If you twist something — say, spin a top or rotate a robot’s arm — and want it to return to its exact starting point, intuition says you’d need to undo every twist one by one. But mathematicians Jean-Pierre Eckmann from the University of Geneva and Tsvi Tlusty from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) have found a surprising shortcut. As they describe in a new study, nearly any sequence of rotations can be perfectly undone by scaling its size and repeating it twice.
Like a mathematical Ctrl+Z, this trick sends nearly any rotating object back to where it began.
“It is actually a property of almost any object that rotates, like a spin or a qubit or a gyroscope or a robotic arm,” Tlusty told New Scientist. “If [objects] go through a highly convoluted path in space, just by scaling all the rotation angles by the same factor and repeating this complicated trajectory twice, they just return to the origin.”
A Hidden Symmetry of Motion
A random walk on SO(3) shown as a trajectory in a ball of radius π, where a rotation R(n,ω) is mapped to the point r=nω and antipodal points are identified, nπ = −nπ (the real projective space RP3). The walk traverses from the center (small red sphere) to the blue end. Crossing antipodal points is indicated by dotted lines. Credit: Physical Review Letters.
Mathematicians represent rotations using a space called SO(3) — a three-dimensional map where every point corresponds to a unique orientation. At the very center lies the identity rotation: the object’s original state. Normally, retracing a complex path through this space wouldn’t bring you back to that center. But Eckmann and Tlusty found that scaling all rotation angles by a single factor before repeating the motion twice acts like a geometric reset.
So for example:
If your first rotation sequence tilted the object 75 degrees this way, 20 degrees that way, and so on, you could shrink all those angles by, say, a factor of 0.3, and then run that shortened version two times in a row.
After those two runs, the object returns perfectly to its starting position — as if nothing had ever happened.
In their proof, the researchers blended a 19th-century tool for combining rotations (Rodrigues’ rotation formula) with Hermann Minkowski’s theorem from number theory. Together, these revealed that “almost every walk in SO(3) or SU(2), even a very complicated one, will preferentially return to the origin simply by traversing the walk twice in a row and uniformly scaling all rotation angles.”
Why This Matters
Why should you care, though? Well, rotations are everywhere: in gyroscopes, MRI machines, and quantum computers. Any technique that can reliably “reset” them could have broad uses. In magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), for example, atomic nuclei constantly spin in magnetic fields. Small errors in those spins can blur the resulting images. The new insight could help engineers design sequences that cleanly undo unwanted rotations.
Quantum devices, built around spinning qubits, might also benefit. Since qubits evolve through quantum rotations described by SU(2), a universal reset rule could help stabilize computations. “No matter how tangled the history of rotations,” Tlusty said in the UNIST press release, “there exists a simple recipe: rescale the driving force and apply it twice.”
And in robotics, the principle might enable machines that can roll or pivot endlessly without drifting off course. “Imagine if we had a robot that could morph between any solid body shape, it could then follow any desired path simply through morphing of shape,” said Josie Hughes of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne in an interview with New Scientist.
As Eckmann put it, the discovery shows “how rich mathematics can be even in a field as well-trod as the study of rotations.” It’s a rare kind of elegance: a universal law that hides in plain sight, waiting for someone to give the world a gentle twist — and then do it again.
Alan’s Factory Outlet surveyed 1,000 American drivers to explore a messy but relatable problem: bird droppings on cars. By combining survey responses with research on bird behavior and parking habits, this report uncovered which vehicles are hit the hardest, which colors attract the most mess, and how much money drivers spend cleaning up. The findings reveal not only surprising insights but also the importance of having protection like carports and garages.
Key Takeaways
Ram, Jeep, and Chevrolet are the top three vehicles most frequently targeted by bird droppings.
Brown, red, and black cars attract the most bird poop, according to drivers.
Over 1 in 2 Americans (58%) say their car has been pooped on more than once in the same day.
29% of Americans feel like birds have “targeted” their vehicle.
Nearly 1 in 4 Americans (24%) spend over $500 each year on car washes and repairs due to bird droppings.
1 in 5 Americans (21%) would invest in a car cover or garage to avoid bird mess, and they’d pay an average of $50/month for better protection.
Car Brands and Colors Birds Target Most
Car owners often debate whether certain makes or colors are more vulnerable to bird mess, and the data from our survey suggests they may be right.
Ram, Jeep, and Chevrolet topped the list of vehicles most likely to be splattered. Other frequently targeted brands included Nissan, Dodge, and Kia, while Tesla, Audi, and Subaru also made the top ten. This spread shows that both domestic and imported brands are at risk. Color also played a noticeable role. Brown, red, and black cars drew the most unwanted attention from above, while lighter colors like white and silver/gray ranked lower.
For many drivers, bird droppings are a regular headache. Over half of Americans (58%) said their car had been pooped on more than once in the same day, and nearly a third (29%) felt like birds had personally “targeted” them. Lexus (47%), Tesla (39%), and Dodge (35%) drivers felt the most targeted by birds.
More than 1 in 10 drivers (11%) even reported paint damage caused by droppings. These experiences often lead to frequent car washes. Over half of drivers (57%) have paid for a car wash specifically to clean off bird droppings, and 39% said they have to wash their cars multiple times a month because of it.
The costs add up quickly. Nearly 1 in 4 drivers (24%) spent more than $500 annually on car washes and repairs related to bird mess. Tesla and BMW owners were among the most impacted, with two-thirds of each brand spending over $500 per year.
Parking Habits and Prevention Attempts
Parking choices made a big difference in how often cars were hit.
Nearly one-third of Americans (29%) had changed their usual parking spot to steer clear of bird droppings, while 55% admitted their current setup provided little to no protection. Many went out of their way for a cleaner car: 38% said they would walk up to a block just to avoid parking under “poop zones.” Drivers of Toyota (17%), Honda (15%), and Chevrolet (7%) vehicles were the most likely to make these adjustments.
