Russians hack a car to be driven by iPad

Russia is rarely a source of technological innovation. It is, however, often a source of awesome insanity. A group of gearheads in the country have managed to combine the two to hack together an Opel Vectra you can drive with an iPad.

Before you ask, yes, we have video:

Опель Вирта (Opel Virta), второе уличное тестирование (под музычку) from Gol on Vimeo.

As you might have guessed, this wasn’t remotely easy. They essentially had to rip out all of the car’s electrical systems and replace them, and then, in grand engineering tradition, all of those systems they installed fell apart.

So they did it again, and this time managed to install all they needed, plus the ability to shift gears remotely as well. Oh, and did we mention it’s a universal solution? As long as the car has an automatic gearbox and straight gates, this system could be installed.

Then they hacked together an iPad app. It’s not a perfect design: For example, there’s only “on” or “off” for pressing the pedals, from the looks of things. But it does work, and further goes to demonstrate when it comes to cars, Russia is insane and awesome.

James Bond Car [Red Hot Russia]