Tata Pixel, a Four-Seater City Car Concept

Tata, the Indian maker of the Nano, made its way to Geneva with a new concept city car called the Pixel. At just over three meters in lengths, Tata claims the Pixel is "the most package efficient four-seater in the world," being able to "comfortably accommodate four adults".
The design of the car is very similar to that of the Pininfarina Nido, but there's no official mention of the two companies collaborating on the Pixel project. The highlight of the Tata city car concept is the Zero Turn system, which enables maneuvering and parking in tight spaces. An Infinitely Variable Transmission (IVT) assists rotation of the outer rear wheel forwards and the inner rear wheel backwards during low-speed maneuvers, with the result being a turning circle radius of just 2.6 meters.
For the same reason of limited parking space, the Pixel's doors open upwards, a feature present on the Pininfarina Nido as well. Another intelligent system used by the Pixel is called “My Tata Connect”, through which the driver can control key functions of the car using only his smartphone or tablet PC.
The Pixel is powered by a 1.2-liter three-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine, mounted in the rear, just like the Nido (although Tata doesn't mention if it's rear-wheel-drive as the Pininfarina car). The Indian car maker claims the Pixel returns an average fuel consumption of 3.4 liters/100 km (69 US mpg) and CO2 emissions of just 89 g/km, thanks to the use of stop-start technology, low rolling-resistance tires and optimized aerodynamic drag.
Tata official said the concept could spawn a production model for Europe in the near future.
"Tata Motors holds true to its belief that there is an opportunity in Europe for a city car, which is optimal in space, manoeuvrability and environment-friendliness," said ex-Opel boss and current CEO of Tata Motors. "The Tata Pixel is a reflection of Tata Motors' idea of what such a car should be."

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BMW Vision Connected Drive Roadster Concept

We now seem to live in a world where it is more important to check Facebook updates and check who's tweeting who than it is to drive. You have seen it, you may have possibly done it and the car industry wants to introduce the fun and productivity of Mobile social networking to our daily drive.

It makes actually some sense, why leave all our best means of communication and keeping in touch at home? This is where BMW's Vision ConnectedDrive roadster steps in. BMW is keeping silent about whether the Vision CD will ever make its way onto the market as the focus of the car is simply to showcase their new take on Mobile Communication and new style language.
First off the new design is cleaner, more aggressive and features a return to the angry style, shark-esque style front end. The Vision CD is a stylized modern roadster designed under supervision of BMW's new head of design, Adrian von Hooydonk. The interior on the other hand is far more impressive. The two person cockpit incorporates a completely customizable gauge cluster, an enhanced Head-Up Display that delivers a three-dimensional display of driving and communication information. This 3D HUD apparently provides "an optical fusion of the actual view of the road ahead with virtual content." There is an information device for the passenger also.
So what does this all mean? Well simply put, the car provides a "Connected Driving Experience".
Sensors in the rear and front lights monitor traffic flow, the vehicle monitors the driving environment and can communicate to other future Vision CD vehicles. The passenger can surf the Internet and tweet how awesome their car is compared to other cars in front and behind them while the driver has his portable devices connected and read by the vehicle. It reads the drivers calendar and notes and suggests ways of efficiently getting to his or her appointments and meetings in the shortest amount of time via the satellite navigation.
So the possibility of driving home checking who liked your BMW related status and ordering some pizza for collection on your route home. Then selecting a film to watch when you get home just got a little closer to reality. The Vision ConnectedDrive roadster shows the future of linking our online world with our driving world while also previewing a new design language possibly making its way towards your future Beemer.
It's only a matter of time before you can Jailbreak your car to do anything. The possibilities are endless!
 

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