Robo VW Passat struts its stuff

Obviously Herbie, the possessed Beetle, hasn't put Volkswagen of the idea of giving their cars a mind of their own. Yesterday a highly modified VW Passat went on show at the Science Museum. The advanced teutonic driving wizardry is part of the Team LUX entry into the DARPA Urban Challenge, a competition run by the US military with the aim of finding a car capable of driving itself through urban environments. Then they'll presumably build themselves an army of robotic tanks like something out of Robocop.

The LUX Passat cost a whopping £1m to put together, which is expensive, even for a VW, but the money will have been well spent if their technology is used for any commercial or military applications, and, who knows, perhaps your car will be driving itself within a few years.

Team Lux say:

Team-LUX has chosen a production car for the DARPA Urban Challenge – a VW Passat 2.0 TDI built in 2006. The autonomous control equipment is fully integrated into the vehicle. This makes the Team-LUX the first ever to enter the DARPA Challenge with a car that looks exactly like a standard road model, mostly without visible extensions such as sensors, antennas or processing systems.

The vehicle is equipped with three Ibeo laser sensors or “intelligent eyes”: two at the front of the vehicle and the third in the rear, giving the car 360° vision. No other sensors of any type are required!

We're not sure whether we could find an underwriter to accept a robot as a named driver, but we reckon it's got to be a pretty good risk. It will, presumably, need to pass a driving test before we have to worry about that, though.

Cars are definitely getting more and more advanced, but, thankfully, there's nothing quite like the Dancing / Ice Skating Citroen Robots just yet.

Return of the Little Mouse

With all the launches of retro styled cars like the MINI and New Beetle over the last few years, you'll probably be feeling left out if you have a hankering for some of the other "peoples' classics".

While it seems unlikely that we'll get a new Morris Minor anytime soon, there is mixed news for fans of the 2CV, which has received a modern update that Citroen apparently like, although nothing concrete has been forthcoming as yet.

For Fiat 500 fans, though the news is excellent, with the new 500 due in 9 months. And unlike the 90's incarnation of the Cinquecento, this one will get all its styling cues from the Italian classic. Mechanically, though, components will be shared with the Fiat Panda and the new Ford Ka. You can find tons of classic Fiat 500 stuff here.

These eminently sensible cost saving measures mean that, unlike the MINI and Beetle, which have re-emerged as luxury hatches with a premium price tag, the Fiat Nuovo 500 will remain a true car for the people - the projected price tag is a mere £5000 - cheap enough to attract a whole new generation of young Topolino fans.

Fiat have put together a fantastic site, where you can play around with the design elements of the car, play cool games and competitions, and even try your hand at designing some sticker graphics - if your artwork is the best they'll stick it on a real car.