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POPSAutonomous VW says, "Look, Ma - No Hands" Traffic signals and stop signs were adhered to while oncoming traffic, three-way intersections and sudden stops by the demonstration cars in front of the Passat were recognized. Another engineer sat in the driver seat for safety precautions, but his hands never touched the wheel or foot pedals. It was like the Passat had become possessed!
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POPSCrash Avoidance Robotic Car Inspired by Flight of the Bumblebee
The LRF detects obstacles up to two meters away within a 180-degree radius in front of the BR23C, calculates the distance to them, and sends a signal to an on-board microprocessor, which is instantly translated into collision avoidance. "The split second it detects an obstacle, the car robot will mimic the movements of a bee and instantly change direction by turning its wheels at right angles or greater to avoid a collision," explained Toshiyuki Andou, Manager of Nissan's Mobility Laboratory and principal engineer of the robot car project. "The biggest difference to any current system is that the avoidance maneuver is totally instinctive. If that was not so, then the car robot would not be able to react fast enough to avoid obstacles," Andou said. "It must react instinctively and instantly because this technology corresponds to the most vulnerable and inner-most layer of our Safety Shield, a layer in which a crash is currently considered unavoidable," he added.
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POPS56MPG Toyota iQ May Come To US As A Scion But of course, we'll sacrifice fuel mileage for a bigger engine here, which always seems to be the case when they bring cars here. Americans are just too caught up with power to do otherwise.
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POPSCitroen GTbyCitroen goes from game to reality Sadly, very little is known about the GTbyCitroen in terms of performance, expected cost, or whether it'll reach mass production, but here's hoping. Citroen would earn itself a virtually unlimited amount of kudos if it went ahead and made it for real for real. We might even forgive it for the Citroen Ami.
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POPS106 mpg "Air Car" Creates Buzz.. & questions
The concept is similar to how a locomotive works, except compressed air -- not steam -- moves the engine's pistons, said Shiva Vencat, vice president of MDI and CEO of Zero Pollution Motors. Gas still plays a role The six-seater planned for the U.S. market would be able to reach speeds of more than 90 mph and have a range of more than 800 miles thanks to a dual energy engine, Vencat said.. The design calls for one or more tanks of compressed air under the car's floor, as well as a tank holding at least 8 gallons of fuel. Whether the engine uses just air or both air and fuel would depend on how fast the car is going. It would run purely on compressed air at speeds less than 35 mph, Vencat said. Since the car could only go a short distance when using just air, fuel is needed to get the full range, he explained. "Above 35 mph, there is an external combustion system, which is basically a heater that uses a little bit of gasoline or biofuel or ethanol or vegetable oil that wil
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POPSThe Guided Tour, Disney Style Disney deserves some credit for its latest push into the tourism market. Since 2005, the company has been quietly sending families on guided tours to places like Peru, Italy and England. The tours involve activities for both parents and children but don't have the feeling of being "Disneyfied". Put another way, these tours have some degree of authenticity and don't make participants feel like they're stuck in a theme park. Overall, it's a great concept for the brand.
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POPSReFractional.com - New site for Fractionals
Fractional Ownership is a relatively new concept (compared to others), where something is used for only portion of the time and costs a fraction of the cost (thus the term fractional). This is very popular with people looking for second homes, fancy cars, jets & more. You typically get a far superior service, concierge typically handling everything, the products are of higher quality and the ownership is hassle-free. In other words - you only need to worry about enjoying it. These are typically sold to a finite number of people and then the only way to enjoy the benefits are either by buying from an existing owner or renting (both options are available). ReFractional.com is a web site that allows everyone interested in Fractional concept to either buy, sell or rent fractionals. There's a small fee (now 50% off) for people trying to sell their interests... everyone else gets to use the site for free, including rentals. Also, there's a search service on the back end.
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POPSTH!NK Ox – A Fully Electric Car Think, with more than 17 years of experience in developing and producing electric vehicles is launching one of its models 'The Ox' in North America. The cars will start selling in the US next year but the actual mass roll out is slated for sometime in 2011,
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POPSWill "Th!nk" Ignite an Electronic Car Revolution in the U.S.? Think City is one of two models that are out already, together with the Think Ox, with a choice of either lithium or a sodium battery, it's range is enough to take a suburban dweller to the downtown office and back, with zero carbon footprint. The car is thoughfully fully computerized and allows a key-less entry. It features real time navigation, web, e-mail and open source interfaces, intelligent and sustainable driving and route calculations. The DNA-key gives the user feedback on charging status and sends messages, for example, for pre-heat or pre-cool options via GPRS. Pricing has yet to be announced, but the company's current vehicles cost less than $25,000.
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POPSCould A Car Be Designed To Run On Nuclear Power? It may seem like an impossible quest, or something from a science fiction movie, but nuclear-powered cars are worth considering, especially with the ongoing energy and climate crises. Given these challenges, some experts think that the use of nuclear power, in various forms, will make a comeback in the near future. When done properly, nuclear power is relatively safe, clean and affordable. So why not use it for cars? One such possibility is nuclear-fueled hydrogen -- using nuclear energy to create clean, safe, affordable hydrogen fuel. Nuclear reactors could also power stations where motorists charge highly efficient batteries. Finally, scientists could create a miniature nuclear power plant and stick it in a car.
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