The Wildcat was developed for military applications.
The Wildcat was developed for military applications.
With the current proliferation of companies developing self-driving cars, it is interesting to see the different approaches.
The big tech companies like Google (and, although we haven't seen what it will look like yet, most likely Apple) tend to go for soulless, amorphous blobs with silly "faces", while Audi have simply gone for normal Audis that can drive themselves.
Mercedes-Benz went for the whole windowless phallic shape on wheels, while Ford have gone "Nope. Can't do it", and simply aren't bothering.
Well, Oxford University in the UK has decided "Bugger all that nonsense!" and built an autonomous car out of one of the most mental vehicles on the planet - a Bowler Wildcat. For those of you who don't know, the Bowler Wildcat is pretty much a Land Rover Defender grille that sits in front of a stupidly powerful V8 (or a 2.5-litre turbo diesel, if you are a wuss) that is mounted in a tubular space frame with vaguely Defender-ish fibreglass body panels hanging off it.
The Wildcat was originally fitted out by British defence specialist BAE with fly-by-wire control systems, high-performance computing payloads and sensors for estimating the local terrain. BAE donated it to Oxford's Department of Engineering Science, who turned it into a self-driving piece of mechanical insanity.
Sadly, we shouldn't expect to see the consumer availability of stupidly powerful self-driving Bowlers anytime soon - it is purely a research car, most likely for military applications.
Nose job, nip and tuck do wonders for 86
Toyota 86 Style Cb
A rounded, extended nose and rounder headlights give the Cb a retro look.
If you like the Toyota 86 (and there really is something wrong with you if you don't), but felt it needed an air of "knock-off Ferrari" to its styling and two-tone paint job, then you are in luck!
Well, you are if you live in Japan, as Toyota has just unveiled an updated 86 that includes revised power steering, reworked suspension and a new 86 Style Cb Edition that includes a new nose and the option of the classy paint.
The Cb Edition ditches the familiar angularly aggressive 86 face for a rounded, extended nose and rounder headlights, giving the Cb a strongly retro look.
The Good Oil rather likes the (admittedly derivatively retro) look that the new nose gives the 86.
We expect to see it on our roads in a few years on Japanese import versions of the 86.
Honda's N-tease revives talent for cool
Honda N-One Natural concept
Honda's flair for cool is displayed with the N-One Natural (above), the N-One Natural's interior (below) and the N-Truck/N-Camp concept (bottom).
The N-Truck/N-Camp is a tiny ute with a tiny caravan hooked on.
Honda used to make some of the coolest cars on the planet before it became all boring, but it has recently started to tease us with the idea that it might actually start to make cool cars again!
The new NSX looks awesome, even though it has taken ages to get here, the company is back in F1 and it has even just made a Jazz normal people can like, instead of appealing only to people who didn't care what they drove and interior packaging enthusiasts.
Now the company continues that tease with two brilliant cars we will almost certainly never see in NZ, even if they do make production.
Honda N-One Natural concept
The first concept is the N-One Natural, which - from the outside - is a fairly standard, albeit brilliantly minimalist, take on Honda's N family of ultra-cute Kei cars. But on the inside, it is a different story.
Mainly because: wood! And lots of it too. No, not fake plastic wood, it is the real deal and it is everywhere! Just take in that wooden magnificence for a moment.
The wood even stretches back through the cargo compartment and, yes, the seats are different colours, just for extra awesome.
While the N-One Natural is exceptionally cool, the N-Truck/N-Camp concept does have it beat.
Honda N-Truck concept Photo / Supplied
Basically an N-Slash converted into a tiny ute with an equally tiny caravan hooked on the back, it is the ultimate tiny minimalist getaway machine. The use of space in the tiny caravan is verging on genius and the whole thing looks awesome.
While the chances of both making some form of production is almost zero, it is nice to know that Honda still knows how to be fun ...
We are the world
• UK coppers are bringing out the big guns in their war against distracted driving. A two-man team is being deployed in a new unmarked patrol vehicle - a semi truck and trailer - to combat texting or talking on a phone. The truck will be shared around police districts in the UK and the "spotter" will look down into cars to check for any "unlawful" activity, radioing a patrol car if anything is detected.
• While selfies are already pretty stupid, a school bus driver in Ohio took them to all new heights of stupidity by posting a selfie of herself on Facebook apparently drinking from a bottle of beer - while on her school bus. She was, rather unsurprisingly, fired.
Number Crunching
1YEAR
Hands-free motorway and low speed driving is expected by 2016.
