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Carbon fiber to be replaced by Buckypaper?

The name is strange, and the material seems to possess otherworldly strength, but it's all very serious. Buckypaper is a new material composed of carbon nanotubes that promises to revolutionize composite materials. Stacking sheets of buckypaper together nets a material that's 500 times stronger than steel, yet 10 times lighter. Florida State University is working on making the material inexpensive to produce in large batches of ultra-strong sheets, and the possible applications are wide and varied. Airplanes, automobiles, household items, the possibilities are endless, though we'd be most interested to see buckypaper mature to the point where it can comprise a monocoque shell for an automobile. There are challenges to getting the nanotubes to arrange properly for high strength, and bonding something with such surface smoothness is also difficult, but the promise of a new wonder-material has built a lot of excitement and could one day replace carbon fiber as the exotic material of choice to both lighten and strengthen our cars at the same time.
posted : 10/22/2008 @10:39:44 PM
Azentek nav-equipped SmartMirror coming end of year

Everything is in line to be a convergence device, and now the boring rear view mirror has stepped under the lights to get stuffed with extra equipment. The Azentek SmartMirror has a four-inch touchscreen on the right for a 2D and 3D text-to-speech GPS display. It's also offers Bluetooth connectivity, a call log, and caller ID. It has two video inputs, one that can be used for a rear view camera, and an SD card slot in case you want to record... well, whatever you might want to record with your rear view mirror. The only thing missing from the mirror is availability -- it's been so popular that Azentek can't supply enough of them. The company says that will change later this year when you'll be able to get it at major retailers. The other potential hitch: it'll cost you $800 to do what your phone, TomTom, and regular mirror already do.
posted : 10/16/2008 @4:56:48 PM
Toyota opens second facility in Michigan, adds 400 jobsMichigan has been begging for good news from the auto industry lately, and the Great Lakes state got some from a company that was once considered public enemy number one. Toyota has officially opened a brand new $187 million technical center in York Township that will provide 400 more jobs to the beleaguered state while giving the Japanese automaker additional manpower to develop more new vehicles for North America. The York Township facility will compliment the 700-person Toyota research and development center in Ann Arbor that has been operational since 1997. The Ann Arbor facility has performed R&D duties for various vehicle including the Avalon, Tundra, Sienna and upcoming Venza. The added jobs at the new facility only represents a small portion of the thousands of jobs Michigan residents have lost over the past decade, but having an automotive force like Toyota investing in your state is a very good start, indeed.
posted : 10/15/2008 @7:59:29 PM
VW and Porsche can't get along, risk future tech and product plans

In the land of mergers and acquisitions, there are takeovers, there are hostile takeovers, and then there are I'm Gonna Git You Sucka No Matter What takeovers. Porsche's increasingly acrimonious battle to swallow VW is becoming that third option, and the brawl might threaten the short term plans of Porsche, VW and Audi. Porsche wants access to Audi engines and electronics, but VW, which owns more than 99-percent of Audi, won't allow it. Porsche has de facto control of VW, with a 35.1-percent share. The so-called VW Law, which allows the government of Lower Saxony ultimate veto power even though it has only a 20-percent share, has been the broadsword that both VW and Germany have been using to keep Porsche at bay. The law has been struck down at least three times by the EU Commission and a German Court, only to have politicians figure out how to rewrite it without changing the substance of it. VW's supverisory board recently declared it would need to approve any sharing between Porsche and Audi, and at the moment, Porsche can't overrule that decision. Ferdinand Piech, the head of VW, is in a battle with the Porsche family and Wendelin Wiedeking, the CEO of Porsche, over control, and neither is expected to budge. The risk is that since no one knows how this is all going to play out, a battle of egos and punitive reactions could interrupt development of and platform sharing between – and therefore the profits of – all three manufacturers' future products and technology.
posted : 10/5/2008 @3:03:32 PM
Vizualtech developing Audi R8-inspired catamaran

Ever wonder what an Audi R8 would look like if it were to transform into a speedboat? Neither had we, but maybe it would look a bit like this machine, developed by a Swedish company named Vizualtech. The most notable styling element of the R8 are its contrasting blades of color just aft of the doors, and these make the transition to Vizualtech's catamaran along with the integrated fuel-filler. At the rear are large openings with strakes that mimic the look of the R8's hind-end nicely. One thing that the Audi doesn't have are this catamaran's gull-wing doors. We expect Audi to drop a V10 engine in the R8's engine bay soon enough, and this sea worthy ship will feature one of its own, though powered by biodiesel and making about 320-horsepower. Top speed falls a bit behind the vehicle that inspired its design at 110 miles per hour, but that's supercar speed on the water.
posted : 10/5/2008 @2:39:25 PM
Nissan looks to the Bumblebees for tips on crash avoidance

