6 million polluting cars to be scrapped in China this year

Want China Times, Xinhua 2014-06-12

Smog shrouds an expressway in Wuhan, Hubei province, May 21. (File photo/Xinhua)

China plans to remove 6 million high-emission vehicles off the road this year to reduce pollution, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said on Tuesday.

More than 2.4 million vehicles will be taken off roads in the municipalities of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province, along with another four municipalities and provinces along the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, according to the ministry.

An action plan, issued by the General Office of the State Council, China's cabinet, has been distributed to local authorities, according to the ministry.

Meanwhile, a ministry spokesperson on Tuesday urged local authorities to formulate stimulus policies and enforce stronger laws to eradicate such vehicles.

Pollutants discharged by cars are blamed as a leading cause for choking air pollution and lingering smog in parts of the country. In Beijing, cars discharged more than 30% of the capital's PM 2.5, a particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 micrograms that caused hazardous smog. In Shanghai, the percentage is about 25%.

China has been the world's largest auto market and producer for five consecutive years, with production and sales both exceeding 20 million units for the first time in 2013, while official figures showed car ownership increased to 137 million last year.

"Huangbiaoche," or "yellow-label cars," referring to vehicles that fail to meet national emission standards, account for about 10% of the country's total number and emitted about half of all car pollutants, official figures showed.

Emirates abandons huge plane order, hitting Airbus shares

Yahoo – AFP, Patrick Rahir, 11 June 2014

An Airbus A350 flies over the ninth green during round two of the Airbus LPGA
 Classic presented by JTBC at the Crossings Course at the Robert Trent Jones
Trail at Magnolia Grove in Mobile, Alabama on May 23, 2014

Toulouse (France) (AFP) - Emirates airline delivered a huge blow to European aerospace group Airbus on Wednesday, cancelling an order for 70 new-generation A350 airliners -- a deal that analysts estimate to be worth about a tenth of the aircraft maker's 2014 orders.

The long-distance aircraft, due to go into service this year, is the Airbus flagship project of the moment to compete with the Boeing 787 which has been flying since 2011.

The size of the cancellation is the biggest-ever by a prestigious customer for a civil airliner.

The interior of the economy class of the

new Airbus A350 XWB is pictured during a 

presentation in Hamburg, northern Germany

 on April 07, 2014 (AFP Photo/Patrick Lux)

Airbus said that the cancellation followed an order placed by Emirates at the Dubai air show in November for an extra 50 A380 superjumbo planes.

The cancellation decision was made following "on-going discussions with the airline in light of their fleet requirement review", Airbus said.

The deal was said to be worth $16.5 billion (12 billion euros) when it was announced in 2007, but Airbus said that customers were already interested in taking up the cancelled aircraft.

The sudden announcement by Emirates, a powerful player in the expanding Gulf airline industry, sent Airbus Group shares down 5.5 percent to 11.22 euros.

And in London, aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce warned that the decision would cut the value of its order book by 2.6 billion pounds (3.2 billion euros, $4.3 billion).

The cancellation "amounts to eleven percent of orders which Airbus expects to take in 2014," said analyst Christophe Menard at brokers KeplerChevreux.

The airliner business accounts for the main part of activities by Airbus Group, formerly EADS, and the head of its sales division John Leahy said: "It's not good news commercially but it has no impact financially."

Opening an innovation show by Airbus at its headquarters in Toulouse, Leahy, who has played a major role in the rise of Airbus over the years, said that he had time to find other customers for the cancelled planes which were due to be delivered from 2019.

Emirates Airlines planes stand 

on the tarmac of Dubai airport

 May 1, 2003 (AFP Photo/Nasser

Younes)

He had only just heard of the cancellation, he said, so the decision was not a direct counter-balance to the order placed in Dubai.

Customers 'queue' up

"I am amazed that we already have enquiries, there is already a queue of people," he said.

In Dubai, Emirates also ordered 150 Boeing very-long-haul 777-8 and 777-9 airliners which are due to enter service from 2020. It also took an option on another 50 of this version.

Emirates was not available for comment on Wednesday.

Airlines had been making massive aircraft orders in anticipation of a pick-up in air traffic as advanced economies recover from a slump and with emerging economies expected to deliver a boost in demand.

