Hyundai Unveils Hydrogen-Powered Class 8 Heavy Duty Truck, A Rival For Telsa

Hyundai releases its latest concept of a heavy-duty truck, Hyundai HDC-6 Neptune Class 8 Heavy Duty Truck. It looks like Tesla semi-truck will be having a worthy competitor by the way.

Hyundai HDC-6 Neptune concept is a hydrogen-only concept for Hyundai Motor Company’s commercial vehicles, it’s a vision for the year of 2030 where there would be a wide-spread deployment of hydrogen-powered fuel cell technology. This auto manufacturer has done all necessary processes and experience to develop high-quality vehicles that support its FCEV 2030 vision for a hydrogen ecosystem. Fuel cells are a perfect solution for commercial vehicles, including heavy-duty trucks and long driving distances due to its higher drive range, less refuelling time, and ultimately, lower costs.

Futuristic Hyundai HDC-6 Neptune Class 8 Heavy Duty Truck demonstrates Hyundai’s vision in design, in-cab technology, and propulsion system. It’s a futuristic concept that moves forward to a decarbonized society and advancement of zero-emission vehicles.

Besides releasing HDC-6 Neptune, Hyundai also releases HT Nitro ThermoTech, it’s a refrigerated trailer using a cryogenic nitrogen refrigeration technology system. This concept has been developed in collaboration with Air Liquide, it would change the way Hyundai provides refrigerated transportation. This concept trailer footprint is claimed to be up to 90% less than a traditional unit.

See The Toyota e-Palette Vehicles That Will Be Used To Transport Athletes And The Physical Challenge At The Olympics

The 2020 Olympic game will be a game of technology, science, and Artifical Intelligence. Japan is set to show the world why it remains the tech hub of the world in terms of cars, design and futuristic cars.

One of the futuristic vehicles that Toyota announced at the 46th Tokyo Motor Show 2019 was Toyota e-Palette. The company announced that it would supply up to 20 e-Palette vehicles specially designed to support athlete mobility during the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.

Toyota e-Palette is automated, loop-line transportation to transport athletes and related staff around Olympic and Paralympic villages. It’s a battery-operated, autonomous vehicle adapted specifically during the games based on feedback from athletes about their mobility needs in the past games.

During the development process, athletes, especially Paralympians, helped the design team to better understand how e-Palette can meet the needs for simple, convenient, and comfortable mobility. This project is not just about designing a vehicle but it also offers great opportunities for passengers to interact with each other, share new experiences, and even be moved emotionally.

This is actually not a new design, e-Palette was announced in 2018 as a service vehicle. But for Tokyo 2020 Version, e-Palette has been adapted to meet the unique needs of Olympic and Paralympic villages with large doors and electric ramps. This new design allows for all athletes to board quickly and easily. This vehicle will be controlled by an automated driving system that can operate up to 20km/h supported by an on-board safety operator.

See photos of the vehicles below... 

Scania AXL – A Look At A Driverless Concept Truck Without A Cab

Here’s a new member of Scania: AXL, a futuristic fully autonomous concept truck without a cab. It’s a heavy-duty self-driving vehicle designed by a group of Scania experts from different fields. This concept truck is designed without a cab, featuring Scania’s modular system at the core of the design. Currently, there are different industries are searching for more sustainable, self-driving vehicles to increase their productivity and performance. Mines and those large closed construction sites are good examples of environments, which are favorable for self-driving pilots since they are well-controlled locations.

Scania AXL autonomous concept truck is a step forward to smart transportation systems of the future, many of us vision that self-driving vehicles would play a natural part in our transportation system. Scania explains that they will continue to build and pilot concepts to demonstrate what they can do with available technology today.

For autonomous vehicles, the software would be more important that hardware. That’s why Scania AXL is steered and monitored by an intelligent control environment. In mines, for example, autonomous operations can be facilitated by a logistics system that tells vehicle how it should perform.

We already have many self-driving trucks design where the customer is in operations, the driver stays in the cabin who can intervene anytime if necessary. Scania AXL is designed without a cab, it means no driver will be in the truck. The combustion engine is powered by renewable biofuel, a combination of traditional and new technology. The robust and powerful features behind Scania AXL matches tougher environments in mines or large construction sites.

See What Sony and Yamaha Motor Teamed Up to Design Looks Like

Sony Corporation announced their join development with Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd., to design and develop SC-1 Sociable Cart. At first sight, it looks like another van vehicle, but actually, this one delivers a new mobility experience. Together, these companies plan to launch services using this model in Japan in fiscal 2019. For your information, this concept van will be developed for the purpose of offering new mobility experience, it will not be available for sale.

SC-1 is a vehicle concept designed to transform the meaning of mobility by allowing an all-new opportunity for entertainment. Sony and Yamaha Motor will deploy it to provide fun at venues such as amusement parks, golf courses, or any commercial facilities.

The first prototype of SC-1 was developed in 2016, then completed in 2017. In 2018, Sony worked with Kanucha Bay Resort Co., Ltd. to use SC-1 to provide Moonlight Cruise. It’s a limited-time ride experience service where customers could enjoy the video and audio entertainment powered by AR projected against the backdrop of night scenes at a golf course in Okinawa. Based on that experience, the SC-1 Sociable Cart would be designed and developed based on know-how and feedback accumulated through Moonlight Cruise. The new model would increase its passenger capacity up to three to five people with extended run time thanks to its replaceable batteries

This concept cart would have a broader front and rear scope of view, more comfortable ride due to the optimization of the base vehicle, and many other improvements. SC-1 Sociable Cart would be equipped with image sensors that capture its surroundings, this way, windows are no longer required, they can be replaced and make a place for high-definition displays. Using AI to analyze images obtained from image sensors, the information can be streamed to be interactive.

