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The Designers, Pt 10 – Dave Marek, Honda

Car Design News launched its first-ever Car Design Review yearbook at the Geneva Motor Show, featuring the award-winning Production Car and Concept Car Designs of 2013. If you're interested in buying a copy of the 160-page yearbook this interview appears in, alongside trend reports, bespoke car design infographics and a special feature on Marcello Gandini, our inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Car Design Review can be purchased here. Name Dave MarekRole Division director, Auto design, Honda AmericasAge/nationality 56/USLocation California, USAEducation Art Center College of Design “We have a tremendous optimism at Honda right now.

Vauxhall launches speed limit detectors on Insignia (2008)

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 19 June 2008 07:53 Vauxhall's new Insignia will be the first of a wave of cars to have a forward-facing camera that can read road signs. The optional kit will detect speed limit and no overtaking signs – and flash up a reminder to the driver on the dashboard.GM calls the tech, which will be launched in early 2009, Traffic Sign Recognition and it uses a small, wide-angled camera system supplied by Hella. It sits at the top of the windscreen near the rain sensors and rear-view mirror, scanning the road ahead taking 30 photos per second.It's 1984 all over again...With a range of 100 metres, the camera focuses on circular patterns and then interprets the numbers inside by contour comparison; if a match is found on the software's database, that road sign will be flashed up in the driver's binnacle.The front-facing camera is also used as a lane departure warning system, alerting the driver if they unintentionally swerve out of their lane on a motorway.Cars with cameras: a growing trendMore and more manufacturers are fitting cameras to their cars nowadays and you can expect a flood of systems like the Insignia's to be launched in 2009, including the new BMW 5-series.CAR tried out these new systems on Bosch prototypes in 2007.

Porsche's new '911': the Cayenne fire engine

By Nick Eaton First Official Pictures 10 September 2008 10:13 Another day, another Porsche variant. Stuttgart's fire department has taken delivery of two red-hot Cayennes with a difference: they're emergency vehicles which have been specially tweaked by Porsche's Training Centre for the city's firemen. The Stuttgart fire service claims that the hilly topography of the city meant it needed all-terrain emergency vehicles, and the project was given to local firm Porsche because the Cayenne served up the firemen's needs for something that can go anywhere fast. Nothing at all with them wanting to arrive in style or make neeh-naah noises in a Porsche.