Our world is constantly changing every day, thanks to all created and developed each day innovations. Some are really a game changers in how we can live in future. That is why we people as well as our surroundings need to adapt to this changes. One of such change is implementation of using EVs for transportation. It is because were more and more concerned about what is happening to our planet. Even though EVs are a brilliant idea they are not perfect. Couple draw back that Electric Vehicles are common for are: Long charge time, driving range reduction which depends on weather conditions, number of charging stations. Thankfully there is a solution to this problems which is Wireless Charging Roads.
How it works?
The process is called “Dynamic Charging” which will allow electric cars, trucks, buses to charge while the vehicle is moving. It works via under-road electric transmitters/ pads which will transmit electricity wirelessly to receivers mounted under the car. Highways will include one lane specifically for charging. This will minimize time wasted at charging stations and eliminate range anxiety( running out of driving range). If you were running low on battery, you would simply move to the charging lane. Then the system will identify your cars will charge you for using it, after word you will receive a bill for usage of service.
Challenges to over come?
First of all we are talking here about wireless charging. Modern electric cars are charged by a cable connected to the wall and to the socket of a car. This means that the car industries which are making electric vehicles will need to mount the receiver in order for their cars to charge on the wireless road. Another thing is that this means changes in infrastructure of the roads. We will need to put electric pads underneath the asphalt.
Maintenance
German company Magment says that the high-tech streets product has a 95% efficiency rate, a high degree of thermal conductivity can withstand all weather conditions, doesn’t cost more to use than standard road building materials, and is safe from vandalism. The charging lanes’ infrastructure would require a massive overhaul of roadways.
Benefits of building such infrastructure?
Well one huge benefit is that it would encourage more people to buy electric cars, which means more ECO cars on road and less gas powered cars which means lower carbon dioxide emissions. For many people charging their EVs is such a waste of time, they are afraid of running out of range while driving, and the problem of remembering to plug in you car at night is sometimes a forgettable task for majority of people using electric cars. Those are the main reasons why people are afraid of using buying EVs and are sometimes a cause of getting back to your old fashioned internal combustion engine car. With roads that allow to charge with out stopping you can stop worrying that you run out of juice before arriving at your destination.
Summary
The wireless charging roads are considered to be a real game changer. It is prevalent form automakers which want to have more reasons to convince their customers to go green, to governments aiming the alarming problem of CO2 emissions. This wireless charging system gives the bump for EVs to surpass gas powered cars. This technology will allow us to finally get to tipping point of EV mass production and adaptation.
In a world of constant development humans are trying to achieve perfection in every field of knowledge. Scientists are working non-stop on newest inventions which are meant to help us people with getting through our day. One of the most common filed constantly being developed and is used around the world by almost everyone, is of course transport industry. Let us focus mainly on Cars which we use daily. Autonomous driving is no longer a science fiction dream of far future. We differentiate 5 levels of Autonomous Driving AI System.
Classification of autonomous driving development stages.
This classifications comes from Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). It describes the inequalities between every stage and states which level is an entry to autonomous driving. The levels of autonomous driving range from 0 with no assistance systems at all to Level 5, which describes fully autonomous driving.
What are the different autonomous driving levels all about?
Level 0 Autonomous Driving – Manual Driving
Anyone who obtained their driving license before the 1990s probably still learned to drive still learned to drive a completely manual vehicle – without ESP, parking assistance, or any other kind of assistance system. According to the classification of the SAE, these vehicles belong to level 0 autonomous driving.
Level 1 Autonomous Driving – driver assistance
New vehicles without any assistance systems are hardly to be found today; the majority of cars are equipped with assistance functions that correspond to Level 1. Examples include cruise control, lane departure warning, and emergency brake assistance. They support the driver, increase safety and driving convenience, but in no way replace his or her skills. The driver still steers the vehicle completely independently, has to be alert at all times and keep a constant eye on the traffic.
Cruse control
Line departure warning
Emergency braking assistance
Level 2 Autonomous Driving- partial automation
Level 2, as expected, goes one step further. Here, several assistance systems are often combined with one another so that the vehicle can independently perform individual driving maneuvers, such as parking or navigating stop-and-go traffic. The driver can hand over control of the vehicle during these maneuvers, but must remain alert and be able to intervene at any time if something does not work as intended. The same applies to assistance functions such as lane departure warning or distance warning. Level 1 and 2, when combined, form the current ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) technology.