Bird droppings even disrupted daily life for some. More than 1 in 20 Americans (6%) had canceled or delayed plans because their car was too dirty, and over 1 in 10 (14%) had gotten droppings on themselves while getting in or out of their vehicle.
To prevent the mess, about 1 in 5 Americans (21%) said they would invest in a car cover or garage addition, with many willing to spend around $50 per month for added protection. Covered options such as carports also offered a practical solution for drivers looking to avoid these costly and frustrating cleanups.
In June 2024, seven months after Fleming’s purchase, Fisker collapsed into bankruptcy, having only delivered 11,000 vehicles.
Early adopters were left with cars plagued by battery failures, glitchy software, inconsistent key fobs, and door handles that did not always open. With the company gone, there was no way to fix any issues. Regulators logged dozens of complaints as replacement parts vanished. Passionate owners who spent top dollar on high-end trims saw their cars reduced to expensive driveway ornaments.
Rather than accept defeat, thousands of Ocean owners have organized into their own makeshift car company. The Fisker Owners Association (FOA) is a nonprofit that’s launched third-party apps, built a global parts supply chain, and came together around a future for their orphaned vehicles. It’s part car club, part tech startup, part survival mission. Fleming now serves as the organization’s president.
[…]
So far, 4,055 Ocean owners have signed up, paying $550 a year in dues that the group estimates will raise around $3 million annually, about 0.1 percent of Fisker’s peak valuation. Only verified Ocean owners can become full members, but anyone can donate.
The grassroots effort has precedent — DeLorean diehards and Saab enthusiasts have kept their favorite brands alive after factory closures. But those efforts focused on preserving aging vehicles. FOA is attempting something different: real-time software updates and hardware improvements for a connected, two-year-old EV fleet.
[…]
The organization has spawned three separate companies. Tsunami Automotive handles parts in North America while Tidal Wave covers Europe, scavenging insurance auctions and contracting with tooling manufacturers to reproduce components. UnderCurrent Automotive, run by former Google and Apple engineers, focuses on software solutions.
UnderCurrent’s first product is OceanLink Pro, a third-party mobile app now used by over 1,200 members that restores basic EV features, such as remote battery monitoring and climate control. A companion device called OceanLink Pulse adds wireless CarPlay and Android Auto, with plans for future upgrades including keyless entry.
“Those are things you would have expected to be in a $70,000 luxury car,” Bagley says. “But, you know, we’re happy to provide what the billion-dollar automaker apparently couldn’t.”
For this kind of stuff to work, you need right to repair laws. You need the IP of the company to release so that software engineers can interface with the existing software.
Mercedes-Benz will begin to integrate more physical controls into its digitally focused cabins, as “the data shows us physical buttons are better”, software boss Magnus Östberg has told Autocar.
This starts with the new GLC and CLA Shooting Brake EVs, which both get a host of rockers, rollers and buttons on a new-design steering wheel.
This wheel will be the standard for Mercedes’s models going forward, and the plan is also to fit it to all cars already on sale – starting later this year with the recently launched CLA saloon.
This, Östberg said, is the easiest and most cost-efficient way of adding physical controls to cars that are already on sale while still keeping Mercedes’ digital-first cabins.
Speaking to Autocar at the Munich motor show, he explained: “You can see a difference if you move from the CLA [saloon], which has a touchscreen and fewer hard buttons, to the [new] GLC, where we put back the rollers and buttons, because we see in the data that the rollers and these physical buttons are very important for certain age groups and certain populations.
“So having that balance between physical buttons and the touch is extremely important for us. We’re completely data-driven, seeing that what is actually something that is used high-frequency, the data shows us the physical buttons are better, and that’s why we put them back in.”
That data has come from software-defined vehicles: the CLA is Mercedes’ first SDV and the incoming GLC the second.
As well as being easier to tweak (as software can be updated over the air rather than needing to drag buyers into garages), SDVs also give car makers full access to drivers’ data and usage. “This is so important,” said Östberg, as it means decisions, such as bringing back some physical controls, can be data-driven.
Due to that data, he hinted that other wheel designs could be used depending on the market. For example, while Europeans like buttons, Asian drivers prefer more touchscreen and voice controls.
Östberg said Mercedes is also looking at adding more physical controls elsewhere in the cabin for future models – but this will most likely be kept to SUVs, as “in larger cars we have more freedom to package” and buyers of those cars “care more about buttons”.
we’re used to hearing about subscriptions for improved performance and creature comforts on luxury cars, but VW’s trialing BMW and Mercedes-Benz’s greatest hits of consumer-hostile policies and gating an additional 27 horsepower behind a $22.30 monthly payment on the ID.3. Alternatively, owners can shell out $878 to unlock that power permanently, for the life of the vehicle.
This news comes courtesy of AutoExpress, and it’s alarming for several reasons. First, again, the ID.3 isn’t exactly a bargain, starting at the equivalent of $41,770, but it’s also no Mercedes EQE. Second, as the article points out, the car is registered at 228 hp stock, which affects insurance rates, even though owners only get 201 hp before subscribing. So, you’re paying a penalty on your insurance premium based on power that you can only access if you give Volkswagen yet more money every month.
This monthly fee also lifts torque from the standard 195 lb-ft to 228 lb-ft, and VW says that the increase in output doesn’t impact range
[…]
The best outcome we can hope for in these cases is that the outcry against it becomes so loud that VW relents. That’s worked to some degree on this side of the pond, with BMW’s heated-seat policies. But the retractions don’t last forever, and automakers are pretty much set on biding their time until software-locking everything is normalized, and they can get away with all of it.
So… you paid for the hardware. It is sitting in the car you own, which is parked in front of your house. And they want to ask more for what you already bought? Absolutely ridiculous and I hope the car hacking scene finds a way to circumvent this.
[…] As much as carmakers seem to love infotainment screens, consumers are less enthusiastic about them. Just 15% of drivers in 2024 said they would want a full-width infotainment display. Windshield base displays with less functionality are slightly more popular but still appeal to just 18% of those planning on buying a new car.
