Driverless cars and OLED headlights by AUDI CES 2013

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A car that drives itself through traffic jams and does the parking for you was showcased alongside shape-shifting OLED headlights by German car brand Audi at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Above: banks of LED headlights and indicators

Audi also unveiled electronics systems to integrate the car with services such as Google Maps and Google Earth View as well as social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Piloted driving will soon allow drivers to let the car take control when stuck in a traffic jam, Audi engineers believe.

Above: OLED technology creates a continuous light surface

The self-driving technology will be able to stop and start the vehicle in slow-moving traffic, as well as manoeuvring it in and out of parking spaces.

Cars could also be networked to alert each other to hazards such as icy roads or heavy traffic, Audi suggests, while communication with traffic lights would enable the vehicle to drive itself through green lights.

LED headlights are already available in many car models, but at CES 2013Audi unveiled its Matrix LED system, which uses a camera to detect the road and vehicles ahead so that it can swivel its headlights or lower the intensity of the beam when needed.

Above: LED headlights that can bend and swivel

OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology would also turn the car's rear into a continuous light surface with many tiny points moving together like a shoal of fish. The lights would flow to the right when the car turns right or flow rapidly forwards when it brakes, for example.

Last month Dezeen filmed a movie that showed how glowing walls, windows and furniture made from OLEDs could replace light bulbs and LEDs in homes.

We also recently reported that Audi is bringing its interior and exterior design studios together as part of its new design strategy.

Above: a customisable virtual display

We've also featured an ultra-lightweight chair developed in collaboration with Audi and a huge sculpture created for the car brand at a motoring festival – see all our stories about Audi »

Above: smartphone integration for maps and satellite views

See all our stories about OLEDs »
See all our stories about cars »
See all our stories about transport »

Above: smartphone integration

Here's more information from Audi:

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Audi at the CES 2013

“Electronics trends over the next decade” will be the banner for Audi’s presence at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which will be held in Las Vegas from January 8 to 11, 2013. At the world’s most important electronics trade show, the brand is presenting its technologies of today and its solutions for tomorrow. The spotlight will be on networking the car with its environment – with a particular focus on future piloted driving and mobile communications.

Audi will be showcasing a wide range of assistance systems already on offer that make driving more comfortable and safer. These assistance systems are closely integrated, providing them with a high degree of intelligence and outstanding capabilities. Tomorrow’s systems will be even smarter – they will reduce the driver’s workload should the driver so wish.

Piloted driving will be technical feasible before the decade is out – Audi will be showcasing what being caught up in a traffic jam will entail in future. In congested traffic at speeds up to 60 km/h (37.28 mph), Audi’s piloted driving helps the driver to steer the car within certain limits. It also accelerates and brakes the vehicle autonomously. In future, piloted driving will also be able to maneuver the vehicle autonomously into and out of parking spaces – such as in tight roadside parking spaces, in garages, or even in parking garages.

“At Audi you’d be hard pushed to find an innovation that isn’t related to electronics nowadays,” explains Ricky Hudi, Head of Electrics/Electronics Development. “These enable us to implement full networking. A defining feature of the last decade was that we integrated all the functions in the car. This decade will see us network the car seamlessly with the environment, under the Audi connect banner – with the driver, the Internet, the infrastructure, and with other vehicles.”

Audi connect services and technologies bring the Internet into the car and the car onto the Internet. For customers the new technology means greater comfort and greater driving pleasure. The new wireless communication standard Long Term Evolution (LTE) will soon support communications with the World Wide Web, opening up the possibility of high-speed transmission of large amounts of data.

Audi connect provides the driver with tailor-made services, ranging from navigation with Google Earth images and Google Maps Street View, through Audi online traffic information and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. In the new Audi A3 and in the Audi A3 Sportback the driver can have e-mails read aloud and dictate (SMS) text messages. Audi intends to expand this range of services further.

Audi is working flat out on new operating and display concepts – concepts like the freely programmable instrument cluster. The driver can switch around the virtual displays to suit their own requirements. Visually they are barely distinguishable from the physical instruments, but provide much more flexibility.

The brand also has new technology for hi-fi aficionados – 3-D sound brings a three-dimensional, large acoustic stage to in-car music playback. This inspirational technology can be experienced in the “Audi Q7 sound concept” directly in the vehicle and on the booth.

The architecture of the modular infotainment platform enables for the first time hardware components to be kept constantly up to date with minimal effort.

