The flying car is… not a lot closer than it was when a puppet named Mike Mercury took Gerry Anderson's Supercar into the wild blue. According to CNET News, NASA is attempting to rectify the non-situation by stumping up some $2m in prize money for developers of “small seat” experimental airplanes. The space agency's Personal Aircraft Vehicle (PAV) Challenge replaces the agency's in-house development process in favor of "chaotic innovation or ideas hatched in people's garages." PAV fans envision a future where small auto-piloted planes ferry people on “midrange” trips between 100 and 500 miles at speeds up to 150mph. Technologies such as virtual pilot assistants and synthetic vision systems (SVS) could remove pilot error (substituting computer error?) and create virtual highways in the skies. "We're looking at making planes cheaper than cars and as easy to drive.” says pilot Michael Coates of Australia. [BTW: Anderson said he invented Supercar as an excuse to reduce his puppets' walking time, which never looked realistic.]

Vehicles used on farms are not likely to generate as many insurance claims as their tarmac-tied counterparts. So U.S. farmers enjoy up to a 20 percent discount on their auto insurance. Problem: farm discounts on vehicular insurance are being applied to city folk. The Hartford Courant reports that some 7.52 percent of farm-use vehicle insurance discounts were written for people in locations where, according to Ed Harris, "absolutely nobody is engaged in agriculture." Harris works for Quality Planning Corp., a company specializing in indentifying "premium leakage" (i.e. lost insurance revenue). "When we discovered that a Jaguar XJ6 was reported garaged at a five-acre farm in Brooklyn, we weren't sure who'd be more interested – the DEA or the policyholder's insurance company." Connecticut ranks third in the nation for this type of fraud. Marketwire ranks New Jersey as tops in farm-use discount abuse– which makes sense as the Garden State has the nation's highest insurance premiums. 

An experimental Japanese electric car has set a new speed record: 105.95 kmph (65.8 mph). And you can forget all that lithium-ion stuff. According to NewCarNet, the four-wheeled record holder was powered by common AA household batteries. Albeit lot’s of ‘em. In fact, the Panasonic Oxyride needed 192 of the diminutive batteries to get its freak on. The experimental vehicle was not radio controlled, did contain a [small, reclining] human and weighed-in at less than 84 pounds (38 kgs.) The automobile's accelerative accomplishment comes hard on the heels of a Japanese aircraft powered by 160 AA batteries that recently took wing. While the craft only achieved five meters altitude for less than a minute, it was "the world's first manned flight powered by dry-cell batteries." We can't wait for the 356-battery flying car.

According to an article in the International Business Times, it's pedal to the metal for the Chinese auto industry. The China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products predicts auto exports will grow by nearly 50 percent in ‘07. So far this year, China has exported 241k vehicles valued at $2.7b. The majority headed to their former fellow communist partners in Russia, followed by Boratville (Kazakhstan) and Iran. What's more (literally), the average price per exported vehicle ascended to $11,200, up 23 percent from '06. Meanwhile, Motor Trend reports that Shanghai longshoremen have unloaded a shipload of 3k Ohio-built Acura TLs, slated for September sale. The U.S. strikes first blood, but don't expect the balance of trade to remain skewed in this direction for long. No sir.

As of June 30th, UK motorists have been brewing-up 2500 liters (660 U.S. gallons) of homemade biofuels without paying a penny in tax to the British exchequer. According to NewCarNet, anyone living in the island nation with a penchant for home chemistry can now cook-up their own biodiesel for one tenth of the cost of commercially available diesel. Setting aside the price of waste vegetable oil (i.e. none), the costs breaks down as follows: methanol (7.6p), Sodium Hydroxide (.52p), energy (0.12p) and purification 1p. Not including labor, that’s 9.24p ($.18) a liter. U.S. biofans will no doubt be discussing the implications at the National Biodiesel Conference and Expo in Orlando this February.  

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reckons some 1.5m American deer have a close encounter of the vehicular kind each year. On an annual basis, deer collisions take out 200 humans, injure 15k more and cost the insurance industry rack-up more than $1b in repairs. According to a report in the Black Hills Pioneer, researchers at the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University have spent the last six years trying to stop the car-nage. The Big Sky boffins are currently testing a trip-wire system in Minnesota. When deer break invisible beams along the side of the road, the system triggers flashing lights to warn drivers. Bob Weinholzer from the Minnesota Transportation Department is happy with the approach. "We can't do anything to control what the deer do, so this is an attempt to control the drivers."

A survey by Vansunited claims bus drivers are the rudest drivers in the UK. According to The Argus, the company “dedicated to helping van dealers find van customers” asked 2300 vanistas to name “the least considerate [motorists] when it came to pedestrians and other drivers.” One fifth of those surveyed fingered bus drivers for "foul language, tailgating, being cut-up and similar reckless behaviour.” The managing director of the Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company rebuffed the findings. "The survey was carried out by van drivers so it would have been biased from the outset.” [NB: In the UK, the term “white van man” has long been synonymous for aggressive driving and inconsiderate parking. There's even a minigame based on the stereotype.]

