German manufacturer Volkswagen is up to its old tricks. That is, revolution in the automotive industry. At the Frankfurt Motor Show this year, its top bosses surprised everyone with the confirmation that the company will release cars that can run on one liter of fuel for 100 kilometers at a time. Don't believe it? See the full article and be convinced.

If some of you still remember the article we posted a while back about the Apple and Volkswagen "iCar" idea, it looks like the culmination of this little project has finally made an appearance with Volkswagen's new Space Up! blue dashboard interface during the recent LA Auto Show.

Read more about this sweet interface right after the jump!

iMac, iPod, iPhone... iCar? A Volkswagen spokesperson recently announced that VW Chairman Martin Winterkorn and Apple's Steve Jobs met a few days ago in California to discuss a new type of vehicle. It may even really be called the iCar.

The only info so far about the car is that it'll be targeting a young age group, most likely the same demography as the iPhone. Likely the car won't be a huge iPhone on wheels, but the idea of a car imbued with Apple technology is still drool inducing.

If people went to hell and back to hack the iPhone, it would be something to see what they'd do for the iCar.

 

Are you ready for the biggest i-gadget ever? A couple of years back we told you how Apple announced its partnership with some car manufacturers: Acura, Audi, Honda and Volkswagen. These auto makers wanted to put the ever ubiquitous iPod into their stereo systems and Apple obliged. Now, having your car iPod-integrated is already old news.

What's probably fashionable now is having your car name sounding like an Apple product. Only recently Volkswagen released its new iGolf with a big bang. iGolf is just like Volkswagen's best selling model in history, the Golf, only the i-toting model has a matching iPod dock hidden away in an armrest.

The VW iGolf is worth the equivalent of US$ 24,171 in Spain.

Darth Vader uttered once, "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've created." But when it comes to artificial technology (A.I.), we sometimes can't help but be mesmerized.

Like this one for starters: Stanford University Associate Professor Sebastian Thrun said that we will have robot-driven cars by the year 2030. The professor uttered the rather brave prediction during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science which was held this year in San Francisco.

Thrun's expertise includes Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and he, together with his colleagues, will be joining a competition on November 3 to prove his point. The said competition, which will be hosted by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), will serve as a testing ground for first wave of intelligent robot cars.

Today we can drive about 100 miles before human assistance is necessary. By 2030 you'll be able to see them on the highway, with a driving reliability that will exceed humans by orders of magnitude. We believe this technology will affect all of us. It is going to have enormous significance for people who can't drive because of disabilities or because they are ill or impaired.

The associate professor's pet project is named "Junior" which is a converted 2006 Volkswagen Passat. All steering, throttle, and brakes were modified to be fully computer-controllable. An on-board computer has been placed to determine its location and position using radar and GPS.

I just have to admit that this has to be one of the cutest Volkswagen Beetles that I have ever seen. That, on top of being one of the most creative and most unique car customizations which I have laid eyes on so far (but then again, I'm not much of a car person) makes this something that I would love to have.

In any case, the photos of this car originally showed up in the inbox of one of the mods of the Malaysian auto forums E-Kereta. However, the sender of the photos didn't really bother to give any further details about the car, so where this car was made, who made it and any other details about it are unknown. So, if anyone out there knows anything about this car, then we're all ears.

As far as we can see from the photos though, the whole Beetle seems to have a body that's made entirely of white wrought iron that is the same material that some types of garden furniture are made of. What we're curious about though, is if this particular custom car can actually be driven around since the heat from the engine and other parts seem to be able to go everywhere, including the driver's legspace and up passesngers' backs, should anyone decide to come along for the ride.

One has to admit however, that driving around the city in this little bug ought to be a fun experience. Not only is it a real attention-catcher, but it also can't help but look like a CAD-rendered drawing on wheels, which makes the entire idea sort of psychedelic -- this keeps the Beetle true to its roots, which in turn would probably make a lot of Flower Children out there happy.

Love, not war, baby.