MOTORHUB MAGAZINE
T
Toyota to launch $1bn A.I Project
he new company will be called
the Toyota Research Institute
Inc. (TRI), and it officially
opens its doors in January 2016.
joint fundamental artificial intelligence
research centres at each institution.
TRI’s HQ will be located in Silicon
Valley, California, near Stanford University, with a second facility near
MIT.
The $1 billion, which represents the
next five years of investment into TRI,
is in addition to $50 million Toyota
‘Toyota believes artificial intelligence
has already pledged to the Massachu- has significant potential to support
setts Institute of Technology (MIT)
future industrial technologies and the
and Stanford University to establish
creation of an entirely new industry.’
L
Toyota’s tiny mini Kiribo robot
Urus SUV to be 1st turbo charged Lambo
amborghini’s first 4x4 - loosely
based on the Urus SUV concept
car - will be the companys first
turbocharged car when the highperformance crossover arrives in 2018.
We are expecting a price tag around
€170,000, or £120,000 in today›s
money, making this the cheapest
Lambo in the range.
HondaJet ready for Take-Off
President and chairman Stephan Winkelman let slip that the 4x4 would use
a twin-turbo V8 in a visit to the UK.
He cited low-down torque and offroad ability as influencing the decision
to follow forced induction and claimed
that the design would evolve considerably from the 2012 Urus.
Hyperloop transport: The future
B
A
fter completing its first
flight last year, the HondaJet
has now received its type
certification from the United States
Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA). This means production can
being in earnest ahead of delivery
to actual customers. There are 25
in-build at the Honda Aircraft
Company’s HQ in Greensboro,
North Carolina right now.
Aside from it being Honda’s first
ever commercial aircraft, it is
also claimed to be ‘the fastest,
highest-flying, quietest and most
fuel-efficient jet in it class’.
It achieves these feats in typical
Honda fashion through innovative
engineering. The HondaJet features
‘Over-The-Wing Engine Mounts’,
which are said to ‘drastically’
improve performance and efficiency due to their reduced aerodynamic drag, while also minimising noise
and allowing for class-leading passenger and baggage space. In other
words, it’s a bit of a big deal.
Powered by a pair of GE Honda
HF120 turbofan jet engines, the
HondaJet’s top speed is 420 knots,
which is equivalent to 483mph.
Some 3000 flight hours have gone
into the certification process, with
testing conducted at 70 locations
around the USA.
ack in 2013, Tesla boss Elon Musk published a white paper proposing a radical
new mass transit system that would see
people and goods travel through tubes at speeds
of up to 700mph. The concept would rival air
transport as an energy efficient means of covering large distances in far less time than it would
take in a car. Most thought he was mad.
However, enough people took the Hyperloop
plan seriously enough that at least two companies
have sprung up with the competing ambition to
turn the concept into reality. And one of these –
Hyperloop Technologies – has just announced it
plans to begin testing early next year.
As Hyperloop Tech puts it, ‘Hyperloop is a transportation system in which a full-length tube is
built between destinations, with a controlled
environment inside the tube allowing people of
cargo to travel at extremely fast speeds.’
‘Controlled environment’ means low pressure
and therefore reduced friction, which makes it
far easier to move the capsules – known as ‘pods’
– inside the tube, in turn enabling them to reach
immense speeds.
ISSUE #3 Jan - Mar
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