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Verizon thinks it can be a serious player in self-driving cars
Verizon has long had a strong interest in connected cars, and it's no surprise as to why: it stands to make a lot of money if your ride is constantly transmitting drive data or streaming music. It would only make sense that the telecom wants in on self-driving cars, then. To that end, Verizon's venture wing has invested in Renovo, an automotive startup that has lately turned its attention to creating a platform that would help manage a whole fleet of autonomous vehicles. Renovo wouldn't be taking Tesla head-on with this tech -- it would be focused more on ridesharing and other services where driverless cars would need to work in harmony.
Renovo wants its electric supercar to be as personalized as your iPhone
When NVIDIA debuted its Drive CX platform and X1 mobile chipset at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, we were impressed by how it handled and displayed in-car data. But where are you going to find it? Tucked inside Renovo's $529,000 Coupe, of course. Within the span of three weeks leading up to the show, the outfit tricked out the EV supercar's chassis and harnessed the multitudes of raw data some 1,000 sensors provide to demo the graphics company's latest mobile tech. But just how deep does that silicon run? What are its implications? We asked Renovo's CEO Chris Heiser (above right) those questions and more, and you can find the answers after the break.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: Renovo Coupe, transparent solar panels and the Lego house
Wind power isn't confined to massive turbines found in the middle of cornfields; a Polish company has developed a 3D-printed, foldable wind turbine that can generate up to 300W of clean electricity -- enough to power your smartphone. And best of all? It fits in your backpack. We're also one step closer to having phones that charge themselves -- Michigan State researchers unveiled a crystal-clear solar panel that can be integrated into smartphone displays, windows and other transparent surfaces.
Americans now have an electric supercar to call their own
It's not hard to find electric supercars, but finding one that's truly American is a challenge. Even Detroit Electric's SP:01 borrows a British car body. Relief is in sight for patriotic EV buyers, however -- Renovo has just unveiled the Coupe, billed as the first "all-electric American supercar." It combines a Shelby CSX9000 chassis with eco-friendly guts, making it an odd blend of '60s-era sports car looks with modern responsibility. That still makes it a pretty fearsome beast. Its twin electric motors put out the equivalents of 500HP and 1000lb/ft of torque, which is enough to catapult it to 60MPH in 3.4 seconds -- that's quicker than most exotic gas guzzlers, and substantially faster than American performance EVs like the SP:01 and Tesla Roadster (both of which take "just" 3.7 seconds). It's quick to recharge, too, and can use a fast charger to top up in half an hour instead of the usual five.
