Beautiful Transportation and Technology

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Royal
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Re: Beautiful Transportation and Technology

Post by Royal » Sat Jul 16, 2016 2:39 am




Porsche Mission E Concept: Charging for the Tesla P90D
With near-Ludicrous performance and a fast-charging system that leaves Tesla in the dust, Porsche's concept electric sedan clearly draws a bull's-eye on Musk's dream machine.

Porsche’s Mission E may be very explicitly a concept car—its exaggerated lines and ridiculous ride height attest to that. But its mission is abundantly clear: This all-electric performance sedan is out for Tesla blood.



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Porsche Mission E Concept: Charging for the Tesla P90D
Porsche Mission E Concept: Charging for the Tesla P90D
With near-Ludicrous performance and a fast-charging system that leaves Tesla in the dust, Porsche's concept electric sedan clearly draws a bull's-eye on Musk's dream machine.

Porsche’s Mission E may be very explicitly a concept car—its exaggerated lines and ridiculous ride height attest to that. But its mission is abundantly clear: This all-electric performance sedan is out for Tesla blood.

Introduced as a surprise at VW’s Group Night festivities in Frankfurt, the automaker’s 12-brand celebration that precedes almost every major auto show, the Mission E carries some impressive, if imaginary, stats: zero to 62 mph in less than 3.5 seconds, 310 miles of all-electric range, and a platform that vectors 600 horses to all four wheels. While those acceleration and power numbers may fall slightly short of the 762 horses and 2.8-second zero-to-60 sprint claimed by Tesla’s Ludicrous Mode, Porsche also wants to hit Tesla where it hurts: the charging socket.

Specifically, Porsche says this concept will recharge its battery to 80-percent full after just 15 minutes, providing around 250 miles of range. That handily beats Tesla’s Supercharger, which takes 30 minutes to add about 170 miles’ worth of juice. The trick? Porsche’s conceptual system uses 800 volts, versus the 480 that come from a Supercharger plug (or the paltry 120 that powers your flat-screen TV).

Of course, all the fast-charging tech in the world—real or not—would be moot if Porsche’s four-seat electric concept didn’t live up to the crest’s sporting image. Starting with a centrally mounted battery slung low in the chassis and running the length of the wheelbase, Porsche sends the pack’s power to front and rear permanently excited synchronous motors (PSMs) derived from those in this year’s Le Mans–winning Porsche 919 Hybrid racer. The concept rolls on 21-inch wheels up front and 22s out back, and it has four-wheel steering.

Porsche didn’t come right out and say it, but the styling of the Mission E is probably a good indicator of what a next-generation Panamera could look like. The four-seater’s aluminum, steel, and carbon-fiber bodywork is low and lithe, with a roof height of less than 52 inches and the fastback greenhouse and flared fenders that we wish the Porsche Panamera had all along. In profile, it’s decidedly 911-esque—if the 911 had a second, rear-hinged set of doors.

Inside, this concept car gets properly fanciful. Porsche’s traditional five-gauge dashboard is virtually rendered in OLED, with an eye-tracking feature that lets the driver select menus and submenus by looking at the desired option and pressing a steering-wheel-mounted button. The gauge faces also move in parallax to stay visible no matter the driver’s seating position. Touch-free gesture control operates the HVAC and entertainment systems, while side-view mirrors are replaced by cameras that feed displays in the bottom corners of the windshield.

Considering it’s being presented as a concept car, Porsche wasn’t shy about making performance claims for the Mission E. In addition to the acceleration, range, and charging stats mentioned above, Porsche stated matter-of-factly that this concept could cut a sub-eight-minute lap time on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Whether that is high-voltage fantasy remains to be seen, but one thing’s for certain: With this concept, Porsche is charging crest-first into Tesla territory.

http://www.caranddriver.com/news/porsch ... -info-news


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Pigeon
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Re: Beautiful Transportation and Technology

Post by Pigeon » Sat Jul 16, 2016 3:37 am

I wonder when the first public car recharging electrocution takes place. Watching some people use a fuel pump can be a bit scary.

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Royal
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Re: Beautiful Transportation and Technology

Post by Royal » Sat Jul 16, 2016 3:40 am

Birth of new super heroes.

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Pigeon
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Re: Beautiful Transportation and Technology

Post by Pigeon » Sat Jul 16, 2016 3:42 am

Or maybe a new crop a Darwin candidates.

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Royal
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Re: Beautiful Transportation and Technology

Post by Royal » Sat Jul 16, 2016 3:44 am

Pokemon Go incidents- full circle.

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Pigeon
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Re: Beautiful Transportation and Technology

Post by Pigeon » Sat Jul 16, 2016 3:48 am

I would imagine 15 minutes in PokGo is an eternity.

800 volts with some watts, shocking.

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Royal
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Re: Beautiful Transportation and Technology

Post by Royal » Sun Aug 07, 2016 12:16 am

Thoughts on The Future of Transportation

By Mark Safford, September 2006



“Transportation is one of the most important, yet also one of the most overlooked activities within modern society.”

Transportation is one of the most important, yet also one of the most overlooked activities within modern society. The efficient, affordable and rapid movement of people and goods from origin to destination is necessary to support many aspects of modern life; yet often it seems little thought is given to this topic until something breaks down. On the one hand, this can be taken as a positive sign of the success of our transportation system and its managers in meeting the daily needs of individuals and society as a whole in an unobtrusive manner. On the other hand, it can also mean that people are both unnecessarily surprised and befuddled when there are problems. And there will be problems; of that one can be confident.

