Engineering
Robots, Start Your Engines!
Roborace is creating a new motorsport to accelerate the arrival of self-driving cars
Automobiles780 articles archived since 1845
Automobiles
Utilities Are Giving People Cash for Clean Cars
Automakers, regulators, legislators and utilities are increasingly working together to boost sales of electric vehicles
Automobiles
How Driverless Cars Will Transform Cities
A moving web of sensor-laden vehicles and smart intersections will transform how we get around town
Engineering
Tactile Traffic Maps Could Help Blind Pedestrians Navigate
Tactile maps could help blind pedestrians cross increasingly complex intersections
Automobiles
Affordable Catalysts Give Green Vehicles a Push
Reducing the platinum in fuel-cell catalysts could help bring hydrogen-powered vehicles to the mass market
Environment
New Biofuel Could Work in Regular Diesel Engines
The need for specially designed engines to run biodiesel is holding back the technology
Automobiles
Israel Tests Wireless Charging Roads for Electric Vehicles
New technology could power buses and cars on the go, but will it be cost-effective?
Automobiles
Combining 3 Vehicle Technologies Could Nearly Eliminate Auto Emissions
A new report finds that layering autonomous and electric tech with ride-sharing could cut carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050
Automobiles
Flying Cars Are Silicon Valley's Latest "Segway Solution" to Real Transport Challenges
Flying cars are the latest tech-tastic news bubbling out of Silicon Valley. But even if they are feasible, will they solve any real problems?
Automobiles
4 Cars Complete Race without a Human Driver
Earlier this month, four self-driving cars raced a 3.2-kilometer (two-mile) track in Northern California
Technology
Drivers Gear Up for World's First Nanocar Race
Chemists will navigate molecular wagons along a tiny golden track
Women and the War, 1915
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: July 3, 1915
Automobiles
What's Driving the Self-Driving Cars Rush
Scientific American technology editor Larry Greenemeier talks with Ken Washington, vice president of Research and Advanced Engineering at Ford, about self-driving cars.
Climate Change
California Forges Ahead with Clean Cars Rules
The move sets up a clash with the EPA
Automobiles
How Pedestrians Will Defeat Autonomous Vehicles
The ‘game of chicken’ which could be a serious problem for driverless cars
Engineering
Forget Flying Cars: Passenger Drones May Be Hovering Soon at a Location Near You
Self-piloting quadcopters make more sense than an airplane–automobile hybrid—but safety and logistics problems remain
Automobiles
Trump at the Pump: Car Companies Move to Create Fuel-Efficiency Double Standard
Changes by automakers and the White House would leave some states with more polluting gas-guzzlers, and others with efficient vehicles
Automobiles
Driverless Big Rigs Nearly Road Ready—That's a Big 10–4
Experts argue that self-driving trucks are even more important than autonomous passenger cars, and they’re easier to program
Automobiles
When It Comes to Safety, Autonomous Cars Are Still "Teen Drivers"
Automakers ask drivers to trust and share the nation’s roadways with autonomous vehicles, but there is no easy answer as to when they will be considered ”safe”
Automobiles
When Your Self-Driving Car Wants to Be Your Friend, Too
Who knew Knight Rider would be so prescient?
