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FarmWise and Roush are making autonomous vegetable weeders
Silicon Valley startup FarmWise Labs announced today that it is teaming up with Michigan-based manufacturing and automotive company Roush to create autonomous vegetable weeders. The companies will work together over the course of the year to create prototypes for self-driving robots that will be able to navigate across crops. If all goes well, they will start to scale up with additional units in 2020.
Domino's built a pizza delivery car with its own oven
You have to sympathize with pizza delivery drivers. They're rarely driving more than an everyday car (often their own), which won't do much to help them get a pizza to your door on time. Clearly, Domino's Pizza feels their pain. The food giant has unveiled the DXP (Delivery ExPert), a heavily modified Chevy Spark that's focused on pie transport. The star attraction is an outward-facing oven in the back -- drivers can grab your piping-hot pizza without skipping a beat. There's also storage space for a whopping 80 pizzas (office party, anyone?), an out-for-delivery light and a puddle light to prevent any rude surprises when stepping outside.
Green Automotive's all-electric Zotye SUV gets closer to US roads
We haven't heard a ton out of Texas-based Green Automotive, but it looks like it's now getting fairly close to actually selling its all-electric SUV in the US. That vehicle is already produced and sold in China, but Green Automotive has signed an exclusive agreement with Zotye to bring it to the US, and it's now also brought on Roush Industries to provide structural and vehicle engineering support as it begins a four-step phase to meet or exceed the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. As for the SUV itself, it packs a 25.6 kWh lithium-ion battery pack that promises a range of up to 150 miles, and you'll apparently be able to accelerate from zero to 60 mph in 9.5 seconds and hit a top speed of 70 miles per hour. If all goes as planned, you'll be able to buy one by the end of this year, though there's no indication of a price just yet. Head on past the break for a quick test drive video. Update: According to CNET, pricing is expected to start around $30,000. [Thanks, James]
Ford Fusion Hydrogen 999 breaks 200 miles-per-hour
Looks like minuscule RC cars aren't the only alternatively powered vehicles trying to break 200 miles-per-hour, as Ford just became the "world's first automaker to set a land speed record for a production-based fuel cell powered car." The whip used to set the bar, of course, is none other than the Fusion Hydrogen 999, and it reportedly reached over 207 miles-per-hour at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Wendover, Utah without using a drop of gas. Apparently, Ford is hoping that this showcase of speed will somehow translate into advancements that will help us common folk get to work and back sans gasoline, and while we've no idea when a fuel cell propelled Cobra will roll off the line, it did note that a number of fuel cell propelled Focus vehicles were still burning down the roads as part of an ongoing study.[Via AutoblogGreen]
