Category: Vehicles

The idea of using solar panels to give electric cars a little extra boost is nothing new. In fact, the 2020 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid has a solar roof that helps to run its electronics, and can give it a couple of extra miles of driving range each day.

While hundreds of thousands of people put down a $100 deposit for an opportunity to buy Tesla’s Cybertruck when it eventually goes into production, I’d bet that only a small portion of those people will actually end up buying one when they find out the true retail price.

Not too long ago, I visited with Toyota in Tokyo to learn about their plans to transform from an automotive company into a mobility company – concerning themselves with all of the different ways that people need to get around, and not just cars and trucks anymore.

Inventor and madman Colin Furze has built some pretty wild stuff over the years. Among my favorites are his Star Wars-inspired projects, which so far have included a giant AT-ACT playhouse and a full-size TIE Silencer ships.

While it might be a couple of years before we see any actual Tesla Cybertrucks on the road, there is one way you can get your hands on one immediately – by building a model of one.

Say what you will about Elon Musk, the man knows how to build hype and get people talking. As soon as the media buzz about the 2019 LA Auto Show died down, the PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla founder conducted his own invitation-only event to show off his latest creation, Tesla’s much-anticipated pickup truck, officially dubbed the Cybertruck.

Do you love you some Rick and Morty? Well, you might get a chance to ride with Morty himself – or at least a giant version of the cartoon character slapped on the roof of an Mazda 3.

I recently attended the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show, and among the numerous displays of production and concept cars, I came across the booth for the Toyota Boshoku Corporation, who makes seating, interior, and exterior components for vehicles.

While wandering the expansive show floor at the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show, I came across a pretty interesting technology which could someday find its way into vehicles. Basically, it’s a projection system that would allow vehicles to cast moving images onto the ground in front of them.

I’m here in Tokyo this week for the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show, and while here, I stopped by the new headquarters for the Toyota Research Institute – Advanced Development (TRI-AD) to check out some of the technologies the company and their partners are working on.

If you grew up any time in the latter half of the 20th century or later, you’ve been promised that flying cars (and personal jetpacks) would someday take to the skies on a regular basis. While there certainly have been a number of concepts and prototypes over the years, living like the Jetsons has yet to materialize.

We’re less than a year away from the start of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, so the Japanese city is well underway with preparations for the celebration of athletic talent, sportsmanship, and global goodwill. Among the many things that will be needed for the games to be successful will be methods for athletes to get quickly and safely between their housing and venues during the games – and automaker Toyota is working on just that.

Robots usually have either legs or wheels to move them around. But this unusual robot has both. Its builders say the combination provides it with greater versatility than other quadruped robots, and from the looks of the video footage engineer Marko Bjelonic shared, I’d have to agree.

If you love to play video games at your desk for hours on end, then you need a good chair with lots of support. Since Nissan knows a thing or two about engineering seats for long road trips behind the wheel, they decided to give it a shot, and came up with three awesome concept designs, each inspired by one of their vehicles.

Over the years, the camera technology in vehicles has dramatically improved. We started out with rudimentary low-resolution backup cameras, and now we have crystal clear images with multiple views, guidelines, and radar sensors to detect obstacles.

There have been lots of cool things going on to celebrate the 50th anniversary of NASA’s Apollo 11 moon landing, but this might just be the coolest. Off-road vehicle maker Polaris Industries created a virtually perfect replica of the original NASA Lunar Rover Vehicle (LRV), which first appeared on the moon in 1971.