The  iSAVE-SC1 vehicle has been dubbed as the “safest electric vehicle in the world” by Humanix, the company responsible for developing it alongside Hiroshima University. It diverges from how cars are usually made, since the airbags are usually hidden in the wheel or dashboard of vehicles, and not “worn” all over on the car’s exterior.

Another thing that makes the iSAVE-SC1 different from most cars is that it only has three wheels instead of the usual four.

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It’s obviously a pretty small vehicle, only seating up to three persons comfortably. Humanix plans to sell the first units of the car this November for appx. $10,400 (USD), while mass production has been slated for sometime in 2012.

I don’t know how effective it will be in cushioning the blow upon a real-world impact, but what’s pretty obvious is that this car won’t need any paint jobs at all after a collision.

[via TechCrunch via Oh Gizmo!]

OnStar can track your car if it gets stolen, unlock the doors, call 911 if you crash, and tell you how to get somewhere with navigation capability. The catch for most drivers was that OnStar was only offered on GM vehicles until now. OnStar has announced at CES today that it has a new add-on mirror (called addOn). The rearview mirror replaces the normal one in your vehicle and adds in those cool OnStar features like automatic 911, navigation, Bluetooth hands-free calling and others.

The mirror will set you back about $300 (USD). I would assume that the addOn system can’t do things like unlock your doors since it isn’t integrated with all the electronics in the car. OnStar addOn will be coming to Best Buy this spring and to other retailers later this year.

Sure, there are apps for your smartphone that can track down your car, but you generally have to remember to set the location before you leave the car. Unfortunately, that can be a pain. This $59 Auto Finder just needs to be installed in your car, and a special keychain added to your car keys. Hold down one button, and it will let you know if you’re pointing in the right direction of your vehicle. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

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You know, after seeing that thing in action, I can only think of one thing. I want to get one, and hack it into A Ghostbusters P.K.E. meter. I would seriously walk around with one of those, waiting for the little arms on the side to go up all of the way, so I know where the “ghost” is. Who’s with me?

[via CoolestGadgets]

You’ll spend $191,000 (USD) on this device, which is more than quite a few supercars. It’s called the Cruden Hexatech simulator and it kind of reminds me of those Battletech simulators that were all of the rage years ago. I always wanted to play in them, but never did.

This thing is completely suspended on a hydraulic tripod and allows you to simulate F1, NASCAR, WRC, as well as various 24-hour races like Le Mans. The rig allows you to receive feedback from the chassis, track, tire and suspension settings, drive trains, aero load, aero draft, steering, brakes, and various driver aids.

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It comes with three 42-inch screens, but you can go bonkers and project images onto the walls of a specially built room. Sounds completely insane to me. If I had $191,000 to spare, I’d rather buy a real race car!

[via DVice, photo credit: Benimoto]

Knorreck reportedly spent 10,000 hours and €15,000 (approx. $22,300 (USD)) to build this one of a kind vehicle. The Snafell is a combination of a Laverda motorcycle which Knorreck bought in 1976 and had already modified to be a sport bike, and the custom-built carbon fiber and polyester sidecar. The sidecar’s parts were culled from various automobiles, including a Volkswagen Golf GTI,  a Citroen Xantia and an Audi 80.

The Snaefell – which incidentally is also the name of three volcanoes in Iceland – is powered by the Laverda’s 1000cc engine. I barely know anything about vehicles, so I don’t know if the triple exhaust is necessary, but damn if it doesn’t add to the quirkiness of this ride.

The sidecar has a gull-wing door and has a car seat, complete with seat belts. Say what you will about the Snaefell, but it’s sidecar might just be the most comfortable and safest one on the planet.

There should be more pics at Knorreck’s website, I just don’t know for sure because Internet fame has brought down the site. I really want to see it in action! Man this thing is weird.

[via designboom & kneeslider]

As you can see from the pictures, AIDA has its own set of facial expressions, to help it “establish an affective bond” with the driver. I guess it is more pleasing to interact with something that has a face, as opposed to talking to the air like the Hoff used to do with KITT, but won’t it become a distraction?

What I like about AIDA though is its ability to familiarize itself with the needs and habits of a driver, like one’s usual destinations, or how one drives. It will then combine that information with real-time data like traffic or weather, stuff that may not be immediately available to the driver, to give hints and tips:

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What do you think? Will AIDA be a helpful companion, or a nagger that you won’t be able to kick out of the car?

[via MIT via Popular Science]

Rickey argues, “Instead of constructing a vehicle and making it an environmental envelope for the astronauts, we make individual environmental “PODS” for each astronaut and create a lifting system to deliver the “PODS” to an orbital ship or the space station. It is far easier to create a hardened egg-like environment (as opposed to a ship) which meets vehicle lifting capabilities. This concept has greater viable surviveability [sic] in case of catastrophic failure than what we have now.” I cannot comment on that because I don’t know anything about what he’s talking about. All I know is that if I’m going to space I’d rather be in a shuttle with a bunch of people rather than be alone in a “POD”. Sad face.

