Hasta La Gadget!

If you have been dreaming about flying around in your own Star Trek style shuttlecraft, that day is almost upon us. Terrafugia has unveiled a concept for a flying car that lot like a shuttlecraft that has the Enterprise’s warp nacelles. However, those nacelles have propellers.

This flying car is called the TF-X and is a hybrid gas-electric flying car. Twin 600 horsepower electric propeller pods and a 300 horsepower engine handle the transition from vertical takeoff to a maximum cruising speed of 200 miles per hour. It has a 500 mile range.

It is capable of both driving and landing itself. Terrafugia says that “you always have the final say if its safe to land.” Well, that’s encouraging.

The TF-X is fully capable of handling the entire landing process without you. But if it is about to kill you, it’s nice to know that you get the final say. It’s definitely an interesting design and we would love to see it in the skies.

[via Like Cool]

General Motors has recalled more than 38,000 of their new hybrid vehicles over the possibility that a faulty circuit board in the trunk could potentially overheat and start a fire. The recall affects new Buick LaCrosse and Regal models, and Chevrolet Malibu Eco vehicles, all from the 2012 and 2013 model years.

Once the circuit board overheats, it can cause the cars’ 12-volt battery to drain and one of several indicator lights to turn on on the instrument panel, which means that owners will be aware of the issue when it happens. However, if drivers ignore the warning lights (which we all do sometimes, right?), the engine could eventually stall and start a fire in the trunk.

Thankfully, though, the issue doesn’t affect the rechargable lithium-ion battery that’s a part of the cars’ electric hybrid system. If you’re curious to know whether your specific car is or will be affected, General Motors says that most of the incidents reported have happened within the first 1,000 miles of driving with the cars. No accidents or injuries were reported.

We actually took a look at Buick’s latest LaCrosse and Regal hybrid models during the New York Auto Show back in March. These new models aren’t a part of the recall, as they’re the 2014 models. The new cars come with the company’s next-generation IntelliLink infotainment system, which we got our hands on as well.

[via LA Times]

GM recalls over 38,000 hybrids over fire hazard is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

GM-owned automotive manufacturer Opel hasn’t sold cars in the United States in decades. However, in Europe, Opel has been selling vehicles continuously for quite a long time. One of the vehicles that Opel offers that I’ve never heard of is the subcompact Opel ADAM.

Today, word of an unusual new option for the car has surfaced. People who buy the Opel ADAM will be able to purchase an optional headliner and features LED lighting elements that look like stars.

The Starlight Sky headliner is said to be a unique option for the entry-level automotive segment in Europe.

The special headliner allows for five different textile cover options with a variety of headliner designs. The headliners can be single color, autumn foliage, a checkered flag, stylized clouds, and other things. The Starlight Sky option is the one that gets the 64 LEDs as can single colored versions. The headliner weighs 200 g and consumes only 4 watts of power, and the LEDs can actually twinkle like the night sky.

Of course you could just get a skylight, and look up at the actual stars.

Tesla Motors, the company behind the popular Model S and its all-electric car tech in general, is interested in self-driving cars and is in talks with Google on how bring that technology to Tesla cars in the future. Tesla CEO Elon Musk says that self-driving cars are the way of the future and are the next step in car technology.

However, Musk is wanting self-driving technology that’s more like the autopilot system in airplanes, mentioning that the word “self-driving” implies that the car is “going to do something you don’t want it to do.” Instead, Musk says that autopilot would be perfect, and says that cars “should have it.”

While Bloomberg reports that Musk is currently in talks with Google, it seems as if he wants to implement his own system for self-driving cars, rather than just use Google’s technology. Musk says that “Google’s current approach is that the sensor system is too expensive.” Instead, he claims that “an optical system” would be better, which is an array of cameras that can tell what’s going on just by looking at the surroundings.

Toyota demonstrated a similar system to what Musk describes back in January, and the auto maker is also an investor of Tesla, so we could see the two companies work together possibly on a new self-driving technology. However, it’ll be a long while before self-driving and autopilot cars hit the mainstream. Until then, save up your money.

UPDATE: Elon Musk said over Twitter that making autopilot Tesla cars is “important,” but it’s not yet a “top priority” for the company. Musk says that production of autopilot cars is still a “few years” away.

UPDATE 2: Musk further comments via Twitter that the report from Bloomberg is “off-the-cuff” and that there is “no big announcement here.”

[via Bloomberg]

Tesla in talks with Google over self-driving car tech [UPDATE] is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Ever wished you could go back to the past or travel through time into the future? I have, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. A lot of people would give the pageant-perfect answer and say no, explaining that they wouldn’t be who they were today had they changed their past experiences.

I agree with that sentiment most of the time, but there’s also the case of committing mistakes consciously, just because you were in the heat of the moment or just weren’t thinking at all, period. Of course, time travel is impossible in this world, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t pay to experience a literal blast from the past.

There’s currently a rental service that’s lending off a street-legal DeLorean time machine that looks like it came off the set of Back to the Future. It’s not one of the actuals car they used in the movie, though it’s a pretty good replica of the iconic car-slash-time machine.

The rental service is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota during the warm season and in Las Vegas, Nevada during the cold season. However, they can travel to “practically any location in the continental United States and Canada,” should you have a need for a time-traveling DeLorean.

Hourly rates are discussed on a case-to-case basis, so you might want to get in touch with Time Machine Rental if you’re interested.

Oh, and where you’re going, you’re probably going to need roads.

[via This is Why I’m Broke via Laughing Squid]