Back in May, investment bank UBS and auto engineering firm Ricardo released a report entitled “Is Diesel set to boom in the US?” The document concluded that hybrid technology is America’s preferred propulsion, partly due to the vehicles’ “visible badge of green awareness amongst higher income purchasers.” BUT the authors predicted that diesel sales will outpace hybrids by 300K units by 2012 (1.5m diesels vs. 1.2m hybrids). Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal revealed that Porsche will forgo diesel power and produce a hybrid-engined Cayenne. Max Warburton, a UBS analyst in London, was offended: “They say diesel isn’t consistent with their brand, but a hybrid is? I can’t see that. If they don’t do diesel, it’s going to limit the growth of their company.” And that’s a bad thing?

Like most other states, Connecticut has been buying flex-fuel vehicles to comply with the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct), which requires that 75 percent of new vehicles purchased by the states be capable of running on alternative fuel. According to The Hartford Courant, 1700 of the state’s 4299 vehicles are now flex-fuel compatible. But there’s a snag. There are only two E85 pumps in the entire state. Little wonder that a study released earlier this week by Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell found that the state's flex-fuel vehicles use ethanol only three percent of the time. Given the cost-benefit ratios involved, I can’t help thinking ethanol is a solution looking for a problem.

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is on its uppers. The Viet Nam News reports expanding tourism and exports, a stock market that’s expanded by 145 percent and a growing, car-hungry middle class. Auto sales are up 79 percent year on year. Toyota salesman Cao Hong Quang says his customers must plunk down a VND 10 – 15m ($625 – $938) deposit and wait between a week to four months before delivery. The demand also represents a sense of resignation. Many aspiring Vietnamese motorists were hoping that the country's entry into the World Trade Organization (January '07) would trigger a reduction in government taxes on car purchases. By now, they’ve given up waiting and started buying.

In late June, a 17-year-old driving an SUV in East Bloomfield, New York slammed head-on into a truck, killing her and four other recent high school grads in the car. Police claim text messaging (to friends in a following car) moments before the crash was a contributory factor. "The records indicate her phone was in use," Sheriff Phil Povero said diplomatically. "We will never be able to clearly state that she was the one doing the text messaging." Meanwhile, according to new research by SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) and Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, instant and text messaging lead the list as the biggest driving distraction for teens. Seventy-three percent of teens admit to talking on a cell phone while behind the wheel. Where do teens pick up these bad habits? Some 62 percent of high school-aged teens told researchers their parents talk on a cell while driving.

When you’re young, free and single, buying a new car is easy. You match the maximum amount of available cash/credit to the maximum amount of cool you can afford and sign your life away. When you’re married, buying a new car is a pain in the ass, right from the git-go. Which car do we sell? Who gets the new car? Who gets the old car? How practical should it be? How stylish? Whose style? How much car can WE afford? Post-nuptial new car negotiations can present anything from a small bump in the marital road to a VERY expensive write-off.

Steve Titus REALLY hates using foreign oil. The Bozeman, Montana resident began his personal quest for total energy independence by building a plug-in solar – electric vehicle. Titus’ passion then propelled him to develop the Solar Bug, an ATV powered by roof-mounted solar cells. The machine may only go 20 miles per charge, but Titus has his eyes on the prize: “I was tired of going to the gas station,” says Titus. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports that Steve and six like-minded friends paraded their rechargeable vehicles through downtown Bozeman on Friday. While one of the participants optimistically predicted that the area could become an epicenter for green vehicle technology (like Portland and Seattle), you gotta credit these guys for their plain talking. “More and more Americans are sick of paying $80 for gas once or twice a week.” 

Drivers in Newport News, VA will be monitored by red light cameras as soon as next year– maybe. The snag? Money. The Daily Press reports that installing red light cameras at 18 intersections will cost the city around $882k. Just to recoup the initial investment, Newport News would need to snag 17,640 red-light runners at $50 a pop. Assistant Police Chief Dawn Barber puts a finer point on it: "And these are not tickets, but convictions.” City Manager Randy Hildebrandt gets the drift. "It won't be a money maker. I don't think we will be able to afford to have the equipment on all 18 intersections." 

Want to join the E85 generation but can’t stand/afford the flex-fuel vehicles on offer? CarJunky.com reports that XcelPlus International will sell you a small black box that converts any car or truck to run on ethanol. Designed by AGE Technologies in Brazil, the FlexTek system includes a controller unit and chemicals which “permanently plate internal engine parts to protect them from wear and oxidation.” To assuage the skeptical, FlexTek offers a free warranty covering the box (of course) and (more importantly) the vehicle's engine. While the article proclaims ethanol as a widely available fuel, it isn’t. According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center, there isn’t an E85 pump within 75 miles of Saluda, Virginia, where XcelPlus is based.