The future Boeing 777 series and the Airbus A350 are competitors in what is known as the medium, twin-engined segment, the heart of the market, said analyst Scott Hamilton at Boeing's home base in Seattle in Washington State.

The decision affects nearly 10 percent of the orders for the new Airbus long-haul aircraft which is going through the processes for obtain airworthiness certification.

Airbus added that it was still very confident in the A350 programme and said that it had orders from 28 airlines for 742 aircraft six months ahead of the plane entering service.

A notable feature of the plane is that the fuselage is made mainly of composite materials.

Airbus said that the cancellation

 followed an order placed by Emirates at 

the Dubai air show in November for an

 extra 50 A380 superjumbo planes

"The programme of test flights for the A350 is progressing well and is on schedule for certification (by the Aviation Authorities) in the coming months," said Airbus.

Emirates had ordered 50 A350-900 and 20 stretched A350-1000 aircraft in 2007, marking the second-biggest order by volume for the A350 plane after 80 ordered by Qatar Airways.

Singapore Airlines has also ordered 70 A350 planes.

Scott Hamilton said that the cancellation could leave a gap in the Emirates fleet which would give Boeing an opportunity to sell its 777-300R model which is available for delivery from 2017.

Emirates could decide to increase substantially its fleet of these Boeing planes rather than take up a new model.

Menard said that in all probability, Emirates had decided to streamline its fleet and focus on the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 777 series.

Toyota recalls 2.27 mn vehicles globally over airbag defect

Yahoo – AFP, 11 June 2014

Toyota is recalling recalling 2.27 million

 vehicles globally due to a faulty airbag 

system, the company logo is pictured at the

 Washington Auto Show on February 2,

2013 (AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm)

Tokyo (AFP) - Toyota on Wednesday said it was recalling 2.27 million vehicles globally over an airbag system defect that could cause a fire, the latest in a series of callbacks by the world's biggest automaker.

The company, which has now recalled about nine million vehicles in the past two months, said the announcement covered about 20 models, including its Corolla sedan and Yaris subcompact.

The fire risk from the defect covers about 1.62 million cars abroad and 650,000 in Japan, Toyota said.

"There is a risk that the airbag container could break down and scatter around, which could cause fire or injuries," the carmaker said in a statement submitted to Japan's transport ministry on Wednesday.

It did not elaborate on details of the potential fire hazard, but a company spokesman in Tokyo said the automaker had received a complaint from a Japanese customer who said his passenger seat was burned due to the glitch.

The spokesman added that no serious injuries or accidents linked to the defect had been reported.

The callback comes after Toyota in April recalled 6.39 million vehicles globally over a string of problems, dealing another blow to the firm, whose reputation for quality and safety has been dented in recent years.

Despite record sales and bumper profits, Toyota has been fighting to protect its brand after earlier recalls involving millions of vehicles.

In March, it reached a deal to pay $1.2 billion to settle US criminal charges that it covered up a sticky pedal blamed for dozens of deaths.

US rival General Motors has also been sideswiped by accusations that it hid a decade-long ignition and airbag problem linked to 13 deaths.

Google to buy satellite company Skybox Imaging

Google is to buy Skybox Imaging, a California-based satellite company. Google’s online maps will benefit the most from the purchase, which could also facilitate Internet access in remote locations.

Deutsche Welle, 10 June 2014

The world's top search engine announced on Tuesday plans to purchase Skybox Imaging, a five-year-old satellite company situated right up the road from the Internet giant. The deal was reportedly worth $500 million (369 million euros).

"We've agreed to acquire Skybox Imaging, and we look forward to welcoming them to Google," a statement from the Internet giant said.

"Their satellites will help keep our maps accurate with up-to-date imagery. Over time, we also hope that Skybox's team and technology will be able to help improve Internet access and disaster relief - areas Google has long been interested in," it added.

Skybox, for its part, expressed its enthusiasm over the scheduled acquisition on its website on Tuesday.

"Skybox and Google…believe in making information (especially accurate geospatial information) accessible and useful," the satellite company said, adding that it looked forward to the partnership which might include building more satellites.

"The time is right to join a company who can challenge us to think even bigger and bolder, and who can support us in accelerating our ambitious vision," it added.

Google in orbit

Skybox's satellite already in orbit will reportedly supplement Google's images of the earth distributed through its popular map function "Google Maps." The Internet giant currently relies on other companies, including DigitalGlobe and Astrium, for its geospatial information.

