As in-wheel motors are becoming an increasingly hot topic, Elaphe introduced its leading in-wheel technology to local and international automotive audience at the 2017 Shanghai motor show.

This conference concerned petrol stations in the UK. They have collapsed in number from 35,948 in 1971 to a mere 8,434 today. The collapse would have been worse were it not for hypermarkets opening new stations.

The IDTechEx Show! in Berlin, Germany on 10-11 May is Europe's most important event for those involved in technology scouting and product innovation, bringing together emerging technologies with global brands.

Uber is looking beyond ground transportation and has announced that the company has partnered with ChargePoint to create rapid-charging stations for Uber's planned network of on-demand flying electric cars that will be capable of vertical take-off and landings.

Project Portal - a hydrogen fuel cell system designed for heavy duty truck use at the Port of Los Angeles.

This is one of the first times that bespoke fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles have been used at a volcano such as Fuego, where the lack of close access to the summit vent has prevented robust gas measurements.

In order to get automated driving off the ground in China, a promising concept is still needed for how to generate high-precision, up-to-the-minute maps.

Hermes is launching an innovative testing programme for the use of self-driving delivery robots in London.

IDTechEx Technology analyst Dr. Lorenzo Grande was at Battery Japan 2017 to listen to the 30+ talks by leading Japanese companies, as well as to attend the co-located exhibition.

Business Secretary Greg Clark and Transport Minister John Hayes have announced a range of research funding which included a total of £4.25 million for a high energy battery research project, and an autonomous vehicle research project at WMG at the University of Warwick.

GreenPower Motor Company Inc announces that it has entered into a sales contract to supply 10 GreenPower EV350 40-foot zero-emission all-electric transit buses with the City of Porterville in California.

Vehicle emissions regulations for 2025 and 2030 are unlikely to be met by conventional vehicle technology as applied to most vehicles beyond small cars. Going to strong hybrid and pure electric powertrains involves considerable expense and delay and often totally new platforms.

Germany took a wrong course in vehicle powertrains initially resisting government support for electric vehicles, but many German industrial and commercial vehicle manufacturers are now going electric.

IDTechEx Chairman Dr Peter Harrop attended the recent Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Symposium in Singelfelden, Germany. In this article he shares his findings from the conference.

The drone market is changing. In this premium article, we will analyse the investment trends into drone start-ups, showing that the investment peaked in 2015. We will then consider changing market dynamics driven largely by the commoditization of the drone platform hardware. Next, we will consider the emerging application pipeline of drones before showing how the market is forecasted to change in the coming decade. We will then examine the use of drones in agriculture as a case study before identifying emerging new opportunities in drone software, services, and specialized hardware such as sensors.

IDTechEx Launchpad will showcase innovations from 18 start-up companies at the IDTechEx Show! held in Berlin, Germany on 10-11 May 2017 (www.IDTechEx.com/europe).

The more you look the more you see and, in the case of air pollution, it is bad news all the way.

Corvus Energy has been awarded a 10-year long-term service and maintenance agreement for the entire Scandlines hybrid ferry fleet.

IDTechEx analyst Dr Laura Baers gives an overview of solar fuels and explains why artificial photosynthesis is still difficult to bring to market.