Hasta La Gadget!

We hate concept cars. Year after year we see new concept cars more fantastical and amazing than the last, and year after year we see cars hit the market that have had all the magic ripped out of them by safety regulations and market realities. The newly unveiled Vision EfficientDynamics car from BMW is mainly here to show us BMW’s new diesel-based plug-in hybrid drive system. But it’s also here to annoy us. Video is after the break.

Continue reading BMW’s Vision EfficientDynamics concept won’t look a tenth this wild when it hits the streets

Filed under: Transportation

BMW’s Vision EfficientDynamics concept won’t look a tenth this wild when it hits the streets originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nissan’s gotten into a bit of a bragging contest on Twitter — possibly fueled by Chevrolet’s recent, shaky claim that the Volt will get 230 miles per gallon. The company is now saying that its new electric car, the Leaf, will get an astonishing 367 miles per gallon… even though it’s a 100 percent electric car, and runs on absolutely no fuel. So, isn’t that zero miles per gallon? Well, yes and no: all these massive numbers are based on both the Department of Energy and the EPA’s calculations for estimating equivalencies in electric cars. Why? Well, it seems that car companies are still giving us — the prospective buying public — MPG figures because they think that’s what we understand best. Tony Posawatz, vehicle line director for Chevy’s Volt recently admitted to the New York Times that the miles per gallon matrix is “probably not the best measure of goodness” for a car that uses no gallons at all, but that it’s “what people are accustomed to.” We agree — he’s got a point — but people were also accustomed to the hi-fi, the corded landline, and the steam engine. We assure you: people understand that a car that runs on zero gas (and therefore gets an astonishingly low amount of miles per gallon) is really, really awesome. So the MPG matrix is useless when talking about electric cars — we’ll adjust!

Read – Nissan claims 367 miles per gallon for electric Leaf
Read – The Chevy Volt: mileage numerology

Filed under: Transportation

Nissan says its new electric car, the Leaf, gets 367 miles per gallon originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 Aug 2009 08:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ATX, a major but rarely heard-of telematics supplier, has become the first to offer full handsfree text messaging. While the Ford Sync already allows the sending of pre-canned missives by voice command, this new system transcribes your messages and is fully voice-operated, freeing both hands for driving. Given the forthcoming ban on regular old button mashing, you could probably do worse than grabbing one of these and continuing your bad habits. It won’t be easy though, as ATX doesn’t offer retrofits and market leader OnStar has said it won’t be offering a competing product, leaving you to choose from among the upcoming models by Toyota, Lexus, BMW, Peugeot, Mercedes, Maybach and Rolls-Royce. Maybe we’re just jaded, but we’d rather engage in the lost art of talking to people on our good old Gordon Gekko-styled carphone.

[Via Dallas Observer]

Filed under: Transportation

ATX In-Vehicle Text-by-Voice reduces the subtleties of your chatter to cold, hard SMS originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With the whole “direct to consumer” approach failing epically, Clarion has evidently resorted to pushing remaining inventory of its largely unwanted MiND mobile internet device onto Nissan dealers in Los Angeles. In all fairness, we do suspect that these are moving more briskly than, say, Celio’s REDFLY, but we can count the amount of MIDs we’ve seen in public on two or three hands. At any rate, Nissan has signed on to offer the multifaceted Atom-powered device as an optional accessory in its Cube, but at least initially, it’ll only be made available at select dealers in the LA area. For those opting to outfit their new whip with one of these, Nissan will include a dedicated docking kit harmonized to the vehicle’s instrument panel, and the user interface will also be tweaked for in-car usage. Look — this is absolutely better than those lackluster, overpriced NAV units shoved into most dashboards, but at $799 plus installation, it’s not like you’re getting the steal of the century here.

[Via Pocketables]

Filed under: Handhelds, Transportation

Clarion’s MiND finds a home in LA-area Nissan Cubes originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Jul 2009 20:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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And you thought those self-driving whips in DARPA’s Urban Challenge were hot stuff. As the mighty Hokies look to prove their dominance in the field of engineering, a student team from Virginia Tech has assembled what amounts to a vehicle that can actually be driven by blind individuals. In short, the specially equipped dirt buggy is outfitted with an array of laser range finders, an instant voice command interface and a few other related systems that enable drivers to respond to whatever the vehicle “sees.” Best of all, the project is far beyond the drawing board, with a blind driver (Wes Majerus) already singing praises about the vehicle and deeming it a “liberating” experience. Regrettably, there’s no information on what the team plans to do with the vehicle going forward, but we do know it hopes to pass along the same technology to more street-legal motorcars.

[Thanks, Trisha]

Filed under: Transportation

Laser-equipped Virginia Tech dirt buggy can be driven by the blind originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Jul 2009 06:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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