SHINING BRIGHT
Voltpost, an electric vehicle (EV) charger startup has designed lamppost charging technology to provide charging capabilities to neighbourhoods. The company announced its charging platform after a year of design and development. The technology specifically retrofits city lampposts into a modular electric vehicle charging platform. The device covers the base of the lamppost—like a metal collar—and is filled with all of the necessary cables and electronics required to provide alternating current (AC) Level 2 charging to two to four EVs at one time. While not fast charging, Voltpost suggests that its technology could be beneficial for overnight charging and for drivers who have longer waiting times.
AUTOMATIC ASSURANCES
The United States Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) has finalized a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) to make automatic emergency braking (AEB) standard on all passenger vehicles and light trucks by September, 2029. The NHTSA’s new FMVSS will also regulate pedestrian AEB in vehicles, aiding in the detection of pedestrians by future vehicles in order to avoid fatal impacts. As stated in a recent NHTSA report, the “NHTSA projects that this new standard, FMVSS No. 127, will save at least 360 lives a year and prevent at least 24,000 injuries annually.” The new standard will require all vehicles to be able to stop and avoid contact with a vehicle in front of them up to 62 miles per hour and that the systems must detect pedestrians in both daylight and darkness. In addition, the standard will require that the “system apply the brakes automatically up to 90 miles per hour when a collision with a lead vehicle is imminent, and up to 45 miles per hour when a pedestrian is detected.”
