Filed under: Transportation

In the future, there will be a way to convert our cars into hovercrafts, just so we could sail along smoothly down the main drags of our respective cities. Short of that, we’ll take some 100 percent transparent two-inch thick polycarbonate wheels for our rides, like the ones a few bloggers just spied at this year’s SEMA show, going on this week in Las Vegas. These amazingly sexy D’Vinci Forgiato Radurra wheels cost a cool $2,000, which will buy you a single 20-, 22-, or 24- inch wheel. Four of these will make you the coolest kid in town, for sure.

Read – CarDomain
Read – Mobile magazine

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: GPS, Transportation

Everyone who’s ever been stuck in traffic always would love to know exactly what the road conditions are like. Sure there’s those news radio stations that interrupt every three minutes to tell you how the freeway you’re on is totally backed up, but those often don’t tell you how to route yourself around the problem. TomTom and Vodafone have just partnered to create a new type of commercial traffic data system based on thousands of mobile phones that will describe traffic conditions in real-time. The idea is that by using the regular signaling information between the handset and the base station, the location and speed of the handset can be determined at any given time. Combine that information across a region among thousands of drivers who become data points, and a picture emerges of how backed a given freeway really is — enabling TomTom to provide detours much more quickly than previously possible. The program is set to be launched in the Netherlands in the second half of 2007 — so for all you folks who commute into the Dutch metropolises of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, you may want to renew your Vodafone subscription pronto.

[Via Reg Hardware]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

We’re suckers for flying cars around here. I mean, just look at that picture above. It is so cool. Who wouldn’t want to fly above the daily traffic jam, pulling back on the steering wheel and rotating above the fray?

Meanwhile, back on terra firma, Mike Elegan at Personal Tech Pipeline talks some sense into us with his missive about how flying cars are a fantasy, how there’s no such thing as a flying car, just a “roadable airplane,” and shows us why the whole idea doesn’t make a lick of sense anyway.

The guy makes some good points, such as, with all the shitty drivers on the road these days, do you really want them flying around, crashing into other flying cars, houses, and even commercial airliners? Maybe until these things can be completely computerized, flying cars should stay where they are now, in never never land. – Charlie White

The Myth Of The ‘Flying Car’ [personaltechpipeline, via The Raw Feed]

Johnny Law won’t be too happy about this, but some honest, hard-working citizens have created an electronic license plate blurring device. At the flick of a switch, the Bullrun will obfuscate the numbers and letters of a license plate, making it nigh impossible for the long arm of the law to identify you. Granted, this is probably not looked upon too kindly by law enforcement, perhaps it’s even illegal, but laws are silly things anyway. – Nicholas Deleon

Bullrun Tech, Subterfuge Edition: Electronic License Plate Blur Effect [Jalopnik]

Fellow bloggers from our greasemonkey brother site Jalopnik got a first peek tonight at the much-anticipated Tesla Roadster, an electric-powered road rocket that can travel from 0-60 in four seconds with a top speed of 130mph. Singing the body electric is a 182-kilowatt AC-induction motor, a rear-mounted power plant drawing its energy from 6800 lithium ion batteries. Even though that engine’s barely audible, it’s capable of rotating at an astonishing 13,500rpm before it even gets close to the redline.

It’s packed with lots of humble off-the-shelf components, yet we’re hearing the vehicle might cost in the neighborhood of $100K. It takes 3.5 hours to charge up those thousands of batteries, and on a full charge it can keep on going and going, quick like a bunny, for 250 miles. Looks like lots of fun to drive, where its two forward gears let you enjoy that flat torque curve you can only get with an electric motor. Now if you’ll just lend us $99,995, we’ll be on our way. – Charlie White

Tesla Electric Car Pics Leaked! [Jalopnik]

Filed under: Transportation

Anyone whose garage is so packed full of junk that getting in and out of the car is nearly impossible will appreciate a new feature set to debut on future BMW models that allows you to stand outside while your Beamer parks itself (as well as unparks itself, we assume, or this tech wouldn’t be very useful). The German manufacturer recently released a video of this self-parking wizardry — you can catch it by following the Read link — which shows a happy homeowner simply pushing a button on his keyfob to fire up the motor, retract the side-view mirrors, and send the car on a controlled journey to its home just inches from another luxury ride. The system leverages distance-sensing technology that we’ve seen before from Mercedes, Toyota, and the like, but requires a reflective lens on the garage wall to operate, which unfortunately precludes its use in public parking lots. Still a pretty useful feature, but if it takes three years to find its way into commercial vehicles as BMW anticipates, we’ll probably already have the parking covered with those self-driving models we’ve been promised.

