Latest Developments in the Automotive Industry

First operational drone traffic management system aims to prevent midair collisions

The drone industry has landed after a long flight to the implementation of drone traffic management.

30/06/2025 22:50

Here's a way to save lives, curb traffic jams and make commutes faster and easier: Ban left turns at intersections

More than 60% of traffic collisions at intersections involve left turns. Some U.S. cities—including San Francisco, Salt Lake City and Birmingham, Alabama—are restricting left turns.

30/06/2025 19:52

Battery swapping stations powered by solar and wind: How this could work for electric vehicles

Petrol and diesel vehicles are being phased out globally and replaced with electric vehicles so that countries can meet their commitments to zero human-caused carbon emissions by 2050. But electric vehicles' batteries run down quickly and take a long time to recharge. One solution is battery swapping systems, where depleted batteries can be swapped for fully charged batteries, putting electric vehicle drivers back on the road faster than it would have taken them to fill up with petrol. Lumbumba Taty-Etienne Nyamayoka is a researcher and Ph.D. candidate with the Future Electrical Energy Technology Research Group at the University of the Witwatersrand. His research looked at the best way to set up battery swapping systems powered by solar and wind energy.

30/06/2025 17:53

First study surveys surviving pilots to understand causes of in-flight loss of control

On average, four planes crash each day in the United States with almost all of aircraft involved being single-engine planes. One in five of those crashes were caused by in-flight loss of control, defined by the Federal Aviation Administration as "unintended departure of an aircraft from controlled flight." Nearly half of accidents caused by in-flight loss of control are fatal.

27/06/2025 18:28

China's Xiaomi receives almost 300,000 SUV pre-orders in minutes

Chinese electric vehicle maker Xiaomi received almost 300,000 pre-orders within an hour for its first sport utility vehicles in what the company said was a "miraculous" moment for the industry.

27/06/2025 12:00

Study finds most e-scooter users follow speed limits and helmet laws in Brisbane

A University of Queensland study has examined the behavior of e-scooter riders in Brisbane before and after the introduction of tighter regulations.

26/06/2025 16:52

Shipboard system that uses limestone and seawater could cut CO₂ emissions by half

Scientists at USC and Caltech, in collaboration with startup company Calcarea, have developed a promising shipboard system that could remove up to half of carbon dioxide emitted from shipping vessels by converting it into an ocean-safe solution.

25/06/2025 21:22

Review: Five three-row EVs that are great for big families

Most electric vehicles are five-passenger sedans or SUVs. But automakers are increasingly expanding their lineups to cater to shoppers wanting a three-row EV that can serve as a family hauler. These EVs can seat six or seven passengers, haul lots of cargo, and potentially have more than 300 miles of driving range. They also come standard with many advanced safety features. To help you with your search, the car experts at Edmunds rounded up five of their favorites. They are ordered by price, and all pricing includes destination charges.

25/06/2025 18:07

Tesla sales skid in Europe in May despite EV rebound

Tesla sales sank again in Europe last month as rising competition and Elon Musk's ties to US President Donald Trump cut into demand despite a growing electric car market, industry figures showed on Wednesday.

25/06/2025 11:14

US following up on possible Tesla robotaxi infractions

US safety regulators contacted Tesla after its self-driving cars stopped abruptly, sped or swerved into the wrong lane as the company began limited robotaxi service, US officials said Tuesday.

24/06/2025 23:05

Waymo's robotaxis to start carrying passengers in Atlanta, expanding Uber partnership

Waymo's robotaxis will begin carrying passengers through parts of Atlanta on Tuesday in an expansion of a partnership with Uber that began earlier this year in Austin.

24/06/2025 20:20

Systemic failures led to a door plug flying off a Boeing 737 Max, NTSB says

The heroic actions by the crew of Alaska Airlines flight 1282 ensured everyone survived last year when a door plug panel flew off the plane shortly after takeoff, leaving a gaping hole that sucked objects out of the cabin, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said Tuesday.

24/06/2025 12:11

Stealthy ship hull cuts through waves like butter

Borrowing from drug-smuggling subs, Michigan engineers are helping the Navy design autonomous ships that blend in with the ocean surface.

23/06/2025 22:28

New research reveals Uber's algorithmic pricing leaves drivers and passengers worse off

A new study from researchers in the University of Oxford's Department of Computer Science has found that Uber's use of dynamic pricing has led to higher fares for passengers and lower earnings for drivers, while increasing Uber's share of revenue.

23/06/2025 20:38

NASA air taxi passenger comfort studies move forward

NASA's Advanced Air Mobility vision involves the skies above the U.S. filled with new types of aircraft, including air taxis. But making that vision a reality involves ensuring that people will actually want to ride these aircraft—which is why NASA has been working to evaluate comfort, to see what passengers will and won't tolerate.

