The North American International Auto Show, Detroit (known as NAIAS) always serves as a major platform for American brands, as well as for foreign brands who sell a lot of a specific model or manufacture them in the USA. The showcase also stands…
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Briggs Cunningham is the most important American racer and sportsman you have never heard of. Not only is he responsible for racing stripes on cars, but he also owned the first Ferrari (166SC) ever raced and…
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by Davis Adams Following a trip to Willow Springs International Raceway with Chrysler, it’d be remiss not to pay more attention to the 2014 SRT Viper TA. It’s the…
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News: Google has joined up with automotive manufacturers including Honda, Audi, Hyundai and General Motors to integrate its Android smartphone operating system into cars.
The news could bring Google into fresh conflict with Apple, which is understood to be working on similar plans and hopes to make its iOS operating system the industry standard.
Google has formed the Open Automotive Alliance with Honda, Audi, Hyundai and General Motors, plus visual computing firm NVIDIA. It aims to make the Android operating system that Google developed for smartphones and tablets a common standard for connected cars.
They claim the system’s openness, customisation and scale will allow carmakers to easily incorporate cutting-edge technology, but will also create opportunities for developers to create new experiences for drivers and passengers.
“The car is the ultimate mobile computer,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and chief executive officer of NVIDIA. “With onboard supercomputing chips, futuristic cars of our dreams will no longer be science fiction. The OAA will enable the car industry to bring these amazing cars to market faster.”
However rival tech giant Apple is also rumoured to be working with motor brands to develop in-car computing, according to Jonathan Ive’s biographer Leander Kahney.
“They’re working with all the world’s major automotive companies to bring iOS to cars,” he told Dezeen. “That could be a huge deal for them because that’s where most people listen to music.”
The first vehicle equipped with Google’s Android technology is due to roll off the production line later this year, bringing the 700,000 existing Android apps to the dashboard. Open Automotive Alliance is inviting more carmakers to join in the hope that Android will become the dominant platform for in-car computing.
“Millions of people are already familiar with Android and use it every day,” said Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Android, Chrome and Apps at Google. “The expansion of the Android platform into automotive will allow our industry partners to more easily integrate mobile technology into cars and offer drivers a familiar, seamless experience so they can focus on the road.
The post Google joins forces with major auto brands
to bring Android to car dashboards appeared first on Dezeen.
News: car brand Nissan has unveiled a revised design for its new London taxi to replace the city’s famous black cabs, having altered the look of the vehicle in an attempt “to better reflect the iconic nature of the traditional black cab” (+ slideshow).
The Nissan NV200 London Taxi will replace the UK capital’s iconic TX4 taxis from December 2014 and the Japanese firm unveiled the redesign this morning at the firm’s European design centre in Paddington, west London.
The vehicle is based on a van but has been remodelled since its launch in August 2012, when it was criticised for being simply a black version of the firm’s taxis in New York, Barcelona and Tokyo.
“In response to feedback from the London Mayor’s office, Transport for London and other key organisations which have put their backing behind the new taxi, Nissan has redesigned the vehicle to better reflect the iconic nature of the traditional black cab,” the company said.
The new bespoke design for London features round headlamps, a remodelled grille and new front bumper panels. The update also ditches the previous diesel engine for a 1.6-litre petrol engine and an automatic gearbox, available from December 2014, and a zero-emissions electric version will be available in 2015.
“Having already overcome the unique technical challenges presented by the development of a new Hackney Carriage for London ahead of our launch of the vehicle in August 2012, we turned our attention to making the vehicle look the part,” said Nissan’s design excellence manager Darryl Scriven. “The main challenges were concerned with making sure customers can easily recognise it as a taxi.”
“The Mayor’s office and taxi drivers were very keen that we maintain the character of the Hackney Carriage, making it something that people in the city can be proud of,” he added.
The NV200 seats five passengers including two flip-down seats facing the rear, access for wheelchairs and sliding doors for easy access in narrow spaces, and it adheres to Transport for London regulations requiring a 7.6-metre turning circle. The vehicles will be produced in Barcelona and assembled in London.
The new Nissan launch comes less than a year after Chinese brand Geely bought the makers of the traditional TX4 taxis Manganese Bronze, which still designs taxis using a similar basic structure to the first black cab from 1948, in a deal worth £11 million. The takeover followed the Coventry-based company going into administration in 2012.
There are currently around 20,000 black cabs – or hackney carriages – on the streets of London, but many will have to be retired as strict new emissions rules come into force.
The post Nissan updates its new London taxi design
to make it “easier to recognise” appeared first on Dezeen.
Fulfilling a lifelong dream, we recently hit the streets in a brand new NYC Taxi from Nissan. While getting angry looks from disgruntled potential passengers as we flew…
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Our first look at the Wraith came last winter, and left us wanting to get behind the wheel. We recently had the chance to spend a day with it in and around Vienna, where we…
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How do you design the next version of an American classic? Nearly 50 years since its introduction and more than nine million cars later, the Ford Mustang is one of very few cars to be in…
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by Joe Richardson Following the global premiere of the new Jaguar F-Type Coupe—which was widely considered the star of the LA Auto…
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Classic sports cars appear to be frozen as they explode in this series of images by Swiss artist Fabien Oefner (+ slideshow).
Oefner deconstructed scale models of 1950s and 1960s sports cars and photographed the parts individually. He then digitally arranged them to create an image that makes it look as if a life-sized car is exploding.
“What you see in these images, is a moment that never existed in real life,” said Oefner. “What looks like a car falling apart is in fact a moment in time that has been created artificially by blending hundreds of individual images together.”
