Feds Looking Into Mandatory Breathalizers
Big Opel/Vauxhall Is Watching
Ford's SYNC Will Call 911
Consumers Want Dangerous In-Car Distractions
Mashup of the Day: Medtronic/Lincoln MKZ Entry Level Luxury Real-time Glucometer
High Efficiency Digital Displacement Tranny to Double Mileage. Maybe.
BMW Debuts Fabric-Covered Car
The automotive industry has long borrowed technology from the aerospace industry. Head-up displays, space frame construction, "drive by wire" controls and lightweight materials all first showed up on modern aircraft. Now BMW is turning back the clock a century or so. Just like a WWW I-era biplane, the BMW GINA Light Visionary concept car is fabric-skinned. The water-resistant material is stretched over a lightweight frame that can change its shape as you drive in a process that's visually akin to Bruce Banner's transformation into the Hulk. There are no visible gaps in the car's "body" except the door openings, the headlight covers open like cat's eyes, the taillights shine through the fabric and the engine is accessed through what looks like a surgical incision in the "hood." In the video, designer Chris Bangle babbles on waxes eloquent about "a philosophy that says 'let's do things differently'" and "context over dogma" (whatever that means). It's a cool concept, Chris, but enough is enough. Why not just shut up for once and (as you suggest) "let the material do the talking?"
TTAC Called It: New 911 Offers DSG– Er, PDK Paddleshift
New Ford Powershift Paddle Shift Not So Hot?
YAFC (yet Another Flying Car): Terrafugia Transition
New Panasonic Nav System - and More!
BMW Unveils Efficiency Innovations
Gran Turismo 5 to Become "Facebook for Enthusiasts"
IT Firm Satyam Developing Mood-Sensing Car Stereo
Chrysler Launches "Innovation Barrage"
Ford Fights Blind Spots
New Big Brother Technology Measures Driver Aggression
Some People REALLY Need to Get a Life!
P2P Wireless Fuzz Busting
Audi Dual-Clutch Transmissions Finally Coming
Wilkinson: Will Tomorrow's EV Batteries Cope?
Chrysler To Offer In-Car Internet Access
Car Computing To Go Open Source?
Hoons' Horns
TTAC commentator Winklovic recently posted a link to an interesting website that introduced me to aftermarket air horns. I don't mean the pissant little Marchel and Hella beepers. Go to www.hornblasters.com and you can hear them; by God they're straight out of a Johnny Cash train song. I drive an ambulance with an air horn– the kind where you reach up and pull a chain when the kids on the sidewalk pump their elbows– and I'm here to tell you, those things can evoke miscarriages, soiled pants, split colostomy bags and pacemaker misfires. I was never aware that it's legal to put them on a car. A search of FMVSS, ISO and DOT standards turns-up nothing about maximum-horn-noise regulation. There are, however, numerous local noise regs that can get you ticketed for blowing one (apparently silent ownership is perfectly legal). Unfortunately, people who actually have these things seem to use them solely to cruise city streets at 15 mph and get close enough behind pedestrians to literally blow them into the weeds. That ain't right.
Microsoft To Launch In-Car Advertising
Auto Electronics Could Get Buggier Still
When Good Sat-Navs Go Bad
New Nissan Nav Disses Drink Drivers
Chrysler and Mercedes Unveil DriveConnected
"Problem: Drivers Are Buying Fewer GM Cars. Solution: GM Developing Driverless Cars."
Smart Cars Need Smart Tires
Toyota Enters the Automotive Alertness Race
Galileo Figaro-Magnifico: Euro GPS System Sucks-Up More Cash
Mercedes: We Haff Vays Uf Keeping You Avake!
But What About Heated and Cooled Cup Holders?
Toyota's Real-Life Transformers On Their Way
RCube: It Ain't Easy Being Green
The Fuel Cell Vehicle You Can Own Right Now
Give Your Car The Finger
Mercedes Shows Electronic Nannies Reduce Driving Pleasure
MS and Siemens: The ICEmen Cometh
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