Daytona International Speedway is synonymous with speed, auto racing, and . . . blind people? Virginia Tech’s Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa), along with a National Federation of a Blind (NFB), not long ago debuted the sight-optional and street-legal SUV at the famed racetrack. Dr. Dennis Hong as well as his students initial let blind folks drive a dune buggy but the help of the sighted copilot in 2009 — as a initial step to achieving the goal of the street-legal SUV for the sightless crowd. The SUV in subject was written for a NFB’s Blind Driver Challenge, and is versed with a drive-by-wire scheme — additionally seen in a RoMeLa autonomous vehicle — that was mutated for use with RoMeLa’s SpeedStrip and DriveGrip pleasing interface technology. It works by regulating the laser rangefinder to map a surrounding area, relaying report for increase in speed as well as braking to a driver by rumbling a SpeedStrip chair, as well as passing along turning info by vibrations in a DriveGrip gloves. The system was not grown only for a role of removing blind drivers on the road, however, as Virginia Tech suggests that the record could additionally be used in gaming applications. We’re not utterly ready to see blind drivers upon tangible roads only yet, but because shouldn’t our sight-impaired friends get to suffer Gran Turismo 5 with a rest of us? Video’s after a mangle.

Via Engadget

If there’s one thing we’ve schooled from years of toying with technology, it’s never to believe the manufacturer’s guess per battery holdup, though it seems similar to the estimates Nissan supposing for its Leaf electric car might not be too distant off a symbol. Though the vehicle obviously isn’t removing 367 miles to its non-existent gallon, PluginCars did conduct to eke out a solid 116.1 miles in a car’s first anecdotal test, as well as all they had to do to go a stretch was drive casually as well as somewhat next the speed limit. “It wasn’t similar to I was pushing like an obsessed hypermiler,” said the driver, who outlaid most of the outing with a A/C blustering. Nissan recently revised their range estimates for a Leaf to anywhere from 62 to 138 miles depending on speed and weather conditions, so 116.1 is the flattering plain run, though until those charging stations permeate a countryside, we’re still starting to take the ol’ gas-guzzler on the road trips.

Via Engadget

It’s pour out hour, as well as you’re headed due West upon your evening invert — a sun blazing holes in your eyes. You could flip down the window visor, trade your field of perspective for visibility. Or, with a antecedent shown off during Intel’s 2010 International Science as well as Engineering Fair, you could simply let a windshield dim upon its own. Two San Diego students (both in the habit of to thriving amounts of fever fraudulent the Toyota Prius to do only that by stringing up electrochromic panels, which low when voltage is applied. The pretence is reckoning out when as well as where to apply it, since when a object is resplendent a panels themselves all embrace the same volume of light. So instead of gauging it during a potion, Aaron Schild as well as Rafael Cosman found that an ultrasonic operation finder could track the driver’s place while the VGA webcam measured a light coming by, as well as dim a sections liable to means a many eyestrain. We saw the antecedent in chairman, as well as it many positively functions… albeit solemnly. If you’re rearing to hurl your own, it seems tender materials have been pretty affordable — Schild told us electrochromic segments price $0.25 per square in. — though you may not need to DIY. Having won $4,000 in prize income during a Fair, a teenagers contend they intend to commercialize a record, as well as prognosticate it natively embedded in window potion in the not-too-distant destiny. Here’s anticipating GM gives them the call. See pics of the Prius below, or check out a video demo of their antecedent right after a mangle. Electrochromic Windshield Panels at ISEF 2010