Author Archives: Tessa Zavala

Cement plants run on fossil fuels. Meet the new kid, NOC Energy, which has a copper coil heating mechanism that can attach to existing fossil fuel heating systems at cement plants to produce cement from a hybrid energy source. Tech Crunch | You’ve heard of hybrid cars. Now meet a hybrid cement plant.

At least 51 jurisdictions impose a tax or fee on ride share. Philadelphia’s mayor recently proposed a $1 fee on ride share with the revenue dedicated to public schools. In 2025 Pennsylvania proposed a ride share fee, which was not opposed by ride share companies in exchange for driver classification codification. Governing | Ride-Hailing Is […]

Robotaxis are tracking pothole data. Data that can be used to repair potholes. Cities are not currently recipients of the data. Work smarter, not harder. Tech Crunch | Waymo robotaxis are tracking potholes and sharing that data with Waze users

The Internet of Things (IoT) remains ripe with hacking opportunities. A breathalyzer company was hacked leaving drivers unable to use their vehicles to do things like drive to work. The company has “temporarily pause some of our systems as a precautionary measure.” The breathalyzers are used in 46 states.  It reads like a regulatory gap […]

Tech Crunch & WSJ are covering an AI plane startup. The target audience appears to be defense contracts and not commercial, but time will tell.  It’s complicated in that the person behind this projector had a fraud conviction pardoned. So, lots of eyes on this. Until then the group is, “spending a few hundred thousand […]

“Uber founder Travis Kalanick has a new company called Atoms focused on robotics that, according to its website, will operate in the food, mining, and transportation industries.‘ It is being talked about as wheelbases for specialized, non-humanoid, robotics. Tech Crunch | Travis Kalanick launches a new company called Atoms focused on robotics Tech Crunch | TechCrunch Mobility: […]

This week news links Lucid autonomous vehicle models to a partnership with Uber for robotaxis. A prototype is out in the world. Lucid is planning to release subscription services that make their vehicles autonomous. Rivian announced something similar at the end of 2025. This week news links Lucid autonomous vehicle models to a partnership with […]

The veto letter for Arizona’s SB 1439 states that the bill inserts politics into the function of government. The bill would have “allocated $17 of the $25 license plate fee to the Conservative Grassroots Network Special Plate Fund, which in turn would make an annual donation to an organization founded in 2012 that helps with voter registration at […]

“Honda has canceled three electric vehicles it was developing for the U.S. market, blaming President Donald Trump’s tariffs and rising competition from Chinese EV companies.” TechCrunch | Honda scraps 3 EVs planned for the US, blaming tariffs and Chinese competition

A former brain who worked on satellites for Amazon and Tesla founded Lux Aeterna “to develop satellite structures with a built-in heat shield that will allow them to return to Earth with their payloads intact.” Why? The company says return to earth satellites are the next big thing. Tech Crunch | This SpaceX veteran says the […]