The 10.3 version of FSD(Full Self-Driving) brought an error that let the car to illegally roll through stop signs at speed of up to 5.6 MPH. The NHTSA(National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) wrote in the recall report that “Failing to stop at a stop sign can increase the risk of a crash”, but Tesla said that it doesn’t know of any crashes caused by this error. An OTA release to disable rolling stops is expected to be sent by early February.
This year’s CES brought us a lot of new techs that are stunning, but I want to talk only about car tech that got my attention.
Google Google and Volvo announced ab integration with Google Home. It will allow Volvo can owners to use voice commands on Google Assistant associated with your car. For example, you will be able to ask the assistant to turn your car on and of or heat it.
Google Assistant in new Volvo
Volvo’s Ride Pilot Volvo introduced to our plans to work with lidar company Luminar and Zenseact on Ride Pilot. It will be an add-on subscription to a new electric SUV. It will be an AD feature, which means that it can drive fully by itself on highways to give drivers an ability to go hand and eyes-free.
Volvo’s Ride Pilot
BMW color-changing car BMW introduced a new color-changing car. As for now, the car can only change colors from white to black, but more colors are expected in the future.
Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX Mercedes reveal the Vision EQXX, a concept car to show how electric cars in the future will look. The most noticeable thing is a one-piece 47.5-inch LED display with 8K resolution. Besides the visual aspect, they managed to achieve 95% of electrical system efficiency on their prototype which is very impressive.
Mercedes-Benz VISION EQXX, Interior
All in all, in my opinion, the car technology is getting pushed now and all the new features are really exciting. With every release, we get something new. The good question is when are we going to see a “perfect” car? I think nobody can answer that question now but the technology is going now so fast, we are getting there.
NIO is a Chinese electrical automobile manufacturer founded in 2014 with headquarters in Shanghai. Their flagship project is their alternative method of charging a car, their fast changing battery stations.
Current car models In 2016 NIO presented their first car “EP9” which is a electric supercar. The model was created in limited quantity to show the abilities of workers in NIO.
NIO EP9 SUPERCAR
Year later during Shanghai Auto Show NIO introduced their first car that will be mass produced, a fully electric SUV “NIO ES8” which was later brought into production and sale in China. Later, in 2019 made smaller and cheaper SUV “NIO ES6”.
NIO ES8NIO ES6
In 2021 NIO presented their first classic passenger car “NIO ET7” with extra long range of 1.000km! It is a competitor for “Tesla Model S”.
NIO ET7
The fast battery changing stations Their most unique thing is a swappable battery. NIO install battery swap stations (now there are around 700 stations in China). It is alternate for superchargers. The process of swapping takes around 5 minutes. On September 29, 2021 NIO announced that 4 million swaps have been completed.
The battery changing station
Expanding to Europe In June 2021 NIO obtained a permit to distribute their cars to Europe and plan to make the network network of battery changing stations. The first point of sale NIO House in Oslo, Norway was officially opened on 1st October 2021.
NIO House in Oslo, Norway
Summary In my opinion the idea of battery changing stations is a great idea and we can se that it works. I really look forward to see how NIO will expand in Europe.
Camlist is a video marketplace for pets. The idea behind it is to make a safe market where you can buy pets. Before transaction, you can have a video call with the seller to talk with him about the pet. The company ensures us that pets are in a healthy environment, as well as are vaccinated and dewormed.
CEO of Camlist said that they support buyers and sellers by providing free vaccinations, microchipping, deworming, insurance, and pet food to grant the best experience for users.
The app implemented a system to counter scammers. Camlist has an option “in-app payment” which releases funds once the buyer confirms receipt of the pets.
The company started in Dubai and became very popular. After raising $1.3 million their plan is to expand their reach in the UK where they entered earlier this year. In the future, they plan to expand on the number of items you can buy and to reach more countries.
In my opinion, this app is great as there wasn’t anything like that before. When it comes to buying pets you have to make sure that you pick an animal that you will be capable of looking after. Getting to know them better by talking to their owners can really help that process.
Relativity Space is an American aerospace manufacturing company. Their goal is not to just send rockets to space, but revolutionize entire process of how they are build and flown.
The most innovative thing that Relativity is doing is that they are building their own 3D-printers and using them. They are not just building printers to sell them or designing and buying someone’s printers, they combine both of these aspects.
The 3D-printer
3D-printing gives a lot of new opportunities. The cost of material to make a single rocket is valued to be 5 to 10 times lower that to make a normal one. This means a lot more expeditions could be made. It is also said by the Relativity that their rockets can be entirely made from raw material to flight in 60 days as normal made rockets take around 2 to 5 years to make. It ‘s a very big step up and can help a lot with testing bigger amount of rockets.
Aeon engine
All of the parts for the rockets are printed. Even the engine. Relativity Space developed their own engine called “Aeon”. It use liquid oxygen and liquid natural gas which are the best for rocket propulsion and also eventually in the future, the easiest to make on Mars.
The first 3D-printed rocket “Terran 1” demonstration launch is set for early 2022. In my opinion, if everything will work, this could be a very big step in technology. Exploration of space will become a lot more affordable and faster that ever.
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