8th L'Argus Design Competition announced

From 1 June 2009, design students will be invited to take part in the eighth annual L'Argus European Design Competition, which this year takes as its theme 'Less is More: Traveling in the Era of Simplicity'. Questioning students on the concepts of mobility and the future of automobile design, this contest - organized by French magazine L'Argus de L'Automobile - will run until 11 December 2009 and culminate in an awards ceremony on 20 January 2010. The competition is open to students attending design colleges within the European Union and Switzerland, including non-automotive courses covering disciplines such as industrial design, fine arts and architecture.

Watch a Volvo find its own parking spot

Cars that can navigate into a preselected parking spot have been around for a few years now, and they've proven that under the right conditions they can pull it off successfully most of the time. But what about a car that finds its own parking spot just after you step out? Volvo is about to show a car that can do just that, and it manages this feat without an array of sensors on the roof that make the car look like a military aircraft.

LA Auto Show Design Challenge

By Ben Pulman Motor Shows 22 October 2007 02:10 I thought all the wackiness was out in Tokyo? You were wrong. The Los Angeles Auto Show starts in mid-November and for the past three years has run a design contest to see what cars could look like in the future.