Current vehicle models are often categorized as Level 2, and even if the functions are sometimes very impressive, it must be made clear that these are by no means actual self-driving functions that allow drivers to divert their attention from the road.
With the step from Level 2 to Level 3, things begin to get more exciting: While Level 2 autonomous driving is all about assistance systems, in Level 3 the car actually drives autonomously under certain conditions. Drivers may temporarily turn their attention towards other activities and even take their hands off the wheel. With Level 3, you enter the world of highly automated driving!
The added value of automating certain scenarios can be seen particularly clearly in highway driving. For instance, driving straight ahead for long periods is boring and relatively straightforward compared with navigating city traffic. Accordingly, a possible development towards Level 3 could be that vehicles on highways drive independently and drivers can devote themselves to other tasks during this time. When the highway exit is approaching or some complicated scenarios pop-up, such as road work or diversions, the vehicle hands control back to the driver.
However, this handover poses a number of challenges. Which activities may the driver perform while the car is steering itself? How long in advance must the vehicle alert about the change of control? These questions need to be clarified, as does the technological assurance that the vehicle will correctly recognize when a traffic situation exceeds its capabilities.
Level 4 Autonomous Driving – high automation
The next step after the initial automation of certain driving situations is the automation of all driving situations, i.e. fully automated driving on Level 4, where the vehicle controls complete journeys on the highway as well as in city traffic predominantly independently. Drivers can also devote themselves to other activities for longer periods of time, such as working, keeping the children in the back seat busy, or even sleeping.
Those who see their own driving pleasure endangered by autonomous driving functions do not need to worry: At Level 4 the driver can always take back control of the vehicle at any time. In some cases the vehicle may even hand over control to the driver if the system is no longer able to guarantee complete safety. If the driver does not react in this situation, the vehicle will come to a safe stop.
Level 5 Autonomous Driving – full automation
With Level 5 we have arrived at fully autonomous driving: Unlike the previous levels of autonomous driving, neither driving ability nor a driving license are required to use the vehicle.
The driver becomes a pure passenger.
This is why prototypes of fully autonomous vehicles have neither a steering wheel nor pedals, since they are capable of driving completely independently and require no human input. The user merely determines the pick-up location and the destination.
This opens up completely new possibilities for low-cost individual transport, because robo-taxi fleets consisting of fully automated vehicles can be operated very economically and efficiently. In addition, they generate enormous advantages for people without a driving license or their own vehicle, such as children or senior citizens, and offer great added value, especially in rural areas. Thus, autonomous vehicles will not only change the functional spectrum of the car in general, but also the concept of mobility itself from the ground up.
Is it possible for Autonomous Driving in not so far future?
Considering how fast modern world is changing it is very possible for Fully Autonomous Driving(level 5) to appear in a future. It is largely determined by the development of perception technology an sensor technology. Automated driving functions from Level 3 upwards are only possible if vehicles are able to reliably detect their entire environment and derive instructions for action accordingly. Such vehicles will make use of a wide range of sensors, such as ultrasonic sensors, radar, and cameras, with the LiDAR sensor at the center, thanks to its high resolution and reliable 3D measurement capabilities. We only can wait and see what future holds.
This is a question for which we all have short answer. Obviously we can not, we do not have wings and we can not levitate(fly) like superheroes. It is a shame because the ability to fly is one of the most common superpower that people would like to choose if only they could. The only problem is that we are not living in a world where magic is the answer to every thing. Our whole world is driven by science. And this is where the game changes, whenever humanity ran into problem of some kind we solved it with science. Turns out that now there is a way that is going to allow humanity to fly across the sky with out usage of any so called ‘”Metal Birds”(planes or jets).
What is Jetman Dubai?
Jetman Dubai is a project in which a group of scientists and licensed pilots are testing a “Jetwing”, a magnificent tech which still needs a lot of improvement but it is pushing company closer to achieving their mission which is #Human Flight. Jetman Dubai have partnered with XDubai which is a new group and campaign promoting action sports in Dubai on local and global scale.