The growing pushback against vehicle touch screens is ultimately a matter of safety and convenience. While having all your controls in one place sounds useful, navigating between menus to find the right settings can be frustrating, slow, and unsafe if done while driving. It also means basic car functions may be at the mercy of software glitches and lag.
In 2021, Tesla had to recall vehicles because an issue with the flash memory in Tesla infotainment systems made the rearview camera unviewable and took defrost and turn signal functions offline. More recently, a class-action lawsuit against Stellantis alleges that defective infotainment screens led to backup camera failures and distracting audio glitches.
Those same shortcomings, alongside the obvious distracting features of an iPad in your center console, pose safety concerns, too. Navigating between menus takes focus off the road, especially when adjusting a setting takes more steps than it used to. Given that 6,000 pedestrians a year already die in traffic accidents, anything that takes a driver’s eyes off the road isn’t ideal.
Some car brands have started responding to these concerns by toning down the “screenification” of their vehicles. Volkswagen announced it will bring back physical buttons after backlash against its more screen-heavy models. VW CEO Thomas Schäfer said the reliance on touch screens “did a lot of damage” to the brand’s reputation among frustrated drivers.
When VW pivoted to a touch screen-centric interface, Capital One’s Auto Navigator called the controls “aggravating,” as did many other reviewers. Yahoo Autos called it the worst infotainment system they had ever come across. In light of these responses, it’s easy to see why VW would want to move back to physical buttons.
Given this growing push against infotainment touch screens, automakers will likely respond. However, how they choose to balance demands for safety and convenience with new tech is less certain.
Some companies think the solution is to keep digital displays but change how they operate. BMW unveiled a new heads-up display (HUD) at CES 2025 that puts more information along the bottom of the windshield instead of keeping it on the dash. As BMW board member Frank Weber explained, this system means “the driver decides themselves which information they want to display in their own field of vision.” Infotainment-style customization remains present, but it stays within the line of sight while looking at the road.
BMW’s new HUD also lets drivers control these settings through physical buttons on the steering wheel, not just a touch screen. That way, hands can remain on the wheel and eyes can remain forward. Hyundai and Kia have followed a similar approach, giving users a choice between touch or analog controls.
Voice commands have emerged as another alternative. Mercedes introduced ChatGPT-backed voice controls in 2023, and Apple gave CarPlay voice functionality with iOS 18. These don’t make screens go away, but they do offer a way to use them that doesn’t require taking your hands off the wheel or eyes off the road.
As the industry explores these voice-activated solutions, it’s clear that the evolution of infotainment systems is far from over. Growing attention on common issues should kick-start some much-needed changes.
Voice commands are spotty at best and incredibly frustrating to use. BMW decided to go buttonless only last year and is sadly sticking to its’ guns whilst the rest of the world is moving on.
Shortly after dawn on March 27, 2001, NASA pilot Bill Rieke took off from an airfield just outside of Phoenix in NASA’s blue-and-white Learjet 25 and flew low over a series of microphones for the first flight test of a groundbreaking NASA technology.
On one of the plane’s engines was an experimental jagged-edged nozzle that researchers at Glenn Research Center in Cleveland had discovered made aircraft significantly quieter. These initial flight tests were an important step toward using these “chevron nozzles” on modern aircraft, lowering noise levels for communities.
[…]
NASA researchers discovered that the military’s use of rectangular notches, or tabs, along an engine nozzle’s exit – to help disguise a jet fighter’s infrared signature – could also reduce engine noise by helping mix the hot air from the engine core and the cooler air blowing through the engine fan. In the 1990s, Glenn researcher Dennis Huff and his colleagues discovered that a serrated, or sawtooth, shape, referred to as a chevron, offered more promise.
[…]
The flight patterns were repeated over the next two days while alternately using the two variations of the chevron nozzle. The researchers anecdotally reported that there was no perceptible noise reduction as the aircraft approached, but significant reductions once it passed. Recordings supported these observations and showed that sideline noise was reduced, as well.
Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 demonstrator has broken the sound barrier, marking a major milestone in the effort that hopes to lead to a larger 55-seat supersonic airliner design known as Overture. Overall, the program could have significant implications not only for commercial aviation but also for the military.
Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 demonstrator eases past the sound barrier for the first time, going supersonic just over 11 minutes into its sortie today. YouTube screencap
The aircraft was flown to a speed of Mach 1.1 by former U.S. Navy aviator and Boom test pilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg, from the Mojave Air & Space Port, California. For the majority of its flight, the XB-1 was accompanied by two other supersonic jets, an ATAC Mirage F1 flown by A.J. “Face” McFarland, serving as primary safety chase, and a T-38 Talon performing photo chase duties. During the flight, the XB-1 entered the supersonic realm three times, landing safely at Mojave after a flight of a little over 30 minutes duration.
[…]
Ultimately, XB-1 is expected to have a top speed of around Mach 2.2 (1,687.99 miles per hour).
The XB-1, also known as the “Baby Boom,” is a one-third-scale technology demonstrator for the Overture. It made its first flight at Mojave on March 22, 2024, as you can read about here. During that flight, the XB-1 was flown at speeds up to 238 knots (273 mph, or Mach 0.355), achieving an altitude of 7,120 feet. On that occasion, Chief Test Pilot Bill “Doc” Shoemaker was at the controls, while the flight was monitored by “Geppetto” Brandenburg, flying a T-38 Talon chase aircraft.
[…]
While we have outlined the key aspects of the XB-1 in the past, the aircraft is 62.6 feet long and its elongated delta-wing planform has a wingspan of 21 feet. It makes extensive use of sophisticated technologies, including carbon-fiber composites, advanced avionics, and digitally optimized aerodynamics.
