Hasta La Gadget!

While there are plenty of ways to add a remote-controlled starter to your car so you can let the engine warm up before you get in it, it’s not common to find a car that you can actually drive using the same remote. A newly released car in China is capable of being operated from outside of the car using its remote control.

The BYD Su Rui includes a palm-size remote control which lets its owner operate it from outside the vehicle. Now before you get any funny ideas about life-size R/C car races, you should know that the remote is limited to a distance of about 33 feet, and the car won’t go over 1.24MPH. The remote also doesn’t have analog controls or a remote camera – just a D-Pad. Have you ever tried playing a racing game with a D-Pad?

Presumably, this capability is designed to allow its owner to park the car in tight parking spaces and garages from outside of the car. It’s not a bad idea for those circumstances, I suppose, but I think I’d rather have some sort of parking assist feature for those times, like Ford’s automated parallel parking feature. They also say you can use the feature to bring the car to you when the weather is bad – though the distance limit might present some problems with that.

Given its speed and distance limitations, I wonder how quickly a hacker will get their hands on one of these and mod it so there’s no speed limiter, and they can operate it from a greater distance. That’s certainly the first thing I’d try and do if I had one.

Prices for the BYD Su Rui range from 65,900 to 99,000 Yuan (~$10228 to $15579 USD). Not too bad as car prices go – especially ones with a remote control.

[via Car News China via Gadget Review]

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon have developed a prototype smart headlight which blots out individual drops of rain or snow — improving vision by up to 90 percent. Made with an off-the-shelf Viewsonic DLP projector, a quad-core Intel Core-i7 PC and a GigE Point Grey Flea3 camera, the Rube Goldberg-esque process starts by first imaging raindrops arriving at the top of its view. After this, the signal goes to a processing unit, which uses a predictive theory developed by the team to guess the drops’ path to the road. Finally, the projector — found in the same place as the camera — uses a beamsplitter like modern digital 3D rigs. Used in tandem with calculations, it transmits a beam with light voids matching the predicted path. The result? It all stops light from hitting the falling particles, with the cumulative process resulting in the illusion of a nearly precipitation-free road view — at least in the lab. So far, the whole process takes about a hundredth of a second (13 ms) but scientists said that in an actual car and with many more drops, the speed would have to be about ten times quicker. That would allow 90 percent of the light located 13 feet in front of the headlights to pass through, but even at just triple the speed, it would give drivers a 70 percent better view. To see if this tech might have a snowflake’s chance of making it out of the lab, go past the break for all the videos.

Continue reading Carnegie Mellon smart headlight prototype blacks out raindrops for clearer view of the road

Carnegie Mellon smart headlight prototype blacks out raindrops for clearer view of the road originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 13:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tesla looks set to offer another slightly more aggressive, slightly faster model alongside its Model S sedan [pictured]. The high-performance, zero-emission (and tentatively-named) Model S Sport packs a larger battery, extending its single-charge range to 300 miles. Green Car Reports adds that it’ll even get optional aerodynamic wheels adding another 20 miles to the car’s range. Acceleration has also been boosted, with 0 to 60MPH cut to under 4.6 seconds in the sporty upgrade. This should be the perfect vehicle for evading capture in the gasoline-poor robopocalyptic future. The Sport is reportedly set to launch alongside the standard Model S next year.

Tesla Model S to get faster Sport edition, leave sedan in the dust originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Oct 2011 01:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know, our whip doesn’t have LED headlights either, but that’s not stopping BMW from pressing on with its laser powered successor. Purportedly ready “within a few years,” the updated beams boast an intensity a thousand times greater than their forebearers, all while consuming less than half the power — helping EV drivers eke out a little more range. With each laser diode one hundred times smaller than its LED counterpart, Bavaria reckons the tech will help it design and package future light fixtures that are more bodacious than those from its competition in Ingolstadt. There’s no firm date for availability, but the company says the new lighting tech will debut on the production version of its i8 concept. Sounds great, so where do we sign up for our frickin’ laser bimmer?

Continue reading BMW developing laser headlights, officially over LEDs

BMW developing laser headlights, officially over LEDs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 07:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lasers make everything better, including (but not limited to): microphones, kidneys and Audi’s electric A2 concept. This newest flight of fancy uses a laser diode as the rear fog lamp, which projects a red triangle onto the road to let other drivers know you’re there. The German car-maker has tricked out the rest of the EV’s lighting system as well by implementing matrix beam technology using LEDs and microreflectors — giving it high resolution, non-glaring beams and intelligent tail lights that change in intensity based on weather conditions. Claiming other state-of-the-art features like gesture controls instead of keys, and brake lights that glow brighter the harder you press, it sounds like this would be a pretty sweet ride — if it ever makes it to market. No word on the other, insignificant details (ya know, like what actually powers the thing) but there’s plenty more about the car’s lighting system in the PR after the break.

Continue reading Audi announces A2 electric concept car, uses lasers to ensure safety of future humans

Audi announces A2 electric concept car, uses lasers to ensure safety of future humans originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Sep 2011 22:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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