Car Tech

  • Ferrari 488 Pista

    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...

  • BMW ReachNow app now with ride-sharing feature
    BMW's ReachNow app now with Uber-rivaling ride-hailing service

    BMW 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...

  • Self-driving cars
    Bosch and Daimler pick Nvidia AI chip for self-driving cars

    Bosch 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...

  • Why the pushrod engine still exists
    5 reasons why pushrod engines still exist

    The 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...

  • Nuro self-driving car with Kroger grocery delivery
    Shop, click, deliver: Kroger to test self-driving grocery delivery vehicles

    Autonomous 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...

  • 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe, 2018 New York auto show
    Hyundai partners with Autotalks to develop vehicle-to-everything technology

    Hyundai 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...

  • The RCCI engine uses both diesel and gasoline

    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...

  • Waymo Jaguar I-Pace
    Waymo needs “large number” of cars for European self-driving fleet

    Waymo 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...

  • DARPA have reinvented the wheel
    DARPA reinvents the wheel

    The 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...

  • Volkswagen Group Sedric concept, 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show
    VW, suppliers form alliance to help standardize self-driving car tech

    As 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...

  • Mike Flewitt, CEO of McLaren Automotive
    McLaren CEO calls for "weight race" instead of power race

    If 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...

  • 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf
    VW targets solid-state battery production by 2025

    Solid-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...

  • Waymo Jaguar I-Pace

    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...

  • Uber self-driving prototype in San Francisco
    Police say driver in self-driving Uber was watching "The Voice" before fatal crash

    According 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...

  • 2015 Panoz Esperante Spyder GT
    Self-healing paint coming to new Panoz cars, and perhaps your car

    Like 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...

  • Elaphe in-wheel electric powertrain
    Slovenian company makes in-wheel plug-and-play electric motors

    Electric 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...

  • uberPOOL using commuter tax benefits
    Google Maps no longer allows in-app Uber booking on Android

    Android 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...

  • What's the difference between lead-acid and AGM car batteries?
    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...

  • Why do diesel engines make more torque than gasoline engines?

    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...

  • 2019 Volvo V60
    Volvo invests in Silicon Valley lidar company for autonomous driving technology

    Volvo 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...

  • VW to use quantum computers in electric-car battery development
    VW to use quantum computing to develop tailored batteries for its EVs

    Volkswagen 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...

  • Kitty Hawk Flyer
    Kitty Hawk Flyer ready for production

    As 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...

  • 2018 Cadillac CT6 with Super Cruise
    Super Cruise coming to full Cadillac lineup, other GM brands

    It 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...

  • Ford technology patent to detect lane-splitting motorcyclists
    Ford patents lane-splitting safety tech to help protect motorcyclists

    The 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...

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