Eporo is an experimental mini robotic car developed by Nissan that mimics that movement of fish travelling in schools to avoid crashes.

New York City’s first Tesla Motors showroom opens today in a former art gallery in Chelsea. If the news of a new auto dealership opening in the midst of hundreds of others around the country shutting their doors seems like odd timing, for Tesla it’s the perfect opportunity. We reported last year on the first ever Tesla showroom opening in California and since then the company has steadily been following through with expansion plans. The New York City area already has a solid base of Tesla roadster owners and the need for a facility in the area was clear.

Rachel Konrad [...]

Today Zipcar unveiled their latest venture: FastFleet, a new service that employs Zipcar’s carsharing system for public sector vehicle fleets. Instead of letting their cars sit idle, public agencies can use FastFleet’s network and system for car pick up and drop off, so a smaller number of vehicles can be used as and when needed, across employees. Unlike Zipcar, FastFleet doesn’t provide any cars – just the infrastructure (and accompanying technology) for carsharing across the network. Washington DC was the first city to try out the system, and in its four month pilot, has saved a reported $300,000 through smarter [...]

Last year, 200 some-odd people set off on a 36-hour road trip competition from New York City to Montreal. Now entering its second year, the so-called “Rental Car Rally” is back, this time from San Francisco to Yuma, AZ. Embarking on June 14th will be about 100 “crazily-festooned” teams competing for a few thousand dollars and a “gold gas pump” (a gas pump handle that’s been spray-painted gold).
If you’re envisioning a road race with cars tearing down the highway, go see The Fast and the Furious 4. This will be more slapstick comedy; winners are judged not by [...]

A group of MIT students have designed a shock absorber that transforms energy produced by bumps in the road into electricity. The idea is similar to regenerative braking, where kinetic energy from slowing down a vehicle is captured and used in the same way. A smoother ride is another benefit from this new kind of shock absorber, which can produce up to a 10 percent improvement in overall vehicle fuel efficiency.
The MIT team talks about their inspiration and process:
The project came about because “we wanted to figure out where energy is being wasted in a vehicle,” senior Zack Anderson explains. [...]

EDAG’s Light Car is poised to be a big hit at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show. This electric car can go 150km on a single charge, and is made of a lightweight basalt fiber (which is similar to carbon fiber or fiberglass) that is 100% recyclable. It gets its name from a unusual but potentially useful feature. A large portion of the cars body is covered in OLED lights which can be configured in a number of ways to communicate messages to other drivers beyond the standard brake and turn signals. Watch the promotional video on EDAG’s site for a [...]

Designer Loren Kulesus has created an audacious Cadillac concept car with the (theoretical) ability to run for 100 years without refueling or maintenance. Powered by a thorium based nuclear battery system, the car would actually generate enough surplus energy that it could be used to power a small neighborhood or recharge lots of other devices. This Batmobile looking car also has several systems in place that allow very precise handling including 24 automatically adjusted micro-wheels and a flexible, muscle-like body. Though we don’t know how feasible (or safe) the technology is behind this fantastic car, it looks like a great [...]

Designer Eric Zhang noticed little attention being paid to small businesses who rely on modified vehicles to serve as mobile stores. He didn’t see many good examples of vehicles that were designed for the specific needs of selling on the go so he set out to come up with an idea that would.
His concept called the  MERM (Modular Electronic Retail Minivan) is an electric vehicle that can power itself with integrated solar panels. The MERM can shift from driving mode to retail mode in 3 minutes. Eric sees the biggest opportunity for the vehicle at sites like markets or events [...]

HubCulture points us to the Fiat 500 which the auto-company plans to launch in September 2007.