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AirCar: BMW engine-powered European flying car tech sold to China
Mar 27, 2024 05:39 AM EST
Slovakian company KleinVision has announced that it has closed the deal to license the construction of its AirCar to a Chinese firm. Finalized for an undisclosed amount, Hebei Jianxin Flying Car Technology Company Limited can now make the AirCar under its newly minted “geographically limited” license.
Under this licensing agreement, the Chinese company has been granted exclusive rights to produce and distribute certified flying cars, utilizing KleinVision’s advanced technology within a specific geographical area. The Jianxin Group is now in a position to harness this groundbreaking technology to revolutionize the transportation industry in China.
“We are pleased to announce the sale of the license for our certified flying car technology to the esteemed Chinese company,” stated Stefan Klein, Chairman of the Board at KleinVision. “This partnership represents a significant step in our mission to expand global access to revolutionary mobility solutions and drive progress in the industry,” added Anton Zajac, co-founder at KleinVision.
According to Anton Zajac, co-founder of KleinVision, Hebei Jianxin has already established its own airport and flight school following the acquisition of a Slovak aircraft manufacturer.
Chinese firm can now make the AirCar under license
Professor Stefan Klein invented the AirCar, which his company, KleinVision, is currently developing. Although still in the prototype phase, the AirCar is already quite advanced, equipped with a 160 HP BMW engine, a fixed propeller, and even a ballistic parachute.
The BBC reports that with this deal, China could now attempt to become a world leader in flying transportation solutions after leading the way in the EV revolution. To this end, Autoflight successfully conducted a test flight of a passenger-carrying drone from Shenzhen to Zhuhai last month.
The aircraft completed the three-hour car journey in 20 minutes, but no passengers were aboard. Chinese officials awarded eHang a safety certificate for their electric flying taxi in 2023.
China to become a flying car superpower?
However, infrastructure, regulation, and public acceptance of personal transport are still significant obstacles to the mass adoption of flying cars. However, aviation consultant Steve Wright believes this is only temporary. “This new mode of transportation is a great equalizer,” he told the BBC.
Global efforts to regulate the artificial intelligence sector have led to a scramble to develop a new set of questions that need to be asked. “In this respect, the West’s history can sometimes slow things down, as there is a bit of a temptation to try and squeeze these new machines into the old categories,” Wright told the BBC.
“China could see this as an opportunity to get ahead,” he added. Similar concerns were raised about adopting electric cars, which China has now become a global leader in.
However, the recent sale of the Slovakian AirCar has raised questions about whether China can do the same with flying cars. Wright mentioned that while prototypes like the AirCar were “great fun,” the final product would probably be more mundane, with queues, baggage checks, and other procedures.
https://interestingengineering.com/transportation/chinese-company-license-to-make-slovak-flying-car-aircar
Subaru Recalls Over 18,000 Vehicles Due To Airbag Issue
12:37 PM – Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Subaru has now recalled approximately 118,723 vehicles over a sensor issue that may cause a short circuit, preventing the front passenger airbag from deploying in a car crash.
According to the Subaru recall, which was sent to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), an airbag malfunction can increase the chance of a passenger suffering severe injuries or death during an accident.
The recall includes 2020–2022 Outback and legacy models. However, no injuries have been reported yet related to the reported airbag issue.
The affected models have a sensor that detects when someone is sitting in the passenger seat, which is connected to the vehicle’s Occupant Detection System (ODS).
Subaru stated that the company that was responsible for making the ODS may have used circuit boards inside the system that were “faulty.” They continued, explaining that having a faulty circuit board allows moisture to leak in, which can eventually cause a short circuit.
“If there’s a possible short circuit, the dashboard on the Outback or Legacy will alert drivers, the airbag system warning lamp will illuminate, the front passenger’s frontal airbag OFF indicator will illuminate, and the front passenger airbag may not deploy in certain crashes as designed,” the recall states.
When owners of Outbacks and Legacy vehicles bring their cars in to a nearby dealership, Subaru promises to replace the ODS sensors at no additional cost to them.
On Wednesday, the company intends to inform dealerships about the recall and its replacements.
Owners of Subaru vehicles should call the company at (844) 373-6614 and reference recall number WRA-24 if they have any questions regarding the issue. Owners can also reach the NHTSA by calling (888) 327-4236.
https://www.oann.com/newsroom/subaru-recalls-over-18000-vehicles-due-to-airbag-issue/
M 5.7 Earthquake - 178 km WSW of Port Orford, Oregon
2024-03-27 03:23:04 (UTC)
42.307°N 126.593°W
10.0 km depth
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us7000m875/executive
Artist Richard Serra, Who Warped Space With Steel, Dies at 85
Mar 26, 2024
Artist Richard Serra, whose monumental inhabitable sculptures warp our sense of space and time, died at his home in Long Island in New York on Tuesday, March 26. He was 85 years old and the cause was pneumonia, his lawyer John Silberman told the New York Times.
