Electric Smart Cars

Smart cars or intelligent cars are automobiles that use some form of artificial intelligence to enhance the driving experience. Smart cars should not be confused with the Zap Smart Car brand, which has created a line of small urban electric and non-electric vehicles.



Smart cars of the future will be using advanced technology to perform such functions as automatic cruise control, lane departure warnings and correction, hazardous object avoidance, driver awakenings, position and satellite monitoring, self-parking and driverless transportation.

Researchers are developing automotive technology so that in the future, smart cars will be able to interface by wireless and infrared connections with road signs, signals and other roadside communication devices. This will enable computerized smart cars to automatically determine driving conditions such as traffic ahead, road hazards or steep curves and make adjustments ahead of time.

Some day, smart cars will be able to determine their own speeds, put themselves on cruise control, take themselves off, avoid hazards and park themselves with little driver interaction. If you think this is just a pipe dream, then it's good to know that the European Union has already set forth its i2010 Intelligent Car Initiative.

The initiatives goals are to develop safer, cleaner and smarter vehicles. These intelligent cars or smart vehicles will be safer to drive by using technology such as adaptive cruise control to keep a safe distance from other drivers, lane departure warnings and lane change assistants, hypo-vigilance systems for sleepy drivers and an alcohol lock for those over the DUI limits.

Through advanced communication systems including computers, wireless networking and GPS, smart cars will also be able to interactively ease traffic congestion and take more favorable routes as traffic needs arise. Smart cars will also be intelligent enough to avoid pedestrians, bicyclers and others who are not driving automobiles.

Hands-free motoring is another goal for smart car developers who wish to create public transportation systems with individual cars, taxis, shuttle buses and large transport buses that will carry passengers without the need for drivers.

Some of the smart car projects that have been created to improve intelligent communication include CarTalk 2000, SEVECOM, GST, ADAS, ComuniCar, COM2React, CyberCars2, Safespot and Trace.

With the ever-increasing need for newer safety measures and way to decrease traffic congestion, it is most assured that smart cars will one day provide the relief and results that many are now seeking. Until then it is best to turn on an old episode of Knight Rider and listen to Kitt speak to David Hasselhoff and tell him to shape up.

Design of Cars

The future design of cars is anyone's guess as it is up to the imagination of the designers to create and general public to accept what is brought forth. The good news is that the future design of cars may see radical advancements due to new advancements in drive technology.

For instance, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and electric cars have no internal combustion engine and bulky transmission to design a car around. The fuel cell, batteries and electric motors can be placed in many different arrangements in the vehicles including underneath the floorboard opening up a world of future car design possibilities. In addition, the future design of cars will also be dependent upon just what does propel the car? For instance what if the car we are referring to is a future flying car rather than an earthbound one. Engines and rotors will lend themselves to different future car design than will other types of engines for automobiles that run on the ground.

And, then there are design and technological advancements that have nothing to do with the propulsion method. For instance, the Audi RSQ was designed from the movie "I, Robot" starring Will Smith. One of the most unique design features of the Audi RSQ is that the wheels are spherical in shape as it does not use traditional wheels or tires.



The future design of cars may start in the college ranks as well. Take for instance Jonathan Putner's Daedalus, which won the Royal College of Art's Best Overall Concept Car.

Or the CLEVER vehicle prototype, which is only 1-meter wide, developed by the University of Bath in the United Kingdom. With Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and a myriad of 3D animation software programs out there, designers are more capable than ever before of designing their own future cars.

Whether or not any of these future designs of cars will ever become working prototypes is anyone's guess.

What is certain is that the future design of cars is a wide open field. With enough imagination, anything is possible.

Prototype Future Cars

Prototype future cars take the design and concept one step further in creating a vehicle that is not only visually appealing but actually are drivable. Future car prototypes are many especially when it comes to hydrogen cars.



