Car Tech

Mazda on Wednesday at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show unveiled a pair of concepts that preview upcoming technologies and design themes. One of these is in the form of a compact hatch and is essentially an early look at the next-generation Mazda 3. We’ve already driven a prototype for the next-gen...

Dodge has unleashed a mighty machine upon the world. It's not the 707-horsepower Challenger or Charger SRT Hellcat siblings, but rather the more powerful Challenger SRT Demon street-legal drag car that comes complete with its 840-horsepower 6.2-liter supercharged V-8 engine. It has so much power...

Range anxiety is still an issue with electric cars, even though 240- and 300-mile EVs are now on the market. No matter how far the range, an EV driver could run low on charge with no charging station nearby. Amazon might have a solution for the electric equivalent of running out of gas. The United...

A racecar is never just a set it and forget it type of machine. Each circuit determines the sort of setup a driver and a car might prefer, as it might have a tight, corner heavy layout or one that's more open and filled with high-speed sweeping sections. Now, you make this about rally racing and...

In a time when every automaker is telling us that self-driving cars are coming, one automaker is taking a giant leap. That automaker is Cadillac, and the giant leap is the launch of its Super Cruise driver assist system. It's a monumental step forward in the march toward self-driving cars, as it...

When a self-driving car boots up and takes in the world around it, its vision is nothing like what a human driver finds familiar. Instead, a self-driving car uses data collection via radar, cameras, and lidar to "see" the world around it. How can humans begin to understand what the machine sees?...

Most people aren't willing to grab a brass brush and drag it across a body panel on their fresh, clean car. Jason Fenske from Engineering Explained is here to do just that to show off a bit of science. That science involves the protective film he recently applied to his cars, and it's the reason...

Ferrari’s Portofino may be closely related to its California T predecessor, but the car is significantly different in that it introduces new construction methods that Ferrari plans to implement on future models. The new construction methods have enabled the engineers to reduce weight and...

Mazda is committed to the rotary, though whether the unique engine design is used to directly power a sports car or serve as a range-extender for an electric car remains to be seen. Mazda has hinted at both options in recent years but so far has tended to flip-flop between the two. Now, though, a...

Mitsubishi is looking for ways to make sure pedestrians remain safe as self-driving technology becomes more commonplace. The Japanese automaker revealed what it calls the "Safe and Secure Lighting system" with intentions to make a car's actions better known to pedestrians. Basically, the system...

Nvidia may be best known for its computer graphics cards, but its new supercomputer chip may one day be a car's brain—and in the not-too-distant future to boot. The company revealed its latest artificial intelligence computer called Pegasus, and the company developed it with Level-5...

Toyota in April revealed a fuel cell-powered semi-trailer truck as part of its Project Portal program which aims to determine whether there’s a viable future for the zero-emission technology when it comes to heavy-duty applications. On Thursday, the automaker announced that the truck is...

Basketball superstar LeBron James is tired of driving. If you count zero, there are six levels of autonomous driving that have been defined by the International Society of Automotive Engineers. As you might guess, Level Zero is when there's no automation and a driver is the one responsible for...

General Motors continues to pursue an ambitious self-driving car agenda. It recently acquired Cruise Automation to help speed up development of its own self-driving cars. Now it's purchased another company, Strobe Inc. Strobe develops lidar systems, an essential component for self-driving and...

Tesla laid a blueprint for electric car infrastructure with its Supercharger stations, but Porsche may be aiming to perfect it and spread the benefits with its own 320-kilowatt fast-charging stations. The luxury and sports car brand installed its first prototype 350-kw, 800-volt station in Berlin...

Mazda will unveil two new concept cars at this month’s 2017 Tokyo Motor Show, but unfortunately neither of them will be a sports car. One of the concepts will preview Mazda’s next-generation design themes while the other will preview the automaker’s next-generation technologies...

While some automakers look to electrify conventional trucks, General Motors has taken a much more radical approach in its development of next-generation commercial vehicles. Meet the Silent Utility Rover Universal Superstructure, or SURUS for short. Unveiled on Friday ahead of the fall meeting of...

The consequences of driving under the influence of alcohol are well documented. However, there's something much more common that happens every single day: driving while not properly hydrated. Nissan wants to help combat dehydrated driving and teamed up with Droog, a Dutch design brand, to create a...

When I was a kid, "The Jetsons" promised me flying cars would be part of the future, and I would have a robot housekeeper. It’s the future, and I don’t have either of those things. Now, automakers are promising self-driving cars are the next big thing, and they will be on the road very...

Times are changing, and sooner than later, electrified cars will become the norm across the automotive industry. With an electrified approach to powertrains, it does beg the question: will an electric car be the first production car to crack 300 mph? It's a target that has eluded various...