Science and Technology

A French start-up has a fresh idea – to design a lightweight and thus fuel-efficient car which can easily be converted into an electric version and then to sell complete factories to make the cars to countries with no motor factories.

CONNECtivity is a big buzzword in business - and now it is bees that are benefiting.

My broadband is slower than my neighbour’s, particularly having a weaker wifi signal. We use the same supplier. What can I do?

Police will be able to track drivers who are on the road without insurance from the beginning of next year thanks to a new database of insured vehicles being created as a safety measure.

Telecoms firm Orange is raising Zen mobile tariffs by €2/month from October 1 but has been criticised for disguising the rise as a download quota increase from 2Gb to 10Gb. 

Telecoms firm Orange is to switch users from the analogue copper wire telephone network – réseau téléphonique commuté (RTC) – and turn to an all-digital system to update and improve the telecoms network.

Dreary hours of motorway driving could be a thing of the past once autonomous vehicles start to be widely used but a group of friends are developing a solution for before that – with a robot car transporter.

A robot, intelligent rubbish bin that sorts and crushes cans, bottles and throwaway cups could help businesses and cafeterias clean up after customers – and boost recycling.

Transpod has set up a test track for its Hyperloop project in Limousin. But Yves Crozet, of Sciences Po Lyon’s LAET Transport, Urban Planning and Economics Laboratory, says speed-of-sound ‘train’ travel is a long way from reality.

As worse weather approaches, are there any steps we should take to avoid problems with our broadband internet?  J.I.

Lightning and power surges during storms damaged my modem and phone this summer as well as my line which needed repairs. What can I do to avoid this?

Seen nipping up and down the River Saône in Lyon, the Neptunéo electric catamaran owes its origins to a long-standing problem... but can prevent others for the future.

Patients and doctors who do not share a language may discuss complex medical problems thanks to ‘chatbot’ software from two French firms that goes beyond Google Translate to create a solution that could become as everyday as using the phone or FaceTime.

People in Normandy will soon be able to try one of a fleet of free robot taxis with public tests starting in Rouen of Europe’s first on-demand autonomous car service on open roads.

For ten years we have been using Orange internet and home landline. As we are only in France for the summer they allowed you to turn off the landline and internet when you were not there and restore the service when you returned so we only had to pay for three months a year. Now it is stopping. Are there any alternatives?

A phone app helps motorists to ignore calls or texts that may disturb them – and possibly cost them a €135 fine – by blocking them and automatically sending back a message saying the person is driving.