World's smallest car on display

The world's smallest car, the Peel 50, debuted Monday at Ripley's Believe it or Not museum in Times Square, New York.

Designed as a "city car" for Ripley's by the London-based Peel Engineering Company, the one-seater Peel Trident is battery-operated and travels about 64 km per hour. It weighs about 68 kg and costs nearly $25,000.

The Peel P50 is recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the smallest road legal car ever produced.

The Peel Engineering Company made a couple hundred gas-powered versions in the 1960s, but they never really caught on.

The car, which can run about 480 km per charge, has also a handle that drivers can use to pull the vehicle from place to place.

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Soon, cars which would allow drivers 'to eat and Sleep'

Imagine cars that would allow you to eat, read, watch television and even sleep behind the wheel while travelling at a speed of 70 mph on the highway.

Your imagination could someday turn into a reality, thanks to scientists who claim to have developed lasers-guided vehicles, using a system which will lock cars using sensors as well as wireless technology, allowing up to ten at a time to cruise in "car train" convoys.

And, according to the scientists at Volvo, the sensors will synchronise each car to follow in the wake of the vehicle which is directly ahead, with a laser calculating the speed relative to other cars at a rate of 50 times a second.

Interestingly, the only steering and braking would be done by a professional driver at the front of the convoy.

"It would be the same as sitting on a bus or a train, with the big difference that when you come to your exit you take over and you go directly to your destination without having to switch vehicles.

"The professional driver leading the convoy will be responsible for the safety of those behind him. But, those joining the convoy will be taking only the same sort of risks that those jumping on a bus or tube are taking," Jonas Ekmark, a safety researcher at Volvo cars, told the 'Daily Mail'.

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