Germany Calls for a Ban on Combustion Engine Cars by 2030

As reported by Engadget: Germany isn't content with relying on financial incentives to usher in an era of pollution-free cars. The country's Bundesrat (federal council) has passed a resolution calling for a ban on new internal combustion engine cars by 2030. From then on, you'd have to buy a zero-emissions vehicle, whether it's electric or running on a hydrogen fuel cell. This isn't legally binding, but the Bundesrat is asking the European Commission to implement the ban across the European Union... and when German regulations tend to shape EU policy, there's a chance that might happen.

The council also wants the European Commission to review its taxation policies and their effect on the "stimulation of emission-free mobility." Just what that means isn't clear. It could involve stronger tax incentives for buying zero-emissions cars, but it could also involve eliminating tax breaks for diesel cars in EU states. Automakers are already worried that tougher emission standards could kill diesels -- remove the low cost of ownership and it'd only hasten their demise.

Not that the public would necessarily be worried. Forbes notes that registrations of diesels, still mainstays of the European car market, dropped sharply in numerous EU countries in August. There's a real possibility that Volkswagen's emission cheating scandal is having a delayed effect on diesel sales. Combine that with larger zero-emissions incentives and the proposed combustion engine ban, and it might not take much for Europeans to go with electric or hydrogen the next time they go car shopping.

Rimac's Electric Bike can go 150 Miles on a Single Charge

As reported by Engadget: Rimac has revealed a new electric bicycle that is just as impressive as its LaFerrari-killing, million-dollar Concept One supercar, in its own way. With a massive 3kWh battery, the Greyp G12H can go up to 240 km (150 miles) on a single charge, making it the longest-range e-bicycle out there. If you have a 10 mile round trip to work, each would cost 2.3 cents, making it one of the cheapest powered transportation options, too.

"Cheap" is strictly related to energy consumption, however. The Greyp G12S, the company's current model that has a shorter 75 mile range but is faster at 70 km/h (44 mph) costs €8,380, or around $9,400. That's Lionel Messi money (he bought a custom version), and the new model isn't likely to be cheaper, as the battery is double the size. That said, other long-endurance models like those from Optibike are in that ballpark too.The G12H and faster G12S both look more like motocross bikes than electric bicycles, and Greyp markets the latter as such (see the video, above). Given the 107 pound weight of the G12S model, in fact, the pedals are mostly for show, and the G12H should weigh at least that much. Other features include "Supernova" lights, a custom rack, and biometric sensor to activate the e-bike. There's no word yet on availability or cost, but Greyp says the price tag and range will depend on the battery option you choose.

The G12H and faster G12S both look more like motocross bikes than electric bicycles, and Greyp markets the latter as such (see the video, above). Given the 107 pound weight of the G12S model, in fact, the pedals are mostly for show, and the G12H should weigh at least that much. Other features include "Supernova" lights, a custom rack, and biometric sensor to activate the e-bike. There's no word yet on availability or cost, but Greyp says the price tag and range will depend on the battery option you choose.

Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket Lands in the Desert After a Successful Escape System Test

As reported by The Verge: Despite expectations of fiery explosions, Blue Origin successfully landed its New Shepard rocket after launching the vehicle for the fifth time today. The landing was a delightful surprise for the company, since it fully expected that rocket to either break up or slam into the floor of the Texas desert.

BLUE ORIGIN FULLY EXPECTED THAT ROCKET TO SLAM INTO THE FLOOR OF THE TEXAS DESERT

That's because the purpose of today's flight was to test out the New Shepard's escape system. It's a feature that will save future passengers on board the vehicle, in case the rocket suffers a major failure during flight. Blue Origin initiated the escape system about 45 seconds after takeoff today, causing a rocket motor to ignite underneath the New Shepard's crew capsule — the portion of the vehicle that's meant to carry people. The motor, which burned for about two seconds, successfully carried the capsule up and away from the rest of the rocket. The capsule's parachutes then deployed and lowered the vehicle gently down to the ground.

