Google made big news last year when the search giant announced it had developed technology for cars that can drive themselves. Google’s fleet of automated cars had successfully traversed more than 140,000 miles across California with the help of video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to “see” other traffic. Mapping data from Google’s own data centers also came in handy for their tests. At TED 2011 this week, Google gave a more detailed look at this incredible technology. In a parking lot adjacent to the conference, first-hand demos of the driverless cars were given. Among…

If Google has AdSense, let’s just call this NonSense. A new advertising campaign for people-what-make-cars Alfo Romeo is (we desperately hope) not the future of advertising, as you’ll doubtlessly agree by watching this video. ‘There’s no getting away from an offer this good’ proclaims a motorized billboard, as it chooses unwitting pedestrians and gives chase, urging them to purchase a car. I can’t imagine this is the best way to sell cars – and obviously, this video was created with humour in mind  – but still, there’s a deeper concern here. Given the pervasion of advertising in our everyday…

Porsche has come up with a unique and expensive way to thank its Facebook fans. They took a GT3 R Hybrid and, on it, gave it a kick-ass paint job and inscribed Porsche’s 1,000,000 million Facebook fans in the ultimate showing of appreciation. Not only that, but the German automaker also created a website that lets users see if their name is on the car. It’s a very unique marketing gimmick, but I must say that I think it is really cool. Check out the site to see a few close-up shots, watch a video of it being made, and to see if your name is on the car….

Google is innovating so quickly, at this rate we might actually have flying automobiles by the end of 2010. But in the meantime, how about just a car that drives itself? You could see this one coming a mile off. Google has itself a self-driving car, and although the technology itself isn’t new, twinned with Google’s Street View and maps data they could have a viable commercial product on their hands. The cars use video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to navigate roads and around other vehicles. The flux capacitor will be Google’s next addition, no doubt. The cars send data wirelessly…

Think your car is pretty fast? Well why not try going from stopped to 100 MPH and back stopped in about four seconds? Well your car probably fails that test. But that could be a reality if you were cruising in a Formula 1 race car. Unfortunately, you probably won’t ever sit in the seat of an F1 car; however, we might just have the next best thing. It’s called the BRD 06 Full Car Motion Simulator, and you’ll need an entire living room (or two) worth of space just to fit this bad boy in your home. It measures in at approximately 16 x 6 feet, weighs nearly 1,500 pounds, and features enough carbon fiber to make your…

This formal US Postal Service Jeep has been transformed into a contraption that the most hardened fighter jock could climb into after a night of gambling and hard drinking of ambrosia in the pilot’s mess. Yes, Dean Shorey, the master ride mechanic for Seabreeze Amusement Park in Rochester, NY has created a vehicle that may actually make a hardened geek cry more than a silver Delorian. And it’s street legal. STREET LEGAL. You can drive this baby on the motherfracking highway. It uses a Chevy engine block and features a cassette deck, appropriate low-tech for the “no networked computers on MY SHIP”…

What do you get when you have a few guys with a lot of time on their hands and a box of LEGO Technic pieces? You get a fully functional Bugatti Veyron built with seven gears. This is truly enough technicality to put any gearhead into a state of euphoria. This creation has everything: a fully functioning gearbox (7 gears + reverse), a mechanical hardtop, a functioning hood, and a bunch of technical stuff that makes us gawk in awe. It isn’t worth $1.6 million like its actual full-scale version, but this LEGO Bugatti Veyron is a thing of beauty, and the fact that they managed to squeeze seven gears in there…

I seem to focus on concept vehicles a lot, both produced and still on paper – but who can blame me? There’s no shortage of mondo rides being designed, and each one is generally even cooler than the last. Besides, I think some sort of new phone or something is being released tomorrow; someone’s gotta post something fresh, and bring balance to the frenzy. May as well be me. …Pun intended. Antonio Sunjerga is a designer who clearly has seen Star Wars: A New Hope a few too many times. Looking an awful lot like Luke Skywalker’s land speeder, the gyroscopic ‘TAA’ concept makes you ponder exactly…