Car Tech

  • 2017 Volvo S90 R-Design

    Volvo’s all-new 2017 S90 sedan and upcoming 2018 V90 wagon, like the XC90 crossover introduced this past year, are packed with safety technology. If you’re familiar with Volvo’s reputation, that’s probably no surprise. Volvo has been at the forefront in occupant safety for decades. In more recent years, though, the brand has stepped up with active-safety systems that use sophisticated processing and controls to, potentially, keep you out of trouble entirely. MORE: Read our 2017 Volvo S90 first drive review, and our 2018 Volvo V90 first drive review Here are four the...

  • 2015 Volkswagen e-Golf
    VW CEO lays out future plans

    Volkswagen Group CEO Matthias Müller last week announced an all-encompassing strategy that will see the automaker through the next 10 years and hopefully leave behind any lingering thoughts of the recent emissions cheating scandal, which incidentally VW is close to settling in the United...

  • How to change a car's coolant
    How to change a car's coolant

    Yes, there's a lot more to car maintenance than simply changing the oil. One of the most overlooked aspects is an engine's cooling system, which is as crucial to car owners in Arizona as it is to those in Alaska. Here, our friend Jason Fenske, the host of the ever-popular Engineering Explained...

  • Lamborghini Advanced Composite Structures Laboratory in Seattle, Washington
    Lamborghini opens new U.S. research facility focused on lightweight materials

    Lamborghini has been researching lightweight materials for use on its cars for more than three decades and has dedicated research facilities set up to develop new and better materials. One of the automaker’s more recent developments was forged composites, which is nearly as strong as...

  • 2018 Audi S5 Coupe (Euro-spec)
    Audi shifting back to automatics for S, RS cars

    Audi was a pioneer of the dual-clutch transmission, having offered it in its original TT sports car as far back as the early 2000s. DCTs combine lightning-fast gear changes with the convenience of an automatic and fuel economy of a conventional manual transmission, so they quickly became popular...

  • What factors change air suspension spring rates?
    What factors change air suspension spring rates?

    Just a week ago, we invited you to come along and learn about air suspension systems. Our friend Jason Fenske at Engineering Explained created a video discussing what air suspension is and how it works. Now he's back with a second video that dives a bit more deeply into the air ride world. This...

  • Local Motors Olli Concept

    Does a bus really need a driver? IBM and crowd-sourcing automotive outfit Local Motors don't think so, as their new Olli concept recently demonstrated on the roads near Washington, D.C. ALSO SEE: Deployable mobile tire spikes could stop you in your tracks Calling Olli a concept might be a bit misleading, however, since by the end of the year Local Motors and IBM plan to have a fleet of autonomous, on demand buses just like Olli shuttling people around the Maryland side of the National Harbor shopping center along the Potomac River. Similar program are set to follow in Miami, Las Vegas and a...

  • Citroen C4 Cactus Advanced Comfort Lab prototype vehicle
    Citroën Advanced Comfort suspension bids adieu to hydropneumatics

    French maker Citroën has been known for the comfortable ride of its cars for 60 years, since it pioneered the use of hydropneumatic suspension on the streamlined DS model unveiled to an astonished world at the 1955 Paris Motor Show. Now part of PSA Peugeot-Citroën, the company is...

  • Slide from Nissan presentation on 'e-Bio Fuel Cell' technology, June 2016
    Nissan proposes ethanol for future fuel cell cars, to avoid hydrogen fueling

    Electric cars are showing up all over the place, but hydrogen fuel-cell cars have lagged behind, with only three Asian makers committed to offering them in the U.S. That's partly because setting up a network of hydrogen stations to fuel them is slow and expensive. Now Nissan has a better idea...

  • Video explains what is an air suspension
    Video explains what is an air suspension

    A lot of new cars and trucks are available with air suspension. A better name for the technology is air springs, as air suspension is essentially an alternative to the more familiar steel springs found on most cars and leaf springs found on older trucks. As the name suggests the technology uses air...

  • Flat lithium-ion battery back for next-generation Mercedes-Benz electric cars
    Mercedes: Next-gen batteries to double density, halve costs

    The biggest hindrance to electric cars has been their limited range and poor battery durability. However, thanks to companies like Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] electric cars are starting to catch up with their internal-combustion counterparts as we now have some that can travel more than 300 miles on a...

  • Mercedes-Benz wireless inductive charging system
    Mercedes confirms wireless charging for S550e plug-in hybrid

    Anyone that’s owned a plug-in car of some sort will know the pain of coming home late, fiddling around with a cable and actually plugging the car in for charging. The solution to this admittedly minor problem is wireless inductive charging, where to start the charging process one need only...

