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‘We’re going to continue to add capability’. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Last year, General Motors filed a trademark for something called “Ultra Cruise.” The company has never explained what Ultra Cruise is, but it would seem to be a reference to the auto giant’s well-regarded advanced driver assist system, Super Cruise. Today, we got some more details courtesy of GM CEO Mary Barra — but not enough to see the whole picture. In an earnings call Thursday, Citi Research’s Itay Michaeli asked Barra about Super Cruise, and then a follow-up about how GM “might go to market with the next-generation Ultra Cruise system?” Barra’s response suggested the new technology would have even more capability than Super Cruise. Or she could be conflating Ultra Cruise with Super Cruise? Honestly, it’s hard to say. BARRA’S RESPONSE SUGGESTED THE NEW TECHNOLOGY WOULD HAVE EVEN MORE CAPABILITY THAN SUPER CRUISE Here’s what she said: “As you mentioned with Ultra Cruise, th...

The ultra-fast project aims to be the first fully functional hyperloop in the world. There is no fully functional hyperloop in the world, but that could soon change, as officials in India have recently designated the ultra-fast, futuristic transportation system a “public infrastructure project” and will soon be taking bids on its construction. There are still many hurdles to overcome, such as certifying the hyperloop as safe for human passengers. But Virgin Hyperloop One, one of the handful of companies working to turn Elon Musk’s dream of supersonic travel through vacuum tubes a reality, is confident that its project in the western district of Maharashtra is all but a done deal. THERE ARE STILL MANY HURDLES TO OVERCOME Officials in Maharashtra have named Virgin Hyperloop One and its partner shipping giant DP World as the originators of the multibillion-dollar infrastructure project. The local government is expected to launch a formal bidding process for building a Pune-t...

Franky Zapata announced the crossing attempt earlier this month. Franky Zapata started the flight from Sangatte in France.   Photo: DENIS CHARLET/AFP/Getty Images A French inventor’s attempt to become the first man to cross the English Channel on a hoverboard has ended in failure after he crashed while trying to land on a re-fueling station in the middle of the Channel,  BBC News  reports. Franky Zapata, who invented the jet-powered Flyboard Air, took off from near Calais earlier this morning, and had hoped to make the crossing to St Margaret’s Bay on the English coast in around 20 minutes. Zapata, who was not injured by his fall into the water, had previously indicated that he only thought he had around a 30 percent chance of successfully making the crossing. Nevertheless, his failure suggests that the difficulty of piloting the noisy Flyboard Air means it has limited practical use. The inventor has previously said that it takes a minimum of 50...

Tap an app, and send your car to its parking space. Image: Daimler AG Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, and Bosch, a global auto supplier, received approval from local authorities in Stuttgart, Germany, to test an autonomous parking valet system, the companies announced on Tuesday. The testing will take place in the Mercedes-Benz Museum parking garage, which has been fitted with sensors to guide and monitor the vehicles as they park themselves autonomously. A car owner simply taps an app to send their vehicle away to its parking space, and summoning the car back is just as simple. No human driver is needed, the companies claim. NO HUMAN DRIVER IS NEEDED, THE COMPANIES CLAIM One aspect of the pilot project involved testing lighting concepts on the vehicles. Turquoise lighting was used to indicate that a vehicle was in automated driving mode as a way to inform passers-by and other road users that the vehicle was driving itself. Image: Daimler AG The garage’s inte...

10 double-decker rail cars towed over 1,000 feet. In 2017,   Ford announced   that it would sell an all-electric version of its best-selling F-150 pickup truck. It plans to start selling a hybrid version in 2020, and as a way to start priming the pump (or plug, as it were) for a vehicle that will no doubt be a very big deal, the company released a video Tuesday demonstrating the electric truck’s remarkable towing capacity. AN ALL-MALE RETINUE OF FLUORESCENT VEST WEARING TRUCK OWNERS ARE BROUGHT IN TO GAWK AND SHOUT “NO WAY” The electric prototype is seen pulling 10 double-decker rail cars over 1,000 feet. It does it once when the rail cars are empty and a second time with them loaded with 42 regular, gas-burning F-150s. The latter stunt puts the entire load at 1.25 million pounds, according to Linda Zhang, chief engineer on the electric truck project. An all-male retinue of fluorescent vest wearing truck owners are brought in to gawk and shout “no way” at the batt...