Car Tech

General Motors and Honda on Tuesday announced plans to produce a next-generation hydrogen fuel cell system together starting around 2020. The two automakers are making equal investments totaling $85 million in the joint venture, labeled Fuel Cell System Manufacturing, and will use the resulting...

Anytime you get to use the term "banned F1 technology" you know you're going to be talking about something very interesting and very cool. That's the case today because the topic is the magical engine placed into the belly of the beast called the LaFerrari. This is a 6.3-liter 800-horsepower V-12...

Want to feel like you're living in the future? Start talking to your watch and have it tell your car what to do. That's what Genesis owners will be able to do when they download a new app for their smartwatch. For those owners who also have an Apple Watch or an Android Wear timepiece, the new...

If you have a vehicle that likes to perform, you'll do best to fit it with a set of Pilot Super Sport tires from Michelin. This is a seriously good set of rubber that will have you turning faster lap times, finding more aggressive turn-in from your car, and braking in less distance when compared to...

Vehicle personalization is all the rage these days and Audi has developed a new technique for painted surfaces that could take off in a big way. The technique, which will initially be made available on the R8 supercar, enables virtually any symbol to be embedded within a painted surface. The...

A rev limiter is there for your benefit. Without it, you'd be facing down a potential busted engine and trickier launches, especially in higher horsepower vehicles. If you have a vehicle with a launch control mode, then you have a car fitted with a two-step rev limiter. One step is designed to help...

Not all gasoline engines need spark plugs to ignite their fuel. A process called homogeneous-charge compression ignition (HCCI) uses compression to ignite the fuel, just like in a diesel engine. Several automakers have experimented with HCCI engines over the years, but Mazda may be the first to...

The final drive ratio is the last bit of gearing between your transmission and the driven wheels. By changing it, you can affect the performance of your car, rather dramatically in some cases. In general, a lower final drive ratio will lead to less torque at the wheels but a higher top speed...

Engines are complex bits of machinery. At their core level, yes, it's easy to understand what is happening. Air and fuel enter the engine where they are ignited and combustion occurs resulting in power that turns shafts. CHECK OUT: Classic video explains how a planetary gear set works In a modern...

A hybrid model was noticeably absent when Lexus took the covers off its fifth-generation LS flagship sedan at last week’s 2017 Detroit auto show. The sole model was an LS 500 powered by a twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V-6 delivering 415 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of torque. The related LC...

Gears come in all shapes and sizes. They are the toothy wonders that make the world go around, and they're incredibly important in the operation of a motor vehicle. There's a more specific type of gear that allows your automatic gearbox to operate. It's called the planetary gear set and the way it...

Honda’s theme of its 2017 Consumer Electronics Show presence is something it calls the Cooperative Mobility Ecosystem, where via artificial intelligence, robotics and big data the various aspects of one’s life are combined in order to foster safer, more productive use of time. For...

You no doubt know which type of gearbox you prefer, be it automatic or manual. Do you know how these gearboxes do what they do? If you don't, then today is your lucky day. This video from Learn Engineering starts off with the basics of how a manual transmission works. It comes down to three shafts...

All of those moving parts in your engine create heat through friction, and that heat needs to be mitigated or bad things will happen. This is the task of your oil. It lubricates and cools engine components. Your vehicle will most likely move this oil around by way of a wet sump oil system. If you...

It’s easy to think that self-driving cars simply need to be programmed with the general set of road rules and then have some form of object detection so that the car’s computer can then apply the rules for a given situation. The reality is much more complex, especially due to the...

Stopping short of calling itself the purveyor of the "ultimate riding machine," BMW announced at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that its first cars capable of driving themselves will be on the road later this year. The trial run will eventually lead to the launch of BMW's iNext...

Intel is set to acquire a 15 percent stake in digital mapping company HERE which is owned by Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The acquisition is set to be completed in the first quarter of 2017, pending approval from various regulatory bodies. In addition to the acquisition, Intel and HERE have signed...

Believe it or not, the 2017 Honda Accord Hybrid sedan actually has something in common with an ultra-exotic hypercar produced by the Swedish brand Koenigsegg. That seems far fetched, and no we're not referring to the fact that both vehicles utilize four wheels wrapped in rubber tires. The...

Volvo has been developing self-driving cars for several years and in 2015 teamed up with fellow Swedish firm Autoliv, an automotive supplier specializing in safety systems, to share research to accelerate the development of the technology. On Tuesday, Volvo and Autoliv announced the formation of a...

Given the dearth of new product at Chrysler, it’s easy to think parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles [NYSE:FCAU] has forgotten about the brand. (With the demise of the 200 in December, the only Chryslers still in production are the 300 and Pacifica.) But that isn’t the case, it...