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The LF-30 is a weird harbinger of Lexus’ electric future. Image: Lexus L exus Lexus  is preparing to unveil its first electric car next month. And with that in mind, Toyota’s luxury marque is showing off a concept car at the Tokyo Motor Show this week that teases all sorts of far-out ideas that may or may not make it into its future electric vehicles, like gesture control, augmented reality, self-driving technology, in-wheel motors, and even drones. The LF-30 Electrified, as it’s called, is a wedge-shaped coupe packed with crystalline angles and protrusions both inside and out. It seats four, with the driver and front passenger essentially getting their own first class-style cockpits and nearly-matching futuristic displays, while the rear passengers are treated to bucket seats with “artificial muscle technology” that can “mold to their occupant.” THE REAR SEATS HAVE “ARTIFICIAL MUSCLE TECHNOLOGY” The large windshield continues all the way up and over to the car’...

Coming to Universal CityWalk in Hollywood later this month. Images: Holoride/Universal Pictures Holoride, the in-car virtual reality startup that spun out of Audi at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, is finally letting the general public try its technology with a new experience in Los Angeles, California. On select days between October 14th and November 9th, visitors to the Universal CityWalk in Hollywood can try a new Bride of Frankenstein VR experience for free while traveling in the second row of a new Ford Explorer. In the experience, riders will buckle into the back seat, strap on a VR headset, be handed a controller, and then spend about five to 10 minutes riding around the Universal CityWalk area while blasting ghosts and helping the Bride of Frankenstein deliver a package to her reanimated husband. THE GOAL IS TO MAKE PROCEDURALLY GENERATED VR EXPERIENCES THAT MATCH THE MOTION AND LENGTH OF EACH CAR RIDE The whole idea behind Holoride is to create a dyna...

‘You can enjoy having the car to yourself’. Image: Waymo Waymo, the self-driving division of Alphabet, is about to put more passengers its fully driverless Chrysler Pacifica minivans. The company emailed its customers in the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona, to let them know that “completely driverless Waymo cars are on the way.” It’s a sign that Waymo is growing confident enough in its technology to increase the frequency at which it allows passengers to ride in autonomous vehicles without a safety driver behind the wheel. The email, which was   published on Reddit   and confirmed as authentic by a spokesperson, was sent to members of Waymo’s early rider program, a 400-plus cadre of suburban Arizonans who signed nondisclosure agreements with Waymo to test its self-driving cars. Waymo also operates an invite-only commercial ride-hailing service called   Waymo One   that includes around 1,000 people. Waymo first demonstrated its fully driverless cars on p...

Boeing is expected to submit its final certification package to the FAA later this year. Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images American Airlines will resume flights with Boeing’s 737 Max jets in January 2020. In a statement posted online on October 9th, the airline says it expects software updates to result in the beleaguered jet’s recertification by federal aviation authorities “later this year. "Boeing is expected to submit its final certification package to the FAA later this year. Anticipating this, American says it expects to “slowly phase in the MAX for commercial service” starting January 16th, and will “increase flying on the aircraft throughout the month and into February.” The FAA ordered the grounding of all Boeing 737 Max jets after two deadly crashes in October 2018 and March 2019 that killed a total of 346 people. Both crashes have been linked to a piece of software that Boeing had installed on the 737 Max known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation Sys...