Willie & Max Black Label Pillion Seat 59579-00 on 2040-parts.com

Volvo Group plans wirelessly charged bus line

There's one bit of futuristic transportation technology that seems to get trotted out almost as often as autonomous cars, electric cars and flying cars: Inductive, or wireless, charging for city buses. It's not as sexy or as memorable as the perpetually out-of-reach commuter-grade Harrier jet, but it uses proven technology (GM's EV-1 uses inductive charging, as do electric toothbrushes) to save or eliminate fuel and to reduce emissions. And unlike the flying car, induction-charged buses are hardly fantasy: They've been used in European cities for over a decade, South Korea started testing a fleet last year and Utah got in on the act recently.

Peugeot 308 (2014) first pictures of Peugeot's new Focus-fighter

This is Peugeot's all-new family hatchback: the 308. Yep, that's right: Peugeot isn't rolling over to the '309' moniker, but don't be fooled: the new 308's design looks worlds apart from the off-the-pace outgoing car. Sticking with the same model names for all future cars will simplify the range for consumers, reckons Peugeot: it's a demonstration of the fightback to rebuild the brand's image (think Ford ditching the 'Escort' badge and sticking with 'Focus' instead). The new 308 is 140kg lighter than before, more economical and gets a totally rethought cabin.

Update: Google self-driving car is really just a transportation pod

Google will launch its own fleet of autonomous vehicle prototypes – with no steering wheels and no gas or brake pedals – as the technology giant begins a new phase of its self-driving car project. Google designed the car and plans to have about 100 test vehicles that are fully autonomous with extra safety features, company co-founder Sergey Brin said during a conference Tuesday hosted by technology blog Re/code in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. > See how Google's autonomous car navigates city streets here The New York Times reported Tuesday night that a Detroit-area manufacturer is building the cars for Google, which declined to name the manufacturer, according to the Times' story.