In the future, Google might also use satellites to provide better Internet access across the globe.

The deal, whose date has not yet been released, is pending approval from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Federal Communications Commission.

The announcement on Tuesday comes less than two months of Google bought drone manufacturer Titan Aerospace. The Internet giant is also in the process of developing Project Loon, which aims to transmit the Internet to remote locations via large, high-altitude balloons.

kms/se (AP, AFP, Reuters)

Nissan unveils newest all-electric vehicle

Yahoo – AFP, 9 June 2014

Chief planning officer for Japan's auto giant Nissan, Andy Palmer, speaks

 about the company's new commercial electric vehicle "e-NV200" at the company's

headquarters in Yokohama, suburban Tokyo on June 9, 2014.

Nissan on Monday unveiled its second all-electric vehicle, the Japanese automaker's latest push into the eco-friendly car sector despite disappointing sales.

The company said its e-NV200, a zero-emission commercial van, can drive 190 kilometres (120 miles) on a full charge, and doubles as an onboard power source to supply emergency lighting or power to an outside unit.

Nissan was the first in the world to sell a mass-production electric passenger vehicle, the LEAF, in 2010.

The newest vehicle, which comes with either five or seven seats, is to go on sale in some European countries before its October Japan launch with prices starting at 3.88 million yen ($37,900), Nissan said.

Retail prices could be lower after accounting for government subsidies on green-vehicle sales, it added.

The van can be fully recharged in eight hours or to 80 percent of its battery capacity in half an hour using a separate quick-charging system.

Nissan said it hoped to log monthly sales of 200 units in Japan for its electric van, a modest target after LEAF sold just 115,000 units globally since its launch nearly four years ago.

Japan's number two automaker also has plans to release an electric vehicle for the Chinese market, but demand has been disappointing largely due to their short driving range, high prices and a lack of re-charging infrastructure.

MH370 families in drive to raise $5m to entice 'whistleblower' to solve mystery

Distraught families fear a cover-up and hope 'Reward MH370' campaign encourages insider to come forward

theguardian.com, AFP, Sunday 8 June 2014

Students from an international school in the east China city Zhuji light
candles for flight MH370. Photograph: ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images

Several families of those aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 launched a drive on Sunday to raise $5m for any insider who can resolve the mystery of the plane's disappearance three months ago.

The “Reward MH370” campaign launches on the fundraising website Indiegogo and aims to “to encourage a whistleblower to come forward with information”, the families said in a press release.

The Malaysia Airlines jet lost contact on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard, about two-thirds of them Chinese.

The Boeing 777 is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, but an extensive search has found no wreckage; frustrated and anguished families suspect a cover-up.

“We are convinced that somewhere, someone knows something, and we hope this reward will entice him or her to come forward,” said Ethan Hunt, a technology company chief who is heading the project.

Sarah Bajc, the partner of an American passenger, Philip Wood, said a handful of families were behind the campaign to look at the unprecedented aviation mystery with “a fresh set of eyes”.

“Governments and agencies have given it their best shot but have failed to turn up a single shred of evidence, either because of a faulty approach or due to intentional misdirection by one or more individuals,” she said.

Malaysia and Australia, which is leading the search far off its western coast, have promised that the search for the plane will continue.

An international team is now determining an expanded search zone of up to 60,000 square kilometres based on where the aircraft last communicated with an Inmarsat satellite.

Australia has also released a request for tenders for a company to be engaged as a prime contractor and provide the expertise, equipment and vessels needed to carry out the deep-sea search from August.

GM takes responsibility for ignition scandal

Yahoo – AFP, 5 June 2014

General Motors CEO Mary Barra testifies before the House Energy and 

Commerce Committee for a hearing on the GM ignition switch recall on Capitol

Hill in Washington, DC, April 1, 2014 (AFP Photo/Jim Watson)

General Motors CEO Mary Barra testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee for a hearing on the GM ignition switch recall on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, April 1, 2014

Washington (AFP) - General Motors chief executive Mary Barra said Thursday that the company would take full responsibility for the faulty ignition scandal and compensate victims of accidents tied to the defects.

Barra said the saga of the ignitions on Chevrolet Cobalts and other models, which led to at least 13 deaths, was "riddled with failure" but that there was no management conspiracy to cover up 11 years of inaction.

