La Paz is situated at a whopping 3,650 meters above sea level in Bolivia. El Alto, the country’s second biggest metropolis, is located 500 meters above that. Now a new cable car system linking the world’s highest cities made its public debut, allowing tens of thousands of commuters to bypass congested roadways for a sleek ride in the sky.
When the name Volvo is bandied about, many of us would automatically think of safety as one of its main draws, although over the years, design of Volvo vehicles have become more and more sleek to keep up with the Joneses – which ain’t a bad thing at all, really. Well, a special concept was developed by Volvo at their Volvo Concept center in Los Angeles, where it comes in the form of an inflatable child safety seat that can even fit within a small bag each time it is deflated for easy portability.
Standard issue child car seats tend to be bulky in nature, difficult to move around and is a pain to mount, but these tend to be staples in a vehicle for parents due to their concern of safety for their little one. Why not make life easier for the parents (and also other folks who are waiting for your parking lot while you struggle with your child safety seat) by delivering a lightweight and inflatable rearward-faced child seat concept?
Relying on technology developed in military research, this concept seat is touted to be the safest in the market today, even when measured against conventional child safety seats. The biggest advantage? The ability to pack and carry it in a jiffy, considering how it takes just 40 seconds to inflate and deflate thanks to the integrated electric pump. There is no word as to when a consumer version will be released, but this is where sooner is better than later.
Volvo Inflatable Child Seat Concept , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Transportation, volvo, 
You do not have to be Superman in order to gain X-ray vision now, as the engineers over at Land Rover have come up with a pseudo working solution, where cameras and displays will work hand in hand to show you what lies beneath your ride. This unique concept of a ‘transparent bonnet’, so to speak, will use cameras located in the grille alongside jet-fighter-style displays on the windscreen, making the entire setup look as though you are staring right through your bonnet.
Heck, even Nick Fury’s tough-as-nails ride in Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier did not have such a display to see that mine latch under his vehicle as it was dispatched by the Winter Soldier, although a fat lot of good that would have done him anyways. But I digress – this ‘transparent’ bonnet was designed for drivers who want to check out rocky terrain off-road, and city drivers too, can avoid hidden potholes without having to make second guesses.
Basically, this unique system functions in the same vein as that of an electronic periscope, where an image is projected from below the car onto the windscreen located in front of the driver via a Heads Up Display. I do wonder how this development in Land Rover will see its rivals play catch up down the road.
Land Rover Shows Off Transparent Bonnet , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Transportation, land rover, 
For all the stories that have gone out concerning a flying saucer or a UFO in the past, don’t you think that it is rather ironic for NASA themselves to be testing out this new ‘flying saucer’? Apparently, such a spacecraft might eventually prove to be the key that unlocks mass travel for humans to land on the surface of the Red Planet, Mars. Known as the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator, or LDSD for short, this unique ‘flying saucer’ happens to resemble that of a giant parachute, being specially designed for vehicles which are larger than the Curiosity rover.
Of course, that might also translate to an ability in the future to bring along with it manned spacecraft that could take humans all the way to Mars. There is still plenty of work that needs to be done, however, and tests to run before it can be deem worthy and safe enough to transport human lives into the far reaches of space. Later this June, NASA is expected to send the LDSD into the sky for its maiden ‘test flight’. Hopefully, during NASA’s upcoming tests, there won’t be folks out there who might be fooled into thinking that this is an actual flying saucer with the world as we know it about to get overrun by aliens.
NASA To Test “Flying Saucer” , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Transportation, nasa, 
Were you awed when you first saw the “Angel Eye” lights on the BMW E39 all those years ago? Well, BMW continues to remain on the cutting edge of technology, where they are not too happy with the power hungry design of tail lights on existing vehicles, and intend to change the way things look in the future by sharing their vision of using OLED-based Organic Light technology in upcoming vehicles. These OLED lights will be super thin, and form uniformly lit strips which will hopefully be easy to see without the need for reflectors, all the while consuming a relative pittance in power compared to existing systems.
Such a design and advancement in tail light systems will most probably also lead to even more exotic looking rides, considering how BMW already has the technical know how when it comes to shaping the OLEDs into any kind of 2D shape that they like, with plans to introduce flexible as well as 3D lights some time down the road.