Volvo has its locusts, Nissan has its bees. With 300-degree vision via compound eyes and instantaneous reflexes, bees don't run into things the way cars do. Nissan wants to halve the rate of car crashes by 2015, versus the company's 1995 tally, and is using bees to come up with a new generation of crash-avoidance systems that will be able to respond to obstacles in ways superior to humans. Whether bees or locusts, the key to making the technology work has yet to be created: allowing the car to act on information instantly, without complex processing. Information from the bees' eyes doesn't get kicked around their noggins first, it goes straight to the wings which immediately react to keep them out of trouble. More simply: they don't think about what they need to do -- they just do it. When bees do that, they end up unhurt. When humans do that, they end up on the evening news. To start down that road, Nissan's made a Biomimetic Car Robot Drive (BR23C) that knows how to act like your annoying sibling: it goes around you if it thinks you're in the way. Yet, even when the basic technology can be transferred to vehicles, there is still the issue of dimensions: the BR23C can rotate in any direction to sidestep barriers, but your car has a narrower range of options. Until the guy next to you can also respond instantly -- or we're all driving Nissans and Volvos -- we'll have to see how the technology shakes out.
posted : 10/3/2008 @7:53:32 PM
Read your OBD-II with iPhone using REV

Here's another iPhone application that demonstrates that soon there is nothing you won't be able to know if you have just one device. DevToaster has created an app called Rev that reads information straight from the OBD-II port on your car and displays it on your iPhone. When it's fully operational, Rev can display things like vehicle speed, RPM, fuel consumption, calculated engine load, and a host of other parameters. You'll even be able to check and reset engine and error codes. The only hitch is that you need an OBD-II/WLAN interface that can beam the information from the port to the phone. DevToaster is working on that now; in the meantime, you can download Rev Lite at their site and we have a feeling California's going to work on more phone-centric activities to ban.
posted : 10/3/2008 @7:37:32 PM
Katech Corvette Z06 ClubSport

We loved the look and concept of Katech's Corvette Z06 ClubSport that we showed you last month, as did many of our readers. The emphasis on light weight components and track-ready components make it suitable for both street and racing duties, plus it's one of the most beautiful renditions of the Corvette we've seen to date. Our only complaint was that Katech provided just one photo to drool over. Fortunately, they remedied the situation by sending us a set of beautiful high-resolution photos, which we've added to the gallery below. You can also view more info on the car in the press release after the jump in case you missed it the first time around.
posted : 10/3/2008 @7:05:41 PM
Former Saleen employees join up with new TECHCO aftermarket company

It seems that many of the employees that departed Saleen Inc. after Steve left the company last summer have remained in contact and have reassembled at a new company called TECHCO that will focus on providing innovative high performance aftermarket products. They are operating out of a 150,000 square foot facility in Anaheim, CA with extensive in-house equipment for design, development, fabrication, and assembly. Their flagship product is a twin-screw supercharger system with applications for the Dodge/Chrysler 5.7L/6.1L V8, Ford's 4.6L V8, and the LS engines in the C5 and C6 Corvettes. TECHCO are currently taking orders and plan to deliver the first kits in October.
posted : 10/3/2008 @6:35:26 PM
Nissan, Sharp and NTT DOCOMO develop smart-key phone

Those wacky kids in Japan can do all kinds of things with their cell phones that those of us in the U.S. can't. Thanks to Nissan, Sharp Corporation, and NTT DOCOMO, the Japanese mobile communications company, they can now add car control to the list of possible cell phone features. The phone uses the two-way communication of Nissan's Intelligent Key System, the same thing you use on your G37. For now, it can only lock and unlock the car and start and stop the engine, but if it takes off we imagine they'll add other options later. This is about convenience, not necessarily about sense -- if your phone gets stolen, that makes your car one more thing that the villains can abscond with. The phone won't go on sale commercially until 2009, but will be demoed at the CEATEC exhibition in Japan later this month. You can read the full press release is after the jump, and get ready to overhear this in Japanese: "I called the wrong number and my car just drove off..."
posted : 10/3/2008 @6:21:47 PM
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