“Jetwing”
“Jetwing” is a wingsuit system comprising a backpack equipped with semi-rigid aeroplane-type carbon-fiber wings—with a span of about 2.4 meters powered by four small JETCAT P200 engines. It is also equipped with a parachute in case something went wrong. According to the Jetman projcet it can travel a distant of 50 km, maximum speed is 220 knots which is equal to 407 Km/H, the highest altitude it can climb on is 6,100 M, flight duration span is 13 minutes MAX, and the most important thing is that not only the wingsuit allows you to fly but at low engines speed it hovers above the ground. The design of a Jetwing suit came from Yves Rossy. He was the first one to hover with such Jetwing and was the first one to build it. This design is constantly being improved in a Jetmna Dubai Project.
Summary
It would be nice opportunity to strap yourself to such invention. Unfortunately it is still in a test phase and there is no direct information about the cost of such amazing suit but we can only imagine a very high price for this technology that breaks the human boundaries. Another thing is that to fly such invention you will need to be a licensed pilot in order to operate the Jetwing and in case anything goes wrong you need to know what to do. For sure it would be an amazing experience, but sadly at least for now many people will not have any chances to try it. The issues are as written: uncertainty of cost, project still in testing phase, need of specific pilot license .
Modern car are packed with incredible technology this days. One that is constantly being developed is the ability to burn less fuel. This due to rasing cost of gas as well as meeting government expectation of lowering the CO2 emissions. But how cars that burn less fuel can release less carbon dioxide? Well to put it simple, If car burns less fuel it can travel for longer distance and we don’t have to visit gas station so often. The result lower emissions and usage of gas. Where can we apply changes that will decrease the amount of fuel used? There are couple things to improve such as transmission, fuel injectors, valves, dual-cluth system, tires and many more. Let us consider some of this inovations used in internal combustion engines cars and see how they work.
-Cylinder Deactivation system:
Cylinder deactivation is used to reduce the fuel consumption and emission of an internal combustion engine during light-load operation. In typical light-load driving the driver uses only around 30 percent of an engine’s maximum power. In these conditions, the throttel valve is nearly closed, and the engine needs to work to draw air. This causes an inefficiency known as pumping loss. Some large capacity engines need to be throttled so much at light load that the cylinder pressure at top dead center is approximately half that of a small 4-cylinder engine. Low cylinder pressure results in lower fuel efficency. The use of cylinder deactivation at light load means there are fewer cylinders drawing air from the intake manifold, which works to increase its fluid (air) pressure. Operation without variable displacement is wasteful because fuel is continuously pumped into each cylinder and combusted even though maximum performance is not required. By shutting down half of an engine’s cylinders, the amount of fuel being consumed is much less. Between reducing the pumping losses, which increases pressure in each operating cylinder, and decreasing the amount of fuel being pumped into the cylinders, fuel consumption can be reduced by 8 to 25 percent in highway conditions. To put it simple this technology “turns off” some of the engine’s cylinders when they are not needed. It essentially turns off the valves to some cylinders so that fuel and air aren’t pumped into them.
-Gasoline Direct Injection(GDI):
Also called direct fuel injection, spark ignition direct injection (SIDI)
In conventional gasoline engines, fuel is injected into the intake port and mixed with air while the air-fuel mixture is drawn into the cylinder. In direct injection systems, fuel is injected directly into the cylinder, which makes the fuel-air mixture somewhat cooler. Cooler air allows higher compression ratios and/or more efficient spark timing. This can increase performance and lower fuel use.
-Transmission, additionl gears:Adding gears allows your engine to operate at a more efficient speed more often. The more gearing options your vehicle has, the more efficient it can be.
-Dual Clutch Transmission(DCT):
Dual clutch transmissions (DCTs) combine the efficiency of manual transmissions with the convenience of automatics. Automatic transmissions are less efficient than manuals due to parasitic losses. DCTs operate much like manual transmissions, except that they use two clutches and automatic shifting. They are generally not quite as smooth as regular automatics, but manufacturers are making strides to improve this.
-Stop-Start System:
Also called idle-stop or smart-start. These systems automatically turn the engine off when the vehicle comes to a stop and restart it instantaneously when the the brake is released or the accelerator is pressed. This reduces fuel wasted during idling.
