This week’s Top 5 engineering technology articles include some excellent breakthroughs in a couple of areas, a potential rise of the machines, drivers waiting for a car, and cars that are going with or without drivers.
- London’s First Driverless Cars Will Take To The City’s Streets This Summer As Part Of £8 Million Gateway Project
- Lithium-Oxygen Breakthrough Clears The Air For Boosted Batteries
- Google’s Go Victory Is Just A Glimpse Of How Powerful AI Will Be
- Hemp-Derived Carbon Nanosheets Help Build Cheap, High-Performance Supercapacitors
- Tesla Is Working On Multiple Variations Of The Model 3
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Many times during my daily commute, I’d sit in some traffic singing along to a song on the radio and dream about how much more productive I might be if I had a chauffeur. Since I’m nowhere near the tax bracket of the folks that employ chauffeurs, my dreams were just that. However, this summer my dreams have a possibility of becoming more of a reality. No, I’m not suddenly playing the lottery or playing the stock market, but if tests in London with a driverless car go well, well that could be my ticket.
Though the test plans and ultimate routes have yet to be decided, the design team is very hopeful about the project and the future. Just some of the potential uses might be; an autonomous trucking company that delivered goods 24 hours a day, 24 hour delivery vans for packages, or even a delivery robot.
Imagine ordering takeout and having a robotic delivery right to your door. Or having costs go down on a global level because trucking schedules can be streamlined and programmed. The future is limitless in terms of driverless vehicles and I for one am completely ready for an extra few minutes of sleep in the morning on the way to work or the ability to get a jump start on my vacation reading before I actually arrive at my destination.
Lithium-Oxygen Breakthrough Clears The Air For Boosted Batteries
Gizmag
And, as much as I would enjoy having my car drive me around, I can think of a downside or two. Without a human behind the wheel, the freight trucks could run constantly. This could exponentially increase air pollution and/or dependence on fossil fuels. However, this breakthrough in engineering technology could negate those downsides and provide nothing but positive upside.
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A lithium-oxygen battery is thought to be the potential solution to the folks who believe that the range limit of an electric car is why it will never truly be a viable replacement for the internal combustion engine.
And now, a team at Argonne National Laboratory may have solved one of the critical issues holding back these batteries from becoming a household item. The formation of lithium peroxide is a byproduct of the chemical reaction of the battery. And it’s this compound that obstructs the battery’s ability to conduct. Once the team puts their plan into action, this battery combined with the driverless car could make the future very bright.
Google’s Go Victory Is Just A Glimpse Of How Powerful AI Will Be
Wired
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And not that I intentionally set up my articles to link together, but with Google’s recent breakthrough in AI packaged into a driverless car with a long range electric battery, humans may never have to “get behind the wheel” again. In fact, based on the depth the AI showed, driving a car might be a novelty or hobby for some.
Go, a popular game of strategy, has long been thought out of reach for AI computers. Unlike chess which is essentially a game of movements that can be calculated, beating a human at the game of Go was thought to be a decade or more away in terms of computer programming. Now that this problem has been solved some folks are actually a bit worried about where the future is headed.
Just like the driverless car, there are a number of potential downsides to the ever expanding AI platform. Most people point to a movie franchise like the Matrix or Terminator. Truthfully, there are no shortages of potential negative downside scenarios in movies, television, literature, etc. These days when you turn a process over to a machine, you lose the “human touch” and every outcome is predetermined by an algorithm or logic set. However, with AI, the machine is essentially capable of learning and deciding.
I would like to lose a few pounds, but I certainly don’t want my refrigerator to deny me entry for the last piece of leftover pizza. If that happened, I might have to get into my driverless car and head to an ice cream parlor or something.
Hemp-Derived Carbon Nanosheets Help Build Cheap, High-Performance Supercapacitors
EKAMM
I’ve talked about graphene in this blog before, but this material, created from leftover hemp fibers has the potential to be a match for the nanotechnology but at a fraction of the overall cost with other upsides.
One of the main upsides include the durability of the hemp fiber vs. the graphene sheets. The hemp certainly would hold up much better in harsh environmental conditions. It would have a temperature swing from zero degrees Celsius up to 100 degrees Celsius. There are a number of issues that need to be resolved in terms of conductivity and stackability, but this material shows great promise.
Tesla Is Working On Multiple Variations Of The Model 3
Mashable
And, speaking of great promise…this car is being eagerly anticipated by a number of folks. The Tesla models that are out now are just a bit out of reach for the average consumer. However, the Model 3, set for release in the next 2-3 years will be priced at around $35,000.
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Now, that’s a bit more than I would pay for an automobile, but in terms of the upsides of the Tesla, it could be worth the extra investment.
The Model 3 is said to have a range of roughly 240 miles and could come in different body types beyond the current sedan model.
And, with the typical determination of Elon Musk, once the gigafactory comes online to mass produce the batteries used within the Tesla cars, the price could come down even more.
So, here’s to my new Tesla with the London driverless technology that has a massive range because of my lithium-oxygen batteries conducted through my hemp capacitors and having my Google AI plan my route for me, I might take that leisurely cross country trip.
Until the next time, keep your eyes open to see the wonderful breakthroughs in the engineering field that happen the world over for the benefit of the entire human race.
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