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Filed under: Transportation

If you’re the type that enjoys taking short road trips at low speeds, then a new “car” hitting the States this month may be just what you’ve been looking for: by the end of July, Toronto’s Feel Good Cars Inc. is set to ship one of the country’s first fully-enclosed, all-electric vehicles to 20 dealers nationwide, with 25 more expected to sign up by the end of the year. The Microcar Zenn (which stands for zero emissions, no noise) is an electric version of the diesel-powered MC-2 sold in Europe; Feel Good imports the cars without a drivetrain, slaps in a five-horsepower engine at its Canadian factory, and plans to unleash a small fleet of 2,000 vehicles in the next year at $10,000-a-pop. Equally at home in the inner city or a gated community, the Zenn features many of the same amenities you’d find on a regular car — seat belts, headlights, defroster, and a gauge cluster (no nav system, though) — in a 1,200-pound package that’s just 120-inches long. While vehicles such as the Chrysler GEM have shown us that there is indeed a market for these glorified golf carts, folks who enjoy hitting the highway and feeling the wind in their hair will surely steer clear of the Zenn, as its top speed of 25MPH and maximum range of 35 miles mean that you couldn’t possibly merge into 60+MPH traffic — that is, if the battery even lasted long enough for you to make it to the on-ramp in the first place.

[Via Autoblog Green]

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Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Others

In yet another example of an automobile manufacturer leveraging the brand to release a distinctly non-car product (see: BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini), Fiat has announced that it will begin selling a line of cellphones conspicuously emblazoned with the company's logo. Suggesting that this lineup values fashion over function, no specs are immediately available for any of the individual models, although we do know that all will feature cameras, MP3 playback, Bluetooth, and the usual suite of Internet functions. Crafted out of "cold" aluminum, the handsets were designed to be displayed in engine piston-like cases that are meant to invoke the good times you can only find by tooling around the European countryside in your Fiat Panda Monster. The new models -- which were built to easily pair with the Microsoft-powered Blue&Me in-car Bluetooth system -- will be available in chichi Italian boutiques later this month, with a general European rollout to follow this summer.

[Via textually and Autoblog]

Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation

In yet another example of an automobile manufacturer leveraging the brand to release a distinctly non-car product (see: BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini), Fiat has announced that it will begin selling a line of cellphones conspicuously emblazoned with the company’s logo. Suggesting that this lineup values fashion over function, no specs are immediately available for any of the individual models, although we do know that all will feature cameras, MP3 playback, Bluetooth, and the usual suite of Internet functions. Crafted out of “cold” aluminum, the handsets were designed to be displayed in engine piston-like cases that are meant to invoke the good times you can only find by tooling around the European countryside in your Fiat Panda Monster. The new models — which were built to easily pair with the Microsoft-powered Blue&Me in-car Bluetooth system — will be available in chichi Italian boutiques later this month, with a general European rollout to follow this summer.

[Via textually and Autoblog]

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Filed under: Transportation, Wireless

Parking meters have made huge strides in recent years, with some of them -- such as pay-by-cell systems -- providing increased convenience to change-starved consumers, while others -- like auto-resetting meters -- have made it harder to get away with modest infractions like picking up a previous parker's minutes. Now, what may be the ultimate in parking convenience, the "personal meter" is starting to catch on in more major cities. The small card readers have been around for several years, but have recently become more popular; last month, Buffalo expanded its pilot system from a service for handicapped drivers to a citywide program. Buffalo's system, like many others, relies on the Smart Park reader, from Israel's Ganis Systems. The card reader can hang from a car's rearview mirror, and can be programmed with a city's parking rules. When a driver parks, he inserts the card into the meter, sets it for his location, and the meter starts ticking away. Enforcement officers with handheld receivers spot-check cars, and issue tickets based on data they download via an IR link. The system definitely sounds convenient, and could eliminate all of those tickets for underestimating how long you're going to be parked. However, we can't help but think it could be improved by adding wireless communication with servers that can automatically track violations and issue tickets. This could be more efficient than the spot-check system, even if it would put Lovely Rita out of a job.

Filed under: GPS, Transportation

We've heard reports before about the dangers of driving while under the influence of GPS, but it looks like drivers in the UK have taken trust of their navigation units to the extreme. Twice in the space of the last two weeks, we've seen reports of British drivers taking serious risks because they trust the info displayed on the small screen more than what they see through their windshield. In the most recent case, drivers passing through the village of Luckington have found themselves landing in the River Avon, by following a GPS-recommended route that pointed to a bridge that has been closed for a week. Despite warning signs on both sides of the road, and nothing but water straight ahead, local villagers have found themselves pulling an average of two cars a day out of the river for the past week. "When you ask what happened, they say, ‘My sat-nav told me it was this way,'" one resident told The Times. Meanwhile, the  village of Crackpot (yes, that's really its name) has had to deal with drivers whose navigation systems have directed them to the edge of a cliff with a hundred-foot drop. So far, there have been no serious injuries, but drivers have found themselves stranded on a rocky path. "It's only a matter of time before something happens," said one resident. Listen, we like GPS as much as the next sense-of-direction-impaired driver. But we also do our best to use our eyes, as well. And if you don't, well, there's a village in England named for you, and it ain't Luckington.

