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Recharge Wrap-up: Houston's bus revival, autonomous trucks on the Autobahn

A documentary shows how Houston, Texas significantly improved its outdated bus system. Called High Frequency: Why Houston is Back on the Bus, the short film describes how the city reimagined its bus system to become more efficient, more useful and more popular. Despite some opposition, the change has proven to be effective, with bus ridership up eight percent in three months, and light rail ridership up due to complementary bus routes. See the video above, and read more at CityLab. Automakers sent autonomous semi trucks on the German Autobahn as part of the European Truck Platooning Challenge of 2016. Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Scania, among other groups, sent platoons of trucks between Stuttgart, Germany, and Rotterdam, Holland. In Mercedes's platoon of three trucks, the lead truck was fitted with lasers and other sensors to guide the convoy down the road. The two following trucks relied on vehicle-to-vehicle communication to trail 50 feet behind the lead, making room for cars to come between them and closing the gaps when able. The close following distance provides fuel economy gains of up to 10 percent in the rearward trucks on account of the reduction in drag. Read more at Hybrid Cars. Renault has reduced NOx emissions in its Euro 6b diesel vehicles in real world driving conditions. By improving its exhaust gas recirculation systems and NOx traps, nitrogen oxide emissions are cut in half on average, under certain driving conditions. The improvements will be included in vehicles leaving the factory beginning in July of 2016. Beginning in October, owners of Renault Euro 6b diesels can have the modifications added to their cars for free. Read more from Renault. Tata Technologies is creating an innovation lab in California to partner with EV technology companies. Having a tech center in California allows Tata to work on technologies that will largely be deployed in the company's main market of Asia. "Today, we are partnering with companies and startups who have aspirations to sell in China, but a lot of what they do is in California," says Samir Yajnik of Tata Technologies. Read more from The Economic Times. BMW's i Ventures is investing in mobility-as-a-service software provider RideCell. RideCell provides technology for services such as carsharing, ridesharing and other transit services. "The convergence of transportation trends in cities is of key importance to BMW," says Ulrich Quay, head of BMW i Ventures.

Edmunds ranks the best used cars for 2013

When people ask us what car we would recommend for them, it's usually not easy to answer. To make a useful recommendation we must consider which of the numerous vehicle segments fits their needs best, and then choose one of the many vehicles offered in each segment. For some people, new cars don't meet their expectations of value, because they lose so much of it the moment they are purchased and driven off the dealer lot. For them, there's always the used-car market, where great deals can be found, but cars' histories of reliability and maintenance records - and perhaps that Certified Pre-Owned warranty - become ever-important factors playing into purchase choice.
To help out, Edmunds has done us the favor of assembling a list of the best used vehicles money can buy, covering model years 2006-2011, according to what it considers the most important criteria when shopping for used autos: reliability, safety, value and availability. That means unreliable, unsafe, super-expensive or limited-edition models don't appear on the list, but instead cars from each segment that are more likely to satisfy the general population.
There are some real goodies on the list, including but not limited to vehicles such as the capable Honda Fit, the cultish Honda Accord coupe (which can be had with a 240-horsepower V6 and a six-speed manual transmission some years), and the powerful Chevrolet Corvette. While Edmunds' choice of the Volvo C70 for best used convertible baffled us at first (not that it's a bad car), it redeemed itself by stating that the Mazda MX-5 still is an unofficial top choice if you don't require more than two seats.

Petrolicious shows Mercedes 280SL as architecture in motion

While still an absolute beauty today, the design of the pagoda-roof W113 Mercedes-Benz SL was revolutionary when it debuted. Moving away from the soft curves of the previous SL models, the all-new generation brought an upright, angular shape that was as much architectural as automotive. In the latest video from Petrolicious, owner and architect Daniel Monti expounds on the inspiration that he gets from his 1969 280SL's fantastic styling. The roof is the most famous design feature of this generation of SL. Look at the top from the front or back, and you can see a gentle, downward arc that evokes the look of a pagoda. That one styling element is also a fabulous counterpoint to a vehicle that is largely more angular than curvaceous. Petrolicious wonderfully illustrates how some of the SL's form-follows-function design aesthetic can be found in the architect's work in this video's heaping helping of mid-century modern goodness.