VW’s Slipstream opens a view into the future

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From a future 50 years ahead -- one filled with robots that do our bidding -- comes the winner of the 2007 Design Los Angeles Challenge, presented today at the L.A. Auto Show. The Volkswagen Slipstream is named after a special freeway lane from a time that has not yet come.

Once in this traffic-free lane the Volkswagen tilts into a super-aerodynamic shape to achieve speeds in excess of 250 mph. When parked, the Slipstream feeds power back into the grid with its hyper-efficient solar panels (perhaps to fuel other robots that can make us a club sandwich).

To the team behind the Slipstream went the award –- a menacing robot hand. By accepting and guarding this hand now, VW’s Ian Hilton, Derek Jenkins and Patrick Faulwetter will protect against an unfortunate future of robots that don’t like us ruled by Skynet, or freeways jammed solid with Chevy Aveos.

The Governator himself -- seen elsewhere at the L.A. Auto Show -- was not on hand for this one but was no doubt keeping a glowing red eye on future robot-oriented transportation developments. The Design Los Angeles Challenge will be back for a fifth year in 2008.

-- Mike Bumbeck