Read - Luckington
Read - Crackpot

Filed under: Culture

While a number of studies have concluded that driving while using a cellphone can be dangerous, and many governments impose fines for driving-while-talking, the number of DWT cases prosecuted in the UK has actually risen by 75% in the past year. However, indications are that the rise may have less to do with chattier motorists than with stepped-up enforcement by police, including the use of tag-reading cameras. UK DWT fines are due to double, from £30 to £60 this year, so prosecutions may actually start to decline -- unless the chattering class of drivers is also price-insensitive.

What the X-Prize has done for space travel, its founder, Peter Diamandis, wants it to do for automobiles. Diamandis asks why we still drive cars that can only do 30 miles per gallon and why we are clinging to the internal combustion engine. High-profile contests like the X-Prize not only draw attention to the issues at hand, but also show the private sector that there is a strong desire—essentially around the world—to accomplish these goals.

An X-Prize for automobiles may be on the horizon [Autoblog]

In the market for a super-expensive car but just can't decide which beauty to purchase? It's tough, I know. But you may want to take a quick look-see at the 2007 Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan, which'll be out in February, equipped with all kinds of seriously geeky shit. An onboard radar system, automated acceleration and braking controls, and a night-vision display are just a few of the tech-related devices you'll find onboard, and the distance control feature is the first that can maintain distances between cars at a set speed. Add to this accelerated airbag deployment, and what more could you ask for? Except some extra cash to buy the car, of course.

The Ultimate Geek Car? [Wired]

Now that CES is over, we know some of you are feeling forlorn. So we figured we'd bring you some news from the Detroit Auto Show, which is taking place this week. Here's the Mazda Kabura, which seems to be a mutt, mixed with MX-5 Miata and RX-8. Basically a sports coupe mixed with a nice functional auto, it has a rear-drive powertrain, dynamic styling and a wide range of utilities on board. And most importantly, it looks very, very cool.

Mazda KABURA And CX-7 Unveiled At The North American International Auto Show - Part One [Carpages]

Yup, figured I'd give you a quick break from all the tech to take a look-see at the brand new Porsche Cayman S, shown at the Greater LA Auto Show, which is also going on this week. So basically, the biggest geeks in the world are all over on the West Coast right now. The Cayman S is a 295-horsepower, two-seat coupe that is being marketed as a "bridge between the Boxster roadster and the 911 Carrera." No price yet, but would it really matter?

Styling at the LA Auto Show [Cnet]

Seems I missed some of the big concept when writing about Toyota's bB car yesterday. So here's another shot: Imagine you are inside a digital audio player with wheels. That's the concept. Yes, the LCD is your window, the docking station is the gas tank. The speakers plug right up your... nevermind.

The top of the line model comes with 9 speakers, an audio system with surround DSP technology, and obviously, an input terminal to let you connect to a portable music player. And that's not all folks, you'll also get 11 flashing lights that play along with your tunes, which seems to me rather ridiculously dangerous—and some weird seating arrangement called "Mattari-mode front seats" that slide down and sink about 3 inches. Again, I have to call out the whole dangerous thing. In terms of car stuff, it comes with either a 1.5- or 1.3-liter inline four-cylinder engine with variable valve timing-intelligent mechanism and an electronic control four-speed automatic transmission. Front-wheel and four-wheel drives are also available. Goes from about $11,400 to $15,700.

Toyota Launches Fully Redesigned Passenger Car Designed to Be a "Car-shaped Music Player" [Tech-on]

If you're as poor a driver as I am, the idea of things like vibrating seat belts and directional horn sounds to alert you to an accident sounds like a nice addition to any car. Looks like Oxford professors feel that these kinds of sensory signals will help improve our reaction time in those first few tenths of a second during an impending collision—which they believe is a critical time if you want to avoid an accident. They have obviously never been in a car with me. Oh, and in case you're interested, they've also come to the conclusion that peppermint smells will keep you more alert when driving. But then again, I bet a nice Dutch oven would do the trick as well, so that insight doesn't thrill me all that much.

http://www.jalopnik.com/cars/news/vibrating-horny-peppermintscented-cars-sounds-kinky-140794.php [Jalopnik]

Brett Singleton, a student at a Utah technology college is converting a '32 Ford from a not-so-enviro-friendly lead-fueled engine over to a primarily electric hybrid engine. The engine Singleton is designing is different from other hybrid engines because it is primarily going to run on the electric motor rather than a gas engine. Singleton is working on this project with other peers and plans to release his system into a kit that will allow any environmental savvy hot-rodder to do similar conversions.