Prior to the flight, it was thought that igniting the capsule's motor would be too much for the rocket booster to handle. The ignition slammed the booster with a bunch of forceful heat exhaust, making it hard to survive and continue working properly. But the booster actually continued to climb to space after the escape system was ignited, and then landed successfully at Blue Origin's test facility. Even if the booster had crashed, the flight would still have been considered a success, since the only objective today was to recover the crew capsule. But landing the New Shepard booster is just icing on the cake.

Since the vehicle did survive, Blue Origin has some celebrating to do. CEO Jeff Bezos said that the company would throw a party for the rocket, since it's the first vehicle that they successfully landed after launching to space. However, this New Shepard won't fly again, as the rocket will live out the rest of its days in a museum.

Eventually, Blue Origin hopes to use future New Shepard vehicles to send passengers to the edge of space, where they can float around weightless for a few minutes. People have yet to ride on the New Shepard, but when they do, up to six people can ride inside of the crew capsule. The booster will carry the capsule up to 62 miles above the Earth's surface, an altitude that many consider to be the boundary of outer space. Once there, the capsule separates from the booster and the two eventually fall back to earth; the capsule touches down with the help of parachutes while the booster reignites its engine and lands upright on solid ground.

Blue Origin plans to start sending test pilots up on the New Shepard sometime next year. And paying customers are expected to start riding in 2018, though there's still no word on how much tickets will cost. Seeing as how the company's test flights have gone so smoothly — and even better than expected — that timeline doesn't seem in jeopardy of changing.

Chevy Truck Brings Hydrogen Fuel Cells to the Military

As reported by Engadget: Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles aren't just for eco-conscious civilian drivers. Chevy has unveiled the Colorado ZH2, an experimental truck designed to test the feasibility of fuel cells in the military. Its powerplant is much quieter and cooler-running than a conventional gas motor, making it ideal for special ops where conventional trucks would blow your cover. However, its real specialty doesn't involve driving at all -- you can use the modular cell to power devices outside the truck with up to 25kW of continuous electricity. A squad could run equipment while camped out in mid-mission, for example.
  
There are also some inherent performance advantages to embracing hydrogen, including high torque (since it's powering an electric motor) and high fuel efficiency. You could even reuse the cell's water output. Chevy also tells TechCrunch that having exportable power could make it easy to fix vehicles -- you could swap fuel cells in the field.

The US Army plans to test the ZH2 in "extreme field conditions" during 2017. There's no guarantee that the truck will enter service, and we could see a few obstacles to it: it's still expensive to produce hydrogen, and it's not as readily available as fossil fuels. A stranded unit likely couldn't scrounge up fuel without calling in support. It's hard to deny the advantages, however, and it's easy to see fuel cell trucks finding at least some use in combat.

SpaceX Test-Fires 'Raptor' Rocket that will Take Humans to Mars

As reported by Engadget: SpaceX has done its first test of the Raptor rocket engine that will take humans to Mars as early as 2024, Elon Musk said in a series of tweets. It was fired at the company's McGregor, Texas facility on a stand that can handle the extreme thrust.

Pointing out the "mach diamonds" from the test (above), Musk said the "production Raptor goal is a specific impulse of 382 seconds and thrust of 3 MN [680,000 pounds]," more than three times that of the current Falcon 9.

The methane fuel-powered Raptor will be more powerful than any current rocket. It'll eventually lift the Interplanetary Transport System (ITS), formerly known as the Mars Colonial Transporter, loaded with 100 tons of cargo, toward the red planet. The company plans to launch an unmanned craft to Mars by 2018 and get humans there by 2024. That's an ambitious target, especially considering its recent launchpad mishap.

Elon Musk will give a speech tomorrow at the International Astronautical Conference in Mexico, titled "Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species." He's expected to unveil the design of the Interplanetary Transport System and overall plan for colonizing the red planet. Musk will also reportedly talk about the budget and try to convince government and the scientific community to help pay for the undertaking. After the recent disaster, a successful test-firing of the Raptor will no doubt help his cause.

