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Planning continues for driverless cars

OFFICIALS in California have been looking to the future as they bid to legislate for the arrival of hi-tech driver-less cars. A law passed in 2012 set a deadline of the end of this year for the state's Department of Motor Vehicles to decide how to legally integrate the so-called autonomous vehicles - which were once the stuff of science fiction but could be commercially available by the end of the decade. The latest talks on the matter among roads officials focused on how the vehicles will record actions so the data can be used to reconstruct an accident in an effort to trace the cause.

BYD E6 – Next Gen Electric Car battery technology

Chinese car maker BYD are using revolutionary battery technology in the BYD E6 The biggest problem with electric cars (or one of them, at least) is that the battery technology is not really up to the ambitions of car makers. Chevrolet’s Volt (aka Opel Ampera) is a good case in point. Tellingly, a Toyota tecchy referred to the science behind the Chevvy Volt as ‘Vaporware’, and the whole project is founded on the expectation that the technolgy will develop quickly enough to make the car a reality.

Mercedes signs joint venture to build carbonfibre parts

Not to be outdone by BMW’s joint venture with the SGL Group to manufacturer commercially viable carbonfibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) for the electric Megacity Vehicle, Mercedes has announced a joint venture with Japanese company Toray Industries to manufacturer and market its on CFRP automotive parts. The deal was signed in Germany today, with Toray taking a 50.1% stake, Daimler holding 44.9% and the remaining 5% being taken by other shareholders. The two companies started working together in March 2010, and while Toray has been working on the materials and moulding processes, Merc has designed the automotive parts and the technologies to join the parts together.