The ultimate gaming rig has now become your car. It doesn’t sport the powerhouse graphics offered by the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 nor the gimmicky bullshit that encompasses the Nintendo Wii, but it does have a cool name: the Carcade. Students at the Berlin University of the Arts designed this “augmented reality in-car videogame” which utilizes a laptop and webcam to turn the scenery you’re driving by into the level of the game.

It’s like the standard shooter except it’s all about avoidance rather than racking up points by demolishing enemies. That doesn’t mean it isn’t fun, considering that the faster the driver is going will directly affect the difficulty and speed of the game. Just hope the driver keeps his/her eyes on the road and off the game.

Link [via]

Thanks to Nissan’s Biomimetic Robot Car (BR23C), crash test dummies could find themselves out of a job. Having been compared to R2-D2 (but bearing no resemblance whatsoever), the BR23C will not maintain your car like a mechanic would, rather, it will play the part of backseat driver. The robot is the “poster-bot” for Nissan’s new crash prevention technology.

Drawing upon inspiration from bees in nature, the BR23C uses a laser range finder sensor to detect obstacles within a 180-degree radius and forwards that information to itself giving it plenty of time to prevent head-on collisions. Nissan was thinking that the best way to prevent crashes is to avoid obstacles altogether. Brilliant. Check out the video to see the robot avoid women.

Link [via]