23/06/2025 19:13

Tesla launches long-discussed robotaxi service

Tesla began offering robotaxi services Sunday in the US city of Austin, Texas, an initial step that Elon Musk's backers believe could lead to the company's next growth wave.

23/06/2025 11:34

Women face more injury risks in car crashes. So why are test dummies modeled after men?

Maria Weston Kuhn had one lingering question about the car crash that forced her to have emergency surgery during a vacation in Ireland: Why did she and her mother sustain serious injuries while her father and brother, who sat in the front, emerge unscathed?

23/06/2025 11:26

Road crash injuries are on the rise in Australia—how can we stop them?

Hospitalization rates for road crashes have steadily increased over the past 10 years, with men, regional communities and pedestrians bearing the brunt.

21/06/2025 22:50

NASA aircraft to make low-altitude flights in mid-Atlantic, California

From Sunday, June 22 to Wednesday, July 2, two research aircraft will make a series of low-altitude atmospheric research flights near Philadelphia, Baltimore, and some Virginia cities, including Richmond, as well as over the Los Angeles Basin, Salton Sea, and Central Valley in California.

20/06/2025 19:43

New test can help driverless cars make 'moral' decisions

Researchers have validated a technique for studying how people make "moral" decisions when driving, with the goal of using the resulting data to train the artificial intelligence used in autonomous vehicles. These moral psychology experiments were tested using the most critical audience researchers could think of: philosophers.

19/06/2025 16:30

NTSB urges quick fix on Boeing plane engines to prevent smoke from filling cabin after a bird strike

Safety experts recommended Wednesday that the engines on Boeing's troubled 737 Max airplanes be modified quickly to prevent smoke from filling the cockpit or cabin after a safety feature is activated following a bird strike.

19/06/2025 12:00

Waymo looks to test its self-driving cars in New York

Google-owned Waymo on Wednesday said it has applied for a permit to start testing its self-driving cars in New York City, a first for the Big Apple.

19/06/2025 11:47

Electric car warning signals prove hard to locate at low speeds, study finds

As electric cars become more common, vulnerable road users are encountering more and more warning signals from them. Now, new research from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, shows that one of the most common signal types is very difficult for humans to locate, especially when multiple similar vehicles are in motion simultaneously.

18/06/2025 22:48

Amazon hopes to deliver 10,000 robotaxis annually with new factory, challenging Waymo

Amazon is gearing up to make as many as 10,000 robotaxis annually at a sprawling plant near Silicon Valley as it prepares to challenge self-driving cab leader Waymo. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is also vying to join the autonomous race.

18/06/2025 20:30

Charging infrastructure found more effective than tax credits for electric vehicle adoption

In the United States, tax incentives and infrastructure investments play a role in speeding the adoption of electric vehicles (EV). In a new study, researchers examined the effects of competing government incentives on EV adoption in Washington state by building a structural dynamic discrete demand model. In terms of expanding the EV market, the study found that building an EV charging network is more effective than awarding a tax rebate.

18/06/2025 20:26

Self-driving cars may only lower ride-hailing prices under specific conditions

In 2018, when Zhen Lian, then a Ph.D. student at Cornell, started working on a research project about self-driving cars, the technology still seemed like "a futuristic topic," she says. Just five years later, while traveling in Phoenix, she was able to hail a self-driving car—also known as an autonomous vehicle (AV)—to get a ride from her hotel to the airport.

18/06/2025 20:21

What could have caused the Air India crash? An expert examines the proposed failure scenarios

The recent crash of an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner in Ahmedabad has prompted widespread discussion about potential causes. As an expert with a background in aircraft design, I would not attempt to speculate on the cause of the incident. We should wait for the crash investigators to carry out a rigorous analysis.

18/06/2025 16:17

New rules may not change dirty and deadly ship recycling business

Mizan Hossain fell 10 meters (33-foot) from the top of a ship he was cutting up on Chittagong beach in Bangladesh—where the majority of the world's maritime giants meet their end—when the vibrations shook him from the upper deck.

18/06/2025 11:50

The Middle East is a major flight hub. How do airlines keep passengers safe during conflict?

The Middle East is a region of intense beauty and ancient kingdoms. It has also repeatedly endured periods of geopolitical instability over many centuries.

17/06/2025 19:52

Simulator optimizes vehicle resources to enable real-time accident prevention in autonomous cars

Through industry–academia collaboration, a joint research team developed an Integrated Network-Computing Load Balancing ("INCL Balancing") simulator optimized for next-generation 6G services. This is the world's first research project to implement a load-balancing simulator that integrates network and computational resources in an autonomous driving environment. It is expected to markedly improve the safety, real-time control performance, and energy efficiency of autonomous vehicles linked to vehicular edge computing (VEC).

17/06/2025 18:45