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US DOT tells self-driving shuttle company to stop transporting kids
Sorry kids, neither you nor robots can be trusted. The US Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has told Transdev North America to stop hauling children around in its EZ10 Generation II autonomous shuttles in Babcock Ranch -- a community in Southwest Florida.
Google equips school buses with WiFi for homework in rural areas
When you're a rural student, the ride to school can easily take an hour or two. That's a lot of lost time that could be better spent doing homework or studying for tests. Google, however, is determined to put that lengthy commute to good use: it's formally launching Rolling Study Halls, or school buses equipped with WiFi, computers and on-bus educators to help rural students with work beyond school hours. The official program will expand on two pilots in the Carolinas to include 16 extra school districts, starting now with the Deer Trail district in Colorado. If all goes well, Google will have reclaimed about 1.5 million hours for "thousands" of students by the end of the school year.
Daimler's electric school bus will have a 100-mile range
Most school buses don't scream "high-tech," but they're actually perfect candidates for electrification -- most run two short routes and have long breaks for recharging. Daimler and its Thomas Built Buses division have unveiled an electric bus called the Jouley that should be able to handle that task perfectly. It's got a 160 km (100 mile) all-electric range and can pack up to 81 kids "safely, quietly and emission-free," Thomas said. Should operators need more range, they can add another battery pack.
Lockheed Martin's school bus takes you on a ride across Mars
Lockheed Martin's Generation Beyond initiative aims to "inspire the next generation of innovators, explorers, inventors and pioneers to pursue STEM careers." And what better way to spark young students' curiosity than to give them ride on a bus that simulates a ride across the Martian surface? Passengers aboard the Mars Experience bus are treated to an immersive virtual reality adventure. As the bus moves, it makes the students feel like they're driving across the red planet by showing 200 square miles of its surface on the boarded-up windows.
Tampa Bay school gets pair of plug-in hybrid buses
From a kid's perspective, we're sure they'd much rather be cruising on the iPod-equipped bus than a vanilla version that gets significantly better mileage, but regardless, a Tampa Bay school will become the first to receive a pair of hybrid buses to shuttle students around while saving between 70 and 100-percent in fuel costs. The vehicles can be fully charged in around six hours, and while the aforementioned improvements are only so drastic for the first "50 miles or so," it's certainly not a bad start. 'Course, school district officials are hoping that fuel savings will eventually lead to more money for classroom improvements, but we reckon it'll be quite some time before the savings on fuel overtakes the up front cost of these (presumably pricey) machines. Click on for a peek at the video.[Via AutoblogGreen]
Arkansas school to trial iPod, WiFi-equipped school bus
If you thought taking a ride on the GamerBUS was a thrill, this one will really make you long to be a youngster in Arkansas again. Reportedly, the Sheridan school district is launching the Aspirnaut Initiative to bring laptops, iPods, and wireless internet right onto Bus 46, and amazingly, they expect kids to actually glean knowledge rather than hit up a round or two of Counter-Strike. The project hopes to make the unbelievably long (three hours, to be exact) commute that some rural students face a bit less boring and a tad more educational, as students will have access to informational podcasts and web-based learning modules whilst cruising on home. Interestingly, the three-year pilot project will not give students class credit for their extra effort initially, but for brainiacs who stick with the program, they'll purportedly be keeping the goods for themselves once the trial run concludes.[Via ArsTechnica]
