Car Tech

Ford’s 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 proved one point to truck and sedan buyers; thanks to technology like gasoline direct injection and twin-turbocharging, it was indeed possible to squeeze V-8 power and drivability out of a V-6. Their 2.0-liter EcoBoost four looks to prove that V-6 power is...

Laser-beam-emitting-robots were once the stuff of 1950s science-fiction nightmares, but today they’re on our side and helping Ford Motor Company to build a better product. Ford has invested some $100 million to install robotic plant laser inspection technology in their Chicago, Michigan and...

If you're in the market for a new vehicle, you might be tempted to go for something with high-tech safety features, like a collision-avoidance system. At the moment, though, most of that technology is tied to luxury rides or comes as pricey add-ons. But if you've got an Android smartphone, a new...

You can call U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood many things, but "slouch" isn't on the list. At a time when computing and social media are expanding to fill every corner of our daily lives, LaHood is pushing back, urging automakers to limit the technology included in new cars. Not only...

Tires: Round and black. That's all there is to it, right? Wrong. It goes without saying that as the sole contact patch between car and road, your tires are incredibly important. They obviously need to be in good condition, but the design and quality is important too. More and more people are buying...

Car seats have a hard life. They're the one contact point in your car that you use 100 percent of the time, and they have to suffer hundreds of thousands of miles of your own and other peoples' rear-ends whilst remaining comfortable, and, above all, safe. The humble headrest is an oft-overlooked...

What electronic feature would you most like from your next car? That's what J.D. Power and Associates asked 18,000 vehicle owners, and 55 percent were interested in a vehicle diagnostics service. A system that allows your vehicle to send and receive information on car troubles to an engineer was...

In an internal combustion engine, fuel is burned to power the engine, but as a result a lot of heat is also produced. Most of that heat in ordinary vehicles is wasted; but what if you could catch the energy from the heat, turn it into electricity, and use it to increase your fuel efficiency? Well...

Everybody loves John Cleese, right? Beyond his work on the popular Monty Python and Fawlty Towers TV shows -- not to mention many memorable film appearances -- he's written for stage and screen, and he's managed to inject some much-needed humor into the political climate of both the U.S. and...

LCD instrument panels are nothing new. The 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid used a partial LCD display, as does the current Ford Explorer. Jaguar’s latest XJ has replaced the analog instruments with a high-resolution LCD display (shown above), and fellow Tata Motors subsidiary Land Rover is using LCD...

A body made of lightweight composite panels, LED lighting, a high-efficiency four-cylinder diesel engine and easily-repaired molded fenders may sound like the ideal basis for a fuel-efficient commuter car, but in this case it’s the latest prototype delivery truck being evaluated by UPS. The...

Accessing the internet in your car is nothing new these days. Using the internet to build your car is rather more special. That's exactly what Kentucky-based vintage car enthusiast Bob Ferry did, constructing his "brand new" 1906 Oldsmobile Model B Runabout using information downloaded from Google...

If you're one of our U.S. readers, you're probably (well, hopefully) preparing for a three-day weekend. And although gas prices are sky high, chances are good that many of you are planning road trips over the Memorial Day holiday. If you're in that number, we'd like to suggest a few apps that'll...

While EVs and plug-in hybrids may be drawing most of the headlines these days, there's another tech development on the horizon that could bring bigger changes for drivers -- and the planet. Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technology is a promising, affordable solution to many of today's transportation...

We’ve seen it in Formula 1 over the years, and Porsche has relatively successfully implanted one in its 911 GT3 R Hybrid race cars, but now Volvo is testing one with an aim to bring it to the world of production cars. We’re of course talking about a Kinetic Energy Recovery System...

Automotive apps are all the rage, but it's a special kind of car that gets an app all to itself. The luxury 2012 Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class four-door coupe is just such a car, and a free app available through the Apple App Store allows owners and potential owners to access information about the car...

For those who can't get enough of chatting to strangers in traffic, the experience can now be enjoyed more widely than ever with BUMP.com's acquisition of BumpChat. The 'social network for your car' allows you to contact other drivers and chat to your heart's content, all the while fine-tuning the...

The much-publicized deal between Nissan's luxury Infiniti brand and Red Bull Racing's Formula 1 effort has spawned rumors about future products, how the collaboration might impact Infiniti's range. But the speculation hasn't gone in the other direction until now. The latest has Nissan/Infiniti's...

You'd struggle to find someone out there who wouldn't like to pay a little less for their car insurance. Whether you drive an Aveo or an Aventador insurance is a necessary evil. We all want the best service for the lowest prices. If you don't actually drive that much though, and when you do you're...

Feeling lazy? Don't feel like driving home from work tonight? Sounds like an autonomous car would be right up your street... ZMP's RoboCar doesn't quite have the aesthetics or practicality (and especially not the performance) of Google's automated Toyota Prius, but the technology it demonstrates is...