GPS Navigation in a Heads Up Display

The Virtual Cable system in development from Making Virtual Solid aims to bring GPS navigational directions off of small screens and bring them into the real world. Or at least so they appear to be. The system projects a 3-D image onto the windshield that will appear to the driver as though it were a part of the land scape. HUD technology in cars is certainly not new, nor is GPS navigation. Combining the two however is somewhat tricky since the projected image must accurately correspond to the drivers view. The technology is still under development, but a “working proof of concept” has been built. If they can really make this work, it wouldn’t surprise me to see this technology become commonplace in cars within a couple of years. The advantages over regular GPS navigation systems are huge.

Tesla Roadster Finally Ready to Start Production

Last weeks Tesla Motors announced that the series production of the Tesla Roadster will begin on March 17th of this year. According to the press release, they have now received all of the regulatory approvals needed to begin production on the Tesla Roadster.There are a battery of tests new cars need to pass before they can go into production including Federal safety standards, EPA, and DOT tests. The large expense associated with these tests is a major obstacle faced by start up car companies, and one of the key reasons there are so few successful startups. Malcolm Powell, a VP for Tesla, has pictures (albeit rather painful ones to look at) of the crash tests posted on his blog.
Another reason for the long delay of the Tesla Roadster were the problems with the original two speed transmission. The transmissions were apparently failing after only a few thousand miles. The first production Tesla Roadsters will feature a “an interim transmission that meets durability requirements but limits acceleration to 5.7 seconds from 0 to 60 mph.” The final transmission will be a single speed transmission that will deliver on 4 second 0-60 mph time originally stated by Tesla.