Mercedes beat Tesla to the punch

China’s new hypersonic aircraft is based on a rejected NASA design, a proposed New Zealand law will ban cigarette sales for an entire generation Dec 10, 2021 [View on browser]( Good morning to Elon Musk, who must be feeling a bit stressed after Mercedes beat Tesla to the punch by getting approval in Germany for hands-free driving. The race for autonomous driving is getting too hot to touch. Moving on to China, researchers have built and tested a prototype hypersonic flight engine based on a design that was scrapped by NASA more than 20 years ago. And in New Zealand, there are plans to bring in a new law that will prevent an entire generation from picking up smoking. This is The Blueprint. Keep reading. TRANSPORTATION [Mercedes Beat Tesla to the Punch With Approval in Germany for Hands-Free Driving]( [Drive Pilot system.]( Germany has given the all-clear to [Mercedes-Benz's semi-autonomous driving system](. In case you missed it, this means that the firm's Drive Pilot autonomous feature may soon be available internationally ahead of Tesla's. - Oh, well. The highly automated system allows the driver to focus on other activities while in heavy traffic. This has long been a dream of many carmakers, [including and especially Tesla](. Baby steps. For now, the system's maximum speed is set at 37 mph (60 km/h), and Mercedes can provide the system only in Germany. But the firm is seeking regulatory approval in other jurisdictions, with plans to legalize its system as soon as a national legal framework for conditionally automated operation is established. Sometime mid-next-year, the firm's S-Class and EQS models will come with the option of Drive Pilot, but there’s no word yet on how much the novel system will cost. [Read More]( INNOVATION [China's New Hypersonic Aircraft Is Based on a Rejected NASA Design]( [A NASA X-47A aircraft]( A team of researchers in China [has built and tested a prototype hypersonic flight engine]( based on a design that was scrapped by NASA more than 20 years ago. - Down the memory lane. The original design was proposed by Ming Han Tang, a former chief engineer of [NASA's hypersonic program]( in the late 1990s. His Two-Stage Vehicle (TSV) X-plane design was at the center of the program; however, before it could prove its viability, it was terminated due to high costs and a series of technical issues. Tang’s design. The TSV X-plane has two separate engines on each side, which work as normal turbine jet engines at lower speeds. The aircraft can quickly switch to high-speed mode and accelerate to more than five times the speed of sound. The Chinese researchers’ prototype was tested in a wind tunnel that simulated the conditions of flying from Mach 4 to Mach 8. And the tests revealed that the engine design works, meaning they should be able to conduct tests and build further iterations of the prototype. [Read More]( HEALTH [A Proposed New Zealand Law Will Ban Cigarette Sale for an Entire Generation]( [New Zealand.]( In a move designed to prevent an entire generation from picking up smoking, New Zealand [plans to ratify a new law]( to reduce the national adult smoking rate to less than 5 percent by 2025. - Smoke it. Smoking is one of the leading causes of preventable death in New Zealand, killing 5,000 people every year in the island nation, where roughly 11.6 percent of people over the age of 15 smoke. However, smoking rates are much higher for the indigenous people, with 29 percent of Maori and 18 percent of Pasifika people engaging in the addictive habit. New Zealand's existing laws make it illegal for individuals under the age of 18 to buy cigarettes, which forced adult smoking rates down from 18 percent a decade earlier to just under 12 percent. Give up the ghost. In addition to age restrictions, the government may also reduce the number of stores that sell cigarettes in the country from 2024, with aims to reduce nicotine levels in products by 2025. Imagine forking over hard cash for a fix, and getting only nicotine-light or -free cigarettes. Just the ghost of a fix. While this is not [an outright ban on cigarettes]( like the one in Bhutan, tobacco retailers have warned that it could result in the emergence of a black market for these products. Seems likely. [Read More]( MAIL & MUSINGS Tobacco use kills 5.4 million people each year – one every six seconds – and is responsible for one in every ten adult deaths worldwide. Do you think federal laws should limit or ban cigarette sales in your home country? Be sure you check back tomorrow for the results! [Yes! I have a very sensitive nose.]( [No, that shouldn’t be up to the government.]( [Why not ban cigarettes completely?]( [Holy smokes!]( Yesterday’s Results NASA scientists are working tirelessly to create a fail-safe in case an asteroid poses an apocalyptic threat, so we asked you what your plan would be if we knew one was about to slam into the Earth this Saturday. The results are surprising, to say the least, since more than half of you said you’d do business as usual. We’re going to assume that’s ironic? Business as usual. 51% Welcome it with open arms. 18% Rave, rave, rave. 17% Spam Elon Musk until he saves me. 14% QUOTE OF THE DAY “ Chess is a unique cognitive nexus, a place where art and science come together in the human mind and are then refined and improved by experience. ” Garry Kasparov in 'How Life Imitates Chess' [Video]VIDEO OF THE DAY [​The Intricate Workings of the C-RAM Point Defense System]( Which stands for counter rocket, artillery, and mortar. [​The Intricate Workings of the C-RAM Point Defense System]( AND ANOTHER THING... - Rolls-Royce's new 2.5-megawatt hybrid-electric propulsion system [delivered more than a megawatt of power]( only a few weeks after its first tests. - [This comic tries to explain why]( thieves keep stealing catalytic converters. Hint: It’s elemental. (Knowable Magazine) - SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket [took off from the Kennedy Space Center]( in Florida, carrying NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer on board. - In the waters near the Indonesian islands of Badi and Bontosua, there is an orchestra constantly at play. These are also [the sounds of unexpected resilience]( against climate change. (Inverse) - The coldest place on Earth [is burning because of zombie fires](. - Tiny amounts of artificial noise can fool neural networks, but not humans. Some researchers [are looking to neuroscience for a fix](. (Quanta Magazine) - There are many [alternative ways we can make use of drones]( that go beyond being a glorified camcorder. [Share to Win]SHARE TO WIN [All products]( Share The Blueprint! Give your friends deeper insights into engineering and tech, and win exclusive IE swag for free. [Read Details]( Share your link Copy & share your referral link with others. 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