Tesla: Mobileye Tried to Stop Our In-House Chip Development

As reported by Engadget: Tesla and former pal Mobileye aren't quite done airing controversial statements against each other. After the company behind Autopilot's image recognition hardware said it severed its ties with the automaker because it was "pushing the envelope in terms of safety," Tesla fired back with its own feisty response. A company spokesperson told Reuters that Mobileye wasn't happy when it learned that Tesla decided to work on its own vision chips for Autopilot. She said Mobileye "attempted to force Tesla to discontinue this development, pay them more and use their products in future hardware."  

Mobileye and Tesla parted ways following the fatal Model S crash in Florida that put the carmaker's Autopilot feature in hot water. The exchange of words started after that -- Musk's company once said that its ex-partner couldn't keep up with its rate of innovation.  

Besides revealing that Mobileye tried to dissuade Tesla from developing its own chips, the spokesperson also said that the other company started talking about safety concerns only after the EV manufacturer refused to give in:

"When Tesla refused to cancel its own vision development activities and plans for deployment, Mobileye discontinued hardware support for future platforms and released public statements implying that this discontinuance was motivated by safety concerns."

Comma.AI Says it'll Make Your Car Semi-Autonomous for $999 and $24 a Month

As reported by TechCrunch: At TechCrunch Disrupt SF this year, famed iPhone and PlayStation hacker George Hotz unveiled the first official product of his automotive AI startup, Comma.ai. The Comma One is a $999 add-on shipping before the end of the year, with a $24 monthly subscription for its software, which Hotz says will be able to drive your car from Mountain View to San Francisco without requiring a driver to touch the wheel, the brake or the gas.

This isn’t a kit that makes your car into a fully self-driving vehicle, Hotz is quick to note, but it is a system that can provide powers equivalent to Tesla’s Autopilot, without requiring that you buy a whole new car. “It’s Mountain View to San Francisco without touching the wheel,” Hotz said. At launch, Comma One will support a small group of specific vehicles, but over time the startup hopes to add compatibility with more models.

Hotz contends that Comma’s key ingredient is “shippability,” a key ingredient he says other companies lack. Automakers and other startups are fond of announcing self-driving car projects (another was announced earlier today, in fact), but Hotz points out that many of these companies don’t even have hardware, let alone products they can sell to consumers.

“It is fully functional. It’s about on par with Tesla Autopilot,” Hotz said. It doesn’t have a lot of sensors as the Comma One relies on built-in car front radars and comes with a camera. “The key sensors that we’re getting back is the cam. We’re actually getting back the video, even Tesla isn’t doing that.” Hotz said. “We have all the video data.

The exceptions almost start and end with Tesla, he notes. The company’s Autopilot system is in active use, and in fact just got an update this past weekend that should vastly improve its performance and decrease the possibility that the car doesn’t brake when it should. “If they are the iOS of self-driving cars, we want to be Android,” Hotz said.

Hotz also spent some time talking about Tesla’s fatal crash. “40,000 people die a year from not paying attention. It isn’t like it is a special case ‘a self-driving car killed him’, it was the case of a driver not paying attention,” Hotz said. “It did unfortunately happen with Tesla. And I think Tesla’s response was very appropriate.”

Hotz’s system stemmed from critiques of offerings used by many major automakers, like the ones from Mobileye, and the intent of the Comma One is to provide features that automate highway driving to an even greater extent than existing adaptive cruise control and lane assist tech. “If you’re looking to Mobileye to build the software of the future — don’t,” he said during the interview.

The $999 price point is designed to be affordable, and is possible because of the components Comma uses in its product, which tend to be inexpensive off-the-shelf electronics. “We’re going to try our best to ship it before the end of the year. Again, in very limited quantity,” Hotz said. More info about its release and availability will be revealed soon.