I had something like that at college. It’s like a RFID badge, but I have no idea how it actually functions. I did use it to unlock a door, so it can at least be used as a key in that sense.

Are they now just a horrifying servant class, aware enough of their existence, but due to their very bodies, unable to exist outside of their work as pilots and also, chairs? What happens to a Chair Droid when their ship is decommissioned?

I misunderstood the title to mean that new cars would automatically honk at other cars as those other cars speed past. That might be effective; it might also lead to lots of road rage.

Could be worse.  Could be wildfire smoke. Seems likely to be at some point, too.

One might even say, what goes around comes around.

50 mile electric range PHEVs are only required in California, and some states that follow its lead. I also heard something about 70 instead of 50.

That Klingon warrior has a deep cut. I assume it’s supposed to be Martok by the eye scar, but that’s not what I mean. He appears to be holding the bat’leth by the blade!  Ouch!

The first half of your question is very possible. Rivian R1 class vehicles have a pneumatic suspension that raises or lowers their height on demand. If the R2 and R3 do as well I’ll be really interested in them.

The weird thing is, more EVs (and more efficient hybrids) mean gas gets cheaper, until gas is used so little that gas stations shut down and it becomes hard to find. It might bottom out back near $1/gallon. Unless gasoline taxes go way up, which seems politically unlikely.

“If you’re asking “Dean Who?”, please allow me to introduce myself,”

And how can this be?

If they’d make a plug-in hybrid Maverick, in the low 30-something-thousand range, I’d go out and buy one ASAP. Otherwise it annoys me that you can DIY everything but the fuel.

If I hadn’t seen that guy in other photos, I would have said it was a bad AI-generated image.

Let me see if I’ve interpreted this properly. The sun and crescent must represent the Trappist system sun and the aliens’ homeworld as seen from Earth. (What’s a moon? Orbiting that close to their sun they can’t have any.) This must have been sent by the horse creatures, which apparently rear up on two legs with their…

Man of Steel is ranked way too high. I lost all respect for that movie after I saw this:

8kW*100 cars = 800kW, about the same as a decent small 2 to 4 plug DCFC station. Charger power can be adjusted as low as 1.5kW, but 8 will charge most cars overnight.

Apparently the latest Prius can be kind of fun with the right tires.

Don’t forget the energy used to pump, distribute, and refine the oil. Like this:

You just know some psycho little kid’s gonna kick them to bits. And then who will pay for that? Or can they make them cheap enough that it doesn’t matter?

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! Tesla, or another EV maker, should do something like this for EVs. There are lots of lessons kids could learn, like finding where to charge (in-vehicle maps), how to plug in (e.g. back your Tesla in, maybe use an adapter at a CCS station), what to do while charging (whatever…