Willie D. Jones

6 min read Willie Jones covers transportation for IEEE Spectrum and the history of technology for The Institute. Physicist and engineer Willie Hobbs Moore defied conventional wisdom in 1972 by becoming the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in science. MLive Media Group/The Ann Arbor News At a time in American history when even the most intelligent Black women were expected to become, at most, teachers or nurses, Willie Hobbs Moore broke with societal

4 min read Willie Jones covers transportation for IEEE Spectrum and the history of technology for The Institute. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Anello Photonics has developed a new breed of optical gyroscopes on silicon chips. Anello Photonics; Koichi Wakata/NASA This year, two companies—Santa Clara, California-based Anello Photonics and Montreal-based One Silicon Chip Photonics (OSCP)—have introduced new gyroscope–on-a-chip navigation systems, allowing for precise heading and distance tracking without satellite signals. Such inertial navigation is increasingly important today,

4 min read Willie Jones covers transportation for IEEE Spectrum and the history of technology for The Institute. IEEE Senior Member Amey Dharwadker, a machine learning engineering manager at Meta, enjoys a moment of relaxation at Golden Gate Beach in San Francisco. Amey Dharwadker Every time someone views a video on Facebook or Instagram, they engage with Amey Dharwadker’s work. The machine learning engineering manager at Facebook’s parent company, Meta, leads Facebook’s video recommendations quality

4 min read Willie Jones covers transportation for IEEE Spectrum and the history of technology for The Institute. San Jose-based Imagry has rolled out autonomous buses in Israel and has bids in to set up self-driving routes in five other countries. In the race to develop autonomous vehicle technology, some companies are steering away from robotaxis to explore a different avenue: driverless buses. With an anticipated shortage of qualified bus drivers looming and concerns growing

3 min read Willie Jones covers transportation for IEEE Spectrum and the history of technology for The Institute. The first-generation Toyota Prius, introduced in 1997, paired an internal combustion engine with an electric motor, making it the first mass-produced hybrid EV. In the early 1990s, Toyota saw that environmental awareness and tighter emissions regulations would shape the future of the automotive industry. The company aimed to create an eco-friendly, efficient vehicle that would meet future

6 min read Willie Jones covers transportation for IEEE Spectrum and the history of technology for The Institute. IEEE Spectrum‘s transportation coverage drew just under half a million visitors in 2024. Readers came to learn the latest news about advances in electric vehicles and battery technology, sustainable energy alternatives, transit infrastructure and logistics, and AI and emerging risks. One of our more popular articles reported on an issue at the intersection of technology and athletics.

2 min read Willie Jones covers transportation for IEEE Spectrum and the history of technology for The Institute. These three IEEE MOVE trucks provided power, light, and connectivity to survivors of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Grayson Randall When Hurricanes Helene and Milton struck the Southeastern United States in September and October 2024, their winds—as high as 290 kilometers per hour—destroyed houses and buildings, uprooted trees, took down power lines, and damaged roads. The storms also

6 min read Willie Jones covers transportation for IEEE Spectrum and the history of technology for The Institute. Stan Thompson sits at the controls of the first Alstom Coradia iLint hydrail train to go into public service in Bremervőrde, Gemany, in 2018. H. Stanley Thompson IEEE Life Senior Member H. Stan Thompson has lived a couple of professional lives. For decades, he was a planning engineer and futurist at Bellsouth Telecommunications, which was formed from

5 min read Willie Jones covers transportation for IEEE Spectrum and the history of technology for The Institute. AI-powered dash cams could detect when a commercial driver is weary and prompt them to pull over. Increasingly, vehicles with advanced driver assistance systems are looking not only at the road but also at the driver. And for good reason. These systems can, paradoxically, make driving less safe as drivers engage in more risky behaviors behind the

4 min read Willie Jones covers transportation for IEEE Spectrum and the history of technology for The Institute. Dmitry Kovalchuk/iStock As transportation sectors like shipping and aviation remain difficult to decarbonize, a French startup claims to have developed a promising solution to reduce carbon emissions in these industries. Aerleum, founded in 2023, says its technology can pull carbon dioxide from the air and convert it into methanol, which can be used to fuel cargo ships