  • Mercedes-Benz integrated starter generator (ISG)

    Mercedes-Benz is spending up big on technology to reduce the average emissions of its fleet. The automaker has committed to spending almost $8 billion in just the next two years on green technology, including everything from clean diesels to fuel cells to next-generation batteries for electric cars. We’ve previously looked at Mercedes’ next-generation diesel, electric and fuel cell technologies. Now we have a look at technology destined for the next generation of gasoline engines from the automaker. The primary focus here is mild hybrid technology where recovered brake energy can...

  • Determining whether wheel spacers are good for you car
    Determining whether wheel spacers are good for you car

    Your wheels, they occupy the corners of your car. Sometimes you might want those corners to be a bit further apart from how the car left the factory. You corner hard and you want to maximize the capability of your machine. It sounds like a set of wheel spacers are on your automotive shopping list...

  • Mercedes-Benz modular platform for electric cars
    First look at Mercedes' modular platform for electric cars

    Mercedes-Benz has crafted a dedicated platform for its next-generation electric cars. Revealed this week during a tech briefing at the automaker’s headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, the platform will make its way into a handful of models, the first of which will be previewed in concept form...

  • Flying car in BMW's Wherever You Want To Go trailer
    Google founder Page working on flying car

    Some details have finally made their way online regarding Google founder Larry Page's ultra-secret startup, Zee.Aero, and they might surprise you: He's working on a flying car. Zee.Aero is entirely unrelated to Google, which Page is no longer running (he's still in charge of Google parent company...

  • Garage
    Startup looks to be the AirBnB of garages

    One of the biggest factors limiting would-be car collectors from amassing a fleet of their own is often storage—but it is one that GaragePointer hopes to help owners overcome. If you live in a city, or even on a quarter acre suburban lot, parking more than a couple of cars at home may be a...

  • Uber’s autonomous Ford Fusion prototype
    Uber seeks more automaker partnerships, won’t build cars

    The automotive industry is in the early stage of a major transition, brought about by disruptive forces such as autonomous technology and increased urbanization. Couple the growing popularity of ride-sharing services such as Uber with the impending arrival of fully autonomous cars, and it’s...

  • Ehang 184 autonomous passenger drone concept - 2016 Consumer Electronics Show

    The future depicted by Hollywood is officially here—or at least on the way. Chinese firm Ehang plans to begin testing a fully autonomous drone capable of carrying human passengers in Nevada, according to the state's Office of Economic Development. The Ehang 184 debuted earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show. Capable of carrying up to 220 pounds worth of human cargo, the drone has a range of less than 2.2 miles. That's not especially useful today, but EHang has indicated that this first model is a step toward drones with a higher carrying capacity and a greater range. READ...

  • Here's how you launch a car with an automatic gearbox
    Here's how you launch a car with an automatic gearbox

    Launching a car with a manual gearbox can be tricky if you don't have a ton of practice. However, if your car has an automatic you have a much easier task ahead of you—even without a fancy launch-control system. Simply press the brake pedal with your left foot then raise the revs using the...

  • 2016 Infiniti Q50 Red Sport 3.0t 400
    Most new Infinitis to have autonomous capability

    While Nissan has been quite vocal about its plans to offer autonomous driving capability on its cars, the Japanese automaker’s luxury division Infiniti hasn’t been so proactive in this field. That will change soon, though. Speaking with Reuters, Infiniti boss Roland Krueger said an...

  • 2018 Lexus LC 500h
    Lexus navigation crashes after over the air update

    An update sent to certain Lexus vehicles with the automaker's Enform infotainment and navigation system has caused the system to crash—or brick. According to users on Reddit, the glitch was part of a standard operating system software update that was delivered over the air. Lexus owners...

  • Volvo Concept Truck
    Volvo truck concept uses 30 percent less fuel thanks to less weight, better aero

    Volvo Trucks, a separate entity to Volvo Cars, has rolled out a truck concept that could lead to much lower costs for the delivery of goods. The Swedish firm’s concept is said to use 30 percent less fuel than a comparable truck currently in operation thanks to its aerodynamic design and lower...

  • How it works: four-valve versus two-valve engines
    How it works: four-valve versus two-valve engines

    Your engine is composed of many moving parts and pieces. In order to move through the four stages of internal combustion, all of these bits and bobs are quite necessary. Some engines, however, take advantage of squeezing in a few more parts where they can. One area where this is seen often is in...

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