2011 Hyundai Gen on 2040-cars

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Hyundai i20 shows what brown can do for you [w/video]

With the latest generation of the i20 at the 2014 Paris Motor Show, Hyundai continues to shake off its old image in Europe as a maker of cheap, unstylish little penalty boxes. This five-door hatch has to fit into the crowded, compact hatch market over there against popular entries like the Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Polo - a high bar for success. But the Korean automaker claims that its latest vehicle is up to the task because it's designed in Europe specifically with European buyers in mind.
The new i20 takes a small step a bit more upmarket with features like LED front and rear lighting and a rearview camera. However, the biggest change is the jump in interior room, though. The wheelbase is two-inches longer than before, and the growth gives the hatch best-in-class legroom and cargo capacity with the rear seats up, according to Hyundai. Rounding out the improvements is an available panoramic sunroof that the company also believes is unique for the segment.
For the Paris show, Hyundai made the i20 extra sweet by covering it in a chocolaty shade of brown to look like a little French confection on the show floor. Scroll down for all of the details about it, and for the impossibly epic launch video.

Hyundai is working on a real-life 'Aliens' exoskeleton

Lots of companies are working on exoskeleton suits, but most are designed to slightly increase your lifting capacity, prevent injuries or help you empathize. Not Hyundai, though – the South Korean automaker is aiming for something more extreme with a " wearable robot" that it likens to an Iron Man suit. Workers piloting the device can lift objects weighing "hundreds of kilograms," according to the company. Soldiers can also use it to pack up to 50 kilograms (110 pounds) over long distances. The suit is a juiced up version of the H-LEX "wearable walking assistant" that Hyundai introduced last year. Unlike that lightweight version, which is worn like a suit, the fully mechanized exoskeleton "wears" you. However, Hyundai also has another version (below) that's much more lightweight with just a mechanical spine and legs strapped to the user. That model is designed to help "paraplegics, the handicapped and the elderly," according to the company. Hyundai says the project is part of its "Next Mobility" system "that will lead to the free movement of people and things." In other words, the car manufacturer is angling the suits as transportation, where other companies, like Panasonic and Daewoo, see them strictly them strictly as worker aids. Like Hyundai, DARPA is building an exosuit for soldiers for its "Warrior Web" program. As companies like Ekso Bionics have shown, however, such robotic suits may have the highest potential as rehabilitation aids. Related Video: This article by Steve Dent originally ran on Engadget, the definitive guide to this connected life. Auto News Hyundai Technology Smartphone Future Vehicles Military

Hyundai, Kia and U of M studying 'highway hypnosis'

Next up on the hot-button list of things that can kill you behind the wheel: "highway hypnosis." That's the zombie-like, autopilot phase you get into on a long highway drive when there isn't much to distract you, like curves or traffic. Digging further into what it is and how to combat it, Hyundai-Kia engineers and the University of Michigan are commencing a study that will measure brainwave activity in order to track the body's slide into highway hypnosis.
We're not sure how much overlap this has with Mercedes-Benz's Attention Assist, which tracks more than 70 in-car parameters to determine when you're not focused on the road anymore. That system is billed as an alarm against fatigue, in our experience it does more than that - if you use your phone while driving, for instance, it will chirp.
They don't know what form a warning system will take yet, but Hyundai-Kia plans to develop a method for warning drivers when they being to zone out. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were more than three thousand deaths and nearly 400,000 injuries due to distracted driving in 2011.