Car Tech

If you think your car is sometimes a little slow to react when you turn a corner or push pedal to the metal, some future technology from Nissan might be right up your street. In-car safety and technology systems have got pretty advanced recently. You can buy cars that adjust their speed according...

As naming norms for sports events go, Race Of Champions is fairly self-explanatory. Take top drivers from the highest reaches of motorsport including Formula 1, NASCAR, the WRC and more, and pit them against each other in front of a stadium audience. The trouble with all this is that it's very much...

As in many aspects of life, ignoring a problem such as drink driving doesn't make it go away. That applies whether you're willingly letting an intoxicated friend drive, you've had a few beers yourself and think you'll be fine anyway, or whether you're using an app to deliberately avoid DUI...

Due to public outcry and political pressure, OnStar has announced that it will retract proposed changes to its terms and conditions that would have permitted vehicle monitoring even without an OnStar subscription.

You might have heard of Cars and Coffee before but almost certainly not in this way... Rather than car park full of shiny supercars and classic metal, this combination of a car and coffee involves powering the former with the latter to break a land speed record. It's not as simple as giving your...

Stop-start technology is an easy way of improving a car's fuel economy by a few MPG and lowering emissions - especially if you regularly commute in heavy traffic. However, its use is contentious for many carmakers as the U.S. EPA official fuel economy figures are completely unaffected, even if...

For the average young person back in the 1950s, only two things really mattered: A hot date for the weekend, and a hot car to go to the local drive-in, diner or secluded spot. Okay, so a Grease-like lifestyle wasn't enjoyed by everybody, but it's a sign of the times that for the youth of Generation...

eBay has had a tough go of it since former CEO Meg Whitman stepped down, but what change a week can bring: now, Whitman's been tapped to help the sinking ship known as HP, while eBay Motors has just launched an impressive new series for the web and mobile devices called "World's Fastest Car Show"...

It's often the way with the modern world: The products and services we use aren't just products and services any more - they're experiences. Where once you used to use a car to get from A to B with the occasional trip via C, now you can be as connected to your life on the internet as you are with...

It may not be fast and it may not even be pretty, but the Urbee car is important for other reasons. The potential for 166 mpg is clearly a number to raise eyebrows. Using a combination of electric motors and a small, single cylinder, 8 horsepower engine running on ethanol, high economy was never...

Urban planning games are nothing new - the seminal Sim City title has been around since 1989 and we've probably been playing it all that time. Facebook games are a more recent phenomenon and you've probably heard of Car Town, the best of the bunch for gearheads. "GreenSight City" looks like...

Improving fuel economy and reducing noise can occasionally be mutually compatible - the smooth aerodynamics of a 2011 Toyota Prius making it a refined highway cruiser, for example. However, GM is trialling a technology in the Chevrolet Equinox that makes quietness an outright necessity for...

Ford was one of the big guns behind last week's TechCrunch Disrupt. The automaker was central to a number of tech developments there, including an unofficial merger between Spotify and the SYNC telematics system, and a potentially interesting partnership between Ford and open-source hardware maker...

All the attention on Smart at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show might have been directed at the Forvision electric drive concept and the latest, third-generation 2012 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive, but Smart still had a use for the previous version. Nestled next to a Ford driving experience was "Smart...

Ads from ambulance-chasers make life worth living. Many are so outrageous, so ridiculous, so covered in schmaltz that viewers can't help but smile. But the times they are a-changin': a new app for accident victims could make such cheesy TV spots obsolete. The app is called "Car Accident Sidekick"...

Modern racing videogames are getting pretty good these days, with handling and graphics capabilities that allow for a pretty realistic driving experience. It's also cheaper than racing for real, not to mention safer - "Life has no 'reset' button", they often say. We were glad of that little detail...

Last spring, we told you about Terminal Mode, a new protocol being pushed by GM, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota, Volkswagen, and other automakers, as well as handset manufacturer Nokia. Terminal Mode (now known as MirrorLink) promises to make smartphone integration in cars much easier, and during this...

A German exhaust component manufacturer is working on systems to produce electricity from waste heat. Their concepts may one day replace the alternator in cars of the future.

If your wallet is too small for all your crisp new $100 bills and your seventh home in Monaco is starting to feel a bit claustrophobic, perhaps you need to upgrade your Bentley Mulsanne to the new Executive Interior Concept unveiled today in Frankfurt and go for a drive. That's right: if your...

Maybe it has something to do with the start of the auto show season. Or maybe it's because we're fast approaching the 30-year anniversary of War Games. But whatever the reason, the subject of hacking is clearly a hot topic in car circles. Last week, you might recall that MacAfee issued an alarming...