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Mercedes-Benz made a high-tech golf cart inspired by sports cars
File this one under the list of things to buy when you become stinkin' rich. Mercedes-Benz has introduced a high-tech golf cart with the looks of a sports car, three years after it asked fans to submit ideas for a "golf cart of the future." Now, don't get too excited: it doesn't have autonomous driving capabilities just yet. But the final product, designed by the automaker and its project partner (golf cart designer Garia), has a 10.1-inch tablet that displays its current speed and power consumption, as well as the vehicle's controls.
Autonomous golf carts drive tourists around in Singapore
MIT and the National Research Foundation of Singapore recently tested an autonomous vehicle they developed together. No, it's not a car or a truck -- it's a golf cart. The researchers created a self-driving golf cart called SMART and deployed several at a public garden to drive 500 or so tourists around during a six-day experiment. Since they crafted a whole system and not just the autonomous vehicle itself, they also tested a booking method which people used to schedule pick-ups and drop offs. In the future, that system could be adapted to a mobile app like Uber.
Mercedes Vision Golf Cart concept could shuttle you around the course in comfort
Today's golf carts certainly serve a purpose, but despite opulent add-ons like plastic rain shields and windshield wipers, the electric buggies littering the world's fairways and outdoor venues can hardly be considered luxurious. Now, with Mercedes-Benz considering a compact vehicle of its own, the cookie-cutter people mover could be a thing of the past. The German automaker recently debuted its Vision Golf Cart concept, a solar-powered two-seat carriage that includes such amenities as heated and cooled seats and cup holders, air vents, speakers, a joystick control, iPhone dock, heads-up display and LED headlights. Sounds pretty posh.%Gallery-194615%
Bubba Watson's hovercraft golf cart available now for $58k, that's one dollar for every jealous comment
When we first saw the BW1 golf cart hovercraft, it's fair to say we were excited. But now -- if you've got burdensome disposable income -- you can buy one for yourself. If you're willing to drop the requisite $58,000, you can cruise the fairway (not to mention the rough and water obstacles) in a BW1 of your very own. It comes complete with a 65-hp twin-cylinder Hirth engine and a streamlined, sound minimizing fan that promises enough power to reach 45 mph and ferry two golfers plus caddies between holes. So, it may not be for those still improving their technique, but for the swinger that's got everything, it's the perfect ride for your trip to the floating golf course.
OutRun AR project lets you game and drive at the same time, makes us drool
Cool game, or coolest game ever? That's the question we were asking ourselves when we first came across Garnet Hertz's augmented reality-based OutRun project -- a concept car that weds Sega's classic driving game with an electric golf cart, allowing players to navigate their way around real-life courses using only arcade consoles. Hertz, an informatics researcher at the University of California Irvine, has since brought his idea to fruition, after outfitting the system with cameras and customized software that can "look" in front of the car to automatically reproduce the route on the game cabin's screen. The map is displayed in the same 8-bit rendering you'd see on the original OutRun, with perspectives changing proportionally to shifts in steering. The cart maxes out at only 13 mph, though speed isn't really the idea; Hertz and his colleagues hope their technology can be used to develop game-based therapies for disabled users, or to create similarly AR-based wheelchairs. Scoot past the break to see a video of the car in action, and let your dreams converge. [Thanks, Stagueve]