Since the year 2000, over 100 hydrogen car prototypes have been rolled out among the major manufacturers to the viewing public yet hardly a soul knows about them.

Ford, GM, DaimlerChrysler, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, BMW and others all have prototype future cars that they are now showing.

But, even though hydrogen car prototypes are hot right now, they are not the only game in town. Ever since General Motors crushed its EV1 cars and the "Who Killed the Electric Car" movie was made about it, there has been a resurgence in interest in electric cars, even by GM as they are expected to rollout a new electric car prototype sometime in 2007.

Tesla and Zap, who once had prototype future cars now have full production electric vehicles. Phoenix Motorcars in Ontario, California has also moved from the prototype future car arena to doing limited production on all electric sport utility trucks.

One of the more bizarre prototype future cars is the Kaz Limousine Eliica electric vehicle. This car is powered by a bank of lithium-ion batteries, has eight 55 kw electric motors and can accelerate to a top speed of 240 mph. Designed by 40 students at the Keio University in Japan this prototype future car hauls its assets faster than another other car in its class.

Now, how about a prototype future car that runs on air, you ask? The MDI air cars are just that. Touted as the world's cleanest cars, the MDI City-CAT and Mini-CAT (Compressed Air Techology) are also moving from the prototype stage and into production.

What about other prototype future cars using alternative fuels. Well, we've covered hydrogen, electricity and air, so what else does the future hold? How about nitrogen. Researchers at the University of North Texas have developed the CooLN2Car, which runs on liquid nitrogen. Like the other cars mentioned, this is also a zero emission vehicle that uses a cryogenic heat engine for power.

Of course, there are many prototype future cars that run on gasoline, ethanol or other biofuels, but what fun are they? The future is in alternative energy and the trend is prototype future cars is reflecting this trend as well.

Hydrogen Cars

Future hydrogen cars are not way off in some outlandish date, but rather they are right around the corner. Just look in the rear view mirror and the future of hydrogen cars is closer than you think.





Since the year 2000, there have been approximately 100 hydrogen car prototypes rolled out before the public yet hardly a soul knows about them.

The first hydrogen fuel cell was developed in the 1800s and the first official hydrogen fuel cell vehicle was the General Motors Electrovan developed in 1966.

In 2007, both GM and BMW expect to roll out 100 hydrogen cars to select customers. In 2004, Honda offered the first commercial hydrogen car as a lease to a family in Redondo Beach, California. In 2007, Honda leased the FCX hydrogen car to 17-year-old actress Q'orianka Kilcher, her first car. Brad Pitt also arrived in a BMW Hydrogen 7 automobile to the premiere of his new movie Ocean's 13 in Hollywood, California.

Future hydrogen cars however will see vast improvements over the vehicles that are being shown today. For instance, both Ford and GM have come up with plug-in electric hybrid hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and this trend will most likely continue.

Future hydrogen cars will combine technologies with hybrid electric cars or flex fuel vehicles to give consumers more choices and to offer alternatives for infrastructure issues. The biggest problem facing future hydrogen cars right now is not the cars themselves or the technology.

The biggest problem is the building of the supporting hydrogen infrastructure. Building facilities to create hydrogen, transport it and dispense it from a fueling station on every corner as is done with gasoline now, will take billions of dollar in capital investment, which the oil companies are shy to do.

This is why both BMW and Mazda have created dual fuel vehicles that can run off either hydrogen or gasoline with the flip of a switch. Ford has create the Superchief, which is a tri-fuel vehicle that can run off gasoline, hydrogen or E85 (ethanol) with the press of a button.

Future hydrogen cars will have this multi-fuel technology combined with advanced battery technology along with a few other surprises as well. One of the surprises for future hydrogen cars is that they may not run off compressed or liquid hydrogen at all.

Researchers are also working on cars that create hydrogen on demand from water or a hydrogen-rich chemical compound and then run this hydrogen through either a fuel cell or internal combustion engine. Others are using hydrogen peroxide to create a chemical reaction to turn a turbine engine to power the wheels of the vehicle.

