Car Tech
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It won't power a Dino—it seems that nameplate is never going to return—but a 4-cylinder engine may be in development at Ferrari. Autoguide has discovered a patent for an advanced 4-cylinder engine filed by Ferrari on January 17 with the European Patent Office. The diagram below is taken from the patent. It looks complicated but basically shows a 4-cylinder engine with with an exhaust-driven turbine that rather than spin a compressor like a conventional turbocharger instead spins a generator, similar to the MGU-H system used in Formula 1. The generated electricity is then used to...
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BMW's ReachNow app now with Uber-rivaling ride-hailing serviceBMW on Tuesday announced that its car-sharing app ReachNow designed for Apple and Android smartphones will offer users the ability to hail a ride, just like the apps of Uber and Lyft. The ride-hailing service is currently open exclusively to ReachNow users in Seattle, Washington, after they've...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Bosch and Daimler pick Nvidia AI chip for self-driving carsBosch and Daimler, two of Germany's biggest automotive firms, announced Wednesday that they have selected Nvidia's Drive Pegasus artificial intelligence computer chip and supporting software to power their future self-driving systems. The computer chip can handle over 320 trillion operations per...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
5 reasons why pushrod engines still existThe pushrod engine is a rather archaic piece of engineering, but automakers have stuck by it to this day. Notably, Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles and General Motors still shove pushrod V-8 engines under the hoods of hundreds of thousands of vehicles. Why has the pushrod engine failed to die, especially...
Sean Szymkowski -
Shop, click, deliver: Kroger to test self-driving grocery delivery vehiclesAutonomous grocery deliveries could soon come to local neighborhoods as the Kroger supermarket chain announced last Thursday that it will partner with Nuro for self-driving grocery delivery test vehicles. Kroger plans to roll out the self-driving grocery delivery service in an unnamed test market...
Sean Szymkowski -
Hyundai partners with Autotalks to develop vehicle-to-everything technologyHyundai has a new partner to develop future vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology in Autotalks, an Israel-based company founded in 2008. The Korean automaker announced on Tuesday it will partner with the technology company via a direct investment in its operations. V2X includes vehicle-to-vehicle...
Sean Szymkowski -
When most of us pull up to the pump, we are in vehicles that require gasoline. A portion of us sidle up to diesel pumps. In the future, maybe we'll we'll drive vehicles with RCCI engines and we'll need to hit both pumps. The Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition (RCCI) engine is a concept engine being developed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and it only exists in the lab. What it's capable of, however, could be revolutionary. Our friend Jason Fenkse from Engineering Explained is the perfect person to break it all down. The RCCI engine can deliver up to 60 percent thermal...
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Waymo needs “large number” of cars for European self-driving fleetWaymo CEO John Krafcik has revealed that the mobility company will need to add a “large number” of additional cars to its growing fleet of self-driving cars as it prepares to enter Europe. In an interview with Handelsblatt published Thursday, Krafcik explained that all announcements so...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
DARPA reinvents the wheelThe best shape for a wheel is round...except when it isn't. In some cases, a vehicle will be able to operate more efficiently if its running on a set of tracks. A handful of companies offer seemingly easy solutions to switch between the two types of setups, but DARPA just negated the need for...
Jeff Glucker -
VW, suppliers form alliance to help standardize self-driving car techAs numerous automakers and technology companies continue to race toward the commercialization of self-driving cars, some fear a lack of standardization will harm innovation. The Volkswagen Group and a number of suppliers hope to remedy that with a new alliance. Called the Networking for Autonomous...
Sean Szymkowski -
McLaren CEO calls for "weight race" instead of power raceIf you're a fan of horsepower, then you are living in a golden age. For example, there's a Dodge sedan out there with over 700 horsepower. If you're playing in the hypercar space, then you are also playing near the four-figure power club. McLaren is no stranger here, as its P1 produces 903 total...
