Autoblog

Automakers have been adding electronic gizmos to vehicles for decades, and operating systems have been developed to allow each system communicate with one another. The OSs are different from one brand to the next, but BMW wants to help develop a system using an open-source Linux platform it's helping to create along with Google and Wind River Systems.

Using Linux as a base would allow anyone with a background in coding to make changes to the system to suit each manufacturer's needs. Plus, a single platform would make it easier for third-party vendors to create hardware or an application and be sure that it would work correctly in any vehicle using the OS. Automakers such as General Motors and Chrysler sound interested in the idea, while Ford and Honda, which already use a Microsoft OS in their cars, have a few more questions that need answering before they are ready to jump on the open-source bandwagon. In any case, in-car gadgetry's not going anywhere and it will take years for any one system to made standard.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

Linux is pretty good at harnessing processor speed, and Chastain Motorsports is hoping to snare some of that effect to propel their Panoz/Honda to victory. The distinctive Penguin logo, "Tux," has been affixed to the nose of the 200+ MPH car in anticipation of meeting a donation goal. The famously open-source OS is applying that philosophy to sponsorship. The Tux 500 is an effort to raise $350,000 in exchange for those high-speed chilled fowl on the race car. There are perks for large donation amounts, but there is no shame in collecting lots of $1 gifts, either. It is an interesting concept, and we will be looking for the distinctive blue car when the checkered flag drops at the Indy 500. As long as the effort secures $25,000, the decals will stay on the car. Currently, donations total $7,600, and the organizers are confident that they'll at least make it to that $25K figure.

[Source: Wired]

We need one of these for when we finally get that Autoblog project car. It's called Fab@Home, and it's an open-source, desktop size fabrication rig; essentially a 3-dimesional printer. What the system allows you to do is fabricate complex parts with a simple, low cost rig. All you need are the materials and the geometric information, and you're on your way to making that fancy AutoBlog belt buckle.

The practice of building up a part drip-by-drip is known in the industry as rapid prototyping. It allows one group of people to essentially send a part as an email. You could be working on a doorhandle in Detroit and email it to your OEM in China, where they "print" the design and evaluate it. Pretty slick. The Fab@Home project is an undertaking of Cornell University, with the goal of democratizing innovation. Just as the desktop computer revolution was driven by innovation from all quarters, the Fab@Home system is a low-cost system that should be easily customized as it gets used for different materials and functions. We'd love to see it retrofitted with a milling head. Imagine CNC machining your own combustion chambers in your garage, driven by your laptop. Sounds like that'd finally be a real use for that Dremel...

[Source: Fab@Home.org via autoexpress]