Future hydrogen cars are still an emerging industry and only time will tell what finally shakes out to become the standard that we all adopt and accept.

BMW

BMW M5 Equipped for Lumma

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BMW M1 Concept
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Alpine BMW B6 GT3 2009

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BMW - 760LI

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BMW M3 Racing

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RDX - Racedesign - BMW E46

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Chevrolet Captiva

Personal Ola forgives the delay to postar therefore is half without good time ^^' as vcs can m see in this postagen is showing to 3 categories of captiva the 1 shows to a version tuning my preferred one is logical still more with black wheels ^^, in the 2 we have the captiva of the foreigners hehe and finally the national captiva Brazil particulamente all are pretty of dribble hehe tie the next one .....

Future Car Technology

Future car technology is now wide open. For instance, with peak oil looming and future shortages of fossil fuels imminent there has been much emphasis lately on cars that run on alternative fuels.




Future car technology will most likely involve a whole host of choices in regard to the fuel of choice.

Right now many automakers are gearing up for offering vehicles that are able to run on ethanol or other biofuels (such as biodiesel), which is the path of least resistance for the near future.

But, what about longer term? In the longer term, future car technology will most likely involve cars that run on hydrogen, electricity, air, nitrogen or even nuclear power. Some may see the nuclear-powered car as the most far-fetched of all of the ideas, but this is a mistake.

In fact, in 1958 the first nuclear automobile was pioneered and called the Ford Nucleon. The Ford Nucleon was a concept vehicle that was supposed to be powered by a small nuclear reactor at the rear of the vehicle fueled by radioactive material. No working prototypes were ever built, however.

So, this is not the say that nuclear-powered cars will never be part of the future. Car technology will most likely advance to the state will this will one day be a likely fuel of choice.

But, what is here now? Hydrogen, electricity, air and nitrogen cars all have had working prototypes built. In fact, in regard to electric vehicles, production models have also been built. But, the range of electric cars and their recharging rate have always been their downfall.

So, this is where hydrogen cars step in. Hydrogen cars at this writing can run from either internal combustion engines or fuel cells. Some of the current models of hydrogen cars like the GM Sequel have a proven driving range of over 300 miles in real world conditions. The BMW Hydrogen 7 has rolled out as a lease vehicle and is a dual fuel vehicle that can run off either liquid hydrogen or gasoline.

The Honda FCX was the first hydrogen car to be offered as a lease in 2004 and now the second lessee, actress Q'orianka Kilcher who played Pocahontas in the movie "The New World".

Electric cars also offer an option in regard to future car technology if the aforementioned issues may be resolved. Companies like Tesla, Zap and Phoenix Motorcars are making headway in developing these vehicles for the marketplace.

And, then there is the MDI air cars which may be going over big in Europe and India once the compressed air infrastructure is in place. The MDI air cars also have an onboard compressor that plugs into any outlet so this will help with vehicle acceptance.

So, far their has only been one nitrogen car prototype of note and this is the CooLN2Car developed by the University of North Texas. The car has stalled in development, however, due to lack of research funds.

Two other parts of advanced car technology to note are the future flying cars that will be taking flight over the next two or three years and smart cars that will also be seeing the highways and byways sometime in the future as well.