-Low Rolling Resistance Tires:
When rolling, a tire is continually deformed by the load of the vehicle on it. This causes energy loss. Manufacturer changes to tire shape, materials, and tread design can reduce rolling resistance and improve fuel economy.
This are the improvement that are already being used and are constantly being developed. There are also much better ways of increasing the fuel efficiency, for example full hybrids, or mild hybrids cars. In the world of rapid changes we only can imagine how would future look like. Are gas powerd cars going to be displaced by electric, hybrids or hydrogen powerd cars? We will see what future holds.
I think we all can agree that the climat changes are really getting in to our heads. Nowadays people as indivduals and the governments are taking measures to decrease the level of CO2 emmisions which is mainly considered as a game changer in climat and polution of our planet. So what can we do to prevet our planet from getting hoter and hoter? Well answer was found very quickly as the politcians firstly thought about global transport, not only in the meaning of transporting goods but also about us people that uses many kinds of transport to get anywhere this days. Well there are 2 main alternatives for comonly used gas powered vehicles which are Evs( electric powerd vehicles), hybrides, or as the title of an article says hydrogen powered cars. But why we are talking about hydrogen if we can focus on developing electric powerd sources of transport? We will answer this question later in this article. Now let us proceed forword with the subject.
Why Hydrogen?
To answer that question we first need to look at donwsides of gas engines, electric motors and hybrid system. For the first one, diesel car as well as petrol car have to burn specific kind of fuel to work. While the fule is burned the exhaust gas from engine is CO2. Hybrids are more ECO friendly because of regular engine and electric motor working together. This leads to better fuel efficency but there are still exhaust gases being released. Electric motor cars as many people think are 100% ECO friendly, cause they work of electricity and no exhaust gases are released. Well the truth is that to charge electric vehicles we need electricity which is produced by power plants. The problem is that most power plants are using non-renewable sources such as gas, fuel, coal, to create electricity. By burning non-renewable sources power plants contribute to globalwarming. And that is where the electric motor cars are not ECO friendlly. Sure some people would say that we can change to renewable sources such as wind, water flow, sunlight, geothermal, but there is a lack of technology and problem at keeping the renewable sources permanent means of creating the electricity. Alos the range on electric vehicles is rather low and the charge time is often very long. And this are the problem that hydrogen cars can solve. Firstly Hydrogen cars are powerd by Fuel Cell which works through a chemical reaction where the finall process is water( and thats not a yoke, there is water coming out of exhaust. Thats why Hydrogen powerd cars are 100% ECO firndly. To put it simple Hydrogen car are just electric motor vehicles but insted of charging them we just need a tank filled with hydrogen which creats electricity by passing through the Full Cell.
Ways of producing Hydrogen.
There are 2 most common ways of producing Hydrogen:
Natural Gas Reforming: It is a thermal process in which we use superheated steam to react with a hydrocarbon fuel like for example methane to prodiuce hydrogen.
Electrolysis: electricity is run through a water to separate hydrogen and oxigen atoms.
The process of Natural Gas Reforming releases carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide in to the atmosphere which contributes the climat change and that negates the ideo of switching to more ECO friendlly fule. Whereas Electrolysis can use wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and many other energy sources, also this process is a very low cost choose. So the choose is simple, Electrolysis is going to be used to creat Hydrogen.
Why the idea of hydrogen is not spread globaly?
The mean reason is price. Simply the Hydrogen refueling station build cost can hit even about a 6 times more then average gas station, that is why the fueling companies like Shell do not want to build them. Another problem is that the lack of hydrogen refueling station and only 3 models of car bing available on a market which are very expensive, people are simply not interested in hydrogen cars.
What about thePerformance?
Right now the performance of hydrogen cars depends on number of Fuel Cell Stacks in a car. For example Toyota Mirai has a power of 182 horse power and a top speed of 175km/h according to Toyotas dealer ship. But whats the best out of hydrogen cars is the range. Toyota says that the Mirai can travel up to 650 Km on a full tank and 0-100 Km/h in 8.7 seconds.
Summary.
Hydrogen car really have the potential to change the game in automotive industry, but first companies as well as customers need to deal with high price tags, little choice and for some lack in performance. But in needs in creating more ECO friendly fuel hydrogen is winning. There is always a space to improve.