Serra was born in San Francisco in 1938 and earned a degree in English from the University of California, Santa Barbara before pursuing painting at the Yale School of Art and Architecture, notably under the mentorship of Bauhaus alumni Josef Albers. Despite this foundational training in two dimensions, Serra came to be celebrated for his sculptural works, in particular his massive installations crafted of industrial cold rolled steel that has been gently tilted or elegantly coiled into spirals. Hefty and imposing, at once aloof and inviting, they evoke sublime universes waiting to be discovered rather than standalone works meant to be viewed from a distance.
The artist made his home in New York City in the mid-1960s, when Minimalism was gaining steam as a cool alternative to impassioned Abstract Expressionism. Unlike his contemporaries, however, Serra opted for the gritty and process-based over the slick and precise. It was in this period that he produced his so-called “Verb List,” jotting down 54 actions such as “twist,” “crumple,” “rotate,” and “stretch” and promising to subject his art materials to every single one.
Today, a cursory search for “Richard Serra” on social media yields an endless stream of selfies and reverential, slow-panning videos, many of them shot at Dia Beacon, where the artist’s Torqued Ellipses (1996–2000) and other works are on long-term view. But these pieces were not always so well-received. At 12 feet high and 120 feet long, the rusty plate of weathering steel titled “Tilted Arc” was met with reactions ranging from dismay to fury when it was unveiled in Manhattan’s Foley Federal Plaza in 1981. Nine years and a contentious lawsuit later, the artwork was removed to the relief of hundreds of government workers who had petitioned for its withdrawal, stored away and never shown publicly again.
Critics have made much of the relationship between Serra’s use of scale and his work’s visual impact. Hyperallergic contributor David Carrier characterized Serra’s 50-ton Forged Rounds (2019) as “the ultimate billionaire’s art,” adding that they “are luxuries because of their unwieldy weight.” In one instance, the sheer mass of one of these gargantuan pieces — arguably the very basis of their appeal — resulted in the death of a worker at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1971. (The fabricators, and not the artist, were ultimately found responsible.)
Serra created works on paper throughout his practice, using mostly black oilstick and crayon to engage in frenzied, monochromatic mark-making that left some of us who adored his sculptures feeling disillusioned and confused. Still, the artist stood by these gestures, and the rich material works are a testament to the artist’s rebellious spirit.
Perhaps Serra’s most underrated work is his short video Television Delivers People (1973), produced in collaboration with Carlota Fay Schoolman. The seven-minute piece, a critique of mass media in the style of a public service announcement set to an uncanny soundtrack of elevator music, was broadcast to the public — a successful instance of insertion into mainstream channels to subvert and unsettle them.
“His work is involved quite literally in the world,” Hal Foster said in an interview with Hyperallergic Editor-in-Chief Hrag Vartanian in 2019. “The key moment is when he breaks out into space, first into the gallery and then into the city and then the landscape, and embeds his works.”
“That’s where I think he comes to square the circle, the old opposition of autonomy versus engagement,” Foster continued. “In a way, he plunges abstraction back into the world, and thereby complicates it.”
https://hyperallergic.com/880485/artist-richard-serra-who-warped-space-with-steel-dies-at-85/
Billy Corgan Hosting Podcast About UFOs, Conspiracy Theories With Fred Durst
MARCH 27, 2024
As reported by Ethan Shanfeld of Variety, Bill Maher is launching Club Random Studios, a podcast network and “entertainment hub aiming to champion authenticity from unfiltered celebrity voices.” The network’s first show, “The Sage Steele Show” premieres on March 27.
The network will feature hosts from various backgrounds, including NBA Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett. Billy Corgan, the president of the National Wrestling Alliance and the frontman of the Smashing Pumpkins, will host a show about UFOs and conspiracy theories with Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit.
“I never knew Fred or Billy,” Maher said. “But something good happens there, and I can feel like I’m best friends for life with somebody who I just talked to for an hour and a half. That’s the quality we want — a nighttime feel.”
https://www.wrestlezone.com/news/1458429-billy-corgan-hosting-podcast-about-ufos-conspiracy-theories-with-fred-durst
Fire, explosion rock downtown Comfuel site
Mar 27, 2024
Thirteen units from the Bowling Green Fire Department responded to a fire at Valor Oil on Wednesday afternoon in the 400 block of Raven Ave.
Katie McKee, public information officer for the department, said no injuries are reported at this time and BGFD is not aware of anyone who was inside the building at the time of the fire.
The call came in at 3:27 p.m. McKee said personnel from BGFD's hazardous materials teams are working to contain fuel runoff in the area. She said the teams are constructing a "pond" to keep fuel from running into storm drains.
Firefighters are currently working to bring the fire under control.
The Daily News will update this story as more information becomes available.
https://www.bgdailynews.com/news/fire-explosion-rock-downtown-comfuel-site/article_4a82654e-4c5b-59bb-91c4-7bbfc313ddc5.html