For many years Audi has been a leading brand in terms of lighting technology - at present LED headlights are available in many model series. Electrics/electronics also pave the way for major development advances in this technology area. The lighting on tomorrow’s Audi models will react actively to environmental conditions, thus increasing active safety further.

Audi has developed a broad spectrum of expertise in all areas of vehicle electronics, thus enabling it to explore new ways of co-operating with its suppliers. As part of the Progressive Semi Conductor Program (PSCP) seven semiconductor manufacturers have acquired the status of strategic partners and are therefore integrated into development.

“In all our technical areas the innovation cycles are short, and the competition is cut-throat,” says Ricky Hudi, Head of Electrics/Electronics Development. “At Audi we see that as an obligation to become even more progressive, more agile, and more innovative.”

World's first solar-powered family car to race across Australia

News: students at the Eindhoven University of Technology have unveiled what they claim to be the world's first solar-powered family car.

Called Stella, and resembling a squashed, wingless aeroplane, the vehicle can seat four people and can travel up to 600 kilometres, powered by solar panels mounted on the roof.

The vehicle has been developed to take part in the new Cruiser Class category of the World Solar Challenge - a biannual 3,000km race race through the Australian outback from Darwin to Adelaide.

This new category will be introduced for the first time at this year's event, taking place from 6-13 October, to reflect the growing interest in commercially viable solar cars.

Unlike the other categories, where speed is the main concern, the Cruiser Class is judged on criteria including comfort and usability. Cruiser Class vehicles must also carry a passenger as well as a driver.

"The design of the car of the future has to meet the needs of modern consumers," says Solar Team Eindhoven, which is based at Eindhoven University of Technology. "The car must be capable of transporting a family from the Netherlands to France in one day, it needs to be suitable for the daily commute to work, and it needs to achieve all this in comfort."

"Since the Solar Team Eindhoven wants to contribute to the development of a car of the future, the design demands more than just a focus on speed," the team adds. "Comfort, ease of use, and feasibility are all key terms."

The carbon and aluminium car features a buttonless, touchscreen dashboard and a responsive steering wheel that expands or contracts according to your speed.

Solar panels on the car's roof will generate around half the energy it requires, with the remaining power coming from solar recharging stations.

Solar Team Eindhoven's website provides more details of the World Solar Challenge race. "A large part of the energy to be used will be collected by solar cells as we travel," it says. "During the race, there are only three opportunities to recharge the relatively small battery, which means the car has to be able to independently drive a minimum of 750 kilometers on electric energy. Besides the issue of energy and its management, navigation, safety and support will be essential.

"Once the race starts in Darwin, the teams are permitted to drive until 5.00 p.m. in the afternoon. After that, they have to set up camp in the outback and be ready to leave again at 8.00 a.m. The teams must be completely self reliant and must reach all seven checkpoints."

Photos are by Bart van Overbeeke/TU Eindhoven.

Here's some info from Eindhoven University of Technology:

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TU/e student team unveils world’s first solar-powered family car

Solar Team Eindhoven starts World Solar Challenge in Australia with four-seater family car

The Solar Team Eindhoven (STE) of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) presented the world’s first solar-powered family car today. ‘Stella’ is the first ‘energy-positive car’ with room for four people, a trunk, intuitive steering and a range of 600 kilometers. This is the car being entered by the student team in the Cruiser class of the World Solar Challenge that starts in Australia in October 2013.

A car that produces electricity

The solar cells of ‘Stella’- Latin for star and also a reference to the family character of the car – generate more electricity on average than the car uses and that means the surplus electricity can be returned to the power grid, thereby making the car ‘energy-positive’.

The car of the future

Solar Team Eindhoven has set itself the goal of developing the car of the future. By combining aerodynamic design with lightweight materials like carbon and aluminum, a very fuel-efficient car has been designed, which also has ingenious applications like a LED strip and touchscreen that make all the buttons and knobs we know today superfluous. Intuitive driving is enabled by a steering wheel that expands or contracts when you are driving too fast or too slowly. STE will have the car officially certified for road use to prove that this really is a fully-fledged car.

World Solar Challenge

University teams from all over the world will be competing in a 3,000 km long race through the Australian outback. Solar Team Eindhoven is taking part in the Cruiser class in which the emphasis lies on practical and user-friendly solar cars rather than on speed. The ‘solar race’ takes place from 6 to 13 October 2013. Back in the Netherlands there will be a tour of high schools to promote engineering and science in education.

