Agricultural engineers around the world are developing robotic tractors. Autonomous vehicles equipped with state-of-the-art computers, lasers, sensors, GPS systems and machine vision technology are closer to reality than most people realize.
Electric vehicles promise to transform the automotive landscape. But, don’t expect to see too many differences in assembly plants as automakers start ramping up production.
Automakers and suppliers are scrambling to produce key electromechanical components, such as axles, controllers, steering sytems and climate-control systems.
Today's unmanned military vehicles trace their roots to a Serbian immigrant. In 1898, Tesla was granted a U.S. patent for a “Method of and Apparatus for Controlling Mechanism of Moving Vessels or Vehicles.” The patent covered “any type of vessel or vehicle which is capable of being propelled and directed, such as a boat, a balloon or a carriage.”
The Pentagon plans to spend billions of dollars over the next decade to create a new generation of unmanned vehicles for various land, sea and air applications. Those devices will require a wide variety of state-of-the-art robotics, sensors, electronics, vision systems, grippers, controls, batteries and other components
A plain-looking warehouse near Detroit is being transformed into a state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery assembly plant. General Motors Co. (GM) is investing $43 million in the facility to mass-produce battery packs for the Chevrolet Volt and other extended-range electric vehicles. When the 160,000-square-foot facility opens next year, it will be the first lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant in the U.S. operated by a major automaker.
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