The XB-1 during an earlier test flight. Boom Supersonic
It also has an unusual propulsion system to propel it into the supersonic regime. This comprises three General Electric J85-15 turbojets, which together provide more than 12,000 pounds of thrust. The widely used J85 also powers, among others, the Northrop F-5 and the T-38. Since the XB-1 was rolled out, another three-engined aircraft has broken cover, the Chinese advanced tailless combat aircraft tentatively known as the J-36.
Compared to the XB-1, the Overture will be 201 feet long and is planned to achieve a cruising speed of Mach 1.7 (1,304 miles per hour) and a maximum speed of Mach 2.2. The company anticipates it will have a maximum range of 4,500 nautical miles.
A rendering of Boom Supersonic’s Overture airliner. Boom Supersonic
Achieving the Mach 1 mark is a huge achievement for the company and an important statement of intent for the future Overture supersonic airliner.
Aimed to make supersonic travel more affordable to greater numbers of travelers — a goal in which no other operator has succeeded in the past — the Overture is planned to carry a total of 64-80 passengers. Intended to drastically shorten the duration of transoceanic routes, the aircraft is “designed … to be profitable for airlines at fares similar to first and business class,” the company’s website notes.
German electric air taxi company Volocopter has filed for bankruptcy protection, the latest in a string of similar startups to hit financial turbulence. The company plans to keep operating while it searches for new investors.
“We are ahead of our industry peers in our technological, flight test, and certification progress. That makes us an attractive company to invest in while we organize ourselves with internal restructuring,” CEO Dirk Hoke said in a statement.
Volocopter is one of the more well-funded electric air taxi startups, having raised hundreds of millions of dollars over nearly a decade with backing from major automakers like Germany’s Mercedes-Benz and China’s Geely.
[…] Remote sensing engineers at the University of South Australia have built a new, low cost prototype system that merges celestial triangulation with vision-based algorithmic computing for UAVs flying at night. But unlike existing GPS, the novel design doesn’t emit any signals, making it impervious to current jamming methods.
[…]
To make it work, engineers designed and constructed a strapdown payload using only a Raspberry Pi 5 miniature computer and a monochrome sensor fitted with a wide angle lens. They then connected the tool to a fixed-wing drone’s onboard autonomous piloting system, where it captured and algorithmically analyzed visual data taken from stars seen at night.
“If we’re able to identify those stars and compare them against a database, given that we know the orientation the camera was facing and the point in time at which that image was taken, we can actually infer the location of the aircraft from that data,” explained Samuel Teague, a research assistant and study co-author, in an accompanying university video.
Teague and senior researcher, Javaan Chahl, tested their system with a UAV, and showed that their drone upgrade allowed it to consistently estimate its location to within an accuracy of 4 km (roughly 2.48 mi) while performing fixed altitude and airspeed orbits. While not currently as precise as modern GPS, the tool may still soon provide a powerful backup in the event of jamming or malfunction. It also still requires a clear sky to assess its surroundings, although the team believes additional research could address this issue, as well.
the scientists who taught rats how to drive are back, and their latest research suggests rats enjoy the open road as much as we do, with a new video showing one revving motor of its little car in anticipation of a joyride.
Kelly Lambert, the University of Richmond neuroscientist who developed the initial experiment, conducted new tests to determine whether rats performed a task (e.g., driving) simply for a physical reward (e.g., Froot Loop) or for an emotional one (e.g., happiness).
In the original university research study, the lab rats were taught the absolute basics, such as getting into the vehicle and grabbing a small wire that acted as the throttle. The “car” was equally basic, manufactured from a plastic cereal container. That rudimentary rat car eventually evolved to include steering via three copper bars that signified left, center, and right for steering. The reward, though, was always the sweet crunch of a Froot Loop.
The catalyst for the updated cognitive test was the rats’ behavior, which resembled eagerness and anticipation when Lambert arrived at the lab. In an essay written for The Conversation, Lambert writes: “The three driving-trained rats eagerly ran to the side of the cage, jumping up like my dog does when asked if he wants to take a walk.”
For the new tests, the rats received a new car: Rat Car II. Courtesy of the university’s robotics department, the redesigned rat-operated vehicle, or ROV, featured rat-proof wiring and tires as well as ergonomic driving levers. Lambert said the little EVs were “akin to a rodent version of Tesla’s Cybertruck.”
According to Lambert, the rats had already supported the idea of neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to continually adapt and change in response to life experiences. After all, driving a car requires more brain activity and complex thought processes than wandering through a maze. Trial and error will eventually get you to the snackies, but driving requires additional skill and anticipation.
As for the updated test, the rats were given a choice: a short or long route to the Froot Loop. The rats could scurry to sweetness, which was a much shorter journey, or they could take the long way via car. To the team’s surprise, two of the three rats took the scenic route. Not only that but in other tests, the rats would hop into the car and immediately hit the throttle before the vehicle was placed back on the ground.
“This response suggests that the rats enjoy both the journey and the rewarding destination,” Lambert said. Relatable.
The rats’ raised tails were also an indicator of excitement, similar to a dog wagging its tails happy. Lambert contacted other neuroscientists regarding the raised rattails. Apparently, the S-shaped curl exhibited by Lambert’s rats resembled a “gentler form” of what’s known as the Straub tail. The reaction was typical of rodents that had been given opioids and linked to increased dopamine.
Lambert says that studying positive experiences and how they shape the brain is just as important as researching negative emotions, which we often focus on minimizing rather than elevating. Emotions like anger, fear, and stress.
“In a world of immediate gratification, these rats offer insights into the neural principles guiding everyday behavior,” Lambert concluded. “Rather than pushing buttons for instant rewards, they remind us that planning, anticipating, and enjoying the ride may be key to a healthy brain.”
