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Car and Driver
In addition to fixing bridges and roads, the 1039-page infrastructure bill addresses safety issues for future vehicles.
Automakers may be asked to make future car hoods and bumpers more protective, to incorporate DUI-preventing technology, and to make active-safety tech and features such as rear-seat alerts and rollaway protection into standard features.
Other markets, including Europe, are getting to drive cars equipped with adaptive driving beam headlights.
Read the article at Car and Driver.
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Jalopnik
One of the biggest challenges in getting truly widespread adoption of EVs is charging time. Not everyone can charge at home and even 20 minutes is too long if we’re expecting everyone to be driving EVs in the future.
Purdue University, with the help of Ford, has invented what it thinks is part of the solution with a cable capable of charging an EV in only 5 minutes.
EV chargers with higher charging speeds do deploy liquid-cooled cables to combat the heat, but Purdue says they remove only so much heat. The university’s solution? Switch from liquid cooling to liquid phase-change cooling.
Read the article at Jalopnik.
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MotorTrend
Using technology developed by Ford and Bosch, your next rental car may very well be able to drive itself—only without you in the car. You’ll drive up, surrender the keys to an attendant and go on your way.
The attendant will check the car in, scan the exterior for damage, the interior for forgotten items, return the key fob to the car, and then dispatch it via a mobile app. This app orders the garage infrastructure to communicate with the car, start it, and drive it to the interior cleaning station. When finished, the cleaning crew will use its app to send the car to the exterior wash rack.
Here, the automation stands to improve quality, as most rental places utilize a rack design through which the car must slowly drive to get clean. An attendant in a rush can short-change this step. From there, the car is dispatched to a parking area to await its next rental.
Read the article MotorTrend.
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InsideEVs
EVgo announced this month an expansion to its EV charging program for rideshare drivers on Uber’s platform (which has its roots in 2019). The fast charging network intends to increase its utilization through attracting more high-volume ridshare drivers through discounts and benefits.
The number of rideshare vehicles on the road is estimated at nearly one million, which is a noticeable pool of potential customers, especially since the electrification of the rideshare business progresses. Uber, which intends to become a fully zero-emission platform by 2030 in the U.S., adds its own incentives to convince drivers to use electric vehicles.
Uber is expected to get up to 50,000 Tesla cars from Hertz at discounted rates of $334 per week, including insurance and maintenance. EVgo says that it has prepared nearly 600 integrated Tesla connectors at EVgo stations across the U.S. for Tesla drivers.
Read the article at InsideEVs.
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Electrek
COP26, the 26th meeting of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change’s Conference of Parties has ended with the successful negotiation of the Glasgow Climate Pact, which updates the landmark Paris Agreement with new climate goals.
The new Pact moves forward timelines for updating national goals for carbon reduction and for the first time explicitly calls for a “phase-down” of coal globally. pre-industrial levels.
Coal is responsible for around 40% of global CO2 emissions, making its elimination a top priority. Oil and gas, despite being responsible for the vast majority of non-coal CO2 emissions, were not mentioned in the Pact – though a number of countries and subnational entities formed the “Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance,” with a view towards keeping their reserves in the ground.
Read the article at Electrek.
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By Ed Pierce, Contributing Editor
Because of the depth and breadth of the fleet industry products and services, we have seen that there’s a good chance that a supplier may be acquired or merge with another supplier.
At first, the potential disruptions are top of mind concerns. Pricing, service levels, billing and other systems, strategic partnerships are all critical in contributing to the smooth operation of the fleet.
Often overlooked after a merger or acquisition is the opportunity for a customer of an acquired or merged supplier to improve even a satisfactory relationship.
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GHSA
A CDC study estimated that if someone gets behind the wheel of a car having not slept in 18 hours, it’s similar to having a blood alcohol level of 0.05%. Being awake for 24 hours makes the response time more like someone driving with a BAC of 0.10%, or above the legal limit.
Nationally, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates around 1,500 people are killed every year as a result of drowsy driving. However, traffic experts say those statistics are misleading. Among the other categories where roadside deaths occur are “lane departure crashes,” “single vehicle run-off-the-road crashes,” and “impaired driver crashes,” all of which could have been done by someone who fell asleep at the wheel.
“It’s a huge problem, underreported, and we have to do more to educate people in the public about the importance of sleep,” Pam Shadel Fischer, spokesperson for the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) said.
Read the article at GHSA.
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