Skip to main content

Does this man hold the key to practical wireless charging? Cota sure looks like it

We might call phones, laptops, and tablets “mobile” devices, but true mobility is more elusive than it seems. Sure, we’re no longer tethered to our landline phones and desktop PCs, but we’re still limited by how much juice our batteries can hold, and more importantly, where we’re going to be when the juice runs out. Instead of enjoying our newfound freedom, we have to be ever mindful of our surroundings. We bog ourselves down with charging cables and battery packs; we read up on strategies to stretch our battery life as long as possible, instead of actually enjoying the gadgets they power.

Now picture this: You walk in your front door, and your smartphone immediately begins to charge itself right there in your pocket. Ditto for that iPad in your bag and the Fitbit on your wrist. The cables and extra batteries are a thing of the past, and with power no longer a concern, your devices can function in ways never before imagined.

Your smartphone immediately begins to charge itself right there in your pocket.

Hatem Zeine has already envisioned such a world, and it’s not as far off as you might think. The founder and CEO of Ossia is preparing to usher in a new era of wireless power, and it all starts with Cota, the Bellevue, Washington-based company’s flagship wireless charging technology. It’s capable of charging virtually any consumer device that uses wireless power, including smartphones, wearables, digital cameras, remote controls, electric toothbrushes, smoke detectors, and a range of connected home devices (IoT) such as thermostats, and much more.

“Cota is the technology that I invented-slash-discovered,” Zeine explains. “This happened around the year 2001 … and at the time, wireless power was classified right next to warp drive, teleportation, and time travel.”

While working on the concept of improving signal-over-noise ratio for data communications — as a means to provide consumers with better Wi-Fi and GSM signals — Zeine built a few software simulators to explore how adding more antennas could help focus their signals toward a receiver.

hatem zeine
Hatem Zeine Image used with permission by copyright holder

“Did you know that when you’re listening to the radio in the car, the antenna is actually receiving a little bit of the power that is sent out by the radio station antenna?” Zeine asks. “The radio station is emitting signals, but actually it’s power, and some of that little bit of power is ending up on your car antenna, and then that’s amplified to make a sound.”

Typically in data communication, you’re receiving about 1 millionth, or 0.000001 percent of the power that’s being transmitted … but what if we had a thousand antennas? Over short distances, Zeine discovered, he could boost the power being received all the way up to a quarter of what was initially emitted.

“I realized this wasn’t a signal-over-noise ratio improvement — this was literally power delivery over the air.”

How it works

Cota is about the size of a shoebox, and uses Ossia’s patented smart antenna technology to safely deliver remote, targeted energy to devices as far away as 30 feet. No plugs, wires, or charging mats needed — think of it as power by Wi-Fi. A transmitter in your home or office will remotely deliver data to any devices within range and charge multiple devices in the background, simultaneously.

“This wasn’t a signal-over-noise ratio improvement — this was literally power delivery over the air.”

“I have been designing electronics and computer software since I was 11, and I’ve always been fascinated by the electromagnetic signals and waves and structures and so on,” said Zeine, 50, a native of Jordan who earned a B.S. in Physics from the U.K.’s University of Manchester. “One of the things people don’t realize about the world is that very little of the world in linear …  and the uniqueness of [Cota’s algorithm] was that it works not on a line of sight. You do not need to focus the antennas in its direction.” In fact, it can deliver power over multiple paths, tracking a moving device 100 times per second to ensure the user is never exposed to the power being delivered.

The Cota power system emits what Ossia calls a beacon signal — a microsecond pulse that travels in all directions and is reflected back to the source by any devices within range that are capable of receiving a remote power signal. Once the transmitter antenna receives the reflected waves, it will know every path that is open between it and that device. The power signal would then return to the device along any available path and collect at the battery, just as the radio signal collects on your car antenna.

The power that can be transmitted is constrained by FCC limits for human exposure, and as such results in roughly one-fifth to one-third the charging speed provided by USB. “Here’s the thing,” Zeine says: “the reason that people want to charge quickly is because you give up your device and you want it back. But if you have a power system at home and one at the office, and let’s say you spend 8 hours in the office and 10 hours at home, that’s 18 hours of continuous charging, and that’s roughly equivalent to an iPhone 6 charging from zero to 100 percent three times.”

