Tantalum Connected Car Launches Cutting Edge Field Trials to Thwart NOx - the ‘Silent Killer’ of Air Pollution
CES 2018 - According to new research by US scientists, excess emissions of harmful nitrogen oxide (NOx) exhaust gases can be linked to 38,000 premature deaths worldwide1.
Tantalum, the leading connected car technology company is doing something about it.
They have teamed up with leading data scientists from Imperial College London, to build “Air.Car” which will produce highly accurate, real-time NOx feedback as you drive.
This enables drivers to reduce the amount of NOx they are putting out by better driving. For cities, states and federal authorities, Air.Car enables the introduction of fair and effective emissions and congestion charging which will actually improve air quality.
Launched on 18 Dec 17, a vital part of the research and development is a 1,000-vehicle trial, where units are being installed in diesel vehicles to estimate real-time NOx emissions in major cities across the UK.
Adam Bows, University of Oxford’s Sustainable Transport Manager, said: “By understanding emissions from a range of vehicles in our fleet, this project will help the University’s Transport Strategy objectives to improve local air quality and reduce the University’s carbon footprint. I look forward to gaining some really useful insights into vehicle usage which will also help the University to identify potential fuel and cost savings.”
Tracey Morgan, Bristol Waste Company’s Managing Director, said: “We run a large fleet of vehicles across the city of Bristol. Understanding the environmental impact of our operation is a key part of our sustainability plan and our commitment to contributing to a cleaner and greener Bristol. The data from this trial, which will include at least 40 of our heavy vehicles, will enable us to make more informed decisions around which of them we use, at what times and on which routes to help us manage that impact.”
Tantalum Corporation’s CEO, Ozgur Tohumcu, said: “There’s a real buzz around CES this year about how we can use data cleverly to improve people’s lives. At Tantalum, we think the time and effort we are putting into ground breaking R&D to create Air.Car is part what the CES is talking about. It will be transformative for managing and reducing the silent killer, NOx, in the world’s towns and cities, including here in the US.”
Available for further comment: Lincoln Jopp, a Non Executive Director on the board of Tantalum is available for further media comment, including radio and TV. He can be contacted on Lincoln@disruptivecapital.com and +44 (0) 7757 855 366.
Tantalum and Imperial College won a grant from Innovate UK’s Connected and Autonomous Vehicle competition (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/funding-competition-connected-and-autonomous-vehicles-2) to support their £2 million collaborative project to deliver real-time NOx emissions estimation capability from an OBD (On Board Diagnostic – the vehicle’s computer) connected device.
Once perfected, Tantalum’s CO2/NOx product will be able to provide a detailed understanding of the environmental impact of vehicles and the tools to minimise it.
The Air.Car project started in July 2017 and the 1,000 vehicle trial begins in the new year offering participants an estimation of their NOx emissions. The trial is fully funded for participants.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180109005137/en/
