Car Tech
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It's one thing to know your super high-tech new street/track toy can steer its rear wheels to improve maneuverability at slow speeds, or increase stability at high speeds. But it's another thing to actually see that steering process in motion--after all, you're usually in the car driving it when it happens. MUST WATCH: LaFerrari Duels With Ferrari Enzo On Precarious Mountain Roads: Video Fortunately, there's this video from Elephant Racing, which demonstrates just how the rear-steering system on Porsche's newest 911 GT3 works. You'll see the actuation rod that does the actual rear-wheel...
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Volvo Uses Magnets In The Road To Help Steer Autonomous Cars
Like many automakers, Volvo sees autonomous cars as the most significant means of minimizing road accidents as it would eliminate the number one cause of most crashes, human error. However, getting the infrastructure necessary for self-driving cars up and running, not to mention any legal...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Audi traffic light recognition could save time and fuel
Soon, cars may pay more attention to their surroundings than drivers. No one likes to get stuck behind an oblivious person that doesn't notice when a light changes, so Audi came up with a technological solution. MUST WATCH: LaFerrari Duels With Ferrari Enzo On Precarious Mountain Roads: Video The...
Stephen Edelstein -
Quant e-Sportlimousine Concept Powered By nanoFLOWCELL Tech Makes Debut: Video
Over the years, a number of companies have come up with new technologies promising to boost the efficiency of cars by previously unseen levels. They tend to roll out fancy concepts, typically with wild performance claims, but these companies never seem to be able to progress beyond the concept...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Rinspeed Reveals Tesla Model S-Based XchangE Autonomous Concept: Live Photos
The 2014 Geneva Motor Show is currently underway, and Swiss design and engineering firm Rinspeed revealed a new concept car at its home event. Rinspeed’s new concept, called the XchangE, explores the potential designs an autonomous car could yield, taking a conventional sedan, in this case an...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Camaro Z/28 Aero Improved With Addition Of The "Flowtie"
Engineers working on the 2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 are wildly addicted to the idea of improving the aerodynamics of the car. This is a machine that is designed to devour race tracks, and in order to do so it must stick to the road and slip through the air. There's a large splitter up front, a big...
Jeff Glucker -
The Nissan smart rear-view mirror is part mirror, part LCD screen.
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Koenigsegg One:1 Supercar Comes With Cloud Connectivity And Custom App
These days developing the world’s premier supercar takes a lot more than simply ensuring you have the quickest acceleration or highest top speed or most outrageous styling. Today, supercar brands need high-tech interfaces and connectivity options just as much as they need horsepower, and one...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Volvo Concept Estate Previews Shooting Brake Goodness, New Tesla-Like Interface For Geneva
The new Volvo Concept Estate completes the brand's trio of recent auto show concept cars looking at the future of the brand, and it's one hot luxury shooting brake. But the real star of the show might not be its clean, sculpted exterior. It might be the huge tablet-style touchscreen interface...
Nelson Ireson -
Ford Ditches Microsoft And Pairs With Blackberry For Next SYNC System
A few years ago automakers realized that devising their own infotainment systems in-house was a fool's game. The systems quickly became outdated next to the fast-moving consumer electronics industry and were rarely as slick as the ones customers were used to on their smartphones and tablets. Ford's...
Antony Ingram -
BMW Expands Carbon Fiber Capacity, Outlines Future Uses
BMW currently sources a lot of the carbon fiber components for its revolutionary i3 and i8 models as well as its sporty M cars from a company called SGL Group, which produces most of the lightweight pieces at a plant jointly owned with the German automaker. The two firms are now expanding the site...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
BMW Details New Proactive Driving Assistant
If you think your current car is clever with adaptive headlights, rain-sensing wipers and the ability to pick a new navigation route based on traffic ahead, you haven't seen anything yet. BMW has announced details of what it calls its 'Proactive Drive Assistant', designed to make future journeys...
