TECHNONEWS * USA - ‘Talking’ Cars that Could Save Your Life

It's called Intellidrive

(Video from CNBC: Covering the auto industry I've seen some amazing technology over the years, but the latest crash avoidance system I tested in Detroit last week ranks among the most fascinating)

Detroit,MICH,USA -CNBC, by Phil LeBeau -25 Jan 2011: -- Using technology developed over the last nine years by a dozen major automakers working in conjunction with the federal government, Intellidrive basically revolves around cars "talking" to each other... Cars using GPS receivers and WiFi signals are constantly sending out data about their location and speed. As those signals bounce off other cars on the road or traffic signals at intersections, your car warns you when you are about to crash... The scenarios where Intellidrive works to keep you from crashing are varied... When I tested it, I was at a blind intersection and couldn't see a car approaching at roughly 35 miles per hour... Just as I was about to turn into the path of the oncoming car, Intellidrive warned me to slam on the brakes. Within a split second the system saved me from being sideswiped... Make no mistake, the "talking" car is coming. It will like be 6-7 years before Intellidrive is standard on all new cars, but it's coming...

* USA - Billionaire Venture Capitalist Vinod Khosla’s Energy Bets Inch Forward

)Photo: Vinod Khosla)

Menlo Park, California, USA -Forbes, by KERRY A. DOLAN -Jan. 25 2011: -- Superstar venture capitalist Vinod Khosla has spent the past six years or so investing in a broad array of clean energy-related companies and technologies. He readily admits that many are science experiments with a high probability of failure. But he may be getting closer to success with a few of them... Khosla recently told an audience in San Jose, Calif. that portfolio investment EcoMotors, a company that builds automotive engines that are up to 50% more efficient than current models, in early January signed up one of the larger truck makers in the world to adopt EcoMotors’ technology. Khosla didn’t specify which truck maker it was...

* USA - Chrysler announces development of hydraulic hybrid technology for cars

Deaborn,MICH,USA -Gizmag, by Mike Hanlon -January 26, 2011: -- Chrysler caught everyone off guard this week when it announced a partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to design and develop an experimental hydraulic hybrid powertrain suitable for use in large passenger cars and light-duty vehicles. The announcement was made at the EPA laboratories in Ann Arbor, Mich., following a meeting with Sergio Marchionne, Chrysler Group CEO, and Lisa P. Jackson, Agency Administrator for the EPA... The hydraulic hybrid system, developed by the EPA's lab in Ann Arbor, is well known and currently used in industrial applications, including large delivery trucks and refuse trucks across the country. The technology has shown substantial increases in fuel economy when compared with traditional powertrains in the same type of vehicles. Working together, both parties hope to reduce the size and complexity of the hybrid system and produce a technology that is sensitive to the needs of drivers for smooth and quiet operation...  (Images: Chrysler hydraulic hybrid)