News Archives - September 2014

Stained glass car of the future

Many a motorist spends an hour or more each Sunday morning in devotion to their car, cleaning it inside and out, but according to designer David Wilcox, the car of the near future may look quite literally like a place of worship. Wilcox was commissioned by Dezeen.com and an exhibition on the future of mobility to imagine a driverless car…

Roads were not built for cars

In 1887 Karl Kron published Thousand Miles on a Bicycle thanks to book pledges from cyclists as he pedalled his penny farthing around America. In 2013, Carlton Reid used crowdfunding website Kickstarter to do much the same thing. Roads Were Not Built For Cars is a fascinating account of how cyclists were the first to push for good roads and…

Smell-o-vision, oxygen and airbags for airline passengers

Airline passengers of the future will be distracted from turbulence, screaming kids and the seat table in front by high-tech inflight entertainment including 3D screens and smell-o-vision, according to plane makers Airbus. Following news that Airbus has plans to remove windows from its aircraft, comes another glimpse of future air travel from the French plane makers: multi-functional virtual reality headsets…

Turn your bicycle saddle into a Seatylock

Bicycle locks can be cumbersome and thieves pinch saddles – two cycling gripes both addressed by the Seatylock. Seatylock is a bicycle saddle that transforms into a one metre solid lock to wrap around a fixed object in the usual way. Located at the bike’s centre of gravity, the 1.3 kg lock should have minimal effect on handling and it’s…

Driverless cars: Audi acquires autonomous driving licence

As the development of driverless cars gathers pace, Audi has applied for an autonomous driving permit from the state of California – a licence which costs the car company $5m in surety bonds for each vehicle they test on public roads. The multi-million dollar guarantee should not be taken as an indication that the endeavour is risky – a number…