Jeff Glucker -
VW targets solid-state battery production by 2025Solid-state batteries have the potential to realize a major step up in performance and safety of electric cars, which is why every major automaker worth its salt is investigating the technology. The latest to make its endevors known is the Volkswagen Group, which on Thursday announced a $100...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo self-driving car division plans to roll out a driverless taxi service, an industry first, by year's end. Ahead of the launch, its early riders program is providing crucial feedback. "The primary focus of our early rider program is really to have them give us feedback about what they want out of a service like Waymo,” Liz Markman, Waymo communications manager, told KTAR News in a report published Thursday. Perhaps the 400 riders involved in the program will be part of history; they're the first people to regularly use a self-driving car. The early riders program...
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Police say driver in self-driving Uber was watching "The Voice" before fatal crashAccording to a report from Tempe, Arizona, police, the human backup driver in Uber's self-driving car was watching television before the car struck and killed a pedestrian. Rafaela Vasquez, the human driver behind the wheel of the self-driving Volvo XC90, was streaming "The Voice" via the Hulu app...
Sean Szymkowski -
Self-healing paint coming to new Panoz cars, and perhaps your carLike something from Q branch out of a James Bond film, self-healing paint will soon cover new Panoz cars. The American sports car and racing company announced on Tuesday that the special coating will come standard on all its new vehicles. The coating protects against the elements and shields from...
Sean Szymkowski -
Slovenian company makes in-wheel plug-and-play electric motorsElectric powertrains continue to redefine automotive engineering, but we haven't quite seen anything like Slovenian startup Elaphe has created. The company has spent 15 years working on in-wheel electric motors, and the result is the Elaphe M700, a plug-and-play, off-the-shelf solution for electric...
Sean Szymkowski -
Google Maps no longer allows in-app Uber booking on AndroidAndroid users will find a useful feature missing the next time they open Google Maps. The technology company has removed the feature that allowed customers to book an Uber without having to leave the Google Maps app. The feature disappeared from Android users' phones on Monday, according to a...
Sean Szymkowski -
What are the differences between flooded and AGM lead-acid batteries?While the engine of your car might be its heart, it's the battery that provides the juice to get that engine moving. By now, you probably know plenty about how your engine works. Do you know anything about your battery, though? If not, you're going to need to watch this video from Engineering...
Jeff Glucker -
Horsepower is fun in its own way, but torque can be just as entertaining. If you want to rip stumps out of the ground, you'll want a whole lot of torque. That also means you'll likely prefer a diesel engine. Compared to their gasoline-swilling counterparts, diesel engines are the torque kings. Why is that? Jason Fenkse from Engineering Explained knows why, and he's here to offer up five reasons why a diesel engine makes more torque than a comparable gasoline engine. First up is compression ratio. With a gasoline engine, the piston stops a bit short of the top of the cylinder as it moves up...
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Volvo invests in Silicon Valley lidar company for autonomous driving technologyVolvo and the Silicon Valley-based Luminar have announced a new partnership that gives the Swedish brand access to the company's lidar sensing platform for continued self-driving car development. Neither company commented on just how much Volvo Cars Tech Fund invested in the company, but it's the...
Sean Szymkowski -
VW to use quantum computing to develop tailored batteries for its EVsVolkswagen says quantum computers may help the company develop batteries customized to future electric vehicles, the German automaker said June 8. The news last week came after VW announced a partnership with Google over quantum computing last November. The automaker said it planned to develop the...
Sean Szymkowski -
Kitty Hawk Flyer ready for productionAs major cities continue to become more crowded, a number of firms, big and small, are in a race to deliver to the market small, low-noise aircraft that can be used to beat the traffic. One of these is America's Kitty Hawk, which on Thursday unveiled the production-ready version of its Flyer. Kitty...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Super Cruise coming to full Cadillac lineup, other GM brandsIt was only a matter of time. General Motors announced on Wednesday that its Super Cruise semi self-driving system will soon proliferate across the automaker's other brands. The system first debuted with the 2018 Cadillac CT6 and is able to handle most driving functions on divided freeways. After...
Sean Szymkowski -
Ford patents lane-splitting safety tech to help protect motorcyclistsThe practice of lane splitting gives motorcyclists a reprieve from stop-and-go traffic, but it also opens up new risks for both riders and motorists. Ford may have a here-and-now solution to reduce safety risk and help protect riders. The automaker received a patent for safety technology that will...
Sean Szymkowski