The artist sketched where the individual parts would be placed before each model, containing over a thousand components, was taken apart piece by piece. Titled Disintegration, the series includes a 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé, a 1961 Jaguar E-Type and a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO.
To set up the shots, Oefner arranged the pieces with fine needles and string to create the right angle. He photographed each of the components then combined the pictures to form a single image using Adobe Photoshop.
“These are possibly the slowest high-speed images ever captured,” he said. “It took almost two months to create an image that looks as if it was captured in a fraction of a second. The whole disassembly in itself took more than a day for each car due to the complexity of the models. But that’s a bit of a boy thing. There’s an enjoyment in the analysis, discovering something by taking it apart, like peeling an onion.”
The photographs are currently on display at the M.A.D Gallery in Geneva, Switzerland, along with another series by Oefner called Hatch. This set features images in which a 1967 Ferrari 330 P4 appears to have just broken out of a shell like an egg hatching.
These images of “the birth of a car” were created by filling a latex mould of the model Ferrari with a layer of gypsum to produce a series of shells. The shells were thrown at the model or dropped on top of it, with the aim of capturing the smashing so the car looks like it is breaking out from it. A microphone was connected to the camera to trigger the shutter to close at the exact moment of the shell breaking.
“I have always been fascinated by the clean, crisp looks of 3D renderings,” said the artist. “So I tried to use that certain type of aesthetic and combine it with the strength of real photography. These images are also about capturing time: either in stopping it as in the Hatch series or inventing it as in the Disintegrating series.”
The exhibition continues until May 2014. Here is some more information from the artist:
Mind-blowing images by Fabian Oefner at the MB&F M.A.D. Gallery The MB&F M.A.D. Gallery is delighted to present a series of prints by Swiss artist Fabian Oefner. Fabian has carved out his reputation by fusing the fields of art and science, creating images appealing to heart and mind. He is constantly on the lookout for capturing life moments that are invisible to the human eye: phenomena like sound waves, centripetal forces, iridescence, fire and even magnetic ferrofluids, among others. The artworks on display at the M.A.D. Gallery from Fabian’s series are mind-boggling. The three images of the Disintegrating series are exploded views of classic sports cars that Fabian has painstakingly created by deconstructing vintage roadster scale-models, photographing each component, piece by piece in a very specific position, to create the illusion of an exploding automobile.
The three other images on exhibition form his Hatch series, which explores the theme ‘the birth of a car’. Inspired by a picture of a hatching chick, Fabian decided to show a manufactured object being born just like a living organism – in this case a Ferrari 250 GTO breaking out of its shell, to create a witty high-octane take on the beginning of life. While both series feature cars, they both also involve fooling the observer into seeing the images as computer-generated renderings rather than the real photographs that they are.
Fabian says: “I have always been fascinated by the clean, crisp looks of 3D renderings. So I tried to use that certain type of aesthetic and combine it with the strength of real photography. These images are also about capturing time: either in stopping it as in the Hatch series or inventing it as in the Disintegrating series.” Fabian Oefner’s artwork will be on show at the M.A.D. Gallery in Geneva starting on 27 November until May 2014. Disintegrating in detail Fabian Oefner explains that photography usually captures moments in time; but his Disintegrating series is all about inventing a moment in time. “What you see in these images, is a moment that never existed in real life,” says Oefner. “What looks like a car falling apart is in fact a moment in time that has been created artificially by blending hundreds of individual images together. There is a unique pleasure about artificially building a moment… Freezing a moment in time is stupefying.”
The images show exploded views of classic sports cars: intricate scale models of an eye-wateringly beautiful Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé with gullwing doors (1954); an iconic sleek, black Jaguar E-Type (1961); and a curvaceously sensual Ferrari 330 P4 (1967). Fabian first sketched on paper where the individual pieces would go, before taking apart the model cars piece by piece, from the body shell right down to the minuscule screws. Each car contained over a thousand components. Then, according to his initial sketch, he placed each piece individually with the aid of fine needles and pieces of string. After meticulously working out the angle of each shot and establishing the right lighting, he photographed the component, and took thousands of photographs to create each Disintegrating image.
All these individual photos were then blended together in post-production to create one single image. With the wheels acting as a reference point, each part was masked in Photoshop, cut and then pasted into the final image. “These are possibly the ‘slowest high-speed’ images ever captured,” says Fabian. “It took almost two months to create an image that looks as if it was captured in a fraction of a second. The whole disassembly in itself took more than a day for each car due to the complexity of the models. But that’s a bit of a boy thing. There’s an enjoyment in the analysis, discovering something by taking it apart, like peeling an onion.” However, he adds: “The hardest part was actually setting up the camera, lens and light, because the biggest frustration is when you can’t get any beautiful image out of it!” Hatch in detail With Hatch, Fabian Oefner presents his interpretation of how cars might be ‘born’. The first two images show a Ferrari 250 GTO (1962) – again a detailed scale model – breaking out of its shell. The third image shows one of the empty shells left behind among several others yet to hatch. 
Fabian started by making a latex mould from the model car, which was then filled with a thin layer of gypsum to create the shell. Several dozens of these shells were made in order to complete the next step: smashing the shell onto the car to create the illusion of the vehicle breaking out. This step had to be repeated a great many times until the desired results were achieved. To capture the very moment where the shell hit the model, Fabian connected a microphone to his camera, a Hasselblad H4D, and flashes, so that every time the shell hit the surface of the car, the impulse was picked up by the microphone which then triggered the flashes and the camera shutter. Representing a car as a living, breathing organism that has been gestated is a neat twist on car conception; it could be said Hatch is to the automotive world what a stork is to delivering babies.
The post Detailed photos capture
exploded sports cars appeared first on Dezeen.
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