U-M solar car: Sleek, reliable and ready to race

With a bold, asymmetrical vehicle that's logged thousands of test miles on two continents, students on the University of Michigan's top-ranked Solar Car Team say this could be their year for a world championship.

U-M's team—currently No. 1 in the U.S.—will compete against 25 others from across the globe in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. The week-long, 1,800-mile trek across the Australian outback begins Oct. 6, which is the afternoon of Oct. 5 in the U.S.

For the past quarter century, the race has happened every other year, and Michigan has finished third five times. The 2013 vehicle, Generation, makes the best of new regulations that require four wheels and a more upright driver. Like a motorcycle with a sidecar, Generation situates the driver on one side, rather than in the middle of the chassis. The design allows for a sleeker underbelly and a more aerodynamic silhouette. The car weighs less than 600 lbs and has a lithium ion battery and a carbon fiber body.

In Generation, the students say they've achieved a powerful combination that could best their predecessors' results.

"We've come up with what we think is the most optimal design and, in addition, we've been able to test it thoroughly. So I think that will give us a huge advantage," said Eric Hausman, team project manager and senior in industrial and operations engineering.

"Sometimes we've had a great design when there's a rule change, but we haven't had time to test it. Other times, it's been the opposite, but this year I think we've balanced design and testing really well."

Since unveiling Generation in June, the students have taken it on a 1,000-mile practice race on home soil and a longer one in Australia. It's been remarkably reliable, Hausman says. A dependable car means less race time spent on the side of the road. In 2011, the team had to stop twice in one day to repair torn wheel fairings while the first- and second-place teams pulled ahead.

The students don't want to comment on their strategy, except to say that they did practice passing other vehicles in case they need to. U-M is one of four teams in the race that have chosen asymmetrical designs. The others include 2011 first- and second-place teams Tokai University from Japan and Nuon from the Netherlands.

Drivers will take turns in three- to six-hour shifts. Kyle Chudler, a junior in atmospheric, oceanic and space sciences, described what it's like at the wheel of Generation.

"I always say it handles like a Porsche but accelerates like a go-kart," Chudler said. "It handles really well but it doesn't have the most thrust."

Pick-up isn't important in this case, though. Endurance is—for the car and its operators.

"There will be times when you get bored, when you're just driving through the desert and it's straight road as far as you can see, but then I just remind myself I'm driving a solar car through the Australian outback."

Teams have until Oct. 13 to complete the course, but the winner will likely finish by Oct. 10.

Venturi VBB-3 is world's most powerful electric car with 3000 hp engine

Meet Venturi VBB-3 - the world's most powerful electric car, currently waiting on the runway in the deserts of Utah, USA for the weather to be nicer. The engineering team that built VBB-3 over the past two years is all geared up to break the land speed record of 495 km/h, which the Venturi motors itself holds since 2010. The French company is a well known name in the high performance electric vehicles sector. The Venturi VBB-3 was officially unveiled by the Prince Albert II of Monaco and Princess Charlene in Utah on September 18.

The company had earlier collaborated with Ohio State University to develop the Buckeye Bullet 2.5 that set the earlier land speed record for electric vehicles. The engineering team behind VBB-3 says that it's the most powerful electric vehicle in existence in the world today. The car itself took about $6 million to build. The aim is to reach to cross the speed of 440 mph or 708 km/h with VBB-3; which would break the current FIA (Federation Of International Automobiles) record. The team hoped to touch 600 km/h this year; but the weather in Utah isn't suitable for the attempt. The current plan has been rescheduled and the next trial is expected to be conducted in July 2014.

The vehicle itself reminds us of the Bloodhound SSC, the soon to be world's fastest car. Very similar to Bloodhound SSC in design, the VBB-3 is needle shaped to minimise the air resistance. Measuring about 11.35 meters in length and about 1.06 meters in width, the overall weight of the car is about 3.2 tonnes. As expected, half of the weight of the car comes from the powerful 1.6 ton batteries. The Lithium Iron Phosphate aka LiFePO4 batteries have about 2000 pouch type cells and are capable of powering 2x1500 HP electric motors, producing a total of 3000 hp (2200 kW). The engine produces a super impressive torque of 2800 Nm. While the earlier models of VBB were 2-wheel drives; VBB-4 ensures that the engine engates all four wheels. See the comparison chart below -

Novel technology produces gasoline by metabolically-engineered microorganism

For many decades, we have been relying on fossil resources to produce liquid fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and many industrial and consumer chemicals for daily use. However, increasing strains on natural resources as well as environmental issues including global warming have triggered a strong interest in developing sustainable ways to obtain fuels and chemicals.

