Month: October 2025

https://www.autoblog.com/news/honda-makes-history-with-its-first-100-sustainable-jet-fuel-flight

Honda Aircraft Company has become the first manufacturer of twin-turbine very light business jets to successfully fly a HondaJet powered entirely by 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). The achievement marks an aviation milestone and highlights Honda’s continued push toward carbon neutrality across all transportation sectors.

The test flight, conducted in Greensboro, North Carolina, used GE-Honda HF120 engines, which were validated for full SAF operation without blending with conventional jet fuel. Until now, most business jet SAF demonstrations have used 50/50 blends. Honda’s ability to operate entirely on sustainable fuel represents a step forward for small aircraft efficiency and environmental performance.

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Honda said the flight proves SAF’s compatibility with smaller turbine platforms and underscores its potential to reduce lifecycle carbon emissions by up to 80% compared with fossil-based jet fuel. The company plans to continue collaboration with regulatory and engine partners to support future certification.

From Roads to Runways

This achievement ties into Honda’s broader sustainability strategy, which spans cars, motorcycles, and now aviation. While the company’s automotive division is known for its efficient hybrids and growing EV lineup, its aircraft arm is proving that decarbonization extends beyond the road.

In the automotive world, Honda continues to sharpen its lineup through smart differentiation. As the Honda Passport Vs. Honda Pilot explains, even its SUVs are being tailored for efficiency and purpose. Similarly, the Honda HR-V Vs. Honda CR-V piece shows how the brand fine-tunes powertrains and space optimization, lessons that extend naturally into aircraft design.

The HondaJet’s Over-The-Wing Engine Mount (OTWEM) configuration, for instance, maximizes aerodynamic efficiency and cabin space while lowering drag, an engineering mindset shared with its most advanced vehicles.

Honda’s Broader Green Vision

SAF adoption is part of Honda’s multi-pronged approach to reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. Beyond aviation, the company is focusing on hybrid refinement and EV scalability, with models like the CR-V serving as key transition points. The automaker’s ongoing comparison testing, including Honda CR-V vs Hyundai Tucson, shows how its efficient hybrid and plug-in variants are keeping the brand competitive in the crossover segment.

In aviation, Honda is applying similar logic, targeting meaningful gains within existing product lines rather than developing entirely new aircraft. This incremental, data-driven strategy keeps costs down while advancing sustainability at a realistic pace.

Why It Matters

For the aviation industry, Honda’s successful 100% SAF flight could accelerate regulatory acceptance for light business jets and inspire other manufacturers to validate smaller turbine platforms. For Honda as a company, it reinforces a brand identity built on efficiency, innovation, and real-world application.

While many automakers are still experimenting with electrification in ground transport, Honda has now demonstrated carbon-reduction leadership above it, literally. The same engineering precision that separates its SUVs, crossovers, and hybrids is now propelling the HondaJet toward a more sustainable sky.

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October 18, 2025 at 10:15AM

https://www.autoblog.com/news/how-one-23-year-old-crashed-waymos-robotaxis-using-a-dead-end-street

Waymo’s artificial intelligence can deal with busy city streets with zero human input, but it turns out all you need to bring the system to its knees is a dead-end street and a smart prankster. Riley Walz, a 23-year-old software engineer, orchestrated what he dubbed the "world’s first Waymo DDoS" by coordinating 50 people to simultaneously order Waymo self-driving cars to San Francisco’s longest dead-end street. 

The result? A spectacular traffic jam of white Jaguar I-Paces with Waymo’s signature spinning roof sensors, all arriving to pick up passengers who never intended to board. Waymo responded by temporarily disabling all rides within a two-block radius for a few hours. The prank shows that even advanced robotaxi services aren’t immune to creative human intervention.

Waymo Self-Driving Cars Vulnerabilities

The prank was inspired by distributed denial-of-service cyberattacks, where systems are overwhelmed with simultaneous requests. Instead of crashing servers, Walz crashed a street near Coit Tower with autonomous vehicles. Nobody actually got in the cars, and after about 10 minutes of making the Waymos wait, the vehicles departed and charged each participant a $5 no-show fee.

This isn’t tech prankster Walz’s first brush with controversy. He previously created an app tracking San Francisco’s parking enforcement officers in real time before city officials shut it down. His pattern of projects blurs the line between satire and systems analysis, pushing boundaries while exposing potential weaknesses in smart city infrastructure.

The Big Picture: Autonomous Vehicle Traffic Jams

While Walz insisted the stunt was done in good fun and expressed admiration for Waymo’s technology, the incident sparked debate about autonomous vehicle traffic vulnerabilities. Some commenters praised it as a useful stress test, while others warned about potential malicious applications. This could include the likes of delaying emergency services during critical events like terrorist attacks. 

The stunt proves that sometimes the biggest threat to artificial intelligence isn’t another AI but rather humans with the know-how to play the system and some time on their hands.

