Warning

More and more, we’re hearing about vehicle navigation and communication/entertainment systems that are able to access the internet. As these systems begin to become standard in all new cars, the possibilities for using them to allow cars to communicate with one another will start to open up. Along those lines, Italy’s University of Bologna has developed an app that should allow vehicles on a motorway to instantly notify one another when an accident occurs. In computer simulations, it has been shown to reduce multi-car pile-ups by approximately 40 percent. Read More

A toddler on a leash – no matter how many times they see it, some people find the sight of a small child wearing a harness and tether just somehow wrong. It’s understandable why some parents do use leashes, however, as many tykes have a nasty habit of wandering off into the mall, park or woods as soon as mom or dad’s back is turned. There are GPS-based alternatives such as the Wherify Child Tracking System (which appears to now be discontinued), although they require the parent to access the internet or use their mobile phone. The Mommy I’m Here CL305 child locator, however, will instantly let you know where your kid went via an audible alarm. Read More

Teens may not be poor drivers by their very nature, but they are inexperienced drivers, and as such they may not even be aware of the fact that they’re speeding, paying insufficient attention to the road, or driving like complete maniacs. A parent or other experienced driver can advise them when they’re riding shotgun, but sooner or later, they’ve got to be allowed out on their own. The tiwi, a new device unveiled at CES this month, is intended to act as an electronic version of that ride-along parent – it makes teen drivers aware of their transgressions when they’re driving alone. Read More

Automotive radar and laser detector manufacturer Escort has announced the release of Passport IQ, which combines GPS navigation and radar detection technology in one handy unit. As well as getting you safely from A to B, the new driving accessory is said to be the first that also protects you from annoying and costly tickets by providing information on red light and fixed position speed cameras, known speed traps, speed limit information and more. Read More

People living in landslide-prone areas will be glad to know that a new technology has been developed which monitors soil acoustics to determine when a landslide is imminent. The system consists of a network of sensors, buried across a hillside considered a risk. As soil moves within the hillside, it creates noise – the more the amount of movement, the louder the noise. When that noise reaches a threshold level, the system sends a text message warning to local authorities, that a landslide is about to occur. Read More

Before we go any further, let’s get this out of the way right up front – nothing is ever going to stop cars from running into things. Until drivers are taken out of the equation completely, accidents will always happen. Nonetheless, Dutch tech company Mobileye has declared that with the release of its new C2-270 collision warning system, “an end to motor vehicle collisions [is] now in sight.” This system warns drivers of dangerously-close cars, alerts them when drifting out of their lane and includes a Pedestrian Collision Warning component. Read More

Today's automobiles are jam-packed with numerous sensors and warning systems to help drivers stay safe. Much of the feedback from such systems is provided visually, but there's so much going on that drivers may well be approaching overload. Researchers from Yale's School of Engineering have opted for a different mode of physical stimulus by installing tiny vibrating motors inside a driver's seat to advise of the approach of other vehicles. Read More

Combining sophisticated sensors in orbit with sensors on the ground and in the air has led researchers at Tel Aviv University (TAU) to create a “Hyperspectral Remote Sensor” (HRS) that can give advance warnings about water contamination after a forest fire, alert authorities of a pollution spill long before a red flag is raised on Earth, or inform the population where a monsoon will strike. Read More

Raytheon has announced the creation of the world's largest infra-red light wave detector, the "4K by 4K" focal plane array. Not only will it allow whole hemisphere satellite monitoring at 16 megapixel resolution but it should also make sensors less dependent on the complicated scanning mechanisms used in current systems. Read More