Car Tech

Soon, your car may know your heart rate—and may take control from you if it doesn’t like what it sees. A new project from Nottingham Trent University in the UK is working on an electrocardiogram (ECG) built into the driver’s seat to detect heart rate and determine when the driver...

It was at the 1989 Frankfurt Auto Show that Audi showed off its TDI technology for the first time. TDI is the name Audi—and Volkswagen—uses for its electronically-controlled diesel engines with turbocharging and direct-injection technologies. The technology was first showcased in a...

If the sport and the teams agree to it, one aspect of Formula One could change significantly in the coming years: Its tires. At the recent F1 test at Silverstone, Pirelli, along with Lotus, tested a new 18-inch wheel and low-profile tire combination that could make developments in F1 much more...

Jaguar Land Rover hopes increased automation of secondary controls will reduce driver distraction.

Think you have what it takes to hack into a Tesla Model S electric car? If you're attending the SyScan conference in Beijing next week, then you'll be eligible to have a go—and there's a $10,000 prize in it for the winner. DON'T MISS: Video Emerges Showing Lamborghini Gallardo Destroyed By...

When it comes to electric vehicles, both BMW and Mercedes-Benz have, to some extent, got the hard part out of the way. Each has designed and produced, and started selling its own lineup of electric cars. As far as infrastructure is concerned though, automakers have been keen to work together and...

Airports can be stressful enough without the nuisance of parking at them. It's rarely cheap, always crowded and invariably miles from the terminal you need to fly from. In Germany though—or at least at one German airport—things are a little different. Düsseldorf airport is trialing...

Long-haul truckers may not be too happy to hear it but according to Daimler board member Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, "The truck of the future is a Mercedes-Benz that drives itself." These are no hollow words either, as the German automaker has completed its first public road test of an...

Information and entertainment systems are very important parts of the modern car. They’re how we interact with everything except the actual driving controls—and they can even modify the character of those as well. This week, an open source version of the under-the-skin operating system...

You might not often think about them, but the springs in your car’s suspension are a key piece of technology—and one that has been largely unchanged for decades. The simple steel coil spring has served in effective anonymity—but its days may be numbered. Audi is planning to put a...

The two companies will research possible uses for facial recognition in cars.

It was only a matter of time: Following the launch of Apple's iOS-based CarPlay in-car operating system at the Geneva Motor Show back in March, Google has revealed its own car operating system based on its Android platform. Called Android Auto (previously Auto Link), the new operating system will...

A new startup hopes to retrofit cars with autonomous capability.

People crashing their brand-new muscle cars is as much a universal constant as the arrow of time and the speed of light. At least when the inevitable happens, and photos of said crash end up all over the internet, the owner will take solace that their new 2015 Ford Mustang is the safest the company...

Audi recently presented an RS 5 TDI concept car powered by a diesel engine equipped with an electrically-driven turbocharger. The engine features a twin-turbocharger setup where the smaller of the two turbos uses an electric motor to spool up its compressor at lower revs (up to 70,000 rpm in a few...

It was only a matter of time: Following the launch of Apple's CarPlay in-car operating system at this year's Geneva Motor Show, Google is set to reveal its own automotive operating system. Known internally as Google Auto Link, the company will reveal its system at a software developer conference...

Mercedes-Benz is working on an updated version of its CLS-Class for the 2015 model year and has confirmed today that the car will feature the automaker’s new MULTIBEAM LED headlights. The technology is similar to Audi’s Matrix LED headlights in that it uses multiple LEDs to enable...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk views patents as a brake on the success of electric cars,

With the vast collection of videos on YouTube taken by people in their car, it was only a matter of time until the OEMs started catering to the hobby. Recently, we learned that Chevrolet was launching an industry-first Performance Data Recorder system for its 2015 Corvette that lets you record...

The world's most prominent brake supplier explains an F1 system from pedal to caliper.