Gasoline, the petroleum-derived product that is most widely used as a fuel for transportation, is a mixture of hydrocarbons, additives, and blending agents. The hydrocarbons, called alkanes, consist only of carbon and hydrogen atoms. Gasoline has a combination of straight-chain and branched-chain alkanes (hydrocarbons) consisted of 4-12 carbon atoms linked by direct carbon-carbon bonds.

Previously, through metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli (E. coli), there have been a few research results on the production of long-chain alkanes, which consist of 13-17 carbon atoms, suitable for replacing diesel. However, there has been no report on the microbial production of short-chain alkanes, a possible substitute for gasoline.

In the paper (entitled "Microbial Production of Short-chain Alkanes") published online in Nature on September 29, a Korean research team led by Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) reported, for the first time, the development of a novel strategy for microbial gasoline production through metabolic engineering of E. coli.

The research team engineered the fatty acid metabolism to provide the fatty acid derivatives that are shorter than normal intracellular fatty acid metabolites, and introduced a novel synthetic pathway for the biosynthesis of short-chain alkanes. This allowed the development of platform E. coli strain capable of producing gasoline for the first time. Furthermore, this platform strain, if desired, can be modified to produce other products such as short-chain fatty esters and short-chain fatty alcohols.

In this paper, the Korean researchers described detailed strategies for 1) screening of enzymes associated with the production of fatty acids, 2) engineering of enzymes and fatty acid biosynthetic pathways to concentrate carbon flux towards the short-chain fatty acid production, and 3) converting short-chain fatty acids to their corresponding alkanes (gasoline) by introducing a novel synthetic pathway and optimization of culture conditions. Furthermore, the research team showed the possibility of producing fatty esters and alcohols by introducing responsible enzymes into the same platform strain.

Professor Sang Yup Lee said, "It is only the beginning of the work towards sustainable production of gasoline. The titer is rather low due to the low metabolic flux towards the formation of short-chain fatty acids and their derivatives. We are currently working on increasing the titer, yield and productivity of bio-gasoline. Nonetheless, we are pleased to report, for the first time, the production of gasoline through the metabolic engineering of E. coli, which we hope will serve as a basis for the metabolic engineering of microorganisms to produce fuels and chemicals from renewable resources.

GM says almost-driverless cars coming by 2020

Sometime before the end of this decade, General Motors will put a car on the road that can almost drive itself.

The automaker says the system, called "Super Cruise," uses radar and cameras to steer the car and keep it between lane lines. Also, the radar keeps the car a safe distance from cars ahead of it, and it will brake to a complete stop if necessary.

GM and other automakers such as Mercedes, BMW and Lexus already offer radar-guided cruise control systems that keep their cars a safe distance from other vehicles and even stop before a crash. They also have systems that warn the driver if they're drifting out of their lane. But until recently, engineers haven't been able to steer with computers, according to GM.

"The steering control is the big additional piece," said John Capp, GM's director of electrical controls and active safety technology.

On Wednesday, engineers showed off the system for reporters at the company's testing grounds in Milford, Michigan, north of Detroit. The system adds control of electric power steering to off-the-shelf technology that's now available. Although they still have bugs to work out, a Cadillac SRX SUV equipped with the technology worked very well.

Capp says a lot of development work still needs to be done about road conditions, reaction of sensors, visibility of lane lines and how the system will interact with the driver, who still would be in control and can easily override the computer system. He says it's possible GM could sell the system well before the end of the decade. It would debut in Cadillacs, GM's luxury brand, but likely would spread to the rest of the company's lineup.

With the system, people will be able to take their hands off the wheel on a freeway and let the car do the work, he said.

GM is aware that the system could make drivers complacent, turning over control to the car even though the system isn't designed for that, said Charles Green, an engineer who studies driver performance with the systems.

"Super Cruise will be designed in a way to help you keep your visual attention on the road ahead," Green said, declining to say just how the system will do that. "The 'how' is something that will become more apparent as we show Super Cruise in its later versions."

Engineers say there are many obstacles to cars that completely drive themselves, including how they react to cars and trucks that don't have the technology. For those reasons, Capp says completely driverless cars are 20 to 30 years away.

The announcements come as automakers race to sell self-driving cars and the latest safety devices so they're seen as technology leaders.

GM's demonstration happened the same day as Honda said it was working on short-range communications technology that would let a car detect a pedestrian with a smartphone. The system could prevent car crashes by warning both the driver and the pedestrian. Honda also says it's working on a system that warns car and truck drivers about motorcycles, even if the driver's view of the motorcycle is obstructed by other vehicles. Both are still in the experimental stage.