Here’s a much simpler concept: Tail lights that blink faster the harder you brake. Unfortunately for Taylor, a commenter says that BMW and Mercedes Benz already thought of this. But what’s even sadder is that according to the same commenter, the technology is illegal in Finland. What? Do the lights cause seizures or something?

Here’s my favorite Rickey Taylor idea: the “Wrist Rescue”. I saw a similar device in Gundam 00, except that the wire in the anime is used by the Meisters to get on and off of their Gundams in a cool and dramatic manner, fast enough to eliminate long awkward goodbyes yet slow enough for the people to take pictures of the pilot. Like most good inventions, the Wrist Rescue is very simple yet sensible. It’s a fire-resistant cable with a wrist strap at one end. The cable is wound up in a fire hose like roll, so all you have to do to get out of a building is to put on the strap and jump out of a window. The cable lowers you to the ground (at a safe speed of course), at which point the cable retracts, ready for the next evacuee. So it’s kind of like a reverse grappling hook. Of course it doesn’t eliminate our tendency to panic and bum rush everyone so we can be the first to escape. But overall it’s a neat concept.

So, you think ol’ Rickey has a sound noggin? Or are your ideas a thousand times better? Check out Rickey’s blog for more of his doodles. Also, he seems to be obsessed with glass. Storefront glass.

Kairos Autonomi showed off the Pronto4′s capabilities at the recently held Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International demonstration. The kit was installed on a pickup truck “fitted with a heavy weapon”, and it went through a maze, following waypoints. The folks at Popular Mechanics were kind enough to share the fun of seeing a vehicle drive itself:

The vehicle is steered by a ring of actuators, while the transmission and throttle are “controlled by lines from a main box”.  Like most of the awesome tech we’ve featured here, the Pronto4 is primarily for the military, so they can conduct night missions more easily, or allow one soldier to man the weapons while the vehicle takes care of the driving. Or they could install the kit for vehicles on patrol, and even put it on an expendable car for target practice.

So if you’re thinking of saving up to get your own Pronto4 so your vehicle can also be your designated driver, you’re out of luck. The kit isn’t sold to the public. Not yet anyway. Man, I can think of a dozen pranks that you can pull off with this kit. Viva technology!

Then I realized that it wasn’t real, and only a graphic rendering by artist John ‘Jazz’ Vernon. Damn you and your photo-realistic rendering skills! My only hope is that since John’s company RodVisions does conceptual renderings of vehicles before owners invest tons of money painstakingly restoring them, maybe, just maybe, somebody is actually getting ready to make a real version of this car.

I’d be more than happy to do donuts on your lawn with this bitchin’ Camaro.

[via Steampunk Workshop]

Using AR tracking technology, as you hold the ad up to your computer’s webcam, you’ll see a 3-D model of a MINI Cabrio convertible that moves as you turn the sheet of paper around.

All you need is a copy of the ad, a webcam, and a web browser (sorry, Internet Explorer/ActiveX only) to view the 3-D AR effect. It won’t hurt if you can read German too.

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The ad campaign was created by Munich, Germany agencies Buzzin Monkey and die agentour GmbH.

The ad appeared recently in three German automotive magazines: Auto, Motor und Sport, Werben & Verkaufen and Autobild, but if you want to see how it works right now you can print out a PDF of the ad and head on over to the MINI augmented reality web site to check it out for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.

[via MediaPost via ARTweets]

ElectroJoe’s Motor Maniac is a 16-in-1 memory card reader that looks like a (slightly deformed) little red race car. Now it’s anyone’s guess why the wheels are sticking out at a weird angle, but you still get the point that it’s a vehicle.

Just plug it into any spare USB port, and you’ll be able to read flash memory cards from pretty much any digital camera or portable media player you can throw at it. And while data is transferring from card to computer, the vehicles headlights illuminate. As an added bonus, it also doubles as a USB hub, adding 3 extra 2.0 compliant ports.

The Motor Maniac can be found over at UK Electronics giant Play.com for £17.99 (appx. $31 USD).

Simply register your VMOD with your home’s wireless network, then drag and drop your media files to the VMOD folder on your desktop. Directories can also be set to synchronize, so they can update when your car gets within range of your wireless network. As soon as you get into your car, you’ll be able to access all of your shared media in your vehicle.

Under the hood of the VMOD is actually a compact Windows XP PC, running StreetDeck’s slick in-car multimedia interface.The VMOD not only supports playback of music and videos, but can also be upgraded with optional GPS and satellite radio capabilities. You’ll also be able to surf the Internet when sitting in your driveway. In addition to 802.11 b/g connectivity, you might have luck with mobile broadband devices (like this one) as long as they connect via USB.