The corporate logo for the General

 Motors Corporation is pictured in this

 January 11, 2005 file photo in Detroit

(AFP Photo/Stan Honda)

Barra said after the completion of an independent investigation that the company had fired 15 officials, more than half of them executives, for their incorrect or irresponsible actions.

"The Cobalt saga was riddled with failure," she told a meeting of company employees.

"We misdiagnosed the problem from the very beginning... We have to own this problem."

Despite the involvement of senior executives in the failure to act on the problem when it was known, Barra said the findings of the investigation by former US attorney Anton Valukas found no coordinated effort to hide the problem.

There was "no conspiracy by the corporation to cover up facts," Barra said, citing the Valukas report.

GM is under federal and congressional investigation for not having acted for years on the deadly problem until this year, and victims and families of victims have filed lawsuits against the company for damages which analysts say could run to the billions of dollars.

GM is creating a fund for the victims and have retained a high-powered injury compensation lawyer to come up with a plan.

"We are going to do the right thing for the affected parties," she said.

Related Articles:

GM fined record $35 mn over delay to ignition recall

General Motors recalls millions more cars in the US

First Dreamliner aircraft lands at Schiphol

DutchNews, Thursday 05 June 2014

(NOS/Arkefly.com)

The first Boeing 787 Dreamliner landed at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport shortly after noon on Thursday.

The aircraft is owned by travel company Arke which is the first Dutch organisation to incorporate the plane into its fleet.

The Dreamliner is a long-range, wide-body airliner and is lighter, more comfortable, more fuel-efficient and quieter than its predecessors.

The first commercial flight of Arke's new plane is to Antalya on June 8. It will then make its first intercontinental flight to Curaçao and Bonaire on June 12.

Tesla Motors to expand cooperation with Hon Hai

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-06-05

A Tesla electic car on show in Shanghai, April 24. (photo/Xinhua)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced at an annual shareholder meeting on June 3 plans to expand the US electric carmaker's cooperation with Taiwanese electronics manufacturing giant Hon Hai, reports our Chinese-language sister paper China Times. Musk said partnerships with manufacturers like Hon Hai will speed up Tesla's production capacity.

Tesla is one of the hottest companies around at present and has seen the price of its stock rise 740% within three months. Its share price is expected to reach US$500 by the end of the year, with Hon Hai also set to get a shot in the arm as a result.

In addition to the current cooperation between the two companies on dashboards and connectors, unit assembly may be included in future arrangements to increase efficiency.

Production of lithium batteries and recharging stations are crucial for the future development of the electric car market and Musk said the company's proposed "Gigafactories" will be able to cut more than 30% off the production cost of lithium batteries for its vehicles by vertically integrating the supply chain. He predicted that at least 200 Gigafactories will be needed to meet the eventual demand from the market.

The Gigafactory that was scheduled to begin construction at this month in a partnership between Tesla and Panasonic is to be delayed until next year however due to infrastructure requirements. Musk said however that three Gigafactories will be built, rather than the original plan to build two, and that their locations will be decided before the end of the year. Possible sites include California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

This Algae Battery Could Power A Tesla With 200X The Charge

TechCrunch, Sarah Buhr, May 31, 2014

In a small lab, near a lake at the edge of West Berkeley, sits the prototype of what could revolutionize battery power as we know it. The secret to this power? Algae.

OK, just hang with me here. Lots of research has already been done on algae’s possible power capabilities. Prototype creator Adam Freeman says this new kind of battery, the one he’s working on, could power even a Tesla. And he says it could do it 200X greater than the current lithium-based battery used today.

He’s created a research company called alGAS that aims to prove just that.

Freeman says the algae battery also charges faster and lasts longer than current ion batteries used in, say, your cell phone, iPad… or a Tesla. As Freeman explains, paper-thin fibers in algae provide an easier surface for ions to get through, resulting in a charge in as little as 11 seconds, not minutes or hours.

Here is how a current battery charges, using lots of rare earth minerals that may be going extinct or, worse, cause cancer:

Though there isn’t much by way of illustration to show how this works for algae, Ryan Bethencourt, founder of the Berkeley Biotech Labs, was able to send me this brief video that sort of explains the process.

Previous tests proved algae has a charge and could theoretically work as battery power, but what’s not known is how much of a charge and how much of it will be needed to power, say, a car. Freeman believes he’s figured out the answer. What he needs now is the funding to bring it into mass production.

