Monday, March 12th, 2007
Giving a new meaning to the word horsepower
Leave it to the colloboration between Japanese wackiness and the Italian efficiency to create an electric car so quiet its a danger on the roads to pedestrians and other cars. With the addition of a sound track, the car is now safe on the roads, although pedestrians hearing the car now might be surprised to see the Girasole car approaching instead of a horse, considering that the sound track that plays is horse hooves, not the whir of an engine.
One would think that the Italians could come up with a better sounding track, F1 car maybe? [Read Reuters]
University of Tokyo researchers have developed a smart car seat that can detect when you are about to fall asleep at the wheel. Focusing on pulse and respiration, pressure sensors embedded in the seat detect these changes even with bulky clothing and without the need for physical contact with the drivers skin. While all fine and dandy, the system doesn’t have an alarm system built in to alert you to your impending accident, although they expect it to be commercially accessable within 5 years. In the mean time, maybe Redbull should offer to hardcode the chairs with a GPS unit that alerts drivers to the nearest Redbull-stocked vendor.