It’s a whole two days old, but I still hadn’t seen this story in The Times about Toyota’s new patent for vehicles, specifically cars, with feelings. By using a variety of color lights, moving ‘eyebrows,’ and varying the ride-height, the inventors aim to not only allow the car to express itself to its operator — sad faces with tears for engine problems, etc. — but also to allow the car itself to become an extension of the driver’s emotion, signaling to other cars with winks and wags of its antenna tails. I have a feeling this will take off, if ever, in Japan first; that is, of course, unless they have a button for permanent scowling.
Read – An Automobile With Feelings [NYTimes via CollisionDetection]