Antony Ingram -
Motorsport camera footage is getting pretty good these days. Footage is clearer and more stable than ever, and so many cameras can be attached to the average race car that we've never got so close to the action. ALSO SEE: Über-Rich Guys, Don't Feel Bad. Kimi Spun The LaFerrari, Too: Video What we haven't been able to do is watch on-board car footage from an angle of our own choosing. That is, until now. Mercedes-Benz has used a new 360-degree video capture method that allows you to follow live-action video from just about any angle you choose. Launched with the Mercedes AMG F1 team, the...
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Nokian Tyres Shows Winter Tire With Retractable Studs: Video
Modern technology can make some of James Bond's gadgets from just a decade ago look distinctly old-hat. But one Q-brand trick we've not seen yet is winter tires with retractable studs, like the ones seen on Bond's Aston Martin Vanquish in the movie Die Another Day. WATCH: Meet The World's First...
Antony Ingram -
The Robotic Symphony Of The McLaren P1 Entering Race Mode: Video
There's no doubt the McLaren P1 is a strong contender--perhaps the top contender--for the title of most advanced road-going car on the planet. But what's it like to take it from its mind-bogglingly fast normal mode into race mode? Well, it takes a while. As this video from Shmee150 illustrates...
Nelson Ireson -
Harman Signal Doctor Can Un-Suck Your Car's Sound System
Cars are where people listen to music most often--but the digitally compressed music we carry on iPods, USB sticks, CDs, or stream from the Web has turned our cars into lossy echo chambers. It's all in the acoustics. Studio-quality audio files become a source of anger for audiophiles, as the...
Martin Padgett -
BMW Is First With Laser Lights As The 2015 i8 Enters Production
BMW’s cars already have a distinctive look in your rear-view mirror with their angel-eye headlights and that view will soon start to look even more distinct. That’s because the automaker is now offering new laser headlights on its cars, starting with the 2015 i8 sports car which has...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Audi Patent Drawings Reveal Potential Future Tech
Some of Audi's future technological advances have been revealed in the latest round of patent applications to hit the internet. Of a selection of new Audi patents noted by Autocar, the most interesting--yet most complex--is a new take on the firm's quattro all-wheel drive system, using an...
Antony Ingram -
A consortium of 29 firms including most major automakers has commenced a research project that will look into the requirements for autonomous driving. Called AdaptIVe (Automated Driving Applications & Technologies for Intelligent Vehicles), the research project is taking place in Volkswagen’s home town of Wolfsburg and will run for 42 months. VW joins other automakers in the research project including BMW, Fiat, Ford, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault and Volvo. The benefit of autonomous cars, researchers say, is improved safety, due to reduced human...
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U-Blox 3D Automotive Dead Reckoning Offers Improved Urban Navigation: Video
A new navigation system uses on-board sensors to fill satellite-signal gaps.
Stephen Edelstein -
Renault Previews Future Tech With Next Two Autonomous Car: Video
French automaker Renault has rolled out a new prototype that it will use to develop autonomous driving and connected car technologies. Like its alliance partner Nissan, which has promised to deliver a fully autonomous car by 2020, Renault sees the technology as a real step towards mobility of the...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Build An Open-Source Electric Car In One Hour, For $4,000: Video
The OSVehicle Tabby is touted as the first open-source car to be sold to consumers.
Stephen Edelstein -
Renault Kwid Concept Gets Its Own Drone
Jesse Ventura would run screaming from the Renault Kwid concept. Not because it's scary-looking or loaded up with 50-caliber machine guns. Because it has its own drone, and Ventura doesn't like drones. That's okay, because we do, especially when they're used like they are with the Kwid: to launch...
Nelson Ireson -
DOT Wants Communicating Cars To Curtail Crashes
That autonomous cars will be available over the next few decades doesn't come as much of a surprise. They will, however, be largely optional for the time being--so you won't be forced to let a computer drive that fancy new sports car you always promised yourself. Cars that prevent crashes may...
Antony Ingram