Over the years, a number of optional technologies have allowed new auto buyers to remotely disable and / or recover their vehicles after purchase, but these devices aren’t always optional, and it might not even be the buyer who activates them. According to Threat Level , a man has been charged in Austin, Texas for allegedly hacking into the computer of his employer, Texas Auto Center, and activating WebTeck remote horn triggers and kill devices installed in over 100 cars owned by the company’s customers — all from the comfort of home. After Texas Auto Center reset the offending software’s passwords and figured out what’s what, the Austin High Tech Crime Unit quickly traced access back to one Omar Ramos-Lopez and made an arrest — but for many, the damage (in terms of missed work, school and tow-truck calls) had already been done. Care to form an opinion?

Heads-up displays are undoubtedly novel, and downright useful in the right circumstances. Trouble is, few of these prototypes ever make it beyond the lab, and we’re stuck using these same two eyeballs to experience the world around us. General Motors is evidently tired of the almosts, and it’s now working in concert with Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Southern California in order to concoct one of the most advanced HUD systems that we’ve seen — particularly in the automotive world. Setting out to create “enhanced vision systems,” GM’s R&D team has created a windshield packed with visible and Infrared cameras along with internal optics that keep a close eye on the driver’s retinas. In the images and video below (hit the ‘Read More’ link for the real action), you’ll see a solution that utilizes lasers in order to highlight road edges, speed limit signs and all sorts of other vital bits of data during a fog-filled commute. Best of all?

It makes it feel like you’re in the middle of Tron , but GM’s new heads-up display’s not just a way to play out childhood fantasies. The system projects laser-generated images onto windshields, providing a great looking enhanced vision display. More

The good people of Tesla couldn’t leave us with just stock studio photography of their new TAG Heuer special edition vehicle , oh no. They’ve treated us to a full gallery of the car out on the road, sporting its new regalia and that radical paintjob with pride. To remind you, the only special thing about this edition is indeed that TAG Heuer has reskinned its exterior, while a center console mount for a Meridiist phone and room for a Limited Edition Stopwatch can be classified as product placements for the crowd who’d buy things just because there’s an allotted space for them. Anyhow, a couple more pictures await after the break (sans that silly flare on the Tesla logo above) or you can hit the source for the full experience. Continue reading TAG Heuer’s Tesla Roadster gets pictured on the road TAG Heuer’s Tesla Roadster gets pictured on the road originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:47:00 EST.

The most fuel efficient hybrid for sale in the US gets 51 MPG, but a startup called Transonic Combustion claims they can improve that. They claim their fuel-injection system will get 64 MPG. More

This isn’t just any old rusty antique of a car. It’s the oldest-dated flying car , and comes with the blueprints, 1921 patent and documents charting inventor Frank Skroback ’s creation. Here’s the catch though: it doesn’t fly. More

What’s the one biggest hurdle to throwing out your dedicated GPS nav unit and going ahead with the free turn-by-turn navigation offered by your smartphone ? If your answer was that most phones don’t have the great big screens or easy installation systems of some satnav devices, look out, because Nokia’s about to shake up your world all over again. Alpine has just announced its partnership with the Finnish giant aimed at integrating Nokia handsets — complete with free Ovi Maps navigation — into car dashboard systems. Yes, that means you can use your superb six-amp speaker systems to boom out music or voice nav instructions from the phone, as well as your in-dash 7-inch LCD for showing you the right way home.

Concept cars are like unicorns — they’re so prevalent and vaporous, they’re hardly worth remarking upon. Every so often, though, one pops out into the ether that’s really worth a second look. Lotus’ Evora 414E Hybrid concept certainly fits into that category.This plug-in car boasts (or would boast, should it come into existence), 1.2 liter, three-cylinder engine, independent electric motors for the rear wheels, with a range of about 300 miles. The glass engine cover pictured above, however, is just one of the features we find ourselves double-taking here. The Evora 414E would also pack some ‘vroom vroom’ noises by way of its audio system to take care of the ever-pressing danger of silent auto engines . The engine can operate on alcohol-based fuels or regular old gasoline, and the battery-only range is in the neighborhood of 35 miles.

BMW ’s first all-electric regular series production vehicle, the Megacity EV, has now been set in stone and inserted into the company’s roadmap for a commercial launch in 2012 or 2013. The Bavarian automaker has gone official with word that it plans to use its Leipzig assembly plant to produce the car and further notes that it’ll feature a similar setup to the ActiveE concept (pictured above), which is set for field testing in 2011. Essentially a 1 series that feeds off the electric grid rather than the nearest diesel pump, the ActiveE runs off an array of lithium-ion batteries

Rubbish powered the DeLorean’s Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor power source in Back To The Future, so it makes sense that now we’re in the future we can make ethanol fuel from fruit peel. It’s the work of professor Henry Daniell at the University of Central Florida , who can also turn newspaper into fuel fit for running a car with—using more than 10 enzymes from plants to break the rubbish into sugar that is then fermented into the ethanol fuel, producing less greenhouse gas emissions than electricity or gasoline. Plus, it decreases the pressure put on landfills—and might help stave off the “iPad effect” and keep newspapers in print for a while longer. Zing! [ PhysOrg ]