The Bavarian automaker has hopes of seeing Organic Light see action in production vehicles within the next three years. Current OLEDs are not quite bright enough to take over the job of brake lights, headlights and indicators; but rather, they will function as complements to LEDs and lasers. The interior of a ride lighted by OLEDs might be a different story altogether though. [Press Release]
BMW OLED Laser Lights To Shape The Future Of Vehicle Lighting Systems , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Transportation, bmw, oled, 
There is nothing quite like solar power that flies the renewable energy banner high, and here we are with the Solar Impulse 2 that has the grand goal of circumnavigating around the world using solar energy harnessed from the sun alone, and nothing else. Is it possible? Yes, considering its predecessor, the Solar Impulse, has had quite its fair number of adventures in the past. With the Solar Impulse 2, this unique aircraft intends to take off from the Persian Gulf, before it makes its way over to India and start to go around the world. The only time it will touch down would be to switch pilots.
Just what will the Solar Impulse 2 offer? For starters, this particular aircraft comes with a 236-foot wingspan, and will be covered in 17,238 solar cells. That would mean the Solar Impulse 2 is wider than a 747, but the cockpit has enough space for just one pilot at any one time. The entire shebang is made of carbon fiber and tips the scales at a mere 5,000 pounds, which is a relative lightweight, of course. The engines themselves are 90% more efficient compared to the turbofans that power commercial jets, and expect the Solar Impulse 2 to cruise at an altitude of 28,000 feet to maximize its solar ray intake.
At night, the Solar Impulse 2 will drop down to 16,000 feet at night, with a top speed of 40mph – and the pilots will have to get accustomed to the cramped space for hours, or maybe days at a stretch – without air conditioning or heating to work with. Expect the round-the-world flight to happen sometime between April and July next year. [Press Release]
Solar Impulse 2 Wants To Circle The World On Solar Power Alone , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Green, Transportation, Solar, 
Today’s modern automobile often comes with high-tech crash-avoidance systems. Parallel parking is a breeze when your car beeps to let you know when you’re about to hit something. The people of yesteryear couldn’t have imagined something like that, right? Think again.
Gogo has provided inflight Wi-Fi to passengers for some time already, and this time around, the leading aircraft communications service provider has announced a step in the right direction where global connectivity is concerned with 2Ku. Gogo has big plans for 2Ku technology, having expectations for it to outperform other global connectivity solutions that are currently available in the market. Just like in the past, Japan Airlines will have a special place in Gogo’s heart and mind, since they will be one of the first airlines that will trial this advanced technology.
The 2Ku technology will make use of similar low-profile antennas as Gogo’s Ground to Orbit (GTO) technology, where it will be deployed for aircraft that fly in North America. Instead of making use of Gogo’s Air to Ground solution when it comes to the return link to the ground, 2Ku will feature a pair of low-profile, high efficiency Ku-band satellite antennas. Such new technology is capable of delivering peak speeds to the aircraft of more than 70Mbps.
2Ku will see 70Mbps arrive not only for folks living in the U.S., but also to the rest of the world even when they are in the air. Gogo has hopes that this service will be made available for the commercial aviation market some time in the middle of next year onward. [Press Release]
Gogo 2Ku Next Gen Inflight Internet Technology Announced , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Transportation, internet, 
Yes, Windows of the virtual kind instead of the ones that you wind up and down in your vehicle. From the desktop, the operating system war has moved on to portable devices such as smartphones and tablets, and into the living room with Apple TV, plans of Android TV, as well as other set-top boxes, now we have another dimension to think about – the vehicle. Most of the time, the driver is supposed to concentrate on the road ahead, but it seems that smart operating systems are slowly but surely making their way into this niche market. At BUILD 2014, a next-gen Windows car concept was demonstrated during a panel called “Windows and the Internet of Things”.
Microsoft Windows Comes To The Car Now original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Remember Hövding, the Swedish bike helmet released a few years back that looks like a stylish, poofy collar and supposedly inflates like an airbag upon impact? In a new video, the company explains more about how it works—claiming it’s actually much safer than a traditional helmet.
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