Car Tech
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Tablet-like touchscreens have become the ubiquitous interfaces of choice, and they’re seemingly everywhere in daily life, on everything from thermostats to coffee makers and refrigerators. But Mazda really doesn’t think they belong in cars—or at least anywhere near the driver’s seat. It wasn’t a decision that was hastily made, according to company officials. However, as they started studying the effects of touchscreens on driving safety (and driving comfort), it soon became clear what the priorities should be with this completely new system that makes its debut...
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Audi wants to help you hit all green lights, all the time
The average American driver spends 300 hours a year driving, and Audi hopes its latest piece of technology helps reduce that figure. The luxury brand announced Tuesday its new Green Light Optimized Speed Advisory (GLOSA), a funny name for an impressive technology that aims to help drivers hit every...
Sean Szymkowski -
Color night vision technology could revolutionize how we see in the dark
When we think of night vision, our minds automatically turn to grainy black and green images. Today, things have begun to change, and color night vision is slowly creeping into the mainstream. The Drive reported on two technologies in early January that absolutely revolutionize how humans can see...
Sean Szymkowski -
How to drive a manual transmission? Take 5 minutes to find out
For those who've only ever driven an automatic, a manual transmission can be intimidating. Team O'Neil Rally School can help. The school has a video that will teach the basics to those who've never driven with a third pedal. We're talking the completely uninitiated. It starts with knowing the extra...
Sean Szymkowski -
Find out how an F1 car's gearbox works
For those who dream of tearing apart race cars, but may not ever have the chance, we have the video for you. YouTuber Driver61 published a video last week that shows the teardown process of a Formula 1 car's gearbox, and what's inside to make the race car tick. Specifically, this is a transmission...
Sean Szymkowski -
What to expect in a Porsche 911 hybrid
The idea of a hybrid seems anathema to the spirit of the Porsche 911 at first blush. A hybrid aimed at fuel economy betrays the 911’s sports car mission, and adding motors and batteries to increase power would increase weight, which is a sports car’s natural enemy. Then again, one of...
Kirk Bell -
The buying process won't be over for Mercedes-Benz owners after they take their new car home. The luxury brand has introduced a new feature via its Mercedes Me application that allows owners to purchase optional features after the car has left the dealer. The brand announced last Tuesday that buyers of the A-Class, B-Class, and GLE in Europe can purchase optional equipment right from the MBUX infotainment unit in the Mercedes Me Store. Motor Authority spoke with a Mercedes-Benz spokeswoman who said there are no announcements about the feature and U.S. availability at this time. For now, it's...
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Robots park cars at a London airport this summer
Locals preparing for travel out of London's Gatwick airport may have robots park their cars for them this summer. Auto Express reported last Thursday that the airport will start a three-month trial that tasks robots with parking cars in a specific lot. The goal is to see whether the robots can...
Sean Szymkowski -
Mercedes-Benz says an uncrashable car is possible
Mercedes-Benz believes it can build a car capable of avoiding crashes, and it plans to show its vision with a new concept vehicle this year. Australian website Motoring reported Sunday Mercedes-Benz global research and development head, Ola Kalennius, thinks an uncrashable car will come sooner than...
Sean Szymkowski -
If track day is important, Byton wants you to buy a different electric car
Tesla vehicles have earned a reputation, boosted by YouTube reaction videos, for their blistering, dragstrip-worthy, straight-line acceleration. Porsche is getting into the electric performance game with even more fervor. The German luxury marque aims for the pedigree of Nürburgring times and...
Bengt Halvorson -
Apple drops 200 staff from Project Titan self-driving car skunkworks
Apple has let more than 200 employees go from its secretive Project Titan self-driving car operation. CNBC first reported on the move Thursday and an Apple spokesperson acknowledged the cuts in a statement to the news organization. The spokesperson said Apple will refocus on other projects and...
Sean Szymkowski -
Polestar 2's Android-based infotainment system teased, looks slick
Following a round of teaser photos for the model itself, we now get a look at the Polestar 2's Android-based infotainment system. Polestar invited anyone to preview the infotainment system via a tweet on Wednesday. The tweet routes users to a smartphone application that previews what the...
