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Quadriplegic racer will drive a Corvette using only his head
When Indy Racing League driver Sam Schmidt crashed in 2000 and became a quadriplegic, many assumed that his driving days were over. However, technology is about to put him back on the track. Arrow Electronics has developed the Semi-Autonomous Motorcar (SAM) project, a modified 2014 Corvette Stingray that will let Schmidt drive using only head tilts. An array of infrared sensors will translate his head movements into steering commands, letting him race around with ease; the only control he'll touch is a pressure sensor in his mouth for braking. GPS will also keep Schmidt out of harm's way by creating virtual fences around the track walls that nudge the car back on course.
Indy 500 documentary comes to 3net this fall
Even with ESPN 3D firmly into its second year (and recently reupping sponsorship from Sony) there's still not that much content to go around so we're very interested in a new Indy 500 documentary coming to 3net. Indycar Entertainment plans to premiere On The Inside Line: The Indy 500 this fall on the Discovery / IMAX / Sony backed network, bringing the behind the scenes happenings leading up to the race for drivers Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, Simona de Silvestro and Will Power. If you don't want to slip on some specs it will be viewable later on in HD on Discovery Channel, but while we wait for (frequent) live 3D race coverage this will be as good as it gets.
"Linux car" first to crash at Indianapolis 500
Linux fans didn't exactly get the publicity they were hoping for at the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, when the so-called "Linux car" they had sponsored proved to be the first in the race to crash, ultimately causing it to finish dead last. The car was the result of the Tux 500 campaign, which raised enough money to put the familiar Tux mascot front and center on Chastain Motorsports' #77 car in the hope that it'd raise the profile of the OS. Faring considerably better in the publicity department was Joost, which sponsored the car that wound up finishing a respectable seventh. Maybe next time the Linux folks should work on making the whole car open source.