Zeine and Ossia are clearly looking beyond that most obvious example of Cota’s potential.

“The next thing is that we don’t think of Cota as a smartphone charger,” he says. “Yeah, sure, you can charge a smartphone, but really the challenge is this: charging every wearable — headsets, watches, whatever you may be wearing that now needs power, and we can power them while you’re sleeping. You’ll never have to take them off. Not even just your wearables — your security system at home, your smoke detectors, your remote controls, your kids’ toys, the flashlight, the clock — anything that needs power.”

What can you do with infinite battery life?

When designing an electronic device, one of the most important questions is: How long can it survive on a single charge? Given those limitations, the designer could be forced to make any number of concessions that could impact the quality of the finished product. Zeine explains:

“They say ‘OK, if I have that much power, then I have to cut down on the features, I have to reduce the size of the CPU, reduce the size of the RAM, reduce the display or remove the display, reduce the communication grades, communicate only once a minute or once an hour.’ But if you told these designers, hey, you now have continuous power delivered to your device. you have anywhere between 10 to 1,000 times more power than you did before, they’re going to say ‘I’m going put in a bigger CPU, I’m going to put a microphone, add a speaker, be more engaged with the user, add more value.’ We will start having a greater level of functionality from every device we have.”

Cota’s impact on the tech industry will not happen overnight, but rather in a gradual progression through four stages:

Retrofitting — The technology will first arrive on the market in the form of batteries and other components that can be added to a number of existing devices to make them compatible with a Cota transmitter.

Integrating — Manufacturers will integrate the Cota technology receiver within new devices before they are produced, eliminating the need for replaceable batteries.

Transforming — Freed from power limitations, devices will be designed with new and improved features and capabilities that were previously impractical or impossible.

Creating — The new landscape of wireless power can spur the creation of entirely new classes of devices.

“What if I told you that in your home you’re going to have 500 to 1,000 active powered devices in your house?” Zeine asks hypothetically. “You’re going to tell me, ‘That’s crazy, because I’ll be running all day changing batteries and recharging them. Nobody’s willing to do that. Cota transforms all of that and makes that possible, and that’s where we see the trillions of devices of the Internet of Things by 2025 — for that to happen, there has to be a way to power these devices, otherwise they’re really dumb and dull devices, and you probably wouldn’t call them devices at all.”

No plugs, wires, or charging mats needed — think of it as power by Wi-Fi.

Zeine is confident that Cota will be the first practical remote wireless power technology to hit the market when it debuts in 2016, along with an announcement of the manufacturers with which Ossia has partnered. He’s also quick to differentiate it from the competition, noting that pad-based wireless chargers such as Qi and PowerMat can only power devices within one inch. (Plus, to call them “wireless” is a misnomer, he says. “Any picture of that scenario includes a wire.) TechNovator requires a special phone charging case and functions at shorter distances than Cota, and is only now on the verge of launching a Kickstarter campaign, while Ossia has already raised more than $25 million in funding.

Zeine filed the first patents for Cota in 2007, and Ossia currently has seven granted patents with around 200 inventions filed in the last 18 months. Ossia has been building working systems of Cota since 2010, and is currently working on testing the fourth generation of the system for public consumption.

Ossia will unveil its market-ready Cota technology at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this January.

Brian Sutch
Former Copy Editor
Brian joined Digital Trends as a freelance copy editor in 2015. He has over a decade of experience as a communications…
Zoox recalls robotaxis after Las Vegas crash, citing software fix
zoox recall crash 1739252352 robotaxi side profile in dark mode

Amazon's self-driving vehicle unit, Zoox, has issued a voluntary safety recall after one of its autonomous vehicles was involved in a minor collision in Las Vegas. The incident, which occurred in April 2025, led the company to investigate and identify a software issue affecting how the robotaxi anticipates another vehicle’s path.
The recall, affecting 270 Zoox-built vehicles, was formally filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Zoox said the issue has already been addressed through a software update that was remotely deployed to its fleet.
Zoox’s robotaxis, which operate without driving controls like a steering wheel or pedals, are part of Amazon’s entry into the autonomous driving space. According to Zoox’s safety recall report, the vehicle failed to yield to oncoming traffic while making an unprotected left turn, leading to a low-speed collision with a regular passenger car. While damage was minor, the event raised flags about the system’s behavior in complex urban scenarios.
Establishing safety and reliability remain key factors in the deployment of the relatively new autonomous ride-hailing technology. Alphabet-owned Waymo continues to lead the sector in both safety and operational scale, with services active in multiple cities including Phoenix and San Francisco. But GM’s Cruise and Ford/VW-backed Argo AI were forced to abandon operations over the past few years.
Tesla is also expected to enter the robotaxi race with the launch of its own service in June 2025, leveraging its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software. While FSD has faced heavy regulatory scrutiny through last year, safety regulations are expected to loosen under the Trump administration.
Zoox, which Amazon acquired in 2020, says it issued the recall voluntarily as part of its commitment to safety. “It’s essential that we remain transparent about our processes and the collective decisions we make,” the company said in a statement.