Mercedes-benz Adaptive High-beam Assistant - New Car Technology

Mercedes-Benz, a leading luxury car manufacturer, has made various significant contributions in the field of automotive safety. Some of the most significant car safety technologies introduced by Mercedes-Benz includes DISTRONIC Plus, Intelligent Light System, and Brake Assist. The latest in the list of contributions is the Adaptive High-Beam Assistant that is designed aimed at optimizing headlamps lighting while driving in the dark.
The new headlight system is completely adaptive and keeps on adjusting the intensity of light based on prevailing traffic conditions. The system recognizes an approaching vehicle and adjusts the beam range in such a way that the headlamp cone falls in front of the approaching car. This prevents the blinding effect that drivers often experience when a car approaches on the opposite track. The other way round, when the road is empty and there is no traffic, this innovative system automatically puts on the high beam for better visibility. This in turn helps the car drivers to have better control on the steering wheel and improves safety especially during night.
Working of Adaptive High-Beam Assistant
The complete system is based upon the working of a video camera in association with computer software that regulates the intensity of headlamps in accordance to the traffic conditions.
A video camera is placed on the inside of the front windscreen of the car. This installed camera records the images on oncoming traffic and monitors the traffic flow on the road. It also detects the actual distance of the car with other approaching automobiles. This information is then passed on to bi-xenon headlamps, which vary their lighting in accordance to the data received. The beam focus is changed every 40 milliseconds to adapt to the traffic conditions. The xenon headlamps continually adapt to the variations of data received by the images recorded in the installed camera.
There is only one effort put in by the car driver. He has to switch the rotary light switch to the “Auto” position and the multifunction control lever placed on the steering column to high beam. After this the adaptive high beam car safety technology becomes fully automatic mainly at speeds above 55 km/h.
Conclusion
At present, Mercedes-Benz will outfit the new adaptive high beam system only in its range of car models, starting from mid 2009. Gradually, the company may also start selling its innovation to other car manufacturers so that everyone can enjoy a safer and comfortable ride.
The hunt for higher safety standards is ongoing with the progress of Mercedes-Benz.

Sharp adds car-starting technology to mobile phones

Sharp integrating Nissan's Intelligent Key car technology into mobile phones. Image: Sharp/Nissan.

Japanese consumer electronics company Sharp Corporation has taken the convenience of keyless engine-starts and remote door locking a step further this week after it introduced a mobile phone capable of giving technophile drivers access to both through their handsets.

Sharp’s latest mobile phone creation uses a technology called “Intelligent Key”, which was initially developed by car manufacturing giant Nissan Motor Co. to allow drivers to gain access to their vehicles and start their engines without ever having to use a standard physical key.

The in-car system, which Nissan has already installed and shipped in around one million vehicles since 2002, works by using two-way wireless communication to sense the local positioning of its assigned remote key outside the car before then unlocking its doors to enable entry. Once the driver has entered the car and brought the key technology inside, the system then allows engine ignition.

Although the system already exists through Nissan’s remote key entry application, Sharp’s “world’s first” take on the technology places the key within a mobile phone so that users don’t have to fish around looking for their remote and can instead just hit a button on their handsets to gain instant entry and control.

The new phone is pencilled in for an initial roll out through Japan’s NTT DoCoMo network, the country’s biggest mobile phone operator.

Sharp, NTT DoCoMo and Nissan are all expected to individually showcase the enhanced Intelligent Key technology at next week’s CEATEC technology conference in Tokyo, which starts on September 30.

All three core contributors have said development of the technology is ongoing and that a retail-ready remote access mobile phone device should be hitting stores by the close of March 2009.

cars technology

The Peugeot Touch Boasts Touch Sensitive Doors

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Porsche 911 GT3

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LIFT Car is Hangable

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KTM X-Bow Tackles the Snow

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Leaked 2009 BMW Z4

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2009 Porsche Carrera 911 S Cabriolet Track Test

The 2009 Porsche Carrera 911 S Cabriolet boasts a PDK transmission, which has the “ability to snap off shifts 60 percent faster than the Tiptronic and faster, in fact, than any human using a manual transmission, and those who relish pure performance will love this.”

2009 Nissan 370Z Road Test

Edmunds reports that you “can feel the difference in the new Z-car as soon as you roll out of the driveway and into the street.”

2009 Subaru WRX vs 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart

According to Inside Line, the “2009 WRX lacks fancy differentials and a twin-clutch gearbox, but it’s quicker, lighter and cheaper than the 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart.”