1964 Ford 200 6 Cyl Engine on 2040-parts.com

BMW looks to patent seven-speed lockout manual transmission

The intrepid Bimmerphiles over at www.e90post.com have uncovered a few drawings from BMW's latest patent request. The drawing shows a new transmission linkage and what looks to be a seven-speed manual transmission. Like the new Porsche 911, the BMW gear shifter has six gears in standard H pattern, with a seventh gear out to the right.

College Exhibition: Creapole MA Degree Show 2009

Creapole, a design school offering degrees in a range of disciplines, held its MA Transportation Design show last week at its campus in Paris, France. The masters students, now in their fifth year of study, have been preparing for the show through the school's intensive program, which includes sociological, ecological and anthropological studies during the fourth year. In the fifth year, program directors Alec Moran and Cyril Randuineau allowed the students to develop a vehicle based on their own theme and invited jury members from the design community to come by and give the students feedback on their various projects.

This could be your first autonomous vehicle

While Google's autonomous fleet of robot cars prowls Silicon Valley and gets all the press, the first, or one of the first, truly autonomous vehicles you may ride in could be something like this: The humble, people-moving Navia. Developed by a French company called Induct, the Navia is ringed with laser beams (not frickin' laser beams. Ed.) that help it navigate through city streets or college campuses without the aid of a track in the ground, a rail or even GPS (GPS is not accurate enough, Induct says).