Utah Student Building Hybrid '32 Ford [Treehugger]

XM Satellite may be in bed with GM but Sirius has gone high-end with their partnerships. At least until 2012. Sirius has now extended its exclusive agreement to provide Mercedes-Benz with Sirius satellite radio as a standard feature, beginning with 2007 model year vehicles (coming out this year). Unfortunately, you'll only be able to get the service with 2007 year SL-Class and CL-Class vehicles, and all AMG and 600 model vehicles at first.

Mercedes-Benz also plans to extend the number of models with SIRIUS as a standard feature in the future. SIRIUS is available as either standard equipment or a factory option on Mercedes-Benz vehicles, with volumes expected at 250,000 vehicles over the next two years, a figure representing approximately 50% of Mercedes-Benz sales.

The subscription rate is bundled as part of the feature.

This week in Jalopnik: A luxury wheelmaker offers a free Bentley with a set of gem-encrusted rims; XM Satellite builds our dream traffic app; design students compete to design a killer Ferrari prototype; we review Honda's newest (and wonkiest) Civic; a Michigan man redeems the honor of a lost hot rod legend of the '60s; a German carpenter carves a full-sized classic Mercedes out of wood; and BMW is the first to launch a car that uses a new, high-speed data standard.

Dropping the word "bling" into conversation (or a column) may be as tired as "Will and Grace," but the concept of blingage has never been more blindingly alive. In what could be the long-lost eighth sign of the apocalypse, luxury wheel brand Asanti has introduced a set of diamond-encrusted 22-inch rims that cost a million bucks for a set of four. Here's the upside -- they come with a free, $150,000 Bentley Continental GT. Wither, Marie Antoinette?

XM Satellite Radio is working on a system with which drivers in urban areas can find available parking spaces. Sensors embedded in private parking lots will detect whether or not a space is in use, and that data is conveyed to drivers via their navigation systems. Still, the system won't be a truly killer app until cities embed the sensors into public parking spaces. That's when we'll show up at XM's office with cake, to say the least.

Students from top auto design schools are competing to come up with the most compelling new Ferrari design. It's a contest sponsored by Ferrari and Pininfarina -- "Ferrari: new concepts for the myth" -- and the students are from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Tokyo Communication Arts, Coventry University School of Art and Design, and the European Institute of Design in Turin. The winners will receive an internship at Ferrari or Pininfarina.

According to our own Robert Farago, the recently redesigned Honda Civic could bet the first car designed for the vid kids, the "first mainstream motor to reflect, represent and personify the Playstation Generation’s digitized automotive sensibilities." Bloop.

Ed "Big Daddy" Roth’s Mysterion was once one of the most recognizable custom cars from the radical 1960s hot rod generation. But the cycloptic beast didn't stand the test of decades; the lost machine likely turned to dust in the back of some defunct SoCal garage. But one Roth fan set about to recreate the Mysterion, only with a build quality exceeding that of, say, a paper-towel holder from Target. He did it.

Not all replicists, of course, aim for perfection. Some switch media and just keep right on going. One seriously skilled carpenter from Germany, Udo Haase, carved a replica of the famed Mercedes 300SL gullwing out of pine, just for the hell of it. And we couldn't even finish that baseball-card box in shop class.

And finally, BMW will be the first to apply a new data-transfer standard to a new car. The company's next X5 will be fitted with a suspension-damping application that uses the new FlexRay high-speed data transfer system. That system, developed by a consortium of carmakers and electronics suppliers, will likely form the infrastructure of new drive-by-wire functions that will one day replace mechanical systems for acceleration and braking. The X5's use of it is a kind of soft launch, a dry run to see how close to a zero failure rate can be achieved.

[Jalopnik’s The Week in Cars appears every Friday (normally, but Monday today)]

XM Radio is doing everything it can to make your life easier, and finding you a parking spot is topping the list. Using “Dynamic Parking Information” developed with Nu-Metrics and InfoGation, the…

Filed under: Handsets, Others, KDDI

In a move designed to foster tighter integration between cars and the cellphones that cause people to crash their cars, Toyota has just announced that it will be co-developing a handset with Japanese carrier KDDI based on an existing Toshiba model. The phone, cutely name TiMO (and obviously NOT pictured above — if you think that’s a Toshiba, you need to hit up this site a little more often), will feature Bluetooth functionality to make it compatible with Toyota’s in-car navigation systems (think: on-screen caller ID and audio piped through the vehicle’s speakers) as well as a dedicated OnStar-like button that drivers can trigger in an emergency. A special charger will also be part of the package, allowing the phone to dock in an armrest and give owners access to downloadable games and tunes, the latter of which will presumably be playable through the car’s audio system. Next to Kyocera, Toyota is the largest shareholder in KDDI (with an 11% stake), and will offer the handsets exclusively at its 7,500 Japanese dealerships starting in October.

[Via Autoblog]

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