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Mercedes Digital Light puts a light show on the road

Soon full-featured heads up displays, augmented reality, and intelligent lighting will all work together to provide drivers with the safest and most complete picture of the road ahead. Until then, it's one advance at a time, the latest being Digital Light for Mercedes-Maybach customers. Stuttgart engineers designed a small LED with more than a million micro-reflectors for each headlight. Hardware and software control the light pattern, and paint at least nine different graphics on the road in light to warn of safety issues ahead. Digital Light evolved from the intelligent headlights demonstrated on the Mercedes Experimental Safety Vehicle in 2009 — the same ESF2009 that previewed rear belt-bag inflating seatbelts. Back then, the main beams were composed of 100 LEDs, and a brain controlled each LED to create a specific and occasionally complex lighting pattern. The new Digital Light works with all the cameras, sensors, and navigation information employed by an S-Class, and has increased resolution 10,000-fold to roughly HD quality, with a commensurate rise in the complexity of available patterns and representations. Mercedes cites numerous benefits, one being a "virtually dazzle-free main beam," another being high beams that can selectively darken so as not to blind oncoming traffic or pedestrians. Some of the projected symbols include guide lines on the road representing the width of the sedan when navigating a narrow construction zone, an arrow pointing to a pedestrian either in or very near the road, a snowflake when the temperature drops below freezing, and a chevron placed on the center line or shoulder to warn a driver when he's leaving his lane or when there's someone in his blind spot. Digital Light will first go into service with selective fleet customers for the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class this year. Considering the state of current U.S. auto regulations, we wouldn't expect to see it here for a number of years. Related Video: Featured Gallery Mercedes-Benz Digital Light View 27 Photos News Source: Mercedes-Benz via New Atlas, Gizmodo Maybach Mercedes-Benz Technology Emerging Technologies Luxury Sedan mercedes-maybach

Weekly Recap: Toyota propels hydrogen fuel cells

Toyota is serious about hydrogen fuel cells, and it wants the auto industry to follow suit. The Japanese automaker said this week it's releasing 5,680 fuel cell patents from around the world, including technologies used on its upcoming sedan, the 2016 Mirai. The move is unusual, but not unprecedented, as Tesla similarly released its electric vehicle patents last year. The idea for Tesla, and now for Toyota, is to spur development of alternative propulsion. "By eliminating traditional corporate boundaries, we can speed the development of new technologies and move into the future of mobility more quickly, effectively and economically," said Bob Carter, Toyota Motor Sales senior vice president of automotive operations, in a statement. Toyota's fuel cell patents will be free to use through 2020, though patents related to producing and selling hydrogen will remain open forever. Toyota said it would like companies that use its patents to share their own hydrogen patents, but won't require it. "What Toyota's doing is really a logical move, and really a good move for the industry," Devin Lindsay, principal powertrain analyst with IHS Automotive, told Autoblog. The announcement was made at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It comes as Toyota prepares to launch the hydrogen-powered Mirai in a limited number late this year in California. The launch will be extended to the Northeastern United States next year. Toyota also has announced plans to support networks of fueling stations in each region to try to smooth consumer adoption. The Mirai has a 300-mile range on a tank of hydrogen, and it takes about five minutes to refill. Fuel cells have been receiving increased attention recently, and Audi and Volkswagen debuted hydrogen-powered cars at the 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show. Honda, another proponent of the technology, also showed its updated FCV concept in November in Japan. The company, however, has delayed its fuel cell sedan a year until 2016. Like Toyota, Honda says its hydrogen-powered car will have a range of 300 miles or more. Meanwhile, Hyundai currently offers leases for fuel-cell powered Tucsons, which have a 265-mile range, in Southern California. Despite the optimism some automakers have for fuel cells, the technology still faces barriers. A lack of filling stations has long held it back, and many consumers are not familiar with the potential benefits.

Man makes record-setting drive across the US in 28 hours, 50 minutes

Records, as the say, are made to be broken. Whether that's cramming the most hot dogs down your gullet, running a faster mile, or yes, driving across the United States, odds are that there's someone out there wants to eat more, run faster or drive harder. Speaking of that last example, the record for driving from a set location on the east coast, in particular the Red Ball Garage in Manhattan to the Portofino Hotel in Redondo Beach, CA, has been one that has fascinated gearheads since a guy named Cannonball Baker made the trek from New York to LA in 53 hours, 30 minutes, in 1933.
The competition saw its glory days when Car and Driver's Brock Yates came up with the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash (more affectionately known as the Cannonball Run), although the record was most recently set by Alex Roy and his 32-hour, seven-minute trek behind the wheel of a BMW M5 in 2006. Now, there's a new champion, who made the trip from east to west in a scarcely imaginable 28 hours and 50 minutes, behind the wheel of a 2004 Mercedes-Benz CL55 AMG. That's works out to an average speed of 98 miles per hour over the course of 2,813.7 miles.
His name is Ed Bolian, and Jalopnik has a writeup of the epic voyage that details everything from the history of the Cannonball Run to Bolian's preparation and trouble finding co-drivers, to the trip itself. It is well worth a read.