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BMW Vision ConnectedDrive (2011) first pictures

This gorgeous two-seat roadster is the BMW Vision ConnectedDrive, set to be unveiled at the 2011 Geneva motor show. Unlike some of BMW’s other Vision-tagged concept cars, this unfortunately isn’t a thinly disguised production car, but a study designed to highlight the company’s driver assistance systems.  However, although BMW has released no details on the engine or layout under the sexy skin, thankfully the Vision ConnectedDrive’s stunning styling (including the shark nose, wrap-around rear lights and layered body) will find its way onto future production BMWs.  For a start sensors in the headlamps and rear lights monitor the traffic situation and the environment around the car, while instead of wing mirrors there are antennas that receive navigation data and transmit other information. Inside the driver has a 3D head-up display, and the system can project information about the chosen sat-nav route so it appears at the exact point of a possible turn-off. The 3D system also displays information in the foreground or background of the display depending on its relevance.

Interior Motives Design Awards 2011

After months of waiting, the Interior Motives Student Designer of the Year 2011 has finally been announced. At a glamorous awards ceremony at Frankfurt's Cocoon Club earlier this evening, the world's top designers and automotive journalists gathered together to watch Felix Godard from Strate Collège in France sweep to victory at the Interior Motives Awards, securing himself a total prize of $5,500 and one the most prestigious accolades in the world of automotive design. Launched earlier this year and themed ‘Back to Basics – Making Cars for People, Not Markets', this year's contest attracted entries from an incredibly diverse range of schools and nations, including Israel, the Czech Republic, Australia, Taiwan, Canada and China.

MIT researchers rethink electric-car batteries

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say a new battery design for electric vehicles could be a lightweight and inexpensive alternative. The goal for the team's three-year project, launched in September 2010, is to have a functioning prototype ready to be engineered as a replacement for existing electric-car batteries. At this point in the project, the prototype uses a “semi-solid flow” to separate the two functions of a battery--storing energy and discharging it when needed--into separate physical structures.