The first teaser image of the next generation Mercedes SLK already revealed that the future sports car will be offered with a new system called "Magic Sky Control," but the full-on look of the technology has been spied in these first shots taken of the future Mercedes. Kind of deflates the importance of the teaser image, doesn’t it?
The transparency of this panorama roof is controlled by electrically-governed particles that can shift to adjust how much light is filtered into the car. The technology is said to help keep away UV and infrared rays and can reduce the 1,000 watts per square meter into a measly 50-200 watts. Impressive, but you can’t get it for free. The price for this technology is an extra 2,000 euro ($2,700 at the current exchange rates) on top of the base price for the car.
The base SLK should have around 230 HP from a six-cylinder motor, while the higher end versions could get a 3.5-liter. There were rumors about a turbocharged four-cylinder, but that doesn’t seem likely.
The AMG version will probably have the new 5.5-liter turbocharged V8.
If the Ferrari Virtual Academy isn’t awesome enough by itself, Ferrari has decided to give it a few upgrades, notching up its cool factor by a couple more levels.
Among the new additions for the second round of the online racing simulator includes a new race track in Mugello to join the existing Fiorano race track in the simulator. Ferrari also outfitted the simulator with new control settings including eight new setups for differential lockup under braking, eight setups for lockup under acceleration, and four setups for the engine braking.
Check out the video preview of the new Mugello race track for the Ferrari Virtual Academy, which you can buy for 19.90 euros or if you’re in the US, around $27.75. There’s also word that the third race track of Ferrari’s online simulator will be out in November. Care to venture a guess what track it is?
If you guessed the Nurburgring, then consider yourself prophetic.
Is it a car or is it a jet or a boat for that matter? Hmm… It’s actually a combination of all of the above and more! The Halo Intersceptor is straight out of a sci-fi movie and gives us a glimpse of what is surely to be the future of human transport.
UK-based concept designer, Philip Pauley, says his mad machine can morph from a car to a jet, helicopter, or a boat. The idea is based on adding bolt-on parts and accessories to the base car and saying a few magic words (although we’re not clear on what those are just yet!). The space-age design features much-loved gull-wing doors, a 0-100km/h sprint time of 2.3 seconds, and a top speed of 498km/h before running out of steam, all with a range of over 1100 kms. As futuristic as it may appear, the "car" actually looks like the lovechild of an Aston Martin (front) and a Bugatti Veyron (rear). The base cockpit is described as “a four seater USB stick that is designed to outperform any private vehicle on earth,” according to the press release.
From the comfort of the cockpit, the operator can call upon any one of the three Halo attachments: Halo 120, Halo 46, and Halo 22. The Halo 120 converts the vehicle into a private jet that can climb over 25,000 feet a minute, the Halo 46 is a helicopter with a seating capacity for four, and the Halo 22 is a 36-foot-long powerboat with a race-bred double hull and an engine you can throttle up to a Donzi-slapping 63 knots.
How all these parts and accessories come together is still a mystery, but who cares?! We love it! Oh and Philip, we’d love to know the recreational activities it takes to dream up ideas like these! Share!
The road to a Jetson-like society may still be a long ways away, but you can’t say that companies these days aren’t trying.
For their part, Google is in the initial stages of developing autonomous vehicles. If the project takes off as the company hopes, you could very well see more and more driver-less cars on the road in the future.
So how exactly does a car go from being driven by a human to a computer? The project is both tedious and ambitious and requires a lot of planning, research, and development, just ask the students over at the students and faculty over at Stanford University. They have been developing autonomous vehicles, including the famous "Shelly" for the past few years. It’s a tough job, but after "Shelly" - the automated Audi TT-S - made its way up Pikes Peak, we sure they thought it was worth it. Google will probably feel the same way once they have succeeded, which they probably will.
Google’s path towards autonomy probably operates about the same way as the Audi. To begin with, a driver takes out a car and maps a specific route before sending to an AV. Google then programs the route into the AV where a number of sensors will help guide the driver-less car out on the streets. To ensure that everything is kept on track, a software operator monitor keeps tabs on the AV during the whole ride to ensure that everything’s up to speed with the car.
Ensuring that safety remains the company’s top priority, Lexus is putting its money – and time – where its mouth is by releasing what it says is the world’s most advanced driving simulator.
The simulator, which is located at the Toyota research facility in Higashifuji, Japan, looks more like a space pod than anything else. A dome that rises 150 ft high and is 20 ft wide, the simulator performs state-of-the-art testing involving a real Lexus LS 460 that’s surrounded by an 360-degree interactive simulation of real world driving.
Not only does the simulator allow the company to study a number of real-world driving scenarios, it also helps Lexus come to a better understanding as to how driver’s react during these scenarios, especially those that lead to car crashes. The simulator works in all directions and can simulate speeds of over 180 mph, as well as simulate a number of driving conditions, providing Lexus with a wealth of information it needs to provide with cars that are more resistant to traffic accidents.
We don’t think it’s a coincidence that both Lexus and Mercedes have come out with brand new driving simulators about one week from each other. We’ll have to wait to see what new technology these automakers come out with after a few test spins in their simulators to decide which brand spent their money wisely!