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October 18, 2025 at 09:11AM

https://www.engadget.com/ai/googles-veo-31-is-better-at-generating-videos-from-images-220829129.html?src=rss

Google has released a new update to its Veo AI video generation model that should make it do a better job of sticking to prompts and converting images into videos. Veo 3.1 is available to try today through Google’s Gemini API and is now also powering the company’s Flow video editor.

Veo 3.1 builds on the new capabilities Google introduced with launch of Veo 3 at Google I/O 2025. The new model offers better "prompt adherence," according to Google, and should have an easier time creating videos based on the image "ingredients" you upload alongside your written prompt. Veo 3.1 also makes it possible to convert images to video and generate audio at the same time, a capability that wasn’t available with Veo 3. 

In Flow, Veo 3.1 supports at least a new feature that gives you finer control over the videos you generate. With what Google calls "Frame to Video," Flow lets you upload a first and last frame, and then generates the video in-between. Adobe Firefly, which is powered by Veo 3, offers a similar feature, but Flow will be able to pull it off and create audio at the same time. Those added audio skills will also apply to the video editor’s ability to extend clips and insert objects into existing footage, too.

Based on the samples Google’s shared, videos generated with Veo 3.1 still have an uncanny quality that seems to vary greatly depending on the prompt and subject. Even if it’s missing some of the realism of OpenAI’s Sora 2, though, the company’s decision to try and make Veo more useful to people who actually work with video rather than a source of social media spam is a welcome move.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/kc14I53

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October 15, 2025 at 05:17PM

https://www.autoblog.com/news/xiaomis-fatal-crash-exposes-a-deadly-door-design-problem-hiding-in-plain-sight

Tech giant Xiaomi faced its steepest market decline since April after a fatal Xiaomi SU7 crash in Chengdu, China, exposed critical electric vehicle safety concerns. Xiaomi’s shares tumbled over 5.7%, wiping out billions in market value as investors confronted uncomfortable questions about the company’s rushed entry into automotive manufacturing and the engineering shortcuts to get there.

Electronic Door Locks Trap Driver in Burning Vehicle

The incident occurred when a Xiaomi SU7 Ultra collided with a median barrier at high speed, immediately bursting into flames. Bystanders desperately attempted to rescue the trapped driver, but the vehicle’s electronic door handle system malfunctioned after impact, preventing anyone from opening the doors. The driver sadly perished in the inferno while would-be rescuers watched helplessly outside.

This tragedy highlights a disturbing trend in modern door handle design: manufacturers prioritizing sleek aesthetics over reliable emergency access. The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra features flush, electronically-controlled door handles that require electrical power to function. This means the door opening mechanism fails during crashes when power is lost. What was once a simple mechanical latch has become a complex electronic system with deadly consequences when it fails.

Tesla Under Scrutiny For Door Handles Too

Tesla is now redesigning its door handles after federal regulators launched investigations into reports that electronic handles failed, leaving children trapped inside vehicles. The NHTSA investigation found at least nine complaints, with four cases where parents smashed windows to free their kids. Tesla’s design chief announced plans to combine electric and manual door releases into a single, more intuitive mechanism, an admission that over-engineering basic safety features creates unacceptable risks.

Industry experts note that proper EV fire safety protocols require redundant mechanical door releases that function without power, a basic safety standard that Tesla is being forced to implement and that Xiaomi apparently failed to prioritize. As regulators worldwide scrutinize flush door handle failure risks, Xiaomi faces not only reputational damage but potential regulatory action.

Why It Matters

The swift market response reflects growing concerns about Xiaomi’s engineering capabilities. While the company made headlines with the SU7’s impressive performance specifications and competitive pricing, this fatal crash suggests those achievements came at the expense of fundamental safety features. The electronic door locks malfunction represents precisely the kind of over-engineering that creates unnecessary risk in life-or-death situations.

This incident serves as a stark reminder that automotive engineering requires decades of safety-focused expertise that some newer manufacturers cannot replicate through aggressive timelines and flashy specifications.

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October 15, 2025 at 03:03PM

https://kotaku.com/mozilla-launches-free-vpn-in-firefox-to-win-back-users-2000635612

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October 15, 2025 at 06:56AM

https://www.autoblog.com/news/toyotas-bold-bet-why-its-doubling-down-on-hydrogen-as-rivals-go-all-electric

While most automakers are doubling down on battery-electric cars, Toyota continues to chart its own course, one that keeps hydrogen fuel cells at the center of its long-term strategy. The company calls this approach “multi-pathway,” a philosophy that embraces hybrids, plug-in hybrids, battery EVs, and hydrogen together rather than treating one technology as the universal answer.

Toyota’s leadership has said repeatedly that hydrogen is the missing piece for achieving zero emissions in areas where batteries face limits, especially in heavy transport, industrial use, and high-demand fleet operations. The brand believes hydrogen could begin to replace diesel within the next decade, giving the technology both environmental and commercial potential.

