Car Tech
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Your wheels, they occupy the corners of your car. Sometimes you might want those corners to be a bit further apart from how the car left the factory. You corner hard and you want to maximize the capability of your machine. It sounds like a set of wheel spacers are on your automotive shopping list. Of course, there are more reasons you might want wheel spacers, and our friend at Engineering Explained has prepped a video walking you through all of this. There's the aforementioned wider track, which helps with load transfer. You could want to fit wider wheels on your car, change your offset, or...
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First look at Mercedes' modular platform for electric carsMercedes-Benz has crafted a dedicated platform for its next-generation electric cars. Revealed this week during a tech briefing at the automaker’s headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, the platform will make its way into a handful of models, the first of which will be previewed in concept form...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Google founder Page working on flying car
Some details have finally made their way online regarding Google founder Larry Page's ultra-secret startup, Zee.Aero, and they might surprise you: He's working on a flying car. Zee.Aero is entirely unrelated to Google, which Page is no longer running (he's still in charge of Google parent company...
Andrew Ganz -
Startup looks to be the AirBnB of garages
One of the biggest factors limiting would-be car collectors from amassing a fleet of their own is often storage—but it is one that GaragePointer hopes to help owners overcome. If you live in a city, or even on a quarter acre suburban lot, parking more than a couple of cars at home may be a...
Andrew Ganz -
Uber seeks more automaker partnerships, won’t build cars
The automotive industry is in the early stage of a major transition, brought about by disruptive forces such as autonomous technology and increased urbanization. Couple the growing popularity of ride-sharing services such as Uber with the impending arrival of fully autonomous cars, and it’s...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Chinese firm to begin testing drone taxis in Nevada
The future depicted by Hollywood is officially here—or at least on the way. Chinese firm Ehang plans to begin testing a fully autonomous drone capable of carrying human passengers in Nevada, according to the state's Office of Economic Development. The Ehang 184 debuted earlier this year at...
Andrew Ganz -
Launching a car with a manual gearbox can be tricky if you don't have a ton of practice. However, if your car has an automatic you have a much easier task ahead of you—even without a fancy launch-control system. Simply press the brake pedal with your left foot then raise the revs using the throttle with your right foot. Release the brake and lay into that gas pedal. Congrats, you've launched your car. Now, under the car's sheet metal there's certainly more going on than what you've just felt from the driver's seat. Your transmission is taking the torque from the engine and then altering...
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Most new Infinitis to have autonomous capability
While Nissan has been quite vocal about its plans to offer autonomous driving capability on its cars, the Japanese automaker’s luxury division Infiniti hasn’t been so proactive in this field. That will change soon, though. Speaking with Reuters, Infiniti boss Roland Krueger said an...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Lexus navigation crashes after over the air update
An update sent to certain Lexus vehicles with the automaker's Enform infotainment and navigation system has caused the system to crash—or brick. According to users on Reddit, the glitch was part of a standard operating system software update that was delivered over the air. Lexus owners...
Andrew Ganz -
Volvo truck concept uses 30 percent less fuel thanks to less weight, better aero
Volvo Trucks, a separate entity to Volvo Cars, has rolled out a truck concept that could lead to much lower costs for the delivery of goods. The Swedish firm’s concept is said to use 30 percent less fuel than a comparable truck currently in operation thanks to its aerodynamic design and lower...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
How it works: four-valve versus two-valve engines
Your engine is composed of many moving parts and pieces. In order to move through the four stages of internal combustion, all of these bits and bobs are quite necessary. Some engines, however, take advantage of squeezing in a few more parts where they can. One area where this is seen often is in...
