Transportation news, curated through an EECS lense. Special interest and emphasis on autonomous vehicles, scalable solutions, cost-efficient transit (e.g. busses), innovations in infrastructure, security, IU/UX, and insights into the behavioral/legal/ethical aspects.

Will Automated Cars Save Fuel? – Technology Review 2012-04-25 Drivers who want to use less fuel should consider not driving at all—by letting the car take over. via Will Automated Cars Save Fuel? – Technology Review. 2013 is very soon! In 2013, BMW will start selling a production version of its i3 concept car, which can drive itself at speeds of up to 25 miles per hour. Relevant ...

Electronic Highway of the Future | Modern Mechanix 2012-04-16 Some day in the future when you drive onto a superhighway, you’ll reach over to your dashboard and push the button marked “Electronic Drive.” Selecting your lane, you’ll settle back to enjoy the ride as your car adjusts itself to the prescribed speed. You may prefer to read or carry on a conversation with your ...

Viewpoints: Is high-speed rail the transport of the future? – Viewpoints – The Sacramento Bee 2012-04-16 While high-speed rail is the right technology needed to modernize California’s transportation network today, by the time the project overcomes state government bureaucracy, settles inevitable lawsuits, identifies the necessary funding, and completes construction, it may no longer be the most modern, efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly transportation technology. By that time, the answer may very ...

DARPA Challenge Seeks Robots To Drive Into Disasters – Government – Information Management – Informationweek 2012-04-12 DARPA’s Robotics Challenge offers a $2 million prize if you can build a robot capable of driving and using tools; $32 million in other robotics projects up for grabs. via DARPA Challenge Seeks Robots To Drive Into Disasters – Government – Information Management – Informationweek. The next DARPA challenge is also (in part) about making cars autonomous ...

The not-too-distant future of driving: When cars can talk, crashes may be avoided – The Washington Post 2012-04-12 The concept is fairly simple. All cars will be equipped with short-range transmitters that use dedicated bandwidth to send information 10 times per second about where they are and what they are doing. The transmitters also will receive and make sense of the same information from every other vehicle within range. The car will decide whether ...

Stanford study to try cold cash and social game to relieve rush hour traffic 2012-04-12 Sleeping in might never feel better. To lower traffic congestion and pollution, a new program seeks to get Stanford drivers to avoid arriving and departing the campus during peak hours. Professor Balaji Prabhakar aims to deliver social benefits at low cost using people’s penchant for a chance at a bigger payout over a predetermined small ...

Ford is ready for the autonomous car. Are drivers? — Mobile Technology News 2012-04-11 The auto industry has already developed all the technology necessary to create truly autonomous vehicles. The reasons there aren’t driverless cars all over the road today is in part a cost issue, but it is mainly one of driver mindset. Ford plans to change that. via Ford is ready for the autonomous car. Are drivers? — ...

Image credit: Neil Kremer

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