Why Hydrogen Still Makes Sense

For Toyota, the appeal of hydrogen lies in its practicality. Refueling takes minutes rather than hours, and fuel cells deliver consistent range without the weight penalty of large battery packs. That makes hydrogen ideal for long-distance trucks, buses, and even stationary power systems.

It’s also an insurance policy. As global regulations evolve, Toyota wants flexibility across technologies and regions. While battery infrastructure expands in urban centers, many parts of Asia and the Middle East are investing in hydrogen pipelines and fueling networks. Toyota’s Mirai sedan, now in its second generation, remains a low-volume pioneer but acts as the company’s real-world test bed for scaling the technology.

Building the Ecosystem

The challenge for hydrogen has never been the vehicles themselves, it’s the infrastructure. Joseph, one of our contributing writers, highlights how innovative refueling technologies could cut costs and make hydrogen stations more compact, a development Toyota and its partners are watching closely.

To accelerate progress, Toyota has invested heavily in hydrogen research hubs, including its new “H2HQ” in California and a $139 million joint venture factory in Chengdu, China. These facilities will produce next-generation fuel cell stacks designed to be cheaper and longer-lasting, key steps to closing the cost gap with battery EVs.

Other automakers are beginning to follow suit. BMW’s upcoming X5 fuel cell model could help normalize hydrogen vehicles in mainstream markets. Toyota welcomes this competition, arguing that a larger ecosystem of hydrogen manufacturers and refueling providers will benefit everyone in the long run.

Why It Matters

Toyota’s persistence with hydrogen is about timing. Battery EVs dominate headlines, but they also face bottlenecks in charging infrastructure, mineral supply chains, and range limitations for heavy vehicles. Hydrogen, Toyota argues, can fill those gaps and serve industries that can’t easily electrify.

For now, hydrogen remains a niche bet, but Toyota sees it as the backbone of its next 20 years of carbon-neutral mobility. Whether powering trucks, ships, or factories, the company’s conviction is clear, that battery-electric cars may lead the present, but hydrogen will define the future.

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October 11, 2025 at 08:52AM

https://www.autoblog.com/news/chinas-ev-boom-has-a-dark-side-thousands-of-dealerships-are-shutting-down

China’s auto dealers are facing their toughest moment in decades as the rapid shift to electric vehicles, overcapacity, and intense price wars squeeze profits to the brink. Once a vital link between automakers and consumers, the country’s 4S dealerships (sales, service, spare parts, and surveys) are closing in record numbers. According to Bloomberg, industry analysts estimate that more than 8,000 outlets have shuttered since 2020, with thousands more at risk of collapsing in the next year.

The pain stems from a perfect storm of industry change. Chinese automakers have ramped up EV production faster than demand can absorb, leading to deep discounting. Major brands, from BYD to Geely, continue slashing prices to hold market share, echoing the turmoil seen in Europe. The result for them is thinner margins, higher inventory costs, and a growing wave of dealer bankruptcies.

Direct Sales and Domestic EV Brands Are Changing the Game

Adding to the strain is the dominance of direct sales and online-first models. Tesla, NIO, and XPeng pioneered factory-owned retail stores inside shopping malls, effectively cutting dealers out of the equation. These companies sell cars directly to consumers, maintain centralized pricing, and offer mobile service, all of which bypass the traditional dealership network.

Even legacy global automakers are adopting aspects of that strategy in China. Ford’s recent rollout of the new electrified bronco basecamp illustrates how manufacturers now market high-tech lifestyle vehicles directly to customers online, leaving dealers with fewer touchpoints and little leverage.

At the same time, Chinese EV brands are redefining what consumers expect from a showroom. Instead of sprawling dealerships, many rely on boutique experience centers and digital sales journeys. The shift means fewer test drives, fewer service appointments — and much less profit for traditional 4S stores that rely heavily on aftersales revenue.

Price Wars and Overcapacity Are Accelerating Closures

Overproduction has made matters worse. With nearly 200 domestic carmakers competing for buyers, China’s EV market is oversaturated. Fierce undercutting has turned new-car retail into a zero-sum game. Many smaller dealerships are now forced to sell cars below cost just to meet factory quotas and hold onto franchise rights.

Even as China pushes to lead the world in electric mobility, the financial toll on its dealer network is mounting. The government has hinted at measures to stabilize the sector, but analysts warn that consolidation is inevitable. The country’s EV boom has produced extraordinary technological progress, from luxury overlanders like Ford’s Basecamp to extreme performance machines, yet it’s also reshaping an industry that has relied on decades of dealership infrastructure.

Why It Matters

China’s retail auto crisis is a warning to the global market. The traditional dealership model, built on combustion-era economics, is incompatible with an EV ecosystem defined by direct sales and software services.

Dealers that can’t pivot toward charging infrastructure, used EV sales, or digital service offerings will continue to vanish. For automakers, it’s a reminder that the EV transition disrupts the business of selling cars altogether.

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October 9, 2025 at 02:05PM