Zack Anderson, the 21-year-old MIT student who has been the subject of a recent controversial lawsuit and restraining order, is putting transit card hacking behind him.
The electrical engineering and computer science student, who will graduate next year, has been working on a project all summer that he and his collaborators hope will be the basis for a successful new business.
They've developed a shock absorber that harnesses energy from the vertical motion of a car, which they say can boost the fuel economy of heavy trucks by a couple of percentages.
They hope to market the solution to the military for use on its vehicles as well as to companies like Wal-Mart or perhaps police agencies -- any outfits that maintain large numbers of vehicles.
"It can translate for large fleet owners into millions of dollars of fuel savings," Anderson told Threat Level. "It's good for the environment. It helps the bottom line. It provides adaptive suspension capabilities. We could eventually make a big impact."
Anderson (pictured above second from right) has been working on the design outside of school with a couple of other MIT students, who were not part of the subway research and lawsuit with him.
The group has already produced a prototype, filed for a patent, and launched a new company around their product. The company is called Levant Power.
They're currently working on their next prototype, which they plan to install in a Hummer H1, the civilian version of the military's Humvee.
Photo: Dave Bullock (eecue)/Wired.com
See Also:
- Federal Judge Throws Out Gag Order Against Boston Students in Subway Case
- DefCon: Boston Subway Officials Sue to Stop Talk on Fare Card Hacks
- Federal Judge in DefCon Case Equates Speech with Hacking
- Computer Scientists Ask Court to Reconsider Gag Order in DefCon Case
- Boston Subway Board Member Delivers Scathing Criticism -- "System Is a Mess
