1952 1953 Ford Nos Charge Indicator Dash Gauge #fac-10850b on 2040-parts.com

MIT develops self-transforming materials that behave 'like robots without robots'

A cross-disciplinary research lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a suite of programmable materials, including carbon fiber, printed wood grain, textile composites, rubbers and plastics, that self-transform when exposed to an external stimulus. Director of the Self-Assembly Lab, Skylar Tibbits, presented a TED talk on 4D printing in 2013, where he demonstrated how a flat sheet of material could effectively build itself when exposed to water, like a robot without a robot. Following positive feedback from industries including aviation, automotive and manufacturing, his lab has been working on developing materials that change according to different activation sources, including heat, light, and air pressure, in addition to water – all of which have automotive relevance.

Honda Interface Exhibition

Ginza, Tokyo - Honda recently had a small exhibition to show their progression of IP and binnacle design. Situated in the design gallery of Matsuya, one of Tokyo's premier department stores, it included a chronology of Honda dashboards from the first Civic to tomorrow's FCX. Opposite this was a grid of recesses, which each contained dials taken from the current range of Honda road cars.

2014 Audi R8 to drop manual gearbox

2014 Audi R8 to lose manual gearbox It’s reported that the new Audi R8 – due in 2104 after a facelift in 2012 – will lose the manual gearbox option. It’s at least two years before the next generation Audi R8 arrives in 2014, but if reports from CAR are right then Audi’s next sporting flagship will do without a manual gearbox altogether. With all that’s on offer in the current R8 apart from the manual ‘box being the rather poor R-Tronic ‘box, that may seem like a recipe for sales disaster for the R8.