[…] What happens when connected cars become disconnected cars? […]
The phenomenon was chronicled in Rest of World, which spoke to multiple owners of EVs produced by financially troubled Chinese automakers. China kickstarted its EV industry with aggressive subsidies that lured dozens, if not hundreds of companies to produce cars. When those subsidies ceased, an automotive extinction event unfolded, with a reported 20-plus brands calling it quits
[…]
The largest Chinese automaker to fail yet has been WM Motor, which reportedly sold around 100,000 cars between 2019 and 2022. It filed for bankruptcy in October 2023, and in doing so ceased offering software support for customers’ cars. With company servers offline, widespread failures were reported, affecting cars’ stereos, charging status indicators, odometers, and app-controlled remote functions such as air conditioning and locking.
Though WM Motor is said to have brought servers back online so that these vehicles can fully function again, it doesn’t seem to have delivered any software updates since its bankruptcy filing almost a year ago. Its app also remains unavailable on smartphone app stores, locking potential buyers of used WM Motors vehicles out of some features. It seemingly hasn’t flown afoul of China’s consumer protection laws, which mandate 10 years of parts and service support—but apparently not software. As many as 160,000 Chinese car owners are estimated to be in a similar boat, as an increasing number of automakers encounter financial trouble.
Lobbying groups across most of the device manufacturing industry—from tractor manufacturers to companies that make fridges, consumer devices, motorcycles, and medical equipment—are lobbying against legislation that would require military contractors to make it easier for the U.S. military to fix the equipment they buy, according to a document obtained by 404 Media.
The anti-repair lobbying shows that manufacturers are still doing everything they can to retain lucrative service contracts and to kill any legislation that would threaten the repair monopolies many companies have been building for years.
In a May hearing, Sen. Elizabeth Warren explained that “contractors often place restrictions on these deals [with the military] that prevent service members from maintaining or repairing the equipment, or even let them write a training manual without going back to the contractor.”
“These right to repair restrictions usually translate into much higher costs for DOD [Department of Defense], which has no choice but to shovel money out to big contractors whenever DOD needs to have something fixed,” she added. Warren gave the example of the Littoral combat ship, a U.S. Navy vessel that costs hundreds of millions of dollars per ship.
“General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin consider much of the data on the ship to be proprietary, so the Navy had to delay missions and spend millions of dollars on travel costs just so that contractor-affiliated repairmen could fly in, rather than doing this ourselves,” she said.
To solve this problem, Warren and other lawmakers introduced something called Section 828 of the Defense Reauthorization Act, a must-pass bill that funds the military. Section 828 is called “Requirement for Contractors to Provide Reasonable Access to Repair Materials,” and seeks to solve an absurd situation in which the U.S. military cannot always get repair parts, tools, information, and software for everything from fighter jets to Navy battleships, because the companies want to make money by selling their customers repair contracts.
[…]
The fact that groups who represent companies that have nothing to do with the military have lined up to oppose this suggests that device manufacturers more broadly are worried about a national right to repair law, and that the entire sector is trying to kill repair legislation even if it would not affect them.
A flying-car-like vertical takeoff aircraft created by Joby Aviation has completed a first-of-its-kind, 523 mile test flight using hydrogen power. The aircraft, which reportedly left only a trail of water vapor in its wake, is being pitched as a more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional gas powered jets for mid-range, regional travel. Though questions remain about hydrogen power’s long-term viability at scale, the test flight proves it’s possible to retrofit existing electric powered aircraft with hydrogen fuel cells to effectively extend their range.
Joby is one of several companies attempting to create an air taxi service around vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (VTOLs). Up until now Joby has focused on creating fully electric battery powered aircraft with a range of roughly 100 miles intended to transport people and products within cities or to major airports. For the new test flight, Joby took a pre-production prototype of one of its battery-electric aircraft and outfitted it with a liquid hydrogen fuel tank and fuel system. The modified, hydrogen-powered VTOL was able to complete a 523 mile flight above Marina, California with no in-flight emissions. When it landed, the aircraft still had 10% of its remaining hydrogen fuel load.
Hydrogen is also just one of several alternatives and options being explored by the air travel industry. Aircraft startups like Elysian are leaning on advances in battery technology to develop an electric-powered passenger plane they hope can transport 90 travelers up to 500 miles without recharging. Jet Blue, Virgin Atlantic, and other airliners are also investing in so-called “sustainable jet fuel” which would use feedstocks, waste products, and other renewable starting materials in place of fossil fuels. Some mix of all of these alternatives will likely be needed to prevent aircraft related carbon emissions from soaring in coming years, especially as passengers show no signs of cutting down on overall air travel any time soon.
To decide how to best implement their cars’ touchscreens, Aston designers went out and sampled a range of vehicles, using their controls and noting the steps necessary to activate certain functions. Any feature expected to be immediately available that wasn’t triggered the “piss-off factor.”
The new Vantage is a good example of Aston’s design philosophy. It has a touchscreen, but it’s accompanied by many physical buttons, switches, and knobs. Nurnberger told CarExpert that Aston considered moving the seat controls into the touchscreen, but owners said they like to adjust their seat on the move depending on how they’re driving, and touchscreen-based settings are cumbersome and unsafe to use on the fly. The same thinking applies to volume and HVAC-related inputs.
“That’s the thing about the piss-off factor. When you want it, you want it instantly,” said Nurnberger. “If you want to turn the volume up and down, temperature absolutely—the minute you’ve got to go into a screen and tap for temperature, you’ve lost the customer. You’ve lost the experience.”
Aston is echoing what so many of us have already been saying. I think we can all agree that more button-heavy interiors are preferred. Touchscreens require more mental effort to use while simultaneously offering zero tactile feedback—frustrating at best and downright dangerous at worst. The automaker’s approach is a simple and sensible one that the entire industry should follow, especially brands that sell cars most of us can actually afford: if it pisses people off, don’t do it.
Key dashboard touchscreen functions will soon be kicked into touch and physical switches will be required instead for car manufacturers to be granted the highest safety ratings.
Euro NCAP, the automotive safety industry body for Europe, is introducing new guidance for 2026 which means that five important tasks in every car will have to be performed by actual buttons instead of by accessing a screen.
Indicators, hazard warning lights, windscreen wipers, horn, and SOS features will have to be controlled by proper switches in order for cars to be granted Euro NCAP’s coveted five star safety rating.
