Car Tech

  • How A Gas Pump Nozzle Works

    It's a daily task that most of us probably take for granted. You pull up to a gas station, grab the pump, and fill up your vehicle with fuel. There's a good chance you have no idea of how that fuel goes from the pump through the nozzle and into your car. ALSO SEE: How Does A Differential Work?: Video Don't feel bad, because we didn't either, until we watched this oddly mesmerizing video. The Husky Corporation out of Mizzouri, which produces fuel pump nozzles, had its president Grenville Sutcliffe sit down and explain the wizard magic engineering behind it all. It all has to do with vacuum and...

  • Google autonomous car prototype
    California Looks To Tighten Rules For Autonomous Cars

    California has become one of the top states for autonomous car research, primarily due to the number of tech firms based there including Google which is already testing self-driving cars on the state’s roads. However, state regulators are now making moves to tighten the rules for autonomous...

  • 2017 Audi Q7
    2017 Audi Q7: Driving The Only New SUV With All-Wheel Steering

    Nimble, agile, and even tossable aren’t words that you’ll often find in driving impressions of a big three-row utility vehicle. Yet they most definitely apply to the 2017 Audi Q7. The new Q7 manages to provide a driving experience that, on tight, curvy roads, feels like that of a tidy...

  • Volkswagen logo
    VW Group Names New Design, R&D Chiefs In Management Reshuffle

    In the wake of its diesel emissions cheating scandal, the Volkswagen Group is undertaking a number of strategies to help curtail spending as well as ensure mistakes like the installation of the “defeat device” doesn’t happen again. This includes streamlining information directed...

  • Rinspeed Etos concept, 2016 Consumer Electronics Show
    Rinspeed Etos Is A Self-Driving BMW i8 Complete With Own Drone

    Recently, we told you about Swiss engineering and design firm Rinspeed preparing a new concept car for the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show, an event that each year sees more and more automakers show up due to the rapidly increasing convergence of the auto and tech industries. Although it...

  • New Ford GT
    Ford GT fitted with Gorilla Glass

    Ford Motor Company [NYSE:FCAU] is going all out when it comes to adding technologies and innovations to its upcoming GT supercar. In addition to building the car almost fully from carbon fiber, Ford is endowing it with a 600-plus-horsepower version of its EcoBoost V-6 as well as a seven-speed...

  • 2017 Ford Focus Electric, from presentation on Ford electrification plans, Dec 2015

    Ford Motor Company [NYSE:F] announced yesterday it will spend an additional $4.5 billion over the next five years on its investments in vehicle electrification. Much of the funds will go towards developing 13 new electrified cars by 2020, whose launch will mean that roughly 40 percent of Ford’s nameplates globally will be electrified by the end of the decade. WATCH: Brembo Brake Testing For Formula One Is ...Illuminating: Video Ford didn’t give details on the new electrified cars but did say that the Focus Electric by the 2017 model year will come with DC fast charging that should...

  • 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class spy shots - Image via S. Baldauf/SB-Medien
    2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coming With Automatic Lane Changing

    Mercedes-Benz continues to drop more information about its next-generation E-Class ahead of the car’s world debut at next month’s 2016 Detroit Auto Show. Yesterday, we got our first official look at the car’s interior, which for most trim levels will come with an all-digital...

  • Formula One Brembo Brake Test
    Brembo Brake Testing For Formula One Is ...Illuminating: Video

    Formula One cars put tremendous strain on the drivers who pilot them. There are tremendous g-loads in nearly all directions thanks to the insane acceleration, cornering and braking ability of a modern F1 car. There are also incredibly high demands of the parts of the car themselves, as they have to...

  • 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class interior
    2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Interior Revealed, All-Glass Dash Display: Video

    How do you interpret "modern luxury" when consumer electronics change every 18 months but a luxury car has to last 15 years? That was the challenge facing the designers of the next Mercedes-Benz E-Class interior, and their answer was to blend recognizably Mercedes design cues with a fully digital...

  • Volvo in-car delivery trial in Gothenburg, Sweden
    Volvo Trials In-Car Delivery System In Sweden: Video

    Anyone who’s away from home during business hours will no doubt know the frustration of having a delivery person turn up at your door with an important package only to find no one at home and thus forced to leave a note requesting that you pick up the package yourself at some busy center...

  • Patent drawing for BMW plug-in hybrid research vehicle - Image via Car News China, PC Auto
    Mystery BMW Is A Plug-In Hybrid Research Vehicle

    Patent drawings for a vehicle with distinct BMW-design cues recently surfaced and were initially thought to be for a new research vehicle from the German automaker, one equipped with a hydrogen fuel cell stack. It’s since been revealed that the patent drawings are in fact for a BMW research...

