It's dark. There's a box. It beckons. You stick your finger in and curl "your index finger towards you in a summoning motion". Congratulations, you've just started your car. Two students, Zhao Wencai and Li Zhoumu, invented this gesture-based car interaction as a presentation for the third China-International Road Safety Expo. Not only can you pleasure your car to start it, you can shove your middle finger in there onto a fingerprint scanner to read how high your blood alcohol level is. Another possible use is as a security system, so the car wouldn't start unless your finger belonged to one of the registered drivers. Our prediction? These two students HAVE to be girls, or else they'd be more aware of the gesture they were promoting for this device.
[Via: Gizmodo, The Gadget Blog ]
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Chinese University Students Want Me To Diddle My Car to Start It [Cars]
Solar Powered Car Attempts to Circle Globe as Slowly as Possible [Solar Taxi]
Another day, another golf cart size, three-wheeled solar-powered car with style ripped from the 1980's. At least with this one, the Solar Taxi, there's a record at stake, as Swiss "adventurer" Louis Palmer is taking the car on a trip across the planet without using a drop of gasoline. He'll be the first to do it, and we're hoping his example will inspire more alternative energy cars (hopefully a few have that elusive fourth wheel). The 35 MPH top speed is going to be a tough sell with us Yanks. Palmer, my man, haven't you heard? Women and men alike get hot and bothered by power and speed. The Solar Taxi gets its juice from a $5,000 solar panel trailer provided by German company Q-Cells. Weather permitting, the trailer provides the Taxi with 60 miles of oompf. Longer runs are powered by a pair of $15,000 250-lb. recyclable batteries from Zebra Battery. They store energy from the sun and from whatever electrical socket Palmer can find at night (it's just like searching for a socket at a conference, but bigger, and people will still manage to trip awkwardly over the cord). Altogether, Palmer said the rig gets about a 200 mile range between charges. As of this weekend, Palmer and his crew had traveled 27,000 miles across 28 countries, so that's a lot of stop and go driving—or is that charging? The trip is scheduled to conclude in December, but Palmer won't be finished just yet. He's also in the middle of planning an 80-day solar powered race around the world for sometime in 2009. [ABC News]
[Via: Gizmodo, The Gadget Blog ] [Tag: ]
British Vauxhall Cars Have New Camera That Scans Signs, Displays Current Speed Limit [Speed Limit]
Although various GPS units already have the ability to display the current speed limit (they're pre-programmed in) of the road you're on, this Vauxhall Motors invention seems even better. There's a camera on-board that takes 30 snaps per second, then recognizing speed limit signs and translating that to a number to display on your dash. This way you can know exactly what the speed limit is at all times, even when you've just transitioned from a high speed area to a low speed one that cops like to ticket in. In fact, if this system is good enough, it could be a decent excuse to tell the popos that their speed limit signs were too obscured that even a 30FPS camera couldn't make it out. [Kicking Tires via Oh Gizmo]
[Via: Gizmodo, The Gadget Blog ]
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Man Hacks Mustang, Gets 100 Miles Per Gallon, Dates, Envy [Cars]
It's not totally carbon-free, and it's probably ugly as sin, but a man in Ohio has found a way to get 110MPG out of a 1987 Mustang. He and his team made many modifications, but it's not a hybrid. The man's not a total altruist, though; he's entered in the Progressive Automotive X Prize contest, a race to be the first to develop a commercially viable car that can get over 100MPG. No details on how they're doing it, so you can't quite try it yourself yet. If we were Doug Pelmear, the man who invented the system, we'd watch our backs, as the oil companies have killed people like him before. It's true, I read it on the Internet. [Local 6]
[Via: Gizmodo, The Gadget Blog ]
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Giz Test Drive: Student-Built Challenge X Fuel-Cell Car in NYC
GM lugged 17 environmentally friendly cars to New York—fittingly, to Tavern on the Green. The rain-soaked occasion was a display of Challenge X contenders, nearly identical 2005 Chevy Equinoxes modded by teams from schools across the US and Canada to be environmentally friendly, fuel efficient and/or low in emissions. University of Waterloo's hydrogen powered, zero-emissions, electric SUV earned the most awe from the crowd for its ambitious yet completely safe, student-built fuel-cell power plant. This vehicle from University of Waterloo in Canada uses a 400kg fuel cell to turn on-board hydrogen and airborne oxygen into energy that powers two 67-kW electric motors. If the SUV demands more power, it has a backup battery that is charged in part by a regenerative brake, like on today's hybrids.They actually let me drive the thing. Here's what I thought: The ride is extremely smooth. Since the SUV doesn't have an engine, it's relatively quiet, especially when accelerating. Most of the noise comes from the oxygen intake system, but it only comes in quick bursts. The brakes are sensitive, but part of the reason for that is to use the kinetic energy harvested by braking for recharging the battery. A touchscreen computer in the center displays all the diagnostics, and shows where the vehicle is getting its power.The truck holds about 4kg of hydrogen packed at 5000psi, which gives it the equivalent of ~25mpg. It is extremely clean, as the only emission given off by the vehicle is a bit of water, a byproduct of the fuel cell process. It tops out around 65mph, but that can be improved in the future. The main problem with the fuel cell SUV is the lack of places to fill up the tank. Hydrogen fueling stations are a long way from the mainstream, and the team said there are only two locations where they can reload on the way to Washington, DC, their final destination on this tour. Hopefully this will change soon, because a clean, abundantly available fuel source seems like a pretty good option to me. [Challenge X]
[Via: Gizmodo, The Gadget Blog ]
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These Prius Solar Panels Should Come Standard
While the Prius is more practical than high efficiency solar vehicles, why not add some solar to the Prius anyway? This solar kit from SEV seamlessly installs onto a Prius' roof and claims to add up to 20 miles per day of electric mode driving/increase fuel economy up to 29%. Compatible with Prius models from 2004-06, I'm enough of a cynic that I figure if the installation worked that well, the panels would have come standard in the first place (though we've heard that they are under consideration for next gen models). Then again, the 2-3 year "break even" scenario that SEV pitches on their website may have something to do with it.
[Via: Gizmodo, The Gadget Blog ]
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