The engineer of tomorrow

Thanks to Solar Team Eindhoven entry, TU/e is represented for the first time in the Solar World Challenge. A multidisciplinary team (with 22 students from six different TU/e departments) has spent a year on this project that involves challenges from the fields of energy and mobility. Cooperation with industry has given the students an opportunity to become familiar with top-notch entrepreneurship, thereby underlining TU/e’s vision of educating the engineer of tomorrow. TU/e professors prof.dr. Elena Lomonova and prof.dr.ir. Maarten Steinbuch are members of the steering group.

Eindhoven  University of Technology

Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) is a research-driven, design-oriented technology university with a strong international focus. The university was founded in 1956 and has around 7,200 students and 3,000 staff. TU/e is geared to the societal challenges posed in the areas of Energy, Health and Smart Mobility.

How Google Glass Could Augment Our Realities and Memories

Countless wearers of Google Glass stalked the halls of this year's Google I/O developer conference, but only a lucky few were sporting the prescription model, which makes room for lenses in a more conventional glasses frame. Among those lucky early adopters with imperfect vision was Thad Starner, a Georgia Tech professor who, in 2010, was recruited to join a top-secret project at Google's fabled X Lab. That project, as it turned out, was Glass, and Starner's role on the team as a technical lead would be a vital one.

Starner invented the term "augmented reality" in 1990 and, after experimenting with wearable technologies for 20 years now, offered us a rare perspective on where the stuff has been and where it's headed. So, then, we were very glad to get a few moments to chat with the man at I/O and get his insight into how we got to be where we are and, indeed, get some suggestions from him on where we're going from here.

Starner says he's been wearing computer devices of some form or another daily for the past 20 years, a claim that few others can make. Before becoming an assistant professor at Georgia Tech, he founded MIT's Wearable Computing Project. It's in these years that he made the acquaintance of a pair of grad students named Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The group had discussions about the future of search and, given Starner's tech persuasions, how wearables might fit in to that:

We talked about how it would make you more powerful if you could have web search on your eyeball ... One of the problems was simply making a search engine that was good enough that the right hit was in the first four links, versus AltaVista which was the first 14 links. That took way too long to navigate.

They went their separate ways, Starner continuing to refine his wearable prototypes while Page and Brin built themselves a little search engine. After about a decade, Starner thought that it was time to reconnect:

About 2010, I sent Sergey an email saying, "Now that you guys are doing Android and you're doing these phones, you should really take a look at the wearable computing technology that we've been working on in academia. Why don't you come out to Atlanta and I'll show this stuff to you?" Next thing I know I'm on a plane out [to Google Headquarters] to join the Glass team. They had the same kind of thoughts. The time was right. The next thing you know I'm working on it too, making the early prototypes.

The term "augmented reality" comes from Starner's earlier work, a 1990 fellowship proposal. (Fun fact: this wasn't actually Starner's preferred term. "Artificial reality" had already been used by Timothy Leary to describe a drug-induced state.) However, his concept of a life augmented by technology is rather different than the "AR" that we generally think of when describing things like the Layar browser.

Starner's term for augmented reality simply referred to "information .....................

A Plane You Can Park in the Garage:Video

Steen Strand and Kirk Hawkins, founders of ICON Aircraft, describe the features of their groundbreaking A5 light-sport aircraft. They show video demonstrating the personal aircraft handles more like a Jet Ski than a Cessna.

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Kirk and Steen speak to design's power to unleash new markets. They tell the story of how ICON Aircraft set out to maximize the vast potential of the FAA's regulatory changes by creating, for the first time, a recreational powersport for flying.

They discuss the challenges in the development of the ICON A5, an airplane that makes flying more accessible, safer, and more enticing than ever before. - IDEO Know How Talks

Before graduating from Stanford Business School in 2005 and founding ICON, Kirk Hawkins flew F-16s in the U.S. Air Force and 767s for American Airlines. Prior to the USAF, he worked in both aviation and aerospace engineering most of his early career.

After earning his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Clemson University, he was the Director of Engineering at an aerospace contractor before returning for his Masters in Engineering from Stanford University in 1995, specializing in manufacturing.

Steen Strand is a seasoned sports product entrepreneur with 14 years of hands-on operational startup experience. Strand's expertise is in product design, marketing and brand building. Early in his career he worked at IDEO, one of the world's leading design consultancies before founding Freebord, a skateboard company with a global subculture of fanatical riders.

