a pilot program that the city of Los Angeles is set to begin, involving the dynamic pricing of parking spaces. By April of next year, in a 4.5-square-mile area that is frequented by 500 000 workers and shoppers daily, the price of a parking...
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Compressed-Air Car Proponents Losing FaithLicensees of the much-hyped AirPOD minicar are pressing for results from Motor Development International, the Luxembourg-registered firm behind the compressed-air-powered vehicle. In recent postings to their websites and coverage by European news sources, some of MDI's partners are now openly...
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Battery Advance To Give Electric-Car Charging In Gas Fill-Up Time?An advance in battery technology could help push past one of the persistent criticisms of electric vehicles: the extended time needed to charge the battery. Researchers at the University of Illinois published a paper in Nature Nanotechnology on a change to the cathode of a battery that allows for...
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No sooner do I discuss University of Illinois researchers who have created 3D antennas for mobile phones using nanotechnology than another group of researchers at the University of Illinois (this...
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What Are The Turning Radii Of The New Toyota Prii?Toyota announced this week that it had ended what it called a “decade-long debate” by decreeing that the plural of Prius would be Prii henceforth and to the end of time. Okay, they didn’t say that last part. Toyota unveiled the winning word at the Chicago Auto Show this morning...
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Renewable Car: Wind-Powered Vehicle Crosses AustraliaIt may not be the most practical of designs, but a German duo recently succeeded in crossing much of Australia in a wind-powered car. They set records for longest distance traveled in such a vehicle, as well as a 36-hour distance record and others. Dirk Gion and Stefan Simmerer both developed and...
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Nanoscale Analysis of Rechargeable Batteries Pinpoints Cause of their DemiseIt is my fervent belief that nanotechnology’s ability to push the lowly battery to new heights will be one of the field’s biggest achievements in the not-too-distant future. Sure expanding the water supply and better harvesting the sun’s energy are no doubt big achievements. But...
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The Car Battery's Carbon FootprintElectric cars may run clean. But how green is the battery? Hi, this is Steven Cherry for IEEE Spectrum's "This Week in Technology." With governments around the world investing heavily in electric and hybrid cars, the demand for the batteries that power these vehicles is on the rise. The United...
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