“The overuse of touchscreens is an industry-wide problem, with almost every vehicle-maker moving key controls onto central touchscreens, obliging drivers to take their eyes off the road and raising the risk of distraction crashes,” explained Matthew Avery, director of strategic development at Euro NCAP.
“New Euro NCAP tests due in 2026 will encourage manufacturers to use separate, physical controls for basic functions in an intuitive manner, limiting eyes-off-road time and therefore promoting safer driving.
Several manufacturers have already come under fire for excessively complex touch screen controls forcing drivers to access menu after menu to adjust seats, mirrors and ventilation—we’re especially looking at you Tesla and VW.
Although it won’t be mandatory to comply with Euro NCAP’s new rules car makers that don’t will lose valuable points in their safety ratings. It sounds like a sensible idea—a positive move in the battle against distracted driving—and one, that, hopefully, the NHTSA will follow.
A team of drone enthusiasts have built a sub-$500 drone that uses a camera and Google Maps to provide itself with GPS co-ordinates, removing the need for a GPS satellite signal. And all of this was done in 24 hours during the El Segundo Defense Tech Hackathon.
[…]
The drone uses a camera mounted underneath it to position itself with imagery from Google Maps highlighting similarities in the images to get a rough estimate of the co-ordinates
[…]
Google Maps allows users to download segments of maps ahead of time, usually for use when you are travelling or camping out in remote areas.
[…]
Without needing to rely on an external constellation of satellites, the GPS-free drone can continue operating on missions in GPS-denied environments, such as remote areas or those that have been jammed. Unlike Skydio’s approach, which uses cameras to position itself, using imagery that doesn’t rely on light to work means this drone can fly anywhere in the world it has imagery for at any time of the day or night.
Virgin Galactic has reported itself to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after discovering a detached alignment pin from the mechanism used to keep its suborbital spaceplane attached to the mothership aircraft.
According to the company, the alignment pin is used to ensure the spaceplane (in this case, Unity) is aligned correctly to the mothership (VMS Eve) during the mating of the vehicles on the ground.
In flight, the pin helps to transfer load from drag and other forces from Unity to the shear pin fitting assembly and into the pylon and center wing of the mothership. The alignment pin remained in place during the mated portion of the flight, but detached after Unity was released.
Virgin Galactic said: “While both parts play a role during mated flight, they do not support the spaceship’s weight, nor do they have an active function once the spaceship is released.”
However, having bits of your launch system detach unexpectedly is not great, despite the success of Galactic 06, a suborbital spaceflight launched on January 26, 2024. The mission carried a crew of six, including four private passengers, on a jaunt to just over 55 miles above the Earth before gliding back to a landing at Spaceport America.
The next flight of Unity is planned for the second quarter of 2024, although Virgin Galactic cautioned that this would depend on the review’s outcome.
In November 2023, boss Michael Colglazier announced that flights would be paused from mid-2024 to allow the company to focus on building its upcoming Delta class of spaceplane. Colglazier also announced that approximately 18 percent of the workforce were to be let go.
Virgin Galactic said of the incident: “At no time did the detached alignment pin pose a safety impact to the vehicles or the crew on board.”
VMS Eve completed a lengthy maintenance period just over a year ago, followed by the company commencing commercial operations. Having something fall off, even as minor as a pin that did not affect flight safety is, therefore, a worry.
The company has not elaborated on the cause of the incident or responded to The Register’s queries.
The FAA gave us the following statement: “A mishap occurred during the Virgin Galactic Galactic 06 commercial human spaceflight mission from Spaceport America in New Mexico on Jan. 26. Eight people were on the suborbital mission: two pilots on the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, and two pilots and four spaceflight participants on the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft. The mishap involved an issue with an alignment pin that provides connection between the carrier aircraft and the spacecraft.
“No public injuries or public property damage have been reported. The FAA is overseeing the Virgin Galactic-led mishap investigation to ensure the company complies with its FAA-approved mishap investigation plan and other regulatory requirements.” ®
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) held a recent workshop on incidents where people spoofed and jammed satellite navigation systems, and concluded these pose a “significant challenge” to safety.
Mitigating the risks posed by such actions will require measures to be enacted in the short term as well as medium and long term timescales, the two bodies said. They want to start by sharing information about the incidents and any potential remedies.
In Europe, this information sharing will occur through the European Occurrence Reporting scheme and EASA’s Data4Safety program. Given the global nature of the problem, a broader solution would be better, but this would have to be pursued at a later date, EASA said.
Inevitably, another of the measures involves retaining traditional navigation aids to ensure there is a conventional backup for GNSS navigation, while a third calls for guidance from aircraft manufacturers to airlines and other aircraft operators to ensure they know how to manage jamming and spoofing situations.
As a further measure, EASA said it will inform all relevant stakeholders, which includes airlines, air navigation service providers, airports and the air industry, about recorded incidents.
Interference with global navigation systems can take one of two forms: jamming requires nothing more than transmitting a radio signal strong enough to drown out those from GPS satellites, while spoofing is more insidious and involves transmitting fake signals that fool the receiver into calculating its position incorrectly.
According to EASA, jamming and spoofing incidents have increasingly threatened the integrity of location services across Eastern Europe and the Middle East in recent years.
EV buyers are often motivated by a desire to save money on gas and/or drive something more environmentally friendly. But, a recent story out of Florida in The Miami Herald details how EV owners there have been blindsided by how fast they’re having to change the tires on their EVs.
The Herald spoke with the owner of a shop that specializes in EV repair who told them just how often he’s seeing owners in for tire wear and replacement.
At EV Garage Miami, a Sweetwater repair shop that services 90 percent electric vehicles, lead technician Jonathan Sanchez said tires are the most frequent thing customers come in about, no matter what model or make of EV they’re driving. Tire mileage can vary widely of course, but he frequently changes EV tires at just 8,000 to 10,000 miles — a fourth or even fifth of typical tire wear on a gas-burning car.