He later served as COO and Director of Product at Secara, a funded healthcare startup. Steen received his MS in Product Design from Stanford University, where he periodically instructs courses in Product Design. Steen's designs have been featured in numerous TV shows, websites and magazines, including Time, Forbes, Newsweek and Wired.

World's first manned flight with an electric multicopter

On October 21st, 2011, Thomas Senkel of e-volo made the first manned flight with an electric multicopter, the so called volocopter VC1, at an airstrip in the southwest of Germany. The flight lasted 90 seconds, after which the constructor and test pilot stated: "The flight characteristics are good natured. Without any steering input it would just hover there on the spot". This could be the future of aviation, piloting a device as easy as a car.

The Mycestro 3D wearable mouse

While we now have scroll-wheels, wireless connections and touch-surfaces, the basic form factor of the computer mouse remains remarkably similar to the box-with-a-button first demonstrated by Douglas C. Engelbart back in 1968. This doesn't mean there haven't been attempts to shake-up mouse design though, and the latest to cross our desk is the Mycestro 3D mouse – a thumb-activated, wireless mouse that attaches to your index finger.

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The traditional mouse has its limitations when it comes to certain human-computer interface scenarios we find ourselves in these days: the cramped train commute, crowded coffee shop, and not forgetting the airplane fold down table that was the original inspiration for the Mycestro design.

The founder of Ohio-based Innovative Developments LLC Nick Mastandrea has been working on the design for around two years. The current prototype uses 3D space recognition to control your computer without any requirement for dedicated mouse space or a touch pad on your device.

The Mycestro is the size of a Bluetooth earpiece and designed to be worn on the index finger. It uses a combination of sensors and algorithms to collect finger movement information and a touch sensitive panel located on the side of the finger closest to the thumb. Like removing your hand from the mouse, the Mycestro is inactive until you touch and hold anywhere on its side panel, which means you can type or make a coffee without having to remove it. Once the cursor becomes active, finger movements combined with the active thumb press direct it to the desired location, whilst further thumb motions on the touch panel button sections provide a full range of mouse clicks and scroll functionality. The 3D mouse also enables users to personalize programmable gesture commands in addition to the usual mouse functions, such as a flick or swipe movements.

The Mycestro uses Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (BLE) Protocol to give it a range of 30 ft (9.1 m). It's compatible with Bluetooth Smart Ready devices including iPads, MacBooks, and any PC with a compatible BLE dongle. According to its creators, Android devices should be on-line by the end of the year. The current version has two interchangeable clip sizes to cater for different digits an it's charged via USB, with one charge said to provide eight hours of battery life depending on usage.

A Kickstarter campaign is underway to raise funds for tooling and a preproduction prototype run. The Innovative Developments LLC team hopes to have the first products available for delivery around October 2013. Kickstarter prices range from US $79 for a white version, and US$ 99 for a choice of colors.

13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display Review

When Apple released the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display last June, it started at US$2,200. When the 13-inch model arrived last October, it rang up at only $1,800. Progress, I suppose – but still a pretty penny. Now, however, Apple has dropped the prices on all Retina MBPs, and the entry level is now $1,500. With its more affordable price tag, perhaps you’re eyeing its gorgeous 2,560 x 1,600 screen. Is it worth it? Read on, as we review the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display.

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For this review, we handled the entry-level (128 GB, 2.5 GHz) model. Apple recently upgraded the 256 GB model with a slightly-faster 2.6 GHz chip, but otherwise the two machines are identical.

Hardware and design

In terms of size and weight, the MacBook Pro with Retina Display (rMBP) splits the difference between the (still on the market) non-Retina MacBook Pro (MBP) and the svelte MacBook Air.

The Retina MBP is over 20 percent thinner and 21 percent lighter than the non-Retina MBP. On the other hand, it’s 21 percent heavier and 10 percent thicker than the MacBook Air. It’s really more than 10 percent thicker than the Air, but we’re comparing the uniformly-thick Retina Pro to the tapered Air's thickest point.

The 13-inch rMBP feels great in hand, and comfortable on the lap. If you’re accustomed to using a MacBook Air, you’ll notice a difference. A bit heavier, but closer than you might expect.

