Future on Wheels

Today, the post will be about something that I typically could not care less about: cars.

As I have likely said before, I have never been interested in cars.  Even as a young boy, when my peers were wanking themselves over Car & Driver in the stalls of the boy's room, I was far more interested in jet fighters.  The way I see it, however many V's your engine has or whatever greasy things you have working under the hood to make it go faster, it is of little use when an F-18 can have missile lock on you from ten miles away.  Jet fighters FTW.  

In recent days, however, there has been one design of car that has caught my eye.  I found out that it is called the Nissan Cube.  When one passed me on the road, I thought that the future had just driven by encased in glass and chrome.  It's boxy, promoting functionality over penis extension.  Its rear window actually wraps around to the side of the vehicle, providing those in the passenger sections a kind of view that I can't remember seeing in a car before.  And the engine is of Japanese manufacture, meaning it should last for many years.  I'm not saying that I'm heading out to buy one.  It will be a long time before I'm in the market for a car, God willing.  I'm just impressed with the design and that is difficult to do for me with a car.

There is still one more automotive development that garnered my interest.  Feast your eyes on GM's Electric Networked-Vehicle. (EN-V) It's an autonomous pod that you summon to your location via a smartphone.  Using said same phone, you input where you want to go and the pod takes you there, hands-free and requiring no additional effort for you.  The necessary GPS technology is not quite there yet, so it could be a bit longer before you start seeing these EN-Vs on the street.  But not too long.  The EN-V pods are currently being proposed for cities with dense populations.  The size of the car would aid with traffic congestion and the low pollutant emissions would be beneficial for the environment.  Combine that with the "don't have to drive" benefit and it's clearly a winner for me. 

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