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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A documentary shows how Houston, Texas significantly improved its outdated bus system.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.

Ring Taxi BMW M3 chases an Aventador SV and Cayman GT4

On paper, a BMW M3 that's loaded with three passengers probably shouldn't have a chance at keeping up around a track with a Porsche Cayman GT4 and a Lamborghini Aventador LP 750-4 Superveloce. In the real world, driver skill and track knowledge can make all the difference, though. And when the M3 is a Nurburgring Taxi with a driver that knows the course incredibly well, we end up getting a fantastic lap like this one. The 'Ring Taxi driver starts by teasing his passengers that they'll see whether the Lambo is fast. Before the two of them get on track, the GT4 cuts in to join the party. What follows is a fascinating lap of the Nordschleife. It's impressive how the BMW driver's skill allows him to keep up with the two other cars and blow past tons of other traffic. During faster sections, the Porsche and Aventador start to pull away, but as soon as the course gets curvy again, the M3 is right back in the action. As the group pulls back into the parking lot, even the Ring Taxi driver sounds impressed with his performance. See the impressive show in the video above. Related Video:

2015 BMW 740Ld xDrive

When it first came stateside in 1978, choosing a BMW 7 Series was a simple process. With one engine and one wheelbase, you could just pick what color you want and be on your merry way. Today there are ten different models, forcing drivers to choose among four engines (plus a hybrid), rear- or all-wheel-drive, and two different wheelbase lengths. As if this isn't tricky enough, the options list has more custom choices than the Taco Bell app. Do you want standard paint and upholstery, or something from the pricey BMW Individual collection? What about the headlights: Do you want LEDs, or are the standard xenons just fine? Need a head-up display? Night vision? Adaptive dampers? The list goes on and on. After a week with a new version of BMW's flagship sedan, we've sorted out which model you actually want, although it's still up to you whether or not to order a ceramic-glazed iDrive knob. Our favorite 7 Series is now the 740Ld Xdrive, a conclusion we came to after a week at the helm of the smooth, torquey land yacht. Driving Notes When the diesel 7 first arrived at the 2014 Chicago Auto Show, its engine was already familiar to American consumers. It's the same 3.0-liter, turbodiesel inline-six found in everything from the E90 3 Series to the past two generations of X5, as well as the current 5 Series. A robust 413 pound-feet of torque lathered across the rev range, with peak twist available between 1,500 and 3,000 rpm, and the corresponding horsepower tops out at 255. 0͖60 happens in a sedate 6.1 seconds, and for those with autobahn dreams the top speed is a modest 130 mph. While those figures aren't terribly impressive, as is often the case with diesels, the real-world application of the engine's power is far more dramatic. Even small throttle inputs produce a smooth surge of acceleration, making the 740Ld feel a lot quicker than the performance metrics might indicate. Even with the current cheap price of gas, the superior fuel efficiency of a diesel engine is worth noting, especially as this model only costs $1500 more than a 740Li xDrive. The diesel tips the scales at nearly 4,700 pounds, yet it boasts a 31-mile-per-gallon highway rating. It's rated at 23 mpg in the city, while our real-world testing saw returns in the mid-to-high 20s. Simple anecdotes about acceleration and fuel economy figures only convey a small part of the 740Ld's goodness.