Its secret is that – like the MacBook Air – it loses the old optical drive, and adds a speedy solid-state drive (SSD). So if you aren’t ready to bail on CDs and DVDs just yet, you’ll want to avoid the rMBP for now (or invest in an external DVD drive).

The Retina Pro’s design is mostly familiar. It looks a lot like a thinner version of the (non-Retina) MacBook Pro. That, however, is a good thing: same responsive (backlit) keyboard, multitouch glass trackpad, and unibody aluminum build.

One subtle difference is a thinner black bezel surrounding the screen. In fact, the laptop’s entire surface is slightly smaller than both the Air and its Pro predecessor. Shedding some excess millimeters around the keyboard and trackpad gives it a more focused appearance – and a smaller footprint in a backpack.

On its sides, the rMPB has two USB 3 ports, two Thunderbolt ports, an HDMI port, a headphone jack, and an SDXC card slot. The computer charges with a MagSafe 2 port, which uses the new T-shaped connector (the older L-shaped chargers require an adapter).

Display

So, great: it looks like a thinner MacBook Pro without an optical drive. But what about that Retina Display? That’s what you came for. All 4,096,000 pixels of it.

It doesn’t disappoint. Though the Retina MacBook Pro has fewer pixels-per-inch than the 3rd and 4th generation iPads, it doesn’t show. In fact, it looks noticeably sharper than the iPad. This is because a laptop’s screen typically sits about 8-10 inches farther away from your eyes than a tablet’s does. The rMBP’s perceived sharpness is, right now, about as good as it gets.

On the Retina MacBook Pro, high-res photos reveal levels of detail you aren’t accustomed to seeing. Text is razor-sharp, allowing more sophisticated fonts to pop in ways that they can’t on other displays. Colors are vivid, and appear accurate under default settings.

There is one downside. Software that hasn’t been optimized for Retina Displays doesn’t look so hot. The Mac App Store’s Twitter app is a great example: it looks like garbage, with fuzzy text and pixelated images. Fortunately, most other prominent apps have shifted to Retina graphics.

Make no mistake. For all of the rMBP’s great qualities – its thinner, more compact build; its high-end performance; its great battery life – the Retina Display is the reason to buy it.

Performance

Performance-wise, the MacBook Pro with Retina Display offers similar results to its non-Retina cousin – with the added benefit of a zippy SSD.

On a technical level, the entry-level rMBP rocks a dual core 2.5 GHz (with Turbo boost to 3.1 GHz) Intel Core i5 processor, 8 GB of RAM, and integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000.

... and on an experience level? Most apps open instantly (a bounce or two in the dock at most). Processor-intensive tasks like high-res content-aware fill in Photoshop complete in a few seconds. All but the very heaviest power users will find plenty of punch here.

If you need more power, the updated 256 GB 13-inch Retina MBP (with 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5) is about 3 percent faster than this entry-level model. Apple also offers built-to-order models with a 3 GHz Intel Core i7 for the most extreme power-hungry users.

Battery life

Apple estimates that the Retina MacBook Pro’s battery will provide “up to seven hours of wireless web” use. Does it live up to the company’s promises?

My highly-unscientific testing conditions included web browsing, writing, reading, and Photoshopping high-resolution images. Brightness ranged between 50 percent and 75 percent.

Under this hodge-podge of light and heavy conditions, the rMBP lasted six and a half hours.

My use was – on average – a bit more intense than Apple’s “web use” estimate, so I’d say the seven-hour claim for web use is sound ... and perhaps even slightly understated.

Wrap-up

The MacBook Pro with Retina Display hasn’t quite dipped into the consumer laptop price range. The MacBook Air’s flag is still firmly planted in that territory.

But it is inching closer. For $300 more than the 13-inch Air, the entry-level rMBP gives you better performance, the same outstanding battery life, and – oh, yes – that utterly breathtaking display. The tradeoff is some extra weight and a slightly thicker build.

Someday soon, more affordable MacBooks (and other laptops) will sport similar displays. One rumor even suggests that the MacBook Air will join that club later this year. If you can wait a year or two, you’ll get a similar machine for cheaper. But that will always be the case with any tech product.

The MacBook Pro with Retina Display is still a bit too expensive to recommend for everyone. But if your needs lean a little toward power use – and you appreciate a cutting-edge display – then you may find it to be worth an extra $300 over a MacBook Air (or an extra $400 over the non-Retina MacBook Pro). If nothing else, your eyeballs will love you for it.