Corning is the worlds leading high-tech glass manufacturer, who produces Gorilla Glass for hundreds of millions of smart phones. In March last year they had released “A day made of glass“…a futuristic look at glass technology.
Now they are back with an expanded vision for the future of glass technologies. This video continues the story of how highly engineered glass, with companion technologies, will help shape our world…
Hiriko is a folding car that has been in the making for the last 5 years. This city car is positioned for mobility services (car sharing) that aim to reduce the congestion generated by automobiles in cities.
The folding car resembles a Smart Car and has the ability to fold itself into an upright, space-saving parking position that feels straight out of a sci-fi novel. In dense European city centers, shared micro-EV concepts live or die on parking efficiency and last-mile convenience.
A working model of Hiriko is unveiled in Brussels, and it is described as commercially available in 2013.
At a reported estimated price of around €12,500 (excluding tax), the future of driving feels close.
Hiriko is a fold-up two-seat electric city car concept designed for urban mobility services such as car sharing, with a body that retracts to reduce parking footprint.
Parking density. By shrinking its footprint when parked, the car is meant to make it easier to operate shared fleets in tight city environments.
Because the core value comes from fleet efficiency: easier parking, easier staging near transit nodes, and higher utilization in dense areas.
The upright, compact parked stance changes the familiar silhouette of a car and makes the space-saving benefit immediately visible.
If your promise is “better city mobility,” make the benefit visible in one glance. A fold-up parking mode is a benefit people can understand without explanation.
Got backseat boredom? DVD players and Game Boys are so five years ago, but a new concept in rear seat entertainment technology that uses the windows themselves could replace squirminess and snoozing with interactive scribbling, sweeping and pinching. 😎
General Motors Research and Development put up a challenge before researchers and students from the Future Lab at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Israel. Their task was to conceptualize new ways to help rear seat passengers, particularly children, have a richer experience on the road.
Here is the outcome even though GM has no immediate plans to put the smart glass technology into their vehicles…