SC-1 also incorporates mixed reality technology developed by Sony where it is able to superimpose computer graphics onto surroundings being displayed on the displays. To support optimized driving, this concept car is also equipped with ultrasonic sensors and a two-dimensional laser image detection and ranging (LIDAR) system.

This makes it possible to accumulate travel data in the cloud for deep learning analysis, which in turn supports optimized driving. This also enables the use of edge computing to process information obtained from the vehicle’s sensors to provide safer travel.

Key Specifications:
• Total length: 3135ｍｍ
• Total width: 1306ｍｍ
• Total height: 1830ｍｍ
• Capacity: Five passengers
• Driving speed: 0 to 19 kph
• Drive system: DC motor
• Battery type: Lithium ion polymer battery
• Brake system: Hydraulic type four wheel disc brake and motor rotation brake
• Suspension: Front double wishbone type and rear link type
• Automatic driving method: Electromagnetic induction

Installed Equipment:
• Inside the car: One 49″ 4K LCD monitor
• Outside the car: Four 55″ 4K LCD monitors
• Image sensors: Five 35 mm full-size Exmor® CMOS sensors (four directions around the vehicle and one in the vehicle). Two ISX019 1/3.8-type CMOS image sensor embedded cameras

Watch the video below...

Tesla Gigafactory 3 Building In Shanghai Looks Almost Complete - Photos

A new visual has emerged from Tesla Giga factory in Shanghai. According to the drone video update of Tesla’s Gigafactory 3 construction site shows that the main building is almost complete as Tesla rushes to start production in China.

Tesla waited a long time to make its Chinese factory deal happened in order to be able to own the entire plant, which had until recently been impossible due to the country’s protectionism laws.

They moved extremely fast.

About 7 months ago, Tesla announced a deal with the Shanghai government to build a wholly owned local factory and only about 5 months ago, they secured the 210-acres of land for Gigafactory 3 in China necessary.

They officially broke ground in January and plan to be done with the building by this summer.

Considering the size of the building, it seemed almost impossible, but a new drone video update shows that the building is almost complete (from Jason Yang):

Only a few weeks ago, it was mainly a steel structure, but Tesla’s contractors have quickly completed most of the roof and the walls of the factory.

One thing that is almost inevitable considering the speed of Gigafactory 3’s construction is the completion of the Phase 1 buildout, which includes a massive general assembly building for the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y. Shanghai official Chen Mingbo, who currently serves as the head of the city’s economic and information technology commission, announced during the annual parliamentary meeting back in March that the initial buildout of Gigafactory 3 should be done in May. That target date falls somewhere within the next couple of weeks.

If China’s workforce meets its target deadline for the completion of Gigafactory 3’s initial construction, it could accelerate the timeline for the electric car maker’s Model 3 trial production. During the facility’s groundbreaking event in January, Elon Musk stated that the first Model 3 could roll out of Gigafactory 3 by the end of the year. If China’s workforce completes the facility’s initial buildout this month, Model 3 trial production could start as early as September.

See photos of the facility below...

Watch the video here

Safety, One Of The Challenges of Autonomous Cars - Daimler CEO

Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche went on the record as saying that the investigation into Boeing’s 737 MAX aircraft is indicative of how hard it would be for the public to accept self-driving car technology in case of a major incident.

Regulators were forced to ground the 737 MAX pending an investigation into whether it was Boeing’s software-based automated flight control system that caused two deadly crashes in the span of five months. According to Zetsche, this reflects poorly on autonomous cars.

“What is very important is the psychological dimension. If you look at what is happening with Boeing then you can imagine what happens when such a system has an accident,” he said with regards to the car industry’s continuous efforts to develop fully autonomous vehicles.

He then added that the industry should launch these systems in stages, as a way to build acceptance in the eyes of the public, reports Autonews Europe.

“Even if autonomous cars are 10 times safer than those driven by humans, it takes one spectacular incident to make it much harder to win widespread acceptance.”

Speaking of acceptance, a recent survey conducted by the American Automobile Association (AAA), revealed that 71% of people questioned (1,008 interviews) are afraid to ride in fully autonomous vehicles. While this type of general feeling might change, it definitely won’t happen over night, so until then, interacting with semi-autonomous tech might actually be the best way to gain full acceptance.

The Future of Delivery Services? See What FedEx Is Doing With Bots

Keeping up with Amazon Scout, FedEx, an American delivery company, has also developed an autonomous delivery robot, FedEx SameDay Bot. It aims to help retailers to deliver same-day orders to their customers, this innovation will change the face of local delivery and help retailers to deliver orders more automatic and efficient.

FedEx SameDay Bot is built to go the distance, it is equipped with an intelligent wheel system that set this robot apart from competitors, the wheels allow this robot to traverse various kinds of terrain. Developed in collaboration with DEKA Research & Development Corporation, SameDay Bot uses multiple cameras and sensors to detect its surroundings, it’s a pedestrian-safe technology.

FedEx has discovered that more than 60% of vendors and customers live in within three miles of a store location, this creates an opportunity of on-demand delivery service. Retailers can accept orders from nearby customers and send the orders using FedEx SameDay Bot that same day. It’s safe, fast, and efficient. This robot can carry different kinds of cargo, thanks to its innovative compartment, it can even carry hot or cold items, deliveries are now flexible and convenient.