Lifeboat Foundation

Woah, we’re halfway there. The company behind the hotly anticipated eVTOL Cavorite X5 announced it has completed construction of a 50-percent-scale prototype of its stylish flying vehicle concept.

Horizon Aircraft impressed us last year when it unveiled the Cavorite X5, with the Toronto-based company showing that the usually utilitarian world of eVTOLs could afford a little more attractive form with its function. The sleek, canard-style plane can takeoff, soar and land like a conventional aircraft, but the wings can open to reveal 16 ducted fans that provide the aircraft’s vertical lift. Once at altitude, the wing closes as it transitions to cruising. This technology would allow the aircraft to fly 98 percent of its voyage in a low-drag configuration, much like a traditional aircraft. When Horizon builds its full-scale version of the eVTOL, it will be powered by a hybrid electric system that can recharge a battery in-flight.

The personal aircraft can reach speeds of 63 mph and doesn’t require a license to fly.

It can take off vertically with a lead-up (defined as the length of runway needed for take-off) of less than 300 feet, hover in austere environments, and fly forward at more than 450 miles per hour. And, by the way, it’s probably a fixed-wing plane.

That, at least, is the idea behind DARPA’s SPRINT X-plane, a project in the beginning stages of development for use by the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM). The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency recently called for proposals for a plane with a mind-bending set of capabilities. According to the March solicitation, DARPA wants a scaled demonstrator ready to fly within the next three-and-a-half years.

SPRINT, naturally, stands for “SPeed and Runway INdependent Technologies.”

This could be the end of battery fires and protect battery supply from geopolitical risks.

Researchers at Texas A&M University in the U.S. have been exploring metal-free water-based battery electrodes that could one day be used for a wide range of applications, in place of the lithium-ion batteries popular today.

Lithium-ion batteries are at the core of the electrification of transportation that countries around the world are undertaking to reduce their carbon emissions. While the U.S. has ambitious plans to go shift to this cleaner way of transportation, it is also well aware of its shortcomings in this area.

Over a dozen railcars on a Canadian National Railway train had derailed in Northern Butler County.

A spokesperson for CN says crews are responding to the incident near Slippery Rock, PA.

They say 15 railcars, all containing iron ore derailed.

Continue reading “15 cars derail in north Butler County in train incident” »

BNSF said about 22 rail cars carrying mixed freight, including ethanol and corn syrup, derailed at 1:02 a.m. local time Thursday. Four rail cars caught fire, the BNSF said. There are no other hazardous materials on the train and no injuries were reported, the company said.

“BNSF personnel are responding to assess the derailment site and will be working closely with local first responders,” company spokesperson Lena Kent said in a statement.

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.

I’m already fairly optimistic. Y2K was supposed to drop planes of the sky. Yet we’re here. You’re more likely to die in a car wreck than plane wreck yet most people are more scared of flying than driving and flipping off people with road rage.

From ChatGPT to driverless cars, we need to be hopeful about progress.

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.