On Tuesday, Nissan said it wants to make cars that drive themselves by 2020. The company is working on the system with several universities and has a proving ground for autonomous cars near its headquarters in Japan.

Five new features that could be on your next car

Cameras that check around the car for pedestrians. Radar that stops you from drifting out of your lane. An engine able to turn off automatically at traffic lights to conserve fuel.

Technology that saves lives—and fuel—is getting better and cheaper. That means it's no longer confined to luxury brands like Mercedes and Volvo. It's showing up in mainstream vehicles like the Nissan Rogue and Ford Fusion.

"What we see today as slightly elitist technology is changing very, very fast," said Steven Lunn, chief operating officer for TRW Automotive, which supplies electronics and other parts to carmakers.

TRW says its newest radar is a quarter of the price of the model it sold 10 years ago. Its cameras are smaller and cheaper, too, making it easier to put multiple ones on each car.

High-tech options can still cost a few thousand dollars more, but those costs will come down as technology improves and automakers add them to more and more vehicles.

Here are some up-and-coming features that drivers can expect on their next cars:

— Collision warning with automatic braking:

New cars have radar and camera systems that warn you, with beeping sounds, of a possible front-end crash. Some even stop the vehicle, or at least slow it enough to make a crash less severe. More sophisticated systems apply the brakes if a car veers off the road and heads toward a moving or fixed object. The systems are the outgrowth of adaptive cruise control, which came out 15 years ago and helps keep cars a safe distance from vehicles in front of them.

Mercedes, Honda, Toyota, Infiniti, Volvo and other brands offer automatic braking to avoid a collision; more automakers will follow soon. The systems seem to be working. David Zuby, the chief research officer at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said collision warning systems alone reduced crashes by 7 percent in a study of insurance claims for several thousand Mercedes vehicles with the technologies. Adding automatic braking doubled that benefit.

— Advanced cameras:

Automotive cameras are showing up on more cars ahead of a government requirement to install backup cameras, which is expected by 2015. But with cameras getting smaller and cheaper, automakers aren't just putting them on the back of the car anymore. Honda has side cameras that come on automatically when a turn signal is employed, so drivers can spot obstacles while turning. Nissan's around-view monitor blends images from four cameras tucked in the mirrors and elsewhere around the car into a composite, bird's-eye view to help the driver back out of a parking spot. The system is available on a high-end Rogue, which costs $6,000 more than the base model. Volvo and Subaru have front-mounted cameras that can apply brakes to avoid hitting pedestrians.

According to Mobileye, an Israeli maker of automotive cameras, car companies are adding cameras that can read wrong-way road signs, detect large animals such as deer, and even note the colors of traffic lights. All that technology is coming by 2015. The next wave? Nissan and TRW are working on a system to automatically steer the car away from an obstacle. Expect that by 2016.

— Lane Centering:

A camera can follow the road and gently nudge a car—using the brakes—to stay in the center of a lane. These systems—dubbed Lane Keep Assist—are available on most Mercedes-Benz vehicles as well as the Ford Fusion, Ford Explorer, Toyota Prius, Lexus GS and Lincoln MKZ. They aren't cheap. A combined lane-keeping and lane-centering system is a $1,200 option on the Fusion SE. Prius owners must spend $4,320 to get the system, packaged with cruise control and an entertainment system. Lane-centering is an outgrowth of lane-keeping systems, which first appeared on commercial trucks a decade ago. Those systems—now offered by Honda, Buick, Cadillac, Nissan and other brands—sound a beep or vibrate the driver's seat if a camera senses that a car is swerving out of its lane.

— Adaptive headlights:

Headlights don't have to be round any more to accommodate bulbs, so designers have more flexibility on where to put lights. And LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, are letting automakers cram more brightness into smaller spaces. Audi, Mercedes, Acura, Mazda and others have so-called adaptive headlights that swivel in the direction the car is going to help drivers see around corners as they turn. And many cars now have high-beam lights that sense oncoming traffic and dim automatically. The Ford Fusion and other mainstream cars have them, and drivers can buy after-market kits to add automatic high beams to cars without them.

— Stop-start:

By 2025, new cars and trucks sold in the U.S. will have to average 54.5 miles per gallon (4.3 liters per 100 kilometers) of gasoline, up from the current 30.8 mpg (7.6 liters). One feature will almost be a must-have: A "stop-start" device that shuts off the engine at a stop light and automatically turns it on when the driver releases the brake.

