article thumbnail

MIT Professor’s IoT Sensors Make Roads Safer

Cars That Think

Back in 2005, before smartphones were generally available, MIT Professor Hari Balakrishnan was so fed up with commuting delays in Boston that he built a mobile system to monitor road conditions. DriveWell has provided services to more than 30 million vehicles to date. While pursuing a Ph.D. In the final year of his Ph.D.,

MIT 124
article thumbnail

Ford kicks off new automated driving research projects with MIT and Stanford University

Green Car Congress

Ford Fusion Hybrid automated research vehicle with four LiDAR sensors. The MIT research focuses on scenario planning to predict actions of other vehicles and pedestrians, while Stanford is exploring how a vehicle might maneuver to allow its sensors to peek around obstructions. Click to enlarge. —Greg Stevens.

MIT 257
article thumbnail

MIT team develops data-driven safety envelope for lithium-ion batteries for EVs

Green Car Congress

Researchers at MIT, with a colleague from Tsinghua University, have developed a safety envelope for Li-ion batteries in electric vehicles by using a high accuracy finite element model of a pouch cell to produce more than 2,500 simulations and subsequently analyzing the data with Machine Learning (ML) algorithms. —Li et al.

article thumbnail

NREL, MIT, WSU team develops process to convert lignin to aromatic blendstock for 100% sustainable aviation fuel

Green Car Congress

Although electrification has shown promise toward reducing the carbon footprint of passenger vehicles, aviation remains dependent on hydrocarbon fuels due to their high energy density relative to even the most advanced battery technologies available today. A paper on their work is published in Joule. Stone et al.

MIT 195
article thumbnail

MIT team proposes flex-fuel gasoline-alcohol engine PHEV long-haul trucks

Green Car Congress

In a paper being presented at WCX SAE World Congress Experience in Detroit this week, a team from MIT is proposing the use of a flex-fuel gasoline-alcohol engine approach for a series-hybrid powertrain for long-haul Class 8 trucks. We think that the way to enable the use of electricity in these vehicles is with a plug-in hybrid.

MIT 247
article thumbnail

University Of Minnesota & MIT Teams Win American Solar Challenge

CleanTechnica EVs

Earlier this month, we ran an article about the Formula Sun Grand Prix, a track race that also serves as the qualifier for the American Solar Challenge, an overland race for college solar car teams. One of the cool things about this year’s race is that they added classes for slightly more practical cars to […].

article thumbnail

MIT, Ford researchers find lightweight conventional vehicles could have lower lifecycle GHG impact than EVs depending upon location

Green Car Congress

Researchers at MIT and the Ford Motor Company have found that depending on the location, lightweight conventional vehicles could have a lower lifecycle greenhouse gas impact than electric vehicles, at least in the near term. Their paper is published in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology.

MIT 236