The sensors we use for the blind driver challenge vehicle are almost identical to the ones we use for autonomous vehicles, and we have used for this project many of the technologies we have developed for our autonomous cars for the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge.

CNN: Why we made a car for blind drivers

In Japan, where there has never been much room for sprawling car lots, car firms have for decades used door-to-door salesmen to sell many of their vehicles, delivering cars directly to the customer and picking them up again for servicing.

ECONOMIST: Another way to sell cars | The

Both the many-shelved carts and the miniature shakers are modelled on those once used in Pullman train cars during the US railway boom of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

BBC: New York City's tableside cocktails

Even snowplows got bogged down or were blocked by stuck cars, so emergency workers used snowmobiles to try to reach motorists, many of whom were still waiting to be rescued hours after the snow had stopped.

NPR: The Big Dig-Out: New England, NY Slammed With Snow

It is an unconscionable truth that many cars now require users to dig through several menu layers to tackle these simple tasks, which used to be blind knob or button-based operations.

FORBES: How To Make A Safer Touchscreen Car Console