  • Honda 10-speed transmission, Honda R&D Center, October 2015

    It wasn't too long ago that a six-speed automatic transmission was state of the art. Then we got seven-speed, eight-speed, and nine-speed units. One of the nine-speeds, designed by noted transmission manufacturer ZF, has given multi-speed transmissions a bad reputation. Paired with four-cylinder and V-6 transverse-mounted engines in Fiat Chrysler Automobiles [NYSE:FCAU], Jaguar Land Rover, and Honda/Acura vehicles, it dithers instead of downshifting, sometimes clunks into gears, and barely ever reaches the top gear. Given those shortcomings, it may not be wise for any automaker to build a...

  • Tesla Model S owner tests Autopilot system from back seat
    Don’t Be This Idiot: Tesla Model S Owner Tests Autopilot System From Back Seat

    In the same week Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] CEO Elon Musk announced the company will be implementing some constraints on its Autopilot autonomous system to prevent some of the more stupid users from incorrectly using the system, typically by removing their hands from the steering wheel or using it on...

  • Local Motors LM3D Swim
    Local Motors Unveils Its Latest 3D-Printed Car: Video

    Local Motors is keen to bring 3D printing into larger focus within the automotive world. Certain automakers or component manufacturers might make a part this way, but Local Motors is looking to make a nearly complete car using 3D printing. Recently, Local Motors showed us this was possible by way...

  • Toyota Logo
    Toyota Investing $1 Billion In Silicon Valley Research Lab

    Toyota will establish a new research and development facility in California’s Silicon Valley at the cost of $1 billion over five years. The new facility, to be called the Toyota Research Institute (TRI), will be based near Stanford University in Palo Alto and focus initially on artificial...

  • Tesla Autopilot suite of features  -  with version 7.0 update
    Tesla Plans Constraints For Autopilot System After Several Near Misses: Video

    Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] recently launched a software update for its Model S enabling the car to drive autonomously in certain situations, such as along a multilane highway. Naively, Tesla trusted that Model S owners would use the system according to certain rules, such as keeping their hands on...

  • Nissan IDS concept, 2015 Tokyo Motor Show
    Autonomous Cars Will Need To Interact With Pedestrians: Here's How

    The technology that’s required to guide and pilot autonomous (self-driving) vehicles—keeping them on the road and on their route—is only one challenge. The even greater challenge is that on city streets, for the foreseeable future, autonomous vehicles will be mixing on the...

  • Mazda RX-Vision concept, 2015 Tokyo Motor Show

    At the recent 2015 Tokyo Motor Show, Mazda rolled out a stunning sports car concept powered by a rotary engine said to be more fuel efficient than any previous rotary design. Unfortunately, no technical details were revealed for the engine, which has adopted Mazda’s SkyActiv moniker for fuel-efficient, low-emissions technology, which means we’re likely some years away from seeing it in production. Hold up. Haven’t we been here before? Yes, as some readers may recall, Mazda rolled out a sexy sports car concept powered by a rotary engine at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show. It was a...

  • Yamaha Sports Ride concept, 2015 Tokyo Motor Show
    Yamaha Sports Ride Concept First With Gordon Murray-Designed iStream Carbon

    Yamaha has been hinting at a move into car manufacturing in recent years, with the firm recently teaming up with McLaren F1 designer Gordon Murray to develop a city car concept called the Motiv. Now Yamaha is back with a new sports car concept unveiled today at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show, and like...

  • Mercedes-Benz Vision Tokyo Concept
    Mercedes-Benz Vision Tokyo Concept Revealed

    Mercedes-Benz is fully embracing the concept of autonomous cars, seeing them as a means to transform the way we interact and use cars. We got our first taste of Mercedes’ vision for a world where driving will be optional with the F015 Luxury in Motion concept unveiled at the start of this...

  • Tony Hawk Rides Hoverboard
    Tony Hawk, Volunteers Ride Hendo's Latest Hoverboard: Video

    Yesterday, in celebration of Back to the Future Day—the date Marty McFly traveled to in Back to the Future II—Hendo unveiled the latest version of its hoverboard. And if you've dreamed of riding one like Marty did, we have bad news. ALSO SEE: 'Wreck To The Future' Is BTTF Parody Done...

  • Yokohama Aerodynamic Tire Tech
    New Technology Could Improve Airflow Around Your Tires

    When you think of vehicle aerodynamics, we have to assume that you don't think of your tires. Yokohama thinks about all manner of tire technology on a constant basis, which is why the Japanese tire maker may have found a way to improve the aerodynamic efficiency of those four rubber bits you attach...

  • 2017 Bentley Bentayga
    Bentley Bentayga Diesel To Feature Electric-Aided Turbocharger

    Bentley’s new Bentayga debuted with a W-12 gasoline engine, but the British automaker has confirmed that the SUV will eventually offer diesel and plug-in hybrid options. We can now reveal that the diesel engine fitted to the Bentayga will be equipped with an electric-aided turbocharger. The...

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