This week’s SmartCar roundup features a concept car that comes with a drone, the UK adopting wirelessly charging buses, and a connected car system that gets a new feature upgrade.

Renault Kwid

At the New Delhi Auto Show, Renault unveiled a concept car that is one of a kind as it comes with a Flying Companion.  The Renault Kwid Concept is a mean machine with its chunky wings and large tires that protrude past the fenders. But the inside looks posh and luxurious with its bird’s nest-inspired design.

image source: Renault

The Kwid also comes with connectivity functions to meet consumer needs, but what stands out is the Flying Companion, an aerial drone that takes off from the rotating rear portion of the Kwid’s roof.  What the Flying Companion does is survey the road ahead so you’ll know traffic conditions, road conditions, or even taking photos of the landscape.

The Flying Companion has two modes; the automatic mode wherein it follows a pre-programmed GPS coordinates, and the manual mode which allows it to be controlled using a tablet inside the car.  Aside from the drone’s fancy features, the Kwid is also Z.E ready, which means it can be fitted with batteries used in electric vehicles, and has a charging port behind the Ranault logo.  This concept car is able to run on both petrol and electricity.

Wireless charging buses commissioned in the UK

Conductix-Wampfler and the council of Milton Keynes, a large town a few miles north of London, have started a program that includes eight wirelessly charging buses and induction charging plates strategically placed between the suburbs of Wolverton and Bletchly.  The charging plates are placed in the beginning, middle and end part of the journey and a 10-minute layover allows the bus to charge two-thirds of the energy needed to complete the entire journey.

The council of Milton Keynes is hopeful that the project will reduce tailpipe carbon emission by 500 tonnes, and save up to $20,000-25,000 as electric buses are cheaper to maintain than those running on petrol.

Automatic Link + iBeacon

image source: Automatic Link

Automatic Link, the little device that connects to your car’s data port and links to your smartphone to deliver more insight to your driving and the car’s system, received an over-the-air update that allows users to turn the device into an iBeacon.  Though the feature currently delivers no new function for the Automatic Link, the company hopes that the feature will be more useful in the future and can be applied in making paying for parking or getting gas easier.

iBeacon is a location-sensing technology that uses Bluetooth 4.0 to transmit data to other nearby devices.  Apple has recently turned on iBeacons in some of its retail stores to serve as your personal shopping concierge the moment you step inside an Apple Store.  It can deliver information right in your iDevice about products you are looking at or guide you to where you will be picking up your purchase.

Aside from the iBeacon add-on, the Automatic app was also updated to add event recording for external APIs as well as bug fixes.