Read more
Mitsubishi’s back in the EV game—with a new electric SUV coming in 2026
mitsubishi bev 2026 momentum 2030 line up

Mitsubishi is officially jumping back into the U.S. electric vehicle scene—and this time, it’s not just dipping a toe. The company confirmed it will launch a brand-new battery-electric SUV in North America starting in summer 2026, marking its first fully electric model here since the quirky little i-MiEV left the stage back in 2017.
The new EV will be a compact crossover, and while Mitsubishi is keeping most of the juicy details under wraps, we do know it’ll be based on the same next-gen platform as the upcoming Nissan Leaf. That means it’ll ride on the CMF-EV architecture—the same one underpinning the Nissan Ariya—which supports ranges of up to 300+ miles. So yeah, this won’t be your average entry-level EV.
Designed in partnership with Nissan, the new model will be built in Japan and shipped over to U.S. shores. No word yet on pricing, battery size, or even a name, but Mitsubishi has made it clear this EV is just the beginning. As part of its “Momentum 2030” plan, the company promises a new or updated vehicle every year through the end of the decade, with four electric models rolling out by 2028. And yes, one of those might even be a pickup.
Mitsubishi says the goal is to give customers “flexible powertrain options,” which is marketing speak for: “We’ll have something for everyone.” So whether you're all-in on electric or still into gas or hybrid power, they're aiming to have you covered.
This mystery EV will eventually sit alongside Mitsubishi’s current U.S. lineup—the Outlander, Outlander PHEV, Eclipse Cross, and Outlander Sport—and help the brand move beyond its current under-the-radar status in the electric world.
In short: Mitsubishi’s finally getting serious about EVs, and if this new SUV lives up to its potential, it might just put the brand back on your radar.

Read more
Toyota unveils 2026 bZ: A smarter, longer-range electric SUV
toyota bz improved bz4x 2026 0007 1500x1125

Toyota is back in the electric SUV game with the 2026 bZ, a major refresh of its bZ4X that finally delivers on two of the biggest demands from EV drivers: more range and faster charging.
The headline news is the improved driving range. Toyota now estimates up to 314 miles on a single charge for the front-wheel-drive model with the larger 74.7-kWh battery—about 60 miles more than the outgoing bZ4X. All-wheel-drive variants also get a boost, with up to 288 miles of range depending on trim.
Charging speeds haven’t increased in terms of raw kilowatts (still capped at 150 kW for DC fast charging), but Toyota has significantly improved how long peak speeds are sustained. With preconditioning enabled—especially helpful in colder weather—the new bZ can charge from 10% to 80% in about 30 minutes. Also new: Plug and Charge support for automatic payment at compatible stations and full adoption of the North American Charging Standard (NACS), meaning access to Tesla Superchargers will be standard by 2026.
Under the hood, or rather the floor, Toyota has swapped in higher-performance silicon carbide components to improve efficiency and power delivery. The AWD version now produces up to 338 horsepower and sprints from 0–60 mph in a brisk 4.9 seconds.
Toyota didn’t stop at just the powertrain. The exterior has been cleaned up, with body-colored wheel arches replacing the black cladding, and a sleeker front fascia. Inside, a larger 14-inch touchscreen now houses climate controls, giving the dash a more refined and less cluttered appearance. There’s also more usable storage thanks to a redesigned center console.
With the 2026 bZ, Toyota seems to be responding directly to critiques of the bZ4X. It’s faster, more efficient, and more driver-friendly—finally bringing Toyota’s EV efforts up to speed.

Read more