Lifeboat Foundation

Tesla Vision Park Assist provides visual and audio alerts of surrounding objects. This feature uses the occupancy network to predict high-definition outlines of objects 360 degrees around the car. Note: Tesla Vision Park Assist is for guidance purposes only and is not a substitute for an aware driver. Please be attentive and avoid obstacles as required.

This is after being parked for a while, interesting to see how park assist takes a bit to load previous data from before it was parked. Still really impressive work from the @Tesla team pic.twitter.com/LONqouXp85

A number of Tesla owners with vision-only cars who received update 2023.6.9 have shared initial videos of Vision Park Assist’s performance in real-world situations. Tesla Model 3 owner @EVBaymax, for one, observed that the distance estimates displayed in the vehicle are quite accurate, almost to the inch. The Model 3 owner actually verified Tesla Vision’s estimates with a tape measure, and it was quite accurate.

A Korean research team has developed a large-scale stretchable and transparent electrode for use as a stretchable display. The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced that a research team, led by Dr. Sang-Soo Lee and Dr. Jeong Gon Son at KIST’s Photo-Electronic Hybrids Research Center, has developed a technology to fabricate a large-area (larger than an A4 sized paper) wavy silver nanowire network electrode that is structurally stretchable with a high degree of conductivity and transparency.

Transparent electrodes, through which electricity flows, are essential for solar cell-and touchscreen-based display devices. An indium tin oxide (ITO)-based transparent electrode is currently commercialized for use. The ITO-based transparent electrode is made of a thin layer of metallic oxides that have very low stretchability and is very fragile. Thus, the ITO electrode is not well suited for flexible and wearable devices, which are expected to quickly become mainstream products in the electronic device market. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a new transparent electrode with stretchability as one of its main features.

A silver nanowire is tens of nanometers in diameter, and the nano material itself is long and thin like a stick. The small size of the nanowire allows it to be bent when an external force is applied. Since it is made of silver, a silver nanowire has excellent electrical conductivity and can be used in a random network of straight nanowires to fabricate a highly transparent and flexible electrode. However, despite the fact that silver nanowire is bendable and flexible, it cannot be used as a stretchable material.

Plants use photosynthesis to harvest energy from sunlight. Now researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have applied this principle as the basis for developing new sustainable processes which in the future may produce syngas (synthetic gas) for the large-scale chemical industry and be able to charge batteries.

Syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, is an important intermediate product in the manufacture of many chemical starter materials such as ammonia, methanol and synthetic hydrocarbon fuels. “Syngas is currently made almost exclusively using fossil raw materials,” says Prof. Roland Fischer from the Chair of Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry.

A yellow powder, developed by a research team led by Fischer, is to change all that. The scientists were inspired by photosynthesis, the process plants use to produce chemical energy from light. “Nature needs carbon dioxide and water for photosynthesis,” says Fischer. The nanomaterial developed by the researchers imitates the properties of the enzymes involved in photosynthesis. The “nanozyme” produces syngas using carbon dioxide, water and light in a similar manner.

In the latest sign of growing interest in the flying taxi sector, United Airlines and air mobility startup Archer Aviation have announced an upcoming service for hops between downtown Chicago and O’Hare International Airport.

The service will offer a sustainable, low-noise, and cost-competitive alternative to ground transportation for folks traveling to and from the airport, United and Archer said in a release.

Remarkably, the storm has rapidly intensified six times.

Rapid intensification describes an uptick in winds of 35 mph or greater in 24 hours. Research has shown rapid intensification increasing in frequency in many ocean basins because of rising ocean temperatures linked to human-caused climate change.

Ford said Friday that its $5.6 billion BlueOval City complex outside of Memphis, Tennessee will include a truck plant capable of producing 500,000 electric vehicles a year.

The first vehicle to come off the line will be a next-gen electric truck, code named Project T3, in 2025.

Construction at BlueOval City, the epicenter for its future EV and battery cell manufacturing and a key component toward its goal to sell 2 million EVs annually by late 2026, began last fall.

A few select users will now be able to enjoy Google Maps’ immersive view, according to a blog by the company published last month. The new feature is meant to allow users to reimagine how they explore and navigate, while helping them make more sustainable choices.

“Immersive view is an entirely new way to explore a place — letting you feel like you’re right there, even before you visit. Using advances in AI and computer vision, immersive view fuses billions of Street View and aerial images to create a rich, digital model of the world. And it layers helpful information on top like the weather, traffic, and how busy a place is,” said Chris Phillips, VP & General Manager, Geo, in the blog.

Engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas marked a significant advancement in their field by completing a successful test flight of an electric motor drive on a hybrid electric aircraft, according to a university release.

The project may have a substantial impact on the aeronautics sector and have enormously positive effects on environmental quality.

Food tech startup Farther Farms has developed a process that keeps foods that would normally need to be refrigerated or frozen fresh at room temperature — and their first product is a bag of shelf-stable French fries.

The cold chain: Microorganisms are a major cause of food spoilage, and they thrive at room temperature. By keeping some foods cold, we can slow the growth of these microbes, extending the life of the food.

To do that, the foods must be prepared, shipped, and stored along a temperature-controlled supply chain (a “cold chain”). If the cold chain is broken at any point along the way, the food may quickly become unsafe to eat.