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Chrysler, Nissan and GM lead industry to 8 percent gain

UPDATED--Chrysler Group, Nissan North America and General Motors led the industry to an 8 percent U.S. sales gain in August. The seasonally adjusted sales rate slipped to 12.13 million from July's 12.24 million as a stagnant economy, last week's U.S.

Vauxhall launches speed limit detectors on Insignia (2008)

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 19 June 2008 07:53 Vauxhall's new Insignia will be the first of a wave of cars to have a forward-facing camera that can read road signs. The optional kit will detect speed limit and no overtaking signs – and flash up a reminder to the driver on the dashboard.GM calls the tech, which will be launched in early 2009, Traffic Sign Recognition and it uses a small, wide-angled camera system supplied by Hella. It sits at the top of the windscreen near the rain sensors and rear-view mirror, scanning the road ahead taking 30 photos per second.It's 1984 all over again...With a range of 100 metres, the camera focuses on circular patterns and then interprets the numbers inside by contour comparison; if a match is found on the software's database, that road sign will be flashed up in the driver's binnacle.The front-facing camera is also used as a lane departure warning system, alerting the driver if they unintentionally swerve out of their lane on a motorway.Cars with cameras: a growing trendMore and more manufacturers are fitting cameras to their cars nowadays and you can expect a flood of systems like the Insignia's to be launched in 2009, including the new BMW 5-series.CAR tried out these new systems on Bosch prototypes in 2007.

Creapole: creating the next generation of creative designers

As the automotive industry continues to look towards other design disciplines for inspiration and ideas, French design school Creapole is increasingly well positioned to cater for their needs. While relatively small, Creapole's range of courses – which as well as Transport Design includes Product Design, Fashion, Art Design, Visual Communication, Movie and Video Game Animation, and Interior Architecture – gives its students experience in a broad range of creative media. The foundations of Creapole's success lie in its hands-on approach not only to teaching, but also to the tools used by its students.