Those rare earth materials currently used in ion batteries (cell phones, etc.) — 95 percent of which are shipped from China — are hard to extract. This makes them quite expensive.

Tesla pledged to use U.S. materials only, which does cut the cost. Still, it’s got to be more than what it costs to grow and use algae powered batteries, right? Right. Freeman only needs $1,500 for the prototype and says he can have his algae battery ready for mass production for a mere $5,000 by this summer.

The implications for this go beyond cars. In theory you could power your entire house. Yes, a living, breathing algae plant could make your house “go.” A French biochemist already powered a streetlight with the stuff.

What makes Freeman’s prototype different from previous tests is the use of a bio-safe polymer. The polymer is a critical element that binds the fibers together to create a better interaction with the electron charge.

While the prototype is still basically just a bunch of jars full of algae on the shelf of some lab, the potential, according to Freeman, is very big.

“Think of driving your car on a living battery that charges in seconds with a battery that costs almost nothing and is actually good for the environment.”

Related Articles:

Energy Storage Super Capacitors Bottle Energy in New Breakthrough

Sony's bio battery turns waste paper into electricity

Air Power

Ford recalls over a million cars for technical faults

America’s second-largest carmaker Ford has recalled 1.4 million vehicles to fix problems with steering columns and other technical defects. The move came in the wake of a major safety scandal at rival General Motors.

Deutsche Welle, 30 May 2014

In the largest of the recalls, Ford said on Thursday it’s calling back some 915,000 million sport utility vehicles (SUVs) to fix a problem with the torque sensor within the steering column that could potentially cause a loss of power steering – a factor that could raise the risk of a crash.

Another additional recall affects Ford’s Taurus sedans built between 2010 and 2014 because they could be prone to a corrosion problem. Finally, a problem with floor mats potentially coming into contact with the gas pedal has also prompted the company to pull back over 80,000 FordFusion, Mercury Milan, Lincoln Zephyr and Lincoln MKZ cars from the 2006 through 2011 model years.

Most of the Ford recalls are in the United States and Canada. The company has not said how much the recall campaigns are expected to cost the carmaker.

GM, Toyota cases heighten concerns

The move comes amid growing scrutiny of automobile safety in the US by regulators. Car giant General Motors is under intense pressure to improve its safety standards after it was accused of failing to address technical defects that began with its ignition switch issue in older model cars. Those faults have been linked to 13 deaths.

GM was fined a record $35 million (25.7 million Euros) earlier this month, the maximum allowed by US law. The car giant has recalled over 13 million cars in the US so far this year.

In a separate case, US authorities recently made carmaker Toyota pay a $1.2 billion penalty for concealing information from government safety regulators.

Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book, said the recalls could be caused by heightened concern by automakers because of the GM and Toyota cases.

"I do think manufacturers are more willing to issue a recall at this point because their sheer number in recent months has become a sort of background white noise for consumers," he said in a statement.

Reuters/AP /sp

Hunan farmer invents suitcase you can ride home

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-05-30

He riding the City Cab, May 28. (Internet photo)

He Liang, a farmer from near Changsha in south-central China's Hunan province, has spent 10 years developing what he calls the City Cab — a three-wheeled motorized suitcase that can carry up to two passengers a distance of up to 60 kilometers.

The three wheels are designed small so as to stabilize the vehicle and it relies on a rechargeable lithium battery which does not occupy much space, leaving the inside of the case entirely the same as a normal suitcase except for the buttons and steering panel on the grip.

The case can travel at up to 20 kilometers per hour and is equipped with GPS. It weighs only 7 kg.

He has obtained a patent for the City Cab as a multifunctional traveling case and is eager to see it on the road soon.

UN calls for wider use of surveillance drones

Yahoo – AFP, May 30, 2014

UN calls for wider use of surveillance drones (AFP)

United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN peacekeeping missions should deploy more drones and state-of the art technology to become more effective, limit boots on the ground and keep aid workers safer, their chief said Thursday.

On International Day of UN Peacekeepers, staff paid tribute to more than 3,000 peacekeepers who have died since 1948, including 106 last year, and to those still serving on the frontline.

The head of UN peacekeeping, Herve Ladsous, said, on average, a peacekeeper dies every 30 days, and technology needs to be upgraded to assist a record number of UN boots on the ground.

