Would you like it if your car did the stopping for you at traffic lights? IBM is developing a technology that will automatically cut your engine at a red light. I’m thinking that people don’t want to give up that much control.

The patent proposes that the system would collect positioning data from cars stopped at a red light. After a given amount of wait time, a “stop-engine” notification would be sent to the vehicles, with a “start-engine” notification to follow when the light changes back to green.

Toshiba has a new automotive HDD with 200GB of storage. I guess it’s time to start figuring out which music and movies you want in your next car’s dashboard. Anything to quiet the kids. Toshiba’s 4,200 RPM SATA MK2060GSC HDD has a small form factor, durability, and a great storage size that everyone will want in their dashboard.

Try not to get into an accident while watching your favorite racing movie. It might be better to focus the the music. Better yet, focus on the road.

The “YeZ” takes solar-powered car design one step further, by acting like a tree. Just like a tree, it sucks in carbon dioxide and releases it as oxygen. Plus there’s the whole tree design to really drive it home. The canopy over the driver and passenger looks like a big leaf.

The energy created by this process, small wind turbines fixed to the wheels and solar panels on the vehicle’s canopy are what will keep it rolling. Right now it’s just a concept, but who knows, you may be riding in one soon.

I took my kids down to a car show that they have at a local restaurant each moth last night. I had to explain the finer points of what a ratrod was to my kids. All they saw was a car with a flat paint job and visible damage.

A ratrod isn’t supposed to look perfect, the car is supposed to have character and look like it has been somewhere and used a lot. I ran across a sweet ratrod that has lots of steampunk elements and it is cool.

Hey look, a thermos. No, that’s clearly a drink mixer. Wait, it’s the RDP-NWV500 speaker from sony which fits in your vehicle’s cup holder. Even if it does look like a fancy cup, the 16W tumbler will connect to your portable audio player, sending out audio in all 360 degrees with 2-way speakers.

It comes with a remote control to help while driving. It will cost you about $214, but you also get a charging dock that will charge your Walkman when docked.

Connecting jumper cables from one car to the other is pretty easy already, but Michelin is making it even easier. The Michelin Smart Jumper Cables are all blue. That’s because you no longer need them to be color coded even.

The circuitry inside knows exactly what is going on and can detect whether a successful complete circuit is achieved or not, and it will let you know via the LED. When a second battery is connected, it will determine the polarity automatically and switch to accomodate. No more worrying about shocks or sparks. Pretty neat.

The Ace Antenna A DR-200 car black box will come in handy for a variety of situations, like spying on your kid who just got his/her driver’s license for instance. It will keep on eye on them and make sure that they aren’t texting or on the phone.

The device features a camera that can be mounted on the windshield, with one side facing the road and one side facing the vehicle’s interior. It will work in low light conditions and has an integrated GPS receiver and a microphone.

Looking for a new way to pimp your ride? Motionlite is now offering retractable LED lights for your wheels. You mount them right behind your wheels and with a remote control, you can extend the six-inch arm and activate the LED throwing light directly onto your rims for a cool glowing effect.

Right now there are seven colors available. These will definitely get you noticed. The kit costs $500, but just think of all the chicks you’ll get while cruisin’ around.

I was really into the original Battlestar Galactica back in the day when it was on TV. I had the toys and never missed an episode of the show. I was mad when it got cancelled. When Sci-Fi bought the show back to TV, I was excited and mad again when it was cancelled the second time.

A BSG loving mechanic at an amusement park has created his own street legal Viper from the original BSG series that he can drive around. I bet he gets all the geek boo-tay he can handle in this thing.

Doug Bernards of SoundMan Car Audio in Santa Clarita, California is the first to install an iPad in a car. The car of choice? A Toyota Tacoma pickup. You can check out a video below.

They still need to wire it up to the Audison Bit One sound processor and McIntosh MMC406M 6-channel amp, but they’ve fitted and molded the dash to the iPad. Sure it looks a tad awkward with it’s size and that bezel, but all of your media will be along for the ride right?

A car lot in Austin, Texas finances cars to people with credit that might not normally get them approved. Rather than running around with a tow truck repossessing all the cars that people miss payments on, the dealer has a system that disables the car and can make the horn honk if payment isn’t received.

The lot fired an employee this week that had a password to access the computer that controlled the cars. The man was able to disable over 100 cars and made the horn on some cars honk uncontrollably.

The safety of your children is one of your top concerns as it should be. So you have to have booster seats in your vehicle, to keep your kids buckled. But it’s a hassle when the kids aren’t using it. What do you do? You make the kid carry it with them, that’s what.

When they arrive at their destination they can just take it with them as part of their backpack thanks to the BoostApak, which comes with a hard plastic shell for kids aged 4 to 11. It’s ergonomically designed to “protect growing spines and encourage better posture.” Not sure we believe that since it is a backpack.

This isn’t the first Bluetooth Steering wheel attachment that we’ve seen, but the Steering Wheel Bluetooth MP3/FM Car Kit is a good idea to keep your hands free, thus keeping you a tad safer.

The device features Bluetooth, wireless audio, and functions just like a wireless headset. It even plays MP3s and can broadcast them to your car’s speakers using its FM transmitter.

Tired of having your food fly everywhere after you make a sudden turn? Worry no more. You are a large human mammal who needs to eat at all times, even when behind the wheel of a two ton killing machine. Thankfully some comapnies understand this and even encourage your gluttony with new products.

The Swivel Car Tray parks in your cupholder and allows you to shovel food from it’s built in tray to your hungry Jabba mouth while you roam the commuter wastelands looking for your next caloric adventure.

That sweet Viper was certainly cool, but if you need a sports car that will haul groceries and more than two people, Cadillac has debuted a new version of the powerful CTS-V. Previous versions of the CTS-V were four door cars, but the new one is a coupe.

The new coupe has the same 556HP 6.2 liter V8 engine and can be had with a 6-speed manual or auto transmission. The car also gets magnetic ride suspension and big Brembo brakes.