Neil Semel, the owner of a Mercedes EQS, told The Heraldthat if he had known how often he would be buying tires, he would’ve never bought the car. “If somebody looked at me and said, Mr. Semel, you are going to love this car but in about 7,000 miles you will have to pay 1,400 or 1,500 dollars to replace the tires, I wouldn’t have bought the car,” he said.
So why the fast wear? It’s a combination of lots of power that can be put down instantly and wild curb weights. But it also comes down to individual driving style, as Sanchez pointed out. “If you drive like grandma, the type of car shouldn’t make a difference,” Sanchez said.
What do tire companies have to say about all of this? They’re aware of the problem and are working on EV-specific solutions. Like Michelin who spoke to The Herald:
Michelin suggests getting the Primacy tire for electric vehicles, which they say offers an up to 7% increase in range. Michelin also launched “Self seal” which would self-repair punctures and cut back on some weight by not needing to keep a spare wheel in the back.
BMW has been a sensible and happy holdout against the touchscreen only interior car design insanity started by Tesla. Study after study has shown that touchscreens are not only impractical and annoying, but more importantly unsafe as well
As you can see, the most commonly used buttons in the car – the radio memories and volume – have gone entirely. To change the radio station, the driver now has to go through a convoluted process which involves looking in the cockpit quite a bit. To make things worse, they have gotten rid of the control dial too, which at least made the process slightly easier. The worst about it though – the passenger can’t change the radio station either.
Not only is this incredibly inconvenient, but it’s also dangerously unsafe. BMWs are drivers cars – they tend to not only be driven on empty highways, but on small and winding roads. When you want to change the radio station, it’s often because it’s annoying you. Looking around (and mainly down, away from the road) in bewilderment when you are trying to change channel, especially whilst annoyed, is a recipe for disaster.
So whilst it’s very annoying for BMW to have also removed the climate control buttons (especially if you drive a cabriolet!), the radio buttons are a real safety issue.
Alaska Airlines and United found loose parts on multiple 737 Max 9 aircraft, they have said, referring to the Boeing model grounded after a panel blew off an Alaska Airlines-operated plane mid-flight over the weekend.
The industry publication Air Current reported that United found discrepant bolts on other parts on at least five panels that were being inspected following the accident. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Boeing declined to comment.
“Since we began preliminary inspections on Saturday, we have found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug. For example, bolts that needed additional tightening. These findings will be remedied by our tech ops team to safely return the aircraft to service,” United said in a statement.
A cabin panel on a brand-new Alaska Airlines 737 Max blew out on Friday at 16,000ft, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing shortly after its takeoff from Portland, Oregon. No serious injuries were reported.
[…]
On Monday evening, Alaska Airlines released a statement indicating that maintenance technicians had found issues when inspecting their 737 Max 9 fleet. “Initial reports from our technicians indicate some loose hardware was visible on some aircraft,” the statement said.
Back in July, Reuters released a bombshell report showing that not only has Tesla aggressively lied about its EV ranges for the better part of the last decade, it created teams whose entire purpose was to lie to customers about it when they called up to complain. The story lasted all of two days in the news cycle before it was supplanted by clickbait stories about a billionaire fist fight that never actually happened.
Now Reuters is back again, with another major story showcasing how for much of that same decade, Tesla routinely blamed customers for the failure of substandard parts the company knew to be defective. The outlet reviewed thousands of Tesla documents and found a pattern where customers would complain about dangerously broken and low-quality parts, only to be repeatedly gaslit by the company:
“Wheels falling off cars at speed. Suspensions collapsing on brand-new vehicles. Axles breaking under acceleration. Tens of thousands of customers told Tesla about a host of part failures on low-mileage cars. The automaker sought to blame drivers for vehicle ‘abuse,’ but Tesla documents show it had tracked the chronic ‘flaws’ and ‘failures’ for years.”
The records show a repeated pattern across tens of thousands of customers where parts would fail, then the customer would be accused of “abusing” their vehicle. They also show that Tesla meticulously tracked part failures, knew many parts were defective, and routinely not only lied to regulators about it, but charged customers to repair parts they knew had high failure rates and were systemically prone to failure:
“Yet the company has denied some of the suspension and steering problems in statements to U.S. regulators and the public– and, according to Tesla records, sought to shift some of the resulting repair costs to customers.”
This is obviously a very different narrative than the one Musk presented last month at that unhinged New York Times DealBook event:
“We make the best cars. Whether you hate me, like me or are indifferent, do you want the best car, or do you not want the best car?”
This comes as a new study shows that Tesla vehicles have the highest accident rate of any brand on the road. As usual, U.S. regulators have generally been asleep or lethargic during most of this, worried that enforcing basic public safety standards would somehow be stifling “innovation.”
The deaths from “full self driving” have been going on for the better part of the last decade, yet the NHTSA only just apparently figured out where its pants were located. But a lot of the problems Reuters have revealed should be slam dunk cases for the FTC under the “unfair and deceptive” component of the FTC Act, creating what will likely be a very busy 2024 for Elon Musk.
A lot of this stuff has been discussed by Tesla critics for years. It’s only once Musk began his downward descent into full racist caricature and undeniable self-immolation that press outlets with actual resources started to meaningfully dig beyond the hype. There’s cause for some significant U.S. journalism introspection as to why that is that probably will never happen.
Meanwhile, for a supposed innovation super-genius, most Musk companies have the kind of customer service that makes Comcast seem empathic and competent.
There’s no shortage of nightmare stories about Tesla Solar customer service. And we’ve well documented how Starlink can’t even respond to basic email inquiries by users tired of being on year-long waiting lists and seeking refunds. And once you burn past the novelty, gimmicks, and fanboy denialism, Tesla automotive clearly isn’t any better.
