Month in tech: Lap of luxury – in a Volvo?

The Swedish company unveiled the XC90 Excellence Lounge Console concept at the Auto China show, held in Shanghai. The rework of the recently redesigned Volvo SUV scraps the third-row bench and front-passenger seat in favour of two ultra-luxurious rear perches, complete with an in-console refrigerator, illuminated vanity mirror and storage tray for jewellery and whatever else China’s 1% may wish to stow out of view. In lieu of the front-passenger seat is a leather cushioned footrest, and a 17in media screen completes the cocoon-like immersion. No production plan was announced, though such a feature could satisfy wealthy Chinese buyers’ preference for being chauffeured.

The Babel Bike doesn't look like your everyday bicycle, to its – and it’s rider’s – great advantage. The slightly recumbent contraption surrounds its rider in a roll cage specifically designed to bounce of off vehicles in a collision. The cage is sufficiently large and robust that it would be nearly impossible to wedge under most road vehicles, its builders claim. For additional safety, the Babel comes equipped with metal foot protectors, a seatbelt, turn indicators, brake lights and an alarm that automatically sounds if the bike is involved in a collision. Currently an IndieGoGo project, the Babel can be fitted with an optional power-assist motor good for a gaudy 80 miles of travel range.

The Germany-based Fraunhofer Project Group has created a nearly all-plastic cylinder casing for a one-cylinder engine. Its maker claims that the casing solution sacrifices no power to its aluminium counterparts, but weighs 20% less while costing no more. The glass-fibre-reinforced composite materials can withstand the same intense engine environment while producing less noise, too. Tests of one-cylinder engines equipped with the novel casing have been successful, and the researchers are in the process of creating a multi-cylinder plastic engine complete with plastic crankshaft bearings.

Sorry automakers, Nasa has beaten you to the punch. Earlier this month the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration released a video showing off its all-electric modular robotic vehicle (MRV) cruising around the Johnson Space Center in Texas. The vehicle can be manually operated using a drive-by-wire system, or set loose in full autonomous mode. The golf cart-size MRV wears wheels powered by liquid-cooled propulsion motors, each with the ability to independently turn 180 degrees. One look at the video above is almost enough to make you wonder why anyone at Nasa would ever want to leave Earth. (Credit: Nasa)

The BMW Group subsidiary’s new Augmented Vision glasses may take design cues from aviator goggles of the past, but the underlying tech is 100% from the future. Not unike head-up displays in most luxury cars, the goggles overlay driving directions, vehicle speed and points of interest onto the driver’s field of vision, and can even highlight hard-to-find parking spaces. But the science-fiction overtones are reserved for X-ray View, which allows users to see through solid elements of the car – such as the windshield pillar and door panels – to glimpse objects that might be hidden. Alas, the specs are for demonstration purposes only.

(BBC)