RCA team helps develop all-electric London taxi proposal

The Royal College of Art's Vehicle Design program and the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design have collaboratedwith Turkish car manufacturer Karsan to develop a proposal for the first all-electric London taxi. An RCA team – co-led by Professor Dale Harrow and the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design's deputy director Rama Gheerawo – has been working with Karsan and its consultancy Hexagon Studio for over a year and to develop a public transport vehicle to suit Londoners of all ages and abilities. The team analyzed a current London taxi in a ‘co-creation workshop' and conducted interviews with taxi drivers, which showed many are over 65 and frequently spend the entire working day inside their cabs.

Historic Motoring Awards Car of the Year 2013 shortlist revealed

Think of this as the alternative Car of the Year competition. You won't find any diesel hatchbacks, practical MPVs or mk7 Volkswagen Golfs in the 2013 International Historic Motoring Awards. The awards celebrate the 'best of the best' in the international historic motoring industry, with the 'Birkin' Bentley picking up the award in 2012.

BMW i8 Winter testing (video)

The BMW i8 is caught on video cold weather testing We have video of the BMW i8 winter testing in deep snow, in what looks to be a a much closer to production i8. The BMW i8 has been floating around for nearly three years as BMW’s nod to an eco future for supercars. Starting with the Vision EfficientDynamics concept we saw back in 2009, BMW went on to reveal their ‘i’ Brand and reveal the  BMW i8 last summer. With the i8 not likely to hit showrooms until late 2013 or early 2014, BMW are out doing what car makers do and testing their new cars in extreme weather, this time it’s cold weather testing and footage of the i8 frolicking with the snow ploughs.