That said, this goes well beyond just bad customer service. The original Reuters story from July about the company lying about EV ranges clearly demonstrates not just bad customer service, but profound corporate culture rot:
“Inside the Nevada team’s office, some employees celebrated canceling service appointments by putting their phones on mute and striking a metal xylophone, triggering applause from coworkers who sometimes stood on desks. The team often closed hundreds of cases a week and staffers were tracked on their average number of diverted appointments per day.”
As with much of what Musk does, a large share of what the press initially sold the public as unbridled innovation was really just cutting corners. It’s easy to accomplish more than the next guy when you refuse to invest in customer service, don’t care about labor or environmental laws, don’t care about public safety, don’t care about the customer, and have zero compulsion about lying to regulators or making things up at every conceivable opportunity.
Future Volkswagen interiors will all draw inspiration from the ID 2all concept car and bring back physical buttons and controls.
The touchscreen-heavy approach taken for the Mk8 Golf and ID 3 has proven unpopular with customers, prompting a complete about-turn by the company in the way it approaches design.
VW interior designer Darius Watola said the ID2all concept “showed a new approach for all models” and was in response to “recent feedback from customers”.
The new interior has a row of physical (and backlit) buttons for the climate and a rotary controller on the centre tunnel to control the screen on the dashboard above, much like with BMW’s iDrive.
As well as a main central touchscreen for infotainment, there’s also a screen for driving information. Watola said such a display in the driver’s eyeline is crucial for safety.
He said that “customers had a different view in Europe” than in other global markets and wanted “more physical buttons”.
There’s also a revolution in terms of material use, as VW is looking to phase out hard plastics, glue, leather and chrome.
Almost every surface in the ID 2all is soft to the touch, mixing fabrics and Alcantara as part of a sustainability push. There’s limited use of some woods and metals, too.
Watola expressed a desire to see as many features and materials as possible from the concept to the production car in 2025 (which now seems unlikely to take the ID 2 name into showrooms).
However, the goal remains a sub-€25,000 (£22,000) price, which might limit some of the more premium-feeling materials in the cabin.
The concept’s screens can be selected in different themes, including retro graphics from the original Golf, and this feature is expected to make production.
It’s not often that we get to experience a new and completely novel piece of automotive technology for the first time. But that’s what Lamborghini seems to have created with its Active Wheel Carrier, which we have now sampled in prototype form. The system itself is both clever and complex, but the basic purpose is simple: to give real-time control of camber and toe alignment settings while a car is moving.
According to Rouven Mohr, Lamborghini’s chief technical officer, this is one of the final frontiers of vehicle dynamics. Suspension geometry is usually based around a set of compromises, with the loads created by a car in motion inevitably negatively affecting at least some of these. And the alignment settings that are right for the track will cause premature tire wear on the street, which is why many high-performance cars have track-alignment settings and necessitate switching back and forth. Gaining active control in two different planes—toe being the angle of the rotating wheel relative to the direction of travel, and camber its side-on angle relative to the ground—means that many of these compromises can be eliminated. The results, based on our drive in a Lamborghini Huracán development mule at Porsche’s Nardò test track in Italy, are deeply impressive.
The idea itself is not new, and Mohr admits that work on it was being done at fellow VW sibling Audi when he previously worked there. But as well as the hardware required to move the wheel in two planes, the challenge is creating a control system capable of doing so quickly and accurately enough to allow the benefits to be exploited. This is an area in which Lamborghini is leading the way.
The system works exclusively on each of the Huracán prototype’s rear wheels. Active toe control is, in essence, a rear-steering system. We’ve had those before, of course—but this one can also move the wheels between toe-in, where the leading edges point very slightly toward each other, and toe-out, where they do the opposite. In very general terms, toe-out makes a car more reactive and keener to turn, while toe-in gives better high-speed stability.
Active camber control is more revolutionary. Under cornering loads, a car leans over and the suspension compresses, which alters the relationship between the tire tread and the road surface. On something as low and firmly suspended as a Lamborghini supercar, the effect is much slighter than it would be on a 1970s sedan, but it is still significant, as it creates uneven pressure distribution on the tire’s contact patch, which reduces grip. Many performance cars are set up with negative camber (the tire leaned in on its inside edge) to compensate for this, but doing so reduces straight-line traction and increases tire wear.
[…]
two rotating flanges within are what alter the relative angle between the two sides, one controlling camber and the other toe. These are gear-driven by 48-volt electric motors.
[…]
The Active Wheel Carrier can deliver up to 6.6 degrees of toe adjustment in either direction and between 2.5 degrees of positive and 5.5 degrees of negative camber. Both planes can be adjusted at the same time, and the electric motors can do this at up to 60 degrees a second. So even the most extreme change possible—from full toe-in to full toe-out—could be accomplished in under a quarter of a second, although most changes will be much smaller adjustments.
[…]
Starting with the system switched off, and the Evo’s rear suspension in its default position, reveals both understeer on cold tires when driven aggressively plus a rapid transition to oversteer when the rear grip is exceeded. With the Active Wheel Carrier switched on, the Huracán immediately feels more grippy and reactive, keener to change direction—much of which is due to the rear-steering effect of toe adjustment—but also much more stable when being pushed to the edge of adhesion.
[…]
On the handling track, our fastest lap with AWC on was 4.8 seconds faster than with the system off, and while that effect is reduced for more experienced drivers on more familiar tracks, it’s still significant. Even a Lambo pro driver is reportedly 2.8 seconds quicker at Nardò with AWC. That’s on par with the gain by switching from sport tires to street-legal semi-slicks.
The technology would also enable other changes: wider front tires relative to the rears, slightly softer springs to allow more roll (active camber being able to adjust to this), and the intriguing possibly of running different tire compounds front and rear to make maximum benefit from the improved grip. Motors powering the units would also likely be upgraded to work on 400 volts, supplied directly from the plug-in-hybrid battery pack.
While AWC is officially only an experiment at this stage, it seems overwhelmingly likely to play a part in Lamborghini’s future—most likely the Huracán replacement that will debut next year.