VMOD is capable of holding about 10,000 songs or 50 hours of standard definition video on its shock-resistant 40GB internal hard drive. The system also ships with a Bluetooth remote which lets you control playback from anywhere in the vehicle. The complete VMOD system will set you back just under $1000.

[VMOD Website]

The Navisurfer II occupies a single DIN slot in your car’s dashboard, and manages to cram in an entire PC with a flip-out touchscreen 7-inch color display. The LCD monitor has a nice 800 x 480 resolution, and can be adjusted on both horizontal and vertical axes. Since it fits neatly into a standard radio slot, all you need to do is connect the computer just like you would with a car stereo, and you’re all set.

The system can run Windows XP or Linux (no OS is pre-installed, though) and can serve as a media player, GPS navigator, rear view camera, gaming console, or used to display vehicle diagnostic information, among other things. To enable these features, you’ll need to purchase additional USB or Bluetooth devices such as a GPS receiver or a video camera (only supported on the 120GB model).

It’s all packaged in a shock-resistant enclosure, and is designed to hold up to the voltage irregularities of cranking your car’s battery. The Navisurfer II is available in configurations ranging from 40GB to 120GB of hard-disk based storage, and from 256MB to 512MB RAM. Prices range from $578 to $656 USD.

The panels are designed for use in vehicular instrument panels. The initial module measures in at about 75mm (2.95″) diameter and 11mm (0.43″) thick, including all electronics and backlighting. Viewable area is 62mm (2.44″) in diameter, and the screen supports up to 260,000 colors.

While the display is ideally suited to speedometers, tachometers and other automotive displays, I can imagine some pretty cool hacking opportunities too. Circular iPod anybody?

[TMD via Fareastgizmos]

Case-in-point: the new Provia A1 navigator from Korea’s HTMS. Not only does this new GPS device look totally slick, it’s loaded with more features than you’ve ever dreamed of on your car’s dashboard. For starters, navigation is done using amazingly detailed, razor-sharp 3D maps, complete with models of buildings and other landmarks.

Then, there’s a complete media player with audio and fullscreen video playback in a wide variety of formats. It’s even got a “picture-in-picture” mode, so you can watch a movie while you drive and get directions. Also along for the ride is a DMB receiver, which means it can receive over-the-air digital television broadcasts. It’s all displayed on a gorgeous Samsung 800 x 480 resolution widescreen 7-inch display, complete with a touchscreen interface. It even offers handwriting recognition when you control it with an included stylus.

The Provia A1 is backed by a beefy Intel PXA270 processor, running at 520MHz, the same chip used to run some of the more powerful PDAs out there. There’s 128MB of on-board SDRAM, 128MB for program storage, and you can add up to 2GB more via an SD card. Unfortunately, we’ll probably never see one of these outside of Korea.

[via The Earlyadopter's World]

From what I can tell, this mobile phone from China is doing its best impression of an Audi A9 concept car.

The phone conceals its battery pack in the “trunk” and has an antenna that pops out of one of the headlights. There’s even a USB port where the exhaust pipe would normally be. The phone features all the typical capabilities you’d expect these days including GSM/GPRS connectivity and MP3/Mp4 media playback.

Currently available only in China, these phones will set you back about 8999 Taiwan Dollars (about $272 USD.)

[via GoGo]

The Clarion DriveEye camera automatically senses emergency braking and captures video before, during and after an accident. A G-force sensor detects aggressive braking and then automatically triggers a digital recorder.

It saves 15 seconds of footage in its buffer from right before the crash occurred, and an additional 5 seconds after impact. Since the device has no moving parts, and is encased in a heavy duty magnesium alloy housing, it should withstand all but the nastiest fender benders.

The camera can also be used to manually record video whenever you want, so I guess if you want to record your street racing escapades, you could.

The DriveEye is currently only available in Japan, and can be found from Yodobashi for ¥49,800 (about $412 USD.)

The new Mercedes S600 Guard has factory-integrated preventive measures such as military-grade armor which can resist small arms projectiles, shrapnel and explosive charges as well as bulletproof glass. A self-sealing fuel system and fire-extinguishing technology help automatically contain any vehicle fires. Even the tires are designed to run flat in an emergency. An emergency fresh air system can even be equipped to counter any noxious gas substances and provide clean air to the passenger compartment.

Beyond the security features, the S600 Guard is no slouch in the performance department, featuring a 517 horsepower V12 bi-turbo engine under the hood. The car also includes a wide variety of high-tech features which are standard on the Mercedes S-class, including radar-assisted braking, a preemptive airbag system that can detect an impending crash before it occurs, and infrared headlights which provide night vision on an in-dash video screen.

[via MotorAuthority viaTechEBlog]