Researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed an electric bike that is so compact it can fit into a backpack. The bike, called Poimo, has an inflatable body that would protect pedestrians as well as the rider in the case of an accident. The current version of Poimo is just a prototype, and the …
Wall-E is definitely one of the best Pixar films of all time (don’t bother arguing, it’s just a fact), but what it tells us about the future of humanity is pretty grim. In the Wall-E universe, humans have abandoned Earth after sucking it dry of all of its resources and are forced to live on …
E-scooters have a very environmentally-friendly image. Tiny and battery-powered, they seem like a convenient, responsible alternative to making short trips in a car, but new research suggests that the big picture is a lot more complicated. A team of researchers from NC State took an in-depth look at the overall environmental impact of the e-scooter …
As carmakers continue to pack their newest models with all manner of “smart” technology, researchers are concerned that connected vehicles will become an increasingly irresistible target for hackers. A new study by scientists with the Georgia Institute of Technology and Multiscale Systems, Inc., suggests that if hackers find serious vulnerabilities in internet-connected cars they could …
The design of vehicles like cars and cycles has historically been limited by the fact that you have to cram a gas-burning engine somewhere inside of them. The recent push for efficient electric power has really opened up the doors for designers to do some wild things with their vehicles, and SOL Motors just unveiled …
If you’re taking to the skies to visit family or friends this month, you better hope you’re flying Delta. That’s according to a report on Forbes that estimates the number of on-time flights by scraping data from holiday flights over the past three years. Using flight arrival and departure times logged by the U.S. Department …
Say what you will about Uber, there’s simply no denying that the company always has is eye laser-focused and fixated on the future. After spearheading the ridesharing revolution against overwhelming odds, Uber’s next big bet rests on self-driving cars. In fact, Uber just a few short weeks ago began rolling out its first wave of self-driving …
New test fares being rolled out by Uber in select markets are making the ride-sharing service all new kinds of cheap. A beta program being tested in a few chosen cities scrap surge pricing and charging per-mile in favor of a flat fare for UberPool that’s the same price as a bus ticket. According to …
Earlier this week, Delta passengers worldwide were stranded as a computer failure completely screwed up operations. The ensuing chaos provided a good look at how the robots are actually going to kill us, but also raised some good questions: how does one power outage ground an airline, and how fired is the sysadmin? The Week spoke …
Which will come first: flying cars, or self-driving cars? Both are technologies that have been in the works for some time, but neither one is remotely ready for mass market. So why not just combine both? That’s the thinking behind Terrafugia, a flying car company that has already been around for 10 years, and now …