Alex Molinaroli, a vice president with Johnson Controls Inc., which makes batteries that power the systems, estimates they raise gas mileage by a minimum of 5 percent.

Stop-start first surfaced in Europe, where gas prices are far higher. Now, nearly all gas-electric hybrid vehicles have it, as do some cars and trucks with conventional engines. The BMW 3-Series has a simple system, helping the four-cylinder version with an automatic transmission get 28 miles per gallon (8.4 liters per 100 kilometers) in combined city and highway driving. A high-mileage version of Chrysler's Ram pickup also has it, boosting combined mileage by 1 mpg to 21 (11.2 liters per 100 kms).

Currently, 5 percent of new U.S. cars have the systems as standard or optional equipment, up from just 0.5 percent two years ago, according to the Edmunds.com automotive website. Johnson Controls predicts that to rise to 40 to 45 percent by 2016.

7 cars get top rating in high-tech safety test

Seven midsize vehicles earned the top rating in a new insurance industry test of high-tech safety features designed to prevent front-end collisions.

The Cadillac ATS and SRX, Subaru Legacy and Outback, Mercedes C-Class and Volvo S60 and XC60 won "superior" ratings in tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The institute tested 74 midsize cars and SUVs from the model years 2013 and 2014. Those equipped with front collision-warning and automatic braking systems generally scored better. The systems can either warn the driver or automatically stop the car if they sense a potential collision.

The institute IIHS, a nonprofit research group funded by insurance companies, has pushed federal regulators and automakers to require or offer as an option new safety systems such as antilock brakes. The group also is pushing automakers to bolster front-end crash resistance.

Automakers have been offering the frontal-crash systems on more and more models as the price of the technology falls. The systems use radar, cameras, ultrasonic sensors and computers to spot objects in front of cars and determine if a collision is possible. A driver may be warned to take action, or the system may apply the brakes itself.

The IIHS said its data institute has determined that the devices help drivers avoid frontal crashes, but even so, auto insurance companies generally aren't offering discounts for people who buy them.

Insurance companies say that as the systems become more popular in certain models, insurance claims will decline. Those models eventually will see discounted rates.

In the tests, six other cars got second-best "advanced" ratings, while 25 received "basic" ratings. Another 36 got no rating because they didn't have the systems or their systems didn't meet the institute's standards.

The institute says the tests will help people decide which features to buy and encourage automakers to adopt the new technology faster.

Nissan Pioneers First-Ever*1 Independent Control Steering Technology;
To Be On Sale Within a Year

Delivers responsive performance by controlling tire and steering angles inputs independently-

YOKOHAMA, Japan (October 17, 2012) - Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. today unveiled the world's first steering technology that allows independent control of a vehicle's tire angle and steering inputs. This next-generation steering technology was developed by Nissan.

A conventional steering system directs tire movements by transmitting steering inputs to the tires via a mechanical link. Nissan's next-generation steering technology reads the driver's intentions from steering inputs and controls the vehicle's tire movements via electronic signals. This transmits the driver's intentions to the wheels even faster than a mechanical system and increases the direct driving performance feel by quickly and intelligently communicating road surface feedback to the driver.

The system controls and insulates the vehicle from unnecessary road-generated disturbances to deliver only the necessary performance feel to the driver. For example, even on a road surface with minor ridges or furrows, the driver no longer has to grip the steering wheel tightly and make detailed adjustments, so traveling on the intended path becomes easier.
Accompanying this next-generation steering technology, Nissan has also developed a camera-based straight-line stability system to further enhance on-center driving capability. This system is a world-first*2 technology that improves vehicle stability by making small input angle adjustments so the vehicle will accurately trace and continue as planned in the lane it is traveling. If the vehicle direction changes due to road surface or crosswinds, the system acts to minimize the effect of these conditions resulting in reduced steering input from the driver.

Using a camera mounted above the vehicle's rearview mirror, the system analyzes the road ahead, recognizes the lane direction, detects changes in the vehicle's direction, and transmits this information to multiple electronic control units as electronic signals. If a discrepancy occurs, the system acts to reduce the discrepancy by controlling the opposing force to the tire angle. By reducing the frequency of detailed steering input adjustments, which are a cause of fatigue on long drives, the driver's workload is greatly reduced.

This next-generation steering technology's high reliability is achieved by multiple ECUs. In the event a single ECU malfunctions, another ECU will instantly take control, and in extreme circumstances such as the power supply being disrupted, the backup clutch will act to connect the steering wheel and wheels mechanically, ensuring continued safe travel.

This technology will be equipped on select Infiniti models on sale within one year to provide "Driving as Intended" and "Driving with Peace of Mind" for owners.