Car Tech

Audi has named former Volvo executive Peter Mertens as its new R&D chief. Mertens is one of the first from outside the company to be given a top role at the Volkswagen Group following the emergence of the diesel emissions scandal in September 2015. ALSO SEE: VW, Audi, Porsche reportedly racing...

Volvo is rolling out some updates on its 90 series cars which for the 2017 model year include the S90, V90 Cross Country and XC90. (A V90 joins the lineup for 2018.) The updates enhance what was already a high level of safety and connectivity. In the area of safety, Volvo is adding the new features...

Tesla [NSDQ:TSLA] has released a video that provides insight into what its self-driving cars view the world like. In the demonstration, a person is behind the wheel, though only for legal purposes. He doesn’t even place his hands on the wheel throughout the demo. The vehicle, in this case a...

Ride comfort and performance. Creating a suspension system that serves both of those masters successfully is a challenging task. All sorts of technology can help, from air suspensions to magnetic dampers and so on. But what is best when it comes to a soft or stiff spring setup? What do you really...

The “camless” engine developed by Koenigsegg sister company FreeValve edged closer to production on Friday with Qoros’ unveiling of a working prototype at the 2016 Guangzhou auto show. The prototype is a followup to the concept Qoros unveiled earlier in the year. Instead of a...

Chevrolet’s Colorado ZR2 promises to be one heck of an off-roader, and one of the main reasons is the truck’s unique shock absorbers. To achieve the desired performance, Multimatic, the company that builds the Ford Motor Company [NYSE:F] GT and numerous other race cars, had to invent a...

Drag. Friction. Weight distribution and load. These are things you need to consider when you begin to think about how tires work. Yes, those four bits of rubber are your only connection to the ground and they keep your car moving in the direction you desire. Most of us think that a wider tire is...

Samsung is making a major push into the in-car electronics game with the acquisition of Harman [NYSE:HAR] in a deal worth $8 billion. The Korean electronics giant will pay $112.00 per Harman share, which represents a premium of 28 percent on Friday’s closing price. The deal is still subject...

Hyperloop One, one of two leading firms attempting to develop a working Hyperloop high-speed transport system first proposed by Tesla [NSDQ:TSLA] CEO Elon Musk in 2013, has provided a look at what traveling by Hyperloop might be like. Of most interest to fans following the development of the...

Road cars and race cars are very different. The cars we buy for every day driving are much heavier, due in part to safety and emissions equipment. Race cars shed every ounce of weight in the pursuit of speed. But those aren't the only differences. In some ways, road cars that are meant to last for...

Mercedes-Benz vehicles are notorious for their smooth ride quality. Bumps and ruts just don't bother passengers in Mercedes vehicles like they do in other cars. How does Mercedes do it? Jason Fenske from Engineering Explained is here to tell us. In this video, Jason analyzes how two Mercedes...

Remember when Tesla promised use of its Supercharger network to Model S owners for life? Psych! Gotcha. Just kidding. The Silicon Valley automaker announced today that Teslas ordered after January 1, 2017 will receive 400 kwh of free supercharging in the form of credits (FYI--that's about 1,000...

Ford Motor Company [NYSE:F] has promised to deliver a self-driving car within five years. It will have Level 4 self-driving capability, meaning it can drive on its own but is limited on where it can go due to a reliance on mapping data. Level 4 self-driving cars can also be upset by severe weather...

You're caning your Ford Motor Company [NYSE:F] Focus ST on your favorite local race track. This could be your best lap time yet, but you don't really have an easy way of knowing this. You could invest tons of money into track data tools, or you could just grab the new Ford Performance App...

Nissan is one of the biggest proponents of electric cars but even it concedes that not everyone is ready to make the switch. That’s why the automaker is introducing series hybrid powertrains to bridge the gap between internal combustion cars and electrics. Nissan is using the name e-Power for...

Many within the industry are predicting a future where car sharing becomes more popular than actual ownership. Though this represents a threat to automakers, rather than ignore the trend most are looking at ways to profit from it. One strategy for automakers is launching their own car-sharing...

Despite its major push into electric cars, Mercedes-Benz is spending billions on developing new, more efficient internal combustion engines. The next-generation engines will start making their way into the automaker’s lineup here in the United States from 2017, with the first recipient to be...

Tesla [NSDQ:TSLA] CEO Elon Musk on Friday unveiled two new products, one from Tesla and another from SolarCity, the solar home installation firm Tesla is hoping to acquire and headed by Musk’s cousin Lyndon Rive. Tesla’s new product is a second-generation Powerwall home energy storage...

Pumping fuel is something you've been doing for years now (unless you're one of those people in New Jersey), and it's something you probably don't put a lot of thought into. You pay, you pump, and then you leave. What you should be aware of, however, is the amount of safety technology on hand to...

Otto and Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch made history in October by successfully making the first delivery by a self-driving truck. Last week, one of Otto’s self-driving truck prototypes traveled 120 miles on a stretch of Colorado highway between Fort Collins and Colorado Springs to deliver...