The Security Council last month approved a new mission in Central African Republic and in December voted to send an extra 5,500 soldiers to war-torn South Sudan.

"Clearly we cannot continue to afford to work with 20th century tools in the 21st century," he told reporters in New York.

Ladsous said drones had already helped in DR Congo and could be vital in improving humanitarian access.

"They (convoys) can use the images of the machines to make sure they are not going to be attacked or hijacked on the way. That I think is a very significant development," Ladsous said.

"We do need them (drones) in countries like Mali, like Central African Republic and clearly in South Sudan it would be my desire that we might deploy them," he said.

Surveillance drones could replace some military observers and make a big difference.

"In some cases using technology can make it necessary not to have so many boots on the ground and also, lets never forget, to improve on the delivery," Ladsous said.

Looking to NATO, EU

Ladsous expressed hope that the quickening departure of Western troops from Afghanistan could see more EU and NATO countries take part in UN peacekeeping missions.

"This is an opportunity for them to come back or move into United Nations peacekeeping, especially with high-tech assets, state of the art equipment... that could make the difference."

He pointed to Ireland, in the Golan Heights, and the Netherlands and Sweden, in Mali, as examples of EU and NATO countries who had also served in Afghanistan.

Ameerah Haq, head of field support, told reporters that fuel-efficient cars, solar power, night-vision capabilities and tethered balloons would also be useful.

"What gives the best capability to the troops? And if that is technology then certainly we want to study to see what is in our means to deploy," she said.

Haq said UN peacekeepers were more at risk than ever.

"We are facing the specific targeting of peacekeepers and also we are seeing the merging of conflict and international criminal activities," she said.

Ladsous singled out the UN missions in Darfur and South Sudan as the deadliest in 2013.

He also expressed frustration about the extra 5,500 troops approved for South Sudan being "too slow" to deploy.

"The ceasefire is not really implemented. The political process is marking time and of course we have to keep insisting that this situation has to stop," he said.

In Darfur, he said violence was also on the rise, with another 300,000 people internally displaced since the end of last year -- the same number as during the whole of 2013.

Google reveals driverless car prototype

First of 100 test vehicles is unveiled with no steering wheel or pedals, two seats and a top speed of 25mph

theguardian.com, Guardian staff, Wednesday 28 May 2014

Google's prototype driverless car has been unveiled at the company's
California headquarters. Photograph: /Google

Google has demonstrated its own driverless car, a design that does away with all conventional controls including the steering wheel, and says it will build 100 of the vehicles for testing with the eventual aim of "bringing this technology to the world safely".

The company had for several years been testing everyday cars equipped with sensors, navigation equipment and computers to drive themselves but in the meantime it has secretly developed a prototype from scratch that will have no facility for a human to take control, other than an emergency stop button.

An initial 100 testbed versions would retain manual controls, Google said as it unveiled the car on Tuesday. The controls are needed to comply with the law in California which along with Nevada and Florida allows autonomous vehicles but only if a driver can take charge.

Chris Urmson, director of Google's self-driving car project, said the aim was to run extended tests in California where Google is based. Urmson argued driverless cars would improve road safety, calling the development "an important step toward improving road safety and transforming mobility for millions of people".

Google said its testing had suggested it was safer to remove conventional controls altogether because the results of a human having to take over safely and suddenly were unpredictable and potentially dangerous. “We saw stuff that made us a little nervous,” Urmson told the New York Times.

The toy-like concept vehicle has two seats, a screen displaying the route and a top speed of 25mph (40km/h). An array of sensors allows the vehicle's computer to determine its location and surroundings and it can "see" several hundred metres, according to Google.

Related Article:

How does Google's self-driving car work – and when can we drive one?

Flight MH370: Malaysia releases new satellite data

Malaysia's civil aviation authority releases raw satellite logs to public following calls from relatives of those on board

theguardian.com, Matthew Weaver and agencies, Tuesday 27 May 2014

Malaysian authorities have released the data 80 days after the plane
vanished with 239 people on board. Photograph: Greg Wood/Pool/EPA

Satellite data used to narrow down the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, MH370, has been released after demands from relatives of the passengers.

The data [pdf], which was drawn up by the British company Inmarsat, was released 80 days after the Boeing vanished with 239 people on board.

