#Innovation

Testing Begins on Driverless High-Speed Rail in Advance of 2022 Beijing Olympics

Although we're still years away from the 2022 Winter Games, China has already begun testing a driverless high-speed rail system that will be put in place around the Beijing region in time for the Olympics. China Railroad corporation conducted the automated test using a high-speed train leaving Shenyang, Liaoning bound for Heishan, Hebei on the Beijing-Shenyang railway line last Thursday. Similar to trials currently being conducted on self-driving cars, a human driver is requi

Aim younger: logistics is going to need more than a million more employees

Logistics firms and their education advisors are now targeting children as young as 14 in an attempt to create more interest in the profession, as fears intensify of a gaping staff shortfall in the future. Ian Nichol, head of logistics at Career Ready, told delegates at Multimodal this morning that the industry is expected to need an additional 1.2m employees by 2022. “We have a ready-made training programme, but we need the industry to channel its knowledge and enthusiasm, b

Elon Musk said he'll try to break the Hyperloop speed record 'soon'

The current Hyperloop speed record is 240 mph On Sunday, Elon Musk said on Twitter that he plans to test a Tesla and SpaceX-branded Hyperloop pod at half the speed of sound "soon." The test's objective is to accelerate the pod to around 383 mph and bring it to a stop within around 3/4 of a mile. If the test succeeds, Musk would break the record set by Virgin Hyperloop One in December. Between building electric cars and sending rockets into space, Elon Musk has plenty to keep

$127 Million Savannah Port Rail Hub Expected to Take 200,000 Trucks Off State’s Freeways

Across a highway from the gates to the Port of Savannah, crews have cleared trees and driven pilings into the sandy soil to support bridges and a lattice of future rail lines. Though the construction site is only a few hundred feet from where cranes load and offload freight from giant cargo ships, Georgia Ports Authority officials said the project’s reach will stretch for thousands of miles and could mean billions of dollars in new trade for the state. On March 27, the ports

Editorial: Game of Drones

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is considering a plan to integrate drones across U.S. national airspace. Several large corporations have proposed a low-altitude control grid, which they would operate, to manage these unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), popularly referred to as drones. For Americans who prefer their skies to be as unpeopled as possible—and for those who don’t like the idea of little propeller-driven machines flying above their homes—this may well inspir

Public Trial of 'Last Mile' Pods Underway in London

The public will be able to ride in one of the driverless pods along a 2-kilometre route Members of the public are being invited to test a fleet of driverless pods in Greenwich, London as part of a research project to help shape ‘last mile’ transport. Over the next four weeks, visitors and residents at the Greenwich Peninsula will have the opportunity to engage with the new technology and share their experiences. “Typically these type of vehicles are described as suitable for

CERAWeek: Rick Perry Says Innovation, Not Regulation, Is ‘New Energy Realism’

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry speaks at CERAWeek by IHS Markit on March 7 in Houston. (Image: CERAWeek by IHS Markit) HOUSTON—If there was one thing Rick Perry, U.S. Secretary of Energy, wanted the assembled crowd of energy executives, analysts, media and other interested parties to take away from his keynote address on March 7 at CERAWeek by IHS Markit it was that innovation, not regulation, has set America on a path toward energy security, and it will continue to do so.

Embroidering Electronics Into the Next Generation of ‘Smart’ Fabrics

Is an archaic sewing skill a key to connected, sensing, communicating fabrics of the future? Archaeology reveals that humans started wearing clothes some 170,000 years ago, very close to the second-to-last ice age. Even now, though, most modern humans wear clothes that are only barely different from those earliest garments. But that’s about to change as flexible electronics are increasingly woven into what are being called “smart fabrics.” Many of these are already available

GOP lawmakers derail high-speed train plans to Chicago

A pair of Republican state lawmakers have effectively derailed — at least for now — plans for so-called “high-speed” passenger train service between the Twin Cities and Chicago. All they needed to do was object. “It’s in effect like a one-person veto,” said Sen. Scott Newman, one of the two lawmakers who put the brakes on a vision that has been in the works since the 1990s and has, over the years, received bipartisan support. The Minnesota Department of Transportation suspend

Texas bullet train proposal pits rural landowners against urbanites

About 100 miles north of Houston, the landscape is dotted with sprawling farms and remote ranches. But critics say parts of the region could change if the Federal Railroad Administration approves a $12 billion infrastructure project. Texas Central, a privately run railroad company, is hoping to build a high-speed bullet train similar to the bullet train system already in operation between Tokyo and Osaka in Japan. The train would connect Dallas and Houston in less than 90 min

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