In reality, millions of people across the globe spend a great deal of time, effort, expense and concern every day assuring that our transportation system functions as best as it can. Recent estimate suggest that, depending on how one defines the term, ‘transportation’ can account for as much as 10% of both the nation’s workforce and total expenditures. Transportation by its very nature has a profound impact on, and in turn is impacted by, a variety of other major societal and economic activities. These include energy supplies, costs and usage; environmental topics such as air and water pollution, global warming, and carbon emissions; local, national and international trade and employment patterns; land use decisions such as the placement of factories, warehouses, offices, shopping centers and residential communities; infrastructure investment; the development and application of technologies; and demographics. Thus, studying transportation and thinking about its current and future role in our society is in many respects a microcosm for thinking about our society and way of life as a whole.

This paper is written for those interested in thinking comprehensively about transportation, the role it plays and will continue to play in our life, and how this role may both change and be changed by the future. It provides a common starting point for a broad discussion of the topic of the future and transportation’s constantly transforming role within it and points to a number of public policy issues that will need to be addressed. Section II of this paper discusses the general characteristics of future demographic and economic trends. Section III relates these trends to the safety, energy, environmental and economic aspects of transportation. Section IV describes how these trends will impact the major transportation market segments. Section V reviews the major technologies that hold the greatest promise for improving future transportation. Finally, section VI suggests some key questions to ponder on the future of transportation.

This paper was assembled from a wide variety of published sources and discussions with a number of individuals focusing on the major social, political, economic, and technological factors that affect global systems such as transportation. Noted futurists were consulted and provided valuable insights and ideas. It should be pointed out that this paper projects what could be called a ‘plausible’ or ‘probable’ view of the future. Catastrophic events that could significant alter the possibility of life on the planet or normal human evolution (i.e., World War III, famine, pandemic, asteroid impact, alien visitations, etc.) were deliberately excluded from consideration. There is, of course, no guarantee that these trends will actually develop as described here; or for that matter that one of these catastrophes may or may not happen. However, it does allow for the creation of a ‘straw man’ vision of the future for purposes of dialogue and discussion.

http://www.futurist.com/articles-archiv ... portation/


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Royal
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Re: Beautiful Transportation and Technology

Post by Royal » Tue Oct 04, 2016 2:02 am

After promising a 180 in manufacturing, Tesla looks poised to deliver
Elon Musk’s factory vision may help him get to 50,000 cars by the end of the fiscal year.


Tesla Motors sent out a press release late Sunday saying that it had delivered 24,500 vehicles in the company’s third quarter. According to Tesla, that number doesn’t account for 5,500 vehicles which had already come off factory lines but were still in transit to customers.

In Q2, CEO Elon Musk told investors and the press that Tesla would deliver 50,000 vehicles by the end of the year. That goal was a lofty one considering the company had only delivered 14,402 vehicles that quarter. Musk noted that his priority at the time was perfecting Tesla’s factories, or “the machine that makes the machine,” as the company’s executives have taken to calling it.

Tesla’s press release notes that Q3’s deliveries represent a 70-percent increase over last quarter’s deliveries. In total, 15,800 of the deliveries were Model S vehicles, and 8,700 were Model X vehicles.

“We expect Q4 deliveries and production to be at or slightly above Q3, despite Q4 being a shorter quarter and the challenge of delivering vehicles in winter weather over holidays,” Tesla wrote. “Guidance of 50,000 vehicles for the second half of 2016 is maintained.”

It’s unclear how this production increase will affect Tesla’s bottom line, especially in the middle of the company’s SolarCity purchase and any development costs relating to the Model 3. Tesla has seen 13 consecutive quarters of losses, though the company’s executives have promised that profitability is coming.

Tesla noted that it would no longer report non-GAAP revenue (GAAP stands for Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). The company has previously reported non-GAAP along with GAAP numbers because non-GAAP allows the company to take into account metrics from leased vehicles as well as resale value guarantees.

http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/10/tes ... ion-goals/


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Royal
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Re: Beautiful Transportation and Technology

Post by Royal » Wed Apr 26, 2017 4:47 am

Apply to be part of Waymo’s early rider program

Like many Americans, Ted, Candace and their four kids have a busy driving routine — heading to work, to school, soccer practice, student council, choir rehearsal and more. Except Ted and Candace aren’t commuting in a typical car. Over the last month, this family, along with a handful of Phoenix, AZ residents, has been riding around in Waymo’s fleet of self-driving vehicles. They’re among the very first people in the world to take part in Waymo’s early rider program.

Now, residents in the Phoenix area can apply to join Candace, Ted, and their family in the early rider program. Over the course of this trial, we’ll be accepting hundreds of people with diverse backgrounds and transportation needs who want to ride in and give feedback about Waymo’s self-driving cars. Rather than offering people one or two rides, the goal of this program is to give participants access to our fleet every day, at any time, to go anywhere within an area that’s about twice the size of San Francisco.

https://medium.com/waymo/apply-to-be-pa ... d996c7a86f


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Royal
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Re: Beautiful Transportation and Technology

Post by Royal » Wed Apr 26, 2017 4:51 am

Uber Really Seriously Promises Flying Cars by 2020

Uber is more than fly-curious about taking ridesharing to the air. The company announced Tuesday that it plans to roll out a network of flying cars in Dallas-Fort Worth and, of course, Dubai by 2020.

If that sounds ambitious, you possess a basic understanding of the challenges involved here. The kind of aircraft Uber envisions shuttling customers through the air—electric, with vertical takeoff and landing capability, and capable of flying 100 miles in just 40 minutes—don’t exist yet. Nor does the infrastructure to support them. The FAA, an agency not known for speed, must ensure these aircraft meet all federal safety regulations and figure out where and how they fit into a complex air traffic control system.

https://www.wired.com/2017/04/uber-real ... cars-2020/


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