Futuremark designed a 3D interface that changes the way that a car communicates with the driver. Audi will offer this new interface most likely as an option on the Q5, and then soon spread to others in the Audi line-up.
If you are driving on a highway and wish to stop and grab a bite to eat or fill the car with gas, the GPS interface not only will point you to the nearest restaurant or gas station, but your dashboard will also adjust dynamically. The display will also likely effect everyday features like the vehicle diagnostic system. But remember, just because your car now has 3D graphics does not mean you get to drive it like its a video game.
Now that it seems that drivers have mastered talking on the phone while driving (you can laugh here,) Microsoft is testing a new technology that will bring VoIP calls and internet to cars. Microsoft, in cooperation with the University of Massachusetts and the University of Washington, has developed a new technology called Vi-Fi (Vehicle Wi-Fi). The system aims to provide users with on-the-go internet access more cheaply than existing cellular broadband systems.
The biggest hurdle so far is that in Wi-Fi networks, as you travel overland, each signal station (base station) broadcasts a short distance. So you have to hop between stations. During these transitions, known as "hard handoffs", the signal strength typically drops. This makes hard to continuously get acceptable service, but Microsoft believes they have solved the problem.
Both General Motors and BMW plan to test devices next year that will convert an engines excess heat into electricity. Research into thermoelectrics, the science of using temperature differences to create electricity, couldn’t come at a better time as high gas prices accelerate efforts to make vehicles as efficient as possible.
GM researcher Jihui Yang said a metal-plated device that surrounds an exhaust pipe could increase fuel economy in a Chevrolet Suburban by about 5 percent, a 1-mile-per-gallon improvement that would be even greater in a smaller vehicle. According to GM only about a quarter of the total energy from gasoline is used to actually turn the wheels, while 40 percent is lost in exhaust heat and 30 percent is lost through cooling the engine. That means about 70 percent of the available energy is wasted. Reaching the goal of a 10 percent improvement would save more than 100 million gallons of fuel per year in GM vehicles in the U.S. alone.
Mercedes calls it the “one second nap”. That brief moment where you almost fall asleep behind the wheel but catch yourself in time. Now Mercedes says it has the technology to detect this state of tiredness, and will warn the driver before he/she has can cause an accident.
Studies show that overtired drivers are a contributing factor in 25 percent of serious accidents. According to Mercedes, after four hours of continuous driving, it takes a driver double the time to react to a situation. After six hours, this fatigue rate raises to eight times higher than normal.
To combat this Mercedes will begin to make a system called Attention Assist available on its cars in spring of 2009. Attention Assist compiles information about the driver in the first few minutes of a journey using acceleration, steering and external environment data. This profile is used as a constant comparison for the rest of the trip. At any point if the electric system detects fatigue, it may use warring noises and also display advise such as, "Attention Assist. Break!"
Lotus unveiled the safe & sound hybrid, a new technology that synthesize external sound on electric and hybrid vehicles to counteract the growing concern these ‘quiet’ vehicles pose to pedestrians and cyclists.
Electric and hybrid vehicles, a favourite choice of the environmentally conscientious have recently come in for criticism from blind and partially sighted people.
Due to the almost silent operation of hybrid vehicles at slower speed when running on electric power, the independent travel of the blind and partially sighted may be put at risk as they cannot hear these quiet vehicles as they approach, making crossing a road or walking through a car park hazardous.
The Lotus ‘Safe & Sound’ Hybrid technology demonstrator uses a standard Toyota Prius, one of the highest volume and most advanced hybrid vehicles to demonstrate the sound synthesis application and compensate for the lack of engine noise emitted by the vehicle when running on an electric motor. What has resulted is the same environmentally conscious hybrid vehicle, without the potential risk to pedestrians and cyclists.
General Motors first starting projecting the car’s info on the windshield in 1988. Now with twenty years later, the heads-up displays have not changed much but the technology it’s showing definitely has. So now for those of you who find it distracting to move your neck slightly to the side and have your music so loud you can’t hear even the passenger next to you, here’s your GPS solution. Asus has developed head’s-up GPS projected on your windshield. Enjoy.
Did someone just do a burnout or did a potpourri truck crash? That may be what Australians will be thinking soon as Kumho has just introduced scented tires to the country. The perfume is releases as the tires warm up from the friction in the road. Kumho says the perfume - predominantly lavender with hints of mint, iris and white musk - can be smelt within about a 33 ft radius of the vehicle. There also seems to be a practical side to the new tires because the oils used in the perfume also improve the bonding on the rubber. Kumho says this allows for above average traction and braking performance as well as a more comfortable and quieter ride.
Don’t worry if you find the scent unbearable, it should only last for a year of regular use. Personally, after being used to the smell of burning rubber, I can’t think of a sweeter scent. Oh wait, there is race fuel…
Is there anything the iPhone can’t do? Watch the video above as Dynolicious, a $13 accelerometer application for the iPhone, can give accurate track and dyno results. It was even put against the G-Tech Pro performance meter, which starts at around $150.
Technology is a wonderful thing. It wasn’t too long ago that it was impressive if your phone had a camera on it!
Nissan unveiled the All-Around Collision Free prototype, a new technology that helps protect the vehicle and its occupants from potential risks coming from multiple directions. The system includes two all-new technologies – Side Collision Prevention (SCP) and Back-up Collision Prevention (BCP).
Nissan was careful to spell out that the new safety features are designed to "help support the driver in an intuitive manner with minimal intervention."
For those of you who wanted a Segway, but thought they were just too bulky, Toyota now gives you the Winglet. It actually available in three different models that even include "hands-free" steering.
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