Jeff Glucker -
Acura demonstrates autonomous technology at GoMentum Station
Acura recently unveiled a new autonomous car prototype based on its RLX flagship sedan. Now see the prototype in action at the GoMentum Station test facility in Concord, California. GoMentum is a decommissioned military base that is now one of the world’s largest test sites for autonomous and...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
With electric cars becoming mainstream, the BMW i sub-brand originally established for the zero-emission cars has changed its focus to autonomous driving technology. That’s the word of Klaus Fröhlich, BMW’s board member for R&D, who recently spoke with Reuters. BMW, like many rivals, rightly sees fully autonomous cars as reshaping the industry. It’s why there’s been a flurry of announcements regarding automakers investing serious cash in ride-sharing companies. General Motors Company [NYSE:GM] teamed up with Lyft, Volkswagen with Gett, and Toyota with Uber...
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Update your vintage Porsche with factory navigation
Porsche's Classic division has released a period-correct, but thoroughly updated, navigation system designed to work in a host of its vintage cars. Featuring the automaker's correct logotype and button design, the navigation system is a single DIN unit that will slot directly into the dashboard of...
Andrew Ganz -
Here's how your AC works and how you can recharge it
You know that when you push the button marked "AC" you should feel a nice cooling breeze upon your body in short order. Those two letters stand for air conditioning, and it's within this system that magic happens. At least, that's as far as you know at this moment. You understand the inner workings...
Jeff Glucker -
Porsche establishes digitization department
Porsche has a long record of innovation and is once again breaking new ground with the establishment of the digitization department Porsche Digital. Among its contemporaries, Porsche was the first to expand into SUVs and offer a hybrid, and with the launch of the production version of the Mission E...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
That Subaru rumble? Here's why that happens
There's no doubt that you've heard the distinctive noise that is a Subaru in the distance. It's a rumble and you know what it means. A 2.5-liter "boxer" flat-4 engine is heading your way, and it's eager to spit noise into your ear holes. Why does it sound so different than any other engine on the...
Jeff Glucker -
Smart, Tesla bottom of pack for software glitches
In a new study, findings revealed that Smart and Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA], which represent two very different ends of the automotive market, are both subject to the most complaints from consumers to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regarding defects in their software systems...
Andrew Ganz -
A new take on mass transit may be headed to China as early as the end of the year: A so-called "Land Airbus" system that looks like an overgrown monorail as it motors over existing lanes of traffic. The big catch: cars can actually drive under the Land Airbus. For now, the concept only exists as a scale model created by the Shenzen Hashi Future Parking Equipment and as an animated video by Transit Explore Bus. Both Chinese firms intend to work together to deploy a full-size trial version on urban Chinese roads by August of this year, they said this week at an expo in Beijing. The first unit...
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Your tire pressure needs your attention
David Wooderson thought it was all about his muscle under the hood. Clint Bruno, however, knew that what he could really use was a set of tires. You see, tires can make or break a good driving experience. To take that a step further, you also need to be aware of what's going on with your tire...
Jeff Glucker -
BMW invests in ride-sharing service Scoop
BMW, through its New York-based investment arm BMW i Ventures, has invested in ride-sharing service Scoop. Scoop is a relative new player in the world of ride-sharing, having only launched in August 2015, and right now the service is only focused on carpooling in a handful of cities. It partners...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Toyota, Volkswagen latest to invest in ride-sharing
Two more industry giants have announced major investments in ride-sharing. Following the likes of Apple, BMW, Daimler, General Motors Company [NYSE:GM] and Google, which have all made major investments in ride-sharing in recent years, Toyota and Volkswagen on Tuesday came out with their own...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
The difference between horsepower and torque
Horsepower and torque--forever intertwined due to our undying love for all that is internal combustion. Do you really know what the difference between the two is, though, and is one actually "better" than the other? A younger version (no gray hair yet) of Engineering Explained host Jason Fenske...
Jeff Glucker -
Uber’s autonomous Ford Fusion to hit the roads in Pittsburgh
This month has seen a wave of announcements regarding autonomous cars and its application to ride-sharing. Not wanting to be left out, ride-sharing giant Uber, which is developing its own autonomous technology, announced on Thursday that its prototypes are about to start testing on public roads in...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran
