Nissan's aerial view technology makes parking a cinch - International Herald Tribune 

TOKYO : Parking in tight spaces is a cinch with a new display from Nissan showing a panoramic bird's-eye-view of what's surrounding a car — a feature that the Japanese automaker says is a first for commercially ... mass-produced vehicles. Using digital cameras, Around View Monitor displays an aerial view of the car on a dashboard screen. The option will be available in the Infiniti EX35 luxury model, going on sale in the U.S. in December, and the Elgrand minivan selling in Japan later this month, the Japanese automaker said Friday. Tokyo-based Nissan Motor Co. said pricing for the option was still undecided. Other automakers have similar technology using digital cameras to show images of a driver's blind spots, but Nissan's system puts together the images to create the entire aerial view, not just what's in front or the rear. Images from all sides are shown the way they appear from above — with the vehicle displayed as a computer graphic in the middle of the screen. Toyota Motor Corp. has   [More...] [Less...]

Honda touts Clarity as latest, greatest fuel-cell car | The Japan Times Online 

A Clarity, Honda's new fuel-cell vehicle, is refueled at the company's research and development unit in Los Angeles last month, while a peek under its hood is shown below. HIROKO NAKATA PHOTOS But take ... a close look at the latest model of Honda's FCX Clarity, unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November, and you'll spot one key difference: There's no tailpipe at the back. This car doesn't need one. As a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, it releases only water vapor from an outlet on its underside, instead of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and other unsavory exhaust produced by conventional gasoline-consuming cars. Honda advertises the latest Clarity model as an exemplar of technological achievement, with more power per unit of weight and considerably higher fuel efficiency than its 2005 predecessor. Backed by rising calls to stop global warming, top U.S., Japanese and German automakers are competing to develop zero-emission technologies able to withstand a wide range of driving conditio   [More...] [Less...]

Air Car - First Air-Powered Car - Zero Emissions - Behind the Tech - Popular Mechanics 

India’s largest automaker is set to start producing the world’s first commercial air-powered vehicle. The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre for Luxembourg-based MDI, uses compressed ... air, as opposed to the gas-and-oxygen explosions of internal-combustion models, to push its engine’s pistons. Some 6000 zero-emissions Air Cars are scheduled to hit Indian streets in August of 2008. Barring any last-minute design changes on the way to production, the Air Car should be surprisingly practical. The $12,700 CityCAT, one of a handful of planned Air Car models, can hit 68 mph and has a range of 125 miles. It will take only a few minutes for the CityCAT to refuel at gas stations equipped with custom air compressor units; MDI says it should cost around $2 to fill the car’s carbon-fiber tanks with 340 liters of air at 4350 psi. Drivers also will be able to plug into the electrical grid and use the car’s built-in compressor to refill the tanks in about 4 hours. Of course, the Ai   [More...] [Less...]

Nabbed for speeding? GPS data could get you off the hook 

As anyone who has ever gotten a speeding ticket knows (full disclosure: I never have... knock on wood), you often have very little ammo to fight back against the reading that the all-knowing radar gun ... spat out. But thanks to more sophisticated and affordable technology, that could be changing. A California teen is using GPS data to attempt to get himself off the hook for allegedly going 17 miles per hour over the speed limit, simultaneously casting doubt on the accuracy of police radars and giving hope to tech-savvy drivers. The story started out simply enough. 18-year-old Shaun Malone was caught by a police radar going 62 in a 45 mph zone last summer. Under most circumstances, most people would assume that this was all simply true—it's not unheard of for teenagers to speed, after all. Malone's parents knew differently, though. It turns out that they had installed a GPS device from Rocky Mountain Tracking in his car in order to monitor his driving behavior. But this was far more sophis   [More...] [Less...]

Insert would improve crash testing for children's safety | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle 

DEARBORN, MICH. Ford Motor Co. is developing a high-tech insert for crash test dummies that is similar in size and shape to a 6-year-old's abdomen, aiming to improve tests for children's vehicle safety. ... The prototype is part of an effort to make pediatric crash dummies and tests more realistic. The hope is they'll lead to better vehicle restraints for children, the Dearborn-based automaker said in a statement. Partners in the collaboration include Wayne State University in Detroit, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and the Takata Corp., which makes automotive safety systems. Crash tests mainly focus on head and chest injuries, according to Steve Rouhana, a technical leader in Ford's crash dummy testing. "We really didn't have the technology before to accurately measure abdominal response," he said. The silicone prototype features sensors that measure the severity of injuries.   [More...] [Less...]

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