We’re all guilty of it: driving and looking at our smartphone.  It’s dangerous to say the least, and causes numerous accidents and fatalities every year.

The Steer Safe Hands Free Car Kit hopes to combat this problem.  It attaches directly to the steering wheel and holds your smartphone just below eye level.  The mount is designed to work with any phone and they say it won’t interfere with the deployment of the airbag.  If it does you’ll be in a world of hurt, though, since the air bag fires using gun powder and deploys at and an ungodly speed.

The Steer Safe can be rotated or tilted to allow for optimal viewing or adjusting for viewing of the car’s dashboard.  Since the phone mounts on the inside portion of the steering wheel it will never hit your legs, but it could easily get in the way during emergency maneuvers.  With that said, and given the rather low usefulness of this product, we unfortunately don’t think it will be ever be fully funded on Kickstarter.com.  While the idea is good in theory – who doesn’t need a smarter smartphone mount  - the steering wheel is probably not the ideal place.  What we really need is a cheap projector that mounts to the dash and projects a HUD onto the inside of the windshield.

If you’re feeling their mojo you can pledge $25 and you’ll get one sent to your door once they begin production.

An electric car with a display that renders the real world, as you drive, in in the style of the 1986 video game OutRun by Sega.

Wireless charging, while not truly wireless in some respects, has emerged for a variety of consumer products thanks to companies such as Powermat.  Unfortunately, there selection of goods is limited to handheld items, which makes logical sense since these tend to be the products that are often used and thus charged with great regularity.  But today there is a new emerging category of battery powered products.  What are they you ask?  Cars.

That’s right.  In the last few years we’ve seen the emergence of a number of battery powered, electric vehicles.  Unlike their hybrid counterparts, which use a gas engine to recharge their batteries, they depend on the grid to power up and this means plugging in.  Unless of course you invest in one of Evatran’s Plugless Power.

It’s effectively, from what we can tell, the same tech as Powermat, though on a much larger scale.  According to Autoblog the effeciency is above 90%, which means some power is lost in the transfer, but the pay off is the convenience.  To charge your whip, if you will, you just drive the car over the disc that is placed on the ground.  This iteration, which is the next evolution in terms of the product, doesn’t sport any moving parts, which means it’s less likely to break, and the car can now be a half a disc off and will still charge.

Evatran is currently entering the test phase and hopes to outfit 8-12 Chevy volts with the necessary receivers by the end of the year, with 20-30 more arriving as soon as January.  Production units should hit some time in late 2012.  We’re hearing each one will cost between $2,000-3,000, and that doesn’t include the $2,000 surcharge for retrofitting your vehicle.

While this tech is cool and all, what would be really neat is if you didn’t need to be in such close proximity for it to work.  As Autoblog points out, you could ostensibly drive the street while receiving a charge, provided of course there enough of them embedded into the road.

This to scale LEGO Porsche 911 is absolutely insane.  The roof is not only retractable but motorized, the hood can be opened by pulling a lever from the interior, the doors have real locks and that’s just barely scratching the surface.  Your best bet is to checkout the YouTube video embedded below.  We should note that this model is completely custom made, and doesn’t use any actual LEGO pieces.

Via: Dailypicksandflicks

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Ridiculous price aside ($120), Monster’s iMotion is one novel piece of kit for the car.

At the core it’s an iPod charger that sports a 30-pin connector and 3.5mm audio output.  So you can plug one end into your iPod (or iPhone) and the others into your car’s cigarette lighter adapter and audio aux input.  But what makes it novel, and worth publishing on this fine here website, is that a small sensor perched at the top of the charger portion of the device allows you to control your iPod with a set of hand motions.

Placing a stagnant hand in front of the iMotion will pause/play your iPod, while swiping left to right will either skip the track forward or backwards.

Novel?  Yes.  Expensive?  Yes.  Worth the money?  Hells no.  Nonetheless, it’s an interesting product that will probably never gain traction, largely due to its hefty price tag and limited functionality.  Also, throw in the fact that your car has to sport an AUX input and a cigarette lighter port that is within arms reach.