Sean Szymkowski -
A world where we share the road with cars driven by computers will take some getting used to. In response, companies working on self-driving cars are looking at ways of making the transition as smooth as possible, by helping to gain the trust of the public. One of the companies is Jaguar Land Rover, which has developed a system that projects the intended path of a self-driving car onto the road in front using lights. This extra bit of information would prove not only useful to other motorists but also other road users, such as cyclists and pedestrians. For now, the system can show when a...
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BMW and Daimler reportedly in talks over subcompact, self-driving car partnership
Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler is already partnered with BMW Group in the area of mobility, with the two German auto giants last month having received regulatory approval to merge their various mobility divisions into a single joint-venture company. Now the two are reportedly in talks over...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Brothers from Tremec mothers: 2020 Shelby GT500 and mid-engine Corvette reportedly have same transmission
The 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 that made its debut on Monday at the 2019 North American International Auto Show in Detroit and the forthcoming mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette may share one major component. Road & Track on Monday reported on a newsletter that appears to evidence the fact both...
Sean Szymkowski -
Entire Cadillac lineup to get Super Cruise by end of 2020
In 2018, Cadillac launched the world's first hands-free driver-assist system, giving consumers a glimpse of a self-driving future. To date, the system has only been offered on the soon-to-be-dead CT6 full-size sedan. On Friday during its Capital Markets Day presentation, Cadillac announced Super...
Joel Feder -
French company reveals camera system to make trailers invisible
Blind spots remain a headache in nearly every new vehicle, but for those who tow, the problem becomes magnified. Enter the French company Valeo, which introduced a new camera-based system at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show this week. The trick system, called the XtraVue Trailer system, mounts...
Sean Szymkowski -
Hyundai turns the windshield into an augmented reality nav system
In the not too distant future, head-up display systems will be able to present a whole lot more than the tiny window of static information we're used to today. The key is holographic augmented reality technology that has the potential to turn the entire windshield into a display, which could enable...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
BMW unveiled a concept on Tuesday at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but it isn't a car. Instead it's a camper that BMW's California-based design house, Designworks, cooked up with American outdoor apparel brand The North Face. The camper, which is compact and light, and somewhat resembles the BMW Isetta city car of the 1950s, is designed to be towed and can fit two adults. According to BMW, the design was actually inspired by its fabric-lined GINA Light Vision concept unveiled in 2008. What's innovative about the design is The North Face's new material called Futurelight, a...
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Audi reveals back seat virtual reality platform at 2019 Consumer Electronics Show
Audi wants to transform the ride experience for back seat passengers. The German luxury marque revealed a new virtual reality platform at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show on Monday aimed at doing just that. The VR platform was developed by Audi subsidiary Audi Electronics Venture. Both companies...
Sean Szymkowski -
Ford selects 5G networks to integrate V2X technology in 2022
Numerous automakers have begun preparing for a connected-car future, but Ford is the latest to step into the arena. The automaker announced on Monday that it will use 5G networks to integrate vehicle-to-everything technology in all of its vehicles by 2022. Ford calls the technology C-V2X, or...
Sean Szymkowski -
Toyota's take on autonomy: Guardian "amplifies" human control, not replaces it
It's not every carmaker that leads off a press conference by re-enacting a spectacular three-car freeway crash. But at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show on Monday, Toyota had a point to make. Its Guardian active-safety system could have mitigated the effects of the crash, the company says. Perhaps...
John Voelcker -
Byton M-Byte will have a 48-inch screen running the length of the windscreen
Byton will use this week's 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to showcase the production-ready interior design of its upcoming M-Byte electric crossover SUV, and crucially the design maintains the ultra-wide digital screen first shown in concept form a year ago. The curved screen, referred...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Nissan reveals connected car technology to reveal the invisible for drivers
At next week's 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nissan will show off its Invisible-to-Visible (I2V) technology, which will help drivers anticipate what lies ahead. The technology uses sensors from inside and outside of the vehicle and works with data stored in the cloud, likely via...
Sean Szymkowski