If the standard options on the Cadillac XTS or ATS sedan just aren’t enough to get you to pull the trigger, perhaps this will. GM and some fellow researchers are road testing Super Cruise self-driving technology in hopes of making those grueling road trips a bit easier on the ol’ chauffeur. Capable of auto steering, braking and lane centering on the open road “under certain optimal conditions,” the system is meant for highway use in both free-flowing and bumper-to-bumper traffic. Super Cruise implements a mixture of radar, ultrasonic sensors, cameras and GPS info. However, when “reliable data” can’t be gathered by the system, you’ll have no choice but to take the wheel yourself. Although the basics of the new tech have already been implemented on the 2013 Cadillac XTS and ATS autos as a piece of the Driver Assist Package, the full rollout could happen by the middle of the decade. For a look at Super Cruise in action, hit the video just past the break.

SOURCE via GM

If you’ve ever dreamed of thumbing your nose at big energy and its expensive, polluting ways, then Tesla and a solar panel leasing company called SolarCity might be taking you a baby-step closer to reality. Although recognized mostly for its EVs, Tesla reckons it knows enough about batteries to solve a key problem in the solar energy chain — namely the storage of power for use when the sun, power grid, or both go offline. The battery design, consisting of many laptop-style lithium ion batteries stacked together, was chosen after two years of research and a $1.8 million energy grant. The two companies are now waiting for tax credits from the Fed and California before rolling out the tech. And being kissing cousins — with Elon Musk as both Chairman of SolarCity and CEO of Tesla — certainly can’t hurt.

SOURCE via GigaOm

Terrafugia’s Transition could finally be making its way to the production line. The “flying car” has journeyed far beyond the concept phase, achieving its compulsory nod from the DOT last summer, and now reaching production prototype status. On March 23rd, the latest Transition flew past one more hurdle, completing its first airborne trial. The hybrid vehicle rolled down the runway at Plattsburgh International Airport in New York before ascending to 1400 feet — the entire flight lasted a mere eight minutes, and marks the first of six planned phases of flight testing during the aircraft’s voyage past experimental stage. There’s still no word on when the Light Sport Aircraft will be making its way to soon-to-be Transition owners, but those hankering for a preview can catch a glimpse of the craft at the New York Auto Show from April 6th through the 15th. You can also taxi past the break for a tail-level view of the test plane’s trek to takeoff.

SOURCE via CNET

It’s been less than a year since our first opportunity to get up close and personal with BMW’s i8 plug-in electric car, and now the German automaker is back to tease a whole new beast. The Concept Spyder made a static appearance over the weekend, but today the sportier i8 has returned to the spotlight, with video footage in tow. BimmerPost managed to share some clips via YouTube, including a straight-cut-gear-fueled drive around a parking lot and across a lamp-lit bridge, somewhere in the Eastern U.S., believe it or not (take note of the I-95 sign in the first few seconds). You can also gawk at some side-to-side pans of the Spyder’s exterior, with a few HD interior close-ups to boot. And where can you find said stimulating simulations? Buckle up and click past the break.

Peeps in Brooklyn have long had real-time bus-tracking information, but public-transit aficionados in six other cities now have one less reason for BK envy. With the latest version of Google Maps, even the least cool citizens of Boston, Portland, Ore., San Diego, San Francisco, Madrid and Turin can see not just when their bus or train is scheduled to arrive, but when it actually will. Selecting a stop on the map displays “live departure times” and service alerts, thanks to Google’s data-sharing partnerships with city transit operators. That won’t always guarantee fewer delays or less waiting, but will help riders budget their time, and maybe find those precious seconds necessary to post more Tumblr pictures of “ironic” Hitler-kittens.

SOURCE via Google

Google search has just got into a whole lot more awesome than they ever did, because now you can search for flight schedule and information just like searching for bus or train info!

By simply typing “flights from / to” a destination in the search bar, it displays specific flight routes or all routes from a particular airport, all of the airlines serving the locales along with flight numbers, and travel dates / times.

The ITA travel search software which the DOJ finally allowed Google to purchase last month isn’t powering the feature, although Google stated on its blog that the flight schedule search is a “small step” in an overall effort to make finding flight information simpler.

Currently the service only supports ten languages, and Google will be increasing that number no doubt.

SOURCE via Google

Transformer flying Humvee project. How does this project’s name sound to you? Collaboration between the Autobots, the Prime clan, and the US government for war gadgets’ research and development? The AAI Corp has landed a contract for feasibility studies of the Transformer flying Humvee project, which takes a lightly armoured four-man vehicle and puts it in the air, hoping it to fly. Sounds as if it’s literally begging to be hit by a rocket-propelled grenade or flag trooper.

And if that doesn’t sound sketchy enough, keep in mind that among the design considerations are gas tanks in the craft’s wings which, as Spencer Ackerman at Wired points out, would make really obvious targets. The testing should last about a year, and cost DARPA a cool $3 million. If all goes well, AAI could have a partial prototype in 2013. Sounds very dangerous to me, and I won’t trust its capability unless it’s being developed by Stark Industries.

SOURCE via Wired

Mobile warriors who always go to the airports for those international flights. Ever seen the airport packed like a sardine can? Wish you had a chair of your own? What if I tell you that you can! But that’s not all, the chair can also jam, giving you a chance to do popping in the middle of the airport when the cute girl pass by with a tune of some Fancy Footsteps.

This is the Trip, by Travelteq. It’s small enough to fit in an overhead compartment and has a kangaroo pouch on the front for quickly accessing items without opening the whole thing up. But that’s all pretty mundane in light of the fact that the Trip has little foldout legs that turn it into a chair. That you can sit on! When you’re tired at the airport and all the other seats are taken, sit at wherever you like mate! Just be careful if Roy Miller shows up and decided to put a toy in your kangaroo pouch, of your Trip bag of kush.

Now the fun part. Another version of the Trip, the Trip Sound, has detachable speakers incorporated into the suitcase itself. According to the press release, there’s a battery for juicing up your iPhone or Blackberry on the go. No love for Android? The Trip Sound runs for €650 and the regular Trip for €595. A bit pricey, but remember—you’re not just buying luggage; you’re buying luggage you can sit on and listen to.

SOURCE via Travelteq

Space tourism; how bombarding can this business go? How often do you hear of people booking flight tickets to the space at Nasa Airlines? Nasa might not be heavily promoting their space tourism flights, but Boeing is getting ready to.

Boeing has declared plans to add space tourism to its CST-100 – or Crew Space Transportation-100 – low orbit flights by 2015. Operated by a partnership with Space Adventures, the flights will be able to carry up to seven passengers about 62 miles above Earth’s surface and the craft are currently being developed with the help of NASA.The space shuttle could also be used as a ferry to get people to and from the various space habitats companies are working away at. There’s no word on what the pricing of one of these journeys will look like, but I assure you it’s going to be more than just a limb and a thigh and your right eye.

SOURCE via CNET

There’s been many solar research models lately. Many are trying to get aircrafts to fly around without nothing but power from the sun. This is actually a remarkable research, as who knows, in the future we might be flying around using cute looking aircraft powered by solar energy. Totally green indeed! It’s a great thing to know that everyone’s getting into the ‘save Mother Nature’ move.

The Zephyr drone from QinetiQ will be running around again, with a new record that it hopes to blow away. 7 days in the air, and counting! The craft, which took off from the Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona last Friday, is being billed as an “eternal aircraft,” one that can stay in the air for extremely lengthy periods of time for use as recon and communications platforms. The earlier world record for a UAV was set by NASA’s Global Hawk, which stayed aloft for 30 hours and 24 minutes.

[via Engadget]