Source: CNet

In 2009 Parrot made headlines with their iPhone compatible car receiver, the RKi8400.  And once again they’ve drawn attention to their car division by announcing the Asteroid, a single DIN car receiver running the Android platform.

The front panel is composed of a 3.2-inch LCD that is not, from what we can tell, touchscreen compatible, but is controlled by the adjacent buttons and knob.  There are 3 USB ports for adding your MP3 player of choice, even an iPhone or iPod touch, though we’re not sure if there is a hidden slot behind the faceplate as found in the RKi8400.

The Asteroid can provide Internet radio as well as GPS turn-by-turn directions, provided of course a 3G dongle and GPS receiver are plugged into the USB ports.  Apparently, the Asteroid can receive Android updates, but you’ll probably need the 3G dongle to receive them.

Aside from the USB port, media playback can be obtained by inserting an SD card, Bluetooth or AUX input.  If you opt for Bluetooth with a compatible phone, the Asteroid will be able to route calls through your car’s speakers and can be controlled with voice commands.

Unfortunately, there is no price or release date yet, but you can probably expect it to launch sometime later this year.

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Plenty of devices for Apple’s new iOS 4.2 and AirPlay are coming to market now that they’ve been available for a short while. Japan’s PhotoFast is making their play with a Wi-Fi dongle that gets plugged into a car’s audio system and enables it for AirPlay streaming.

The AP1000 is a sturdy looking little black box that works on 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and needs a 12 volt power source. It has an audio port, but lacks the ability to stream video.

With PhotoFast still looking for a distributor in the US, there are no details about cost of availability, but most people probably won’t fret it, since the device does nothing a Bluetooth smartphone can’t, except maybe provide some extra audio quality.

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I’m waiting on the iKit to come to market, but until that time I might have to survive with the iDeck.  It turns your car’s cassette player into an iPod dock.  There’s no word on if it works with the iPhone but since it’s sports a standard 30-pin dock I don’t see why not.  Course, you’ll need to have a cassette deck that matches the iDeck’s orientation and be willing to forgo some sound quality since the sound is transferred through the tape player and not jacked directly into the car’s head unit.  For $40 you get the iDeck and a car charger.

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Not too sure why it’s called the Power Bullet Charger, but it actually looks like a decent product.  Effectively allowing you to eliminate a charger from your stockpile, the Power Bullet Charger has both a wall charger and a car charger in the same build.

Also housing a dual USB input, you and shorty can charge the shit out of your phones simultaneously.  On sale now from ThinkGeek for a steal at $15, provided it doesn’t break on you with the first two weeks.

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Soundman’s iPad car install made headlines as the first ever.  Now the aftermarket car audio shop is back with their second iPad car install, but this time they’ve gone simple and if you ask me temptingly sweet.  In fact, I now want to find a similar solution for my 2003 GTI, though I think the center dash is a bit too small.

In this install they’ve built a custom dash-dock and used the car’s, a Nissan Maxima, AUX hookup for audio.  Removing the iPad is as easy as sliding it up, though it still looks secure enough to survive a fender bender.  Just don’t forget it otherwise you’ll leave it to bake in the sun.

Antro’s solar vehicle is far more than meets the eye.  Sure it can drive up to 20km per day on solar power alone, but what you can’t see is that the car is modular and according to renders and specs – no actual image were shown – it can be split into two separate smaller vehicles, or conversely combined with another for a six passenger auto.

The inside is laden with wood and the steering wheel is like something ripped out of 1980′s arcade machine.  And don’t forget the solar panel roof.

So far 1.5 million Euros has been invested in the Antro Solo since 2002 and they plan to bring the vehicle to market by 2012.

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Honda’s 3 wheeled concept vehicle won’t reach the kind of top speeds we’d obtain from the T-Rex, but it will get you there with a far smaller carbon footprint. The Honda 3R-C will be on show at this year’s Geneva Motor Show and claims to be a zero emission vehicle using an electric, battery powered motor of some sort.  The deets are few and far between, but you know as well as we do that this thing will never get built.