It consists of a 47-page table of satellite logs from 4pm on 7 March when the plane took off from Kuala Lumpur until its last known contact of this type early the next day. Malaysia's civil aviation authority said the raw data was being released for "public consumption".

The data was used by Inmarsat to calculate that the Beijing-bound plane changed course and was likely to have gone down in the southern Indian Ocean. No trace of the plane has yet been found despite an extensive search in the area led by Australia, first on the surface by air and boat, and then underwater using specialist submarines.

Explanatory notes to the newly released data point out that the ping signals were used to estimate the distance between the satellite and the aircraft, but that they do not pinpoint its exact location.

Family members of the missing passengers have called for the data to be made public for independent analysis. They have criticised the Malaysian authorities for the way information about the search has been released and claimed they were wrong to give up hope by concluding that the plane went missing in the southern Indian Ocean.

Last week in a report to the governments of Malaysia and Australia they said: "There is no mention on why they are so sure the Inmarsat data is highly accurate and reliable."

Inmarsat's interpretation of the data has been verified by the international investigation team, which includes Malaysia's Department for Civil Aviation, the US National Transport Safety Board, Britain's Air Accidents Investigations Branch, and China's Aircraft Accident Investigation Department.

Analysts said it would take time to draw any conclusions from the new technical data.

Shukor Yusof, an aviation analyst with Malaysia-based Endau Analytics, said the satellite data was "highly technical" and required an expert to decode.

"There are very few people who can make head or tail as to what the numbers indicate. To me as a layman, it looks like a sequence of signals that were given out by the aircraft possibly indicating its flight path," he said.

Greg Waldron, Singapore-based managing editor with aviation publication group Flightglobal, said the satellite data was consistent with what Inmarsat had previously revealed.

"Basically it shows the timings of the handshakes of the plane with the satellite over the Indian Ocean," he said.

"But I would not dare to guess if they are searching in the right place. The fact that they are using this type of data shows how desperate the search for the plane is."

Malaysia's civil aviation authority previously stressed that satellite data was just one of several elements being examined by investigators.

Australia has committed up to £50m towards the search operation over two years.

Related Article:

Missing MH370 likely to have disintegrated mid-flight: experts

India's once iconic Ambassador car stalls

Yahoo – AFP, 25 May 2014

Indian holy men load an Ambassador car with their belongings in

Allahabad on February 17, 2013 (AFP Photo/Sanjay Kanojia)

New Delhi (AFP) - The maker of India's Ambassador car has suspended production, citing debt and lack of demand for the iconic vehicle which came to define the country's political class, a company official said Sunday.

Hindustan Motors, India's oldest car maker, shut down its factory on Saturday at Uttarpara in West Bengal state, where it has been making the Ambassador -- based on Britain's long-defunct Morris Oxford -- since 1957.

"Work has been suspended indefinitely at the Uttarpara factory. It is being done to ensure the company doesn't bleed more (money) and to enable us to draw plans for its revival," the senior official told AFP.

The company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange in a letter on Saturday, citing "very low productivity, growing indiscipline, critical shortage of funds, lack of demand for its core product ... and large accumulation of liabilities".

The curve-shaped Ambassador, whose design has changed little in nearly 60 years, once ruled India's roads and for years was the only car driven by politicians and senior government officials, particularly in New Delhi.

The car's "power status" allowed Islamist militants to drive an Ambassador past security and stage a deadly attack on the parliament building in 2001, bringing nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan to the brink of war.

But the Ambassador, easily the most recognisable car on India's roads, has been muscled out over the years by the entry of more modern vehicles, particularly SUVs increasingly favoured by senior bureaucrats.

The car still remains popular with taxi drivers, some politicians and tourists looking for a bit of nostalgia on India trips.

The country's once-booming car market has suffered a slump in recent years, with the economy growing at under five percent deterring new customers.

The Hindustan Motors official said Ambassador sales have long been falling, with the factory recently churning out just five cars a day.

Sales have dropped from 24,000 cars a year in the 1980s to less than 6,000 in the 2000s, according to the Times of India on Sunday, which predicted the end of the road for the "grand old lady" or "Amby".

"Had HM (Hindustan Motors) continued to evolve the Amby over the past 60 years without changing the DNA, it would have been the Rolls Royce of India," the paper quoted India's leading auto designer Dilip Chhabria as saying.