The trial flight took place in June, but the event was reported only in autumn. The test lasted five minutes.

The commercial models will be able to cover eight hundred kilometers. This is the distance that the full-charge battery can provide.

The aircraft will have a vertical takeoff. It is designed for two passengers and a pilot. The vehicle is capable to cover approximately 80 kilometers for 60 minutes.

According to the company’s leader Mr. Fitzpatrick, the main focus will be made on the inter-city trips. The taxis will deliver their passengers closer to home and not to airports.

At present, most of the funds for road maintenance come in the budget from the fuel tax (about 29 billion pounds). But electric cars do not use fuel, and hybrids use it much less than the cars with internal combustion engines.

In short, in the near future the fuel tax will be greatly reduced, and eventually it may disappear completely. So, the government will have to switch to another way of collecting taxes from drivers.

It is rather difficult to impose a tax on electricity used for charging cars, as it is difficult to calculate when an electric car like any other household appliances, was charged. So, the idea to calculate the amount of tax for each driver, based on the car annual mileage, seems to be appropriate.

Today, the most interesting option is to provide a privileged (free of charge) run of 4,800 km (3,000 miles) per year. If this limit is exceeded, the driver will be charged a fee for each additionally covered kilometer. The option of applying some special mileage tariffs for different types of vehicles, is also being considered. For example, drivers in rural areas will get more privileged kilometers. Taxi or truck drivers will also be given the tariffs, which will be different from the ones fixed for ordinary drivers.

The fact is that the taxi operator Addison Lee has already signed a special agreement with the company Oxbotica which produces equipment for self-driving vehicles. During the planned period, Addison Lee and Oxbotica will work on the creation of 3D maps for auto-piloted taxi cars. Initially, it is planned to handle about 400,000 km of roads in London and outside the capital.

According to the words of experts, Addison Lee is in such a hurry with the announcement of their plans to create unmanned vehicles because they are trying to win the championship in the confrontation with Uber. The fact is that Uber is also in a great hurry to launch unmanned taxis on the roads of England, as soon as settle their problems and fully resume its work.

The head of Addison Lee Andy Boland recently said that the transfer to their park the machines which controlled by a robot will help to solve the problem with traffic jams on the streets of the capital, will set free a significant number of parking spaces in London.”

The newly-made partners have not yet called any specific deadlines, and have not yet announced a list of those from the automotive industry they will cooperate.

Especially for the CrossClimate, Michelin specialists created a new tread structure, this “pattern” improves grip, absorbs and dampens all vibrations from road bumps and has excellent elasticity in different weather conditions, down to temperatures approaching zero. The underprotective layer of this model, which is considered to be used while summer season, is made from another rubber compound, which reduces heat generation and improves fuel economy. Michelin indenders and designers succeeded in reducing heat generation by adding new level of silica to the rubber “mix”.

As a result of the tests, Michelin took third place thanks to a good ride on a wet surface and good handling when driving in the snow.
The updated CrossClimate + is released in a new composition that provides increased durability of tires, as well as other quality characteristics during the entire period of operation.

According to the tests, the manufacturer has improved driving performance on wet surfaces; but the tires still barely move through deep pools. The rest of the wet and dry tire tests have been held perfect.

Under wet braking, the car equipped with these tires had a stopping distance of 1.5 meters less than a car with Nexen tires, and a little less than seven meters than the last representative on the list – Kumho.

The Michelin CrossClimate felt very confident on a dry surface, and in the braking test these tires took more than four meters to stop, unlike its main competitor.
The CrossClimate tires are the best solution for snow, it still managed to defeat two all-season rivals and prove that it is able to cope with the British snowfall.
Note that the cost of the Michelin CrossClimate ranges from £ 111 on tyreleader.co.uk.