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The T-Rex is a motorcycle in sheep’s clothing.  Sure it appears to be a car, but handles like a bike and damn if it doesn’t fly like a bike.  Under the hood of the ultra lightweight two seater is a 1400 cc inline 4 cylinder Kawasaki engine that puts out 197hp and 113ft lbs of torque.  Unlike the previous model, which included a motorcycle steering and shifting mechanism, the 2010 T-Rex, the 14R, appears to have actual pedals and a steering wheel.  0-60mph: 3.92 seconds.

Pricing for the 14R starts at $52,000, while the 14RR jumps to $56.5k.

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While I’m trying to reserve judgment on this device, I can’t help but think “snake oil”.  Called ‘The Current Regulating Fuel Efficiency Booster’, it plugs into your car’s cigarette lighter and using some new fangled circuity, you know the stuff that Detroit couldn’t figure out, it regulates your vehicle’s electrical system thus improving fuel efficiency by as much as 18%.  Here’s a snippet from the product page:

An independent automotive testing service showed the unit increased an automobile’s average fuel efficiency from 23.8 to 28.1 miles per gallon in two weeks. The device simply plugs into a car’s DC outlet and stabilizes the electrical current flowing to the electrical control unit (ECU)–the computer that controls the engine’s fuel injection and ignition systems–to improve gas mileage. The device mitigates electrical interference from the stereo, lights, air conditioning, and more that can negatively affect the ECU’s ability to optimize fuel injection and fuel efficiency.

Hammacher sells it for $80.  Anyone wanna review one?  I know I do.

[via RGS]

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The Swivel Car tray is just what I need when I hit the drive-thru at McDonalds at 2am.  It inserts into any standard sized cup holder and can rotate as well as swivel up and down providing you or your passenger with tray support for your Big Mac and two large fries. 

You can grab one for $11.

[via RedFerret]

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There are two places my change goes: in my junk draw or in my car’s cup holder.  The Motorized Coin Sorter for your Car fits perfectly in most cup holders and automatically sorts your change so you don’t have to.  Now the next time you roll up to that toll window you won’t have to fumble through an endless array of sticky coffee pennies. 

A retailer on Amazon sells it for about $11 including shipping.

[via Craziestgadgets]

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Available next month, GM’s AutoNet will let you literally install a WiFi hotspot in your car.  The unit plus installation will cost $500 and there will be a monthly charge of $30 for a 1GB cap.  There is also a 5GB cap offered but no price is known as of now.

The range will last up to a radius of 150 feet away from you car and would be great for camping, tailgating, and beyond.  You could even have traveling video game competitions in your SUV while you drive from Inglewood to Compton.  Anybody like this product?

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For those of you who live and die with your iPhone, now there’s a way for you to actually start your car with your smart phone of choice.  Viper has just announced their new iPhone app and vehicle module appropriately titled the Viper Smart Start.  From your iPhone you can start your car, turn on the heat, unlock doors and the trunk, and manage the alarm.  The app itself is not limited by any certain distance parameters as long as it receives a signal.  Sounds crazy right?

So while the App itself is free, the device that needs to be installed into your car is not.  Costing somewhere between $300-$500 depending on the make and model of your car, there’s also a annual fee of $30.  Available now at BestBuy.

Watch the fun informational video.

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It’s probably fair to say that in the last 25 years a ton of tech has gone into vehicles to mitigate the risk of passengers.  But what about child safety seats?  The Safety 1st Complete Air car seat is a revolutionary car seat that utilizes Air Protect technology to greatly reduce child fatality in the event of a side impact crash.  Not to be mistaken with an air bag, the Air Protect pad uses a combination of air and padding to extend the ‘ride down’, the amount of time it takes to slow a child’s movement in a crash.  As a result, the amount of motion, especially in the neck and head area is greatly reduced as is fatality and injury.  The Safety 1st Complete Air car seat is convertible for children 5 – 50lbs and will be available in two color finishes on July 1st at Babies”R”Us stores and online at Babiesrus.com and Babiesrus.ca.

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