Important Innovations

   Small Electric Smart SUV                       Source:  Artist Rendering SMART Concept Car                                        Source:  Geeley SEA Platform Designed by Mercedes, Developed & Produced by Geely Mercedes Smart brand, through a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz AG and China's Geely AG, will launched a Smart, electric SUV in 2022.  This will be the first vehicle model from the new joint venture between the two global automakers.  Geely is the owner of Volvo and a top global manufacturer of electric cars.   Brand New Concept Mercedes says the new vehicle will be ultra modern, sophisticated, highly advanced in connectivity and the smartest feature of all - "it will be super compact on the outside and big on the inside."  The new e-SUV will be built on a new platform, Geely's SEA platform (scalable, electric architecture) which is flexible enough to handle many sizes of vehicles. Concept Debut in Fall 2021 The new concept car will debut in the fall

Apple & Hyundai Likely to Partner on the Driverless Apple E-Car                                        Source:  Apple Artist Concept Launch Targeted for 2024 The Apple electric car is the most anticipated and talked about Apple product in the pipeline.  The company is targeting 2024 for the launch of the all electric, driverless, zero emissions vehicle.  Apple is developing proprietary technologies for the car such as self driving software and highly advanced batteries. The big question is how will Apple mass produce the e-vehicles? Hyundai Kia Likely Partnership With Apple A fresh news report from South Korea indicates that it may be Hyundai and its subsidiary Kia that do the manufacturing and mass production of the Apple e-cars.  The two, South Korean global automakers may also work with Apple on the hardware and software.  Hyundai has reportedly signed an agreement with Apple to cooperate in eight strategic areas including EVs. Apple is On Radio Silence Apple is traditionally ve

  A Car That Walks                                             Source:  Hyundai Tiger Combines Robotics with Transportation South Korean automaker Hyundai is taking a leading role in the future of transportation innovation. It just unveiled its latest concept vehicle - Tiger - an electric, autonomous driving & walking car.  The vehicle innovatively combines robotics with transportation.  Hyundai calls it a UMV or ultimate mobility vehicle.  It is designed to change from a 4 wheel drive vehicle for road and off-road travel to a 4 leg walking vehicle when necessary to climb over obstacles that it can't drive over.  Tiger stands for Transforming Intelligent Ground Excursion Robot. Fully Autonomous Tiger is designed to be driverless and crewless with no passengers onboard. It is all electric and runs on four electric engines, each on top of each wheel.  It is fully autonomous.  Its purpose is to carry packages, material and payloads to hard to reach places, including disaster areas

  New, Spectacular Detailed Photos of the Red Planet                                                       Source:  NASA Mastcam-Z, Two Camera System on Mars NASA's Perseverance Mars rover is sending back first-of-a-kind, detailed pictures of Mars.  The images are coming from Perseverance's Mastcam-Z camera system.  It's part of the highly advanced technologies which NASA has built into the Perseverance rover Mars mission, which are creating a series of historic space firsts. Search For Ancient Life on Mars The pictures beaming back from Mars are being taken within the 28 mile wide Jezero Crater, where researchers say a river delta existed billions of years ago.  It is a very promising location to search for ancient microbial life on Mars.  Searching for ancient Martian life is a primary mission for Perseverance and the Mastcam-Z system serves as the technological eyes of the search. Highly Advanced Camera Technology Mastcam-Z is a two camera system that can zoom in, focus,

  EV and Motorized Unicycles                                        Source:  LADA L-ego EV Designed for Travel in Megacities The very futuristic looking LADA L-ego EV concept is designed to deliver multiple ways to travel around megacities.  It is a sleek, 2 seater, with zero emissions.  Incredibly, the two back wheels are removable unicycles.  The driver and passenger can remove the unicycles, which are motorized, and continue their journey on them, leaving the car parked.  The front wheels contain centrifugal fans that clean the vehicle's airspace through a filtration system.   Universal Form of Transportation The futuristic vehicle was designed by Gleb Danilov during an internship at LADA Design Studio in Tolylatti, Samara Oblast Russia.  The designer calls it a universal form of transportation for people getting around megacities.  It enables you to drive into the city, park the vehicle and then takeoff on the motorized unicycle.  This state of the art concept vehicle is a look

  Rimac Concept 2                                                  Source:  Rimac All Electric, Semi-Autonomous Hypercars Germany based luxury car maker Porsche is betting big money on and has big plans for Croatian supercar manufacturer Rimac Automobili.  Rimac is known for its Concept 2, a fully electric, semi-autonomous supercar sportscar that can hit speeds of 258 mph.  The EV runs on four electric engines and according to Rimac "is alive with technology". Financing Round Porsche is participating in a funding round in which Rimac will raise between $157 million and $181 million.  Porsche already owns a 15.5% stake in Rimac.  Porsche is considering raising its stake in the electric supercar maker to just under 50%.  Intense negotiations are currently underway between Rimac and Porsche.  The deal would include the transfer of Porsche's supercar line Bugatti to Rimac.  Porsche CEO Oliver Blume feels the two are a great technological and automotive innovation fit. Rimac I

  New Tech Education Tools                             Source: Online Class During COVID On-Demand Learning Artificial intelligence and virtual reality are predicted to have a profound impact on how children and adults learn and absorb new information.  New research suggests the big benefit is that the new technologies have the capability to personalize from data analysis the specific educational content and needs for individual students. Experts say with the prevalence of virtual remote learning due to COVID-19,  artificial intelligence and virtual reality have the potential of disrupting the traditional models of both teaching and learning for the greater good. Big Data Driven With the help of big data, these new technologies can track individual and group learning patterns.  And based on the data and analysis, they can create customized tools to solve individual students' learning issues and opportunities for teachers to implement. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Technolog