Items tagged with Automobiles
You may have figured Sony would blitz CES with new headphones and other audio products, and perhaps a wide assortment of electronic gadgets. Instead, the company is sparking interest with the Vision-S, a concept electric vehicle (EV) with nearly three dozen sensors in and around the car, and a bunch of high-tech goodies. Sony is not the first name that comes into mind when thinking about automobiles, and the EV category specifically. However, the Vision-S is a bold (and surprising) attempt to inject Sony into the discussion, and in a big way. If nothing else, this is certainly an ambitious move by the PlayStation maker. "Sony wants to change mobility as we know it. How can we inspire people through...
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These are some wild and wonderful times we live in, folks. When I was a kid, shows like The Jetsons made me think there would be flying cars in the future. Perhaps there still will be. In the here and now, however, autonomous vehicles have emerged and are gaining traction. Where that leads us remains to be seen, but a new demonstration by Stanford's Dynamic Design Lab has me wondering if one day in the not-too-distant futures there will be races and driving competitions strictly for self-driving vehicles. Perhaps one day self-driving cars will go up against human opponents. Machine versus human is not a new concept, after all. IBM's smarty pants Watson dominated the flesh and blood competition...
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Ford is enjoying a fair amount of buzz right now with the theatrical release of Ford v Ferrari, starring Christian Bale as Ken Miles and Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby in their battle to win 24 Hours of Le Mans. A year before all that went down, however, Ford hit the track with its first 1965 Mustang Shelby GT350 fastback coupe. For car buffs who have a nostalgic itch to scratch, Ford is now offering a limited edition Heritage Edition package for its 2020 Mustang Shelby GT 350 and GT350R models. "Looking back on it, what Ford and Carroll Shelby created back in the mid-’60s was so important to Mustang," said Jim Owens, Ford Mustang marketing manager. "With their authentic exterior livery,...
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I've always wanted to own a convertible, and despite not having a roof, the new McLaren Elva does not fall into that category. So, I guess I'll pass on buying one. I will, however, happily accept one as a gift, if anyone out there fancies purchasing a nearly $1.7 million supercar as a present. Options cost extra, of course, such as tacking on a 24-ct gold engine bay heat shield. This is not a so called grocery-getter by any stretch. It falls way on the other end of the spectrum, though you could certainly get to the supermarket and back in quick fashion with the Elva's 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V8 engine harnessing 804 horsepower. Just be sure to pack a set of goggles—a windshield is not included...
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Android Auto was supposed to bring wireless connectivity to all Android devices starting with the release of Android 9.0 Pie. That obviously did not happen—now more than a year later, it has only arrived on a spattering of phones, including Google's own Pixel handsets and its Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X. Well, that is starting to change. Android Auto is expanding its wireless reach to select Samsung phones. As outlined in an updated support document, Android Auto supports wireless connectivity on nine Samsung handsets, which more than doubles the total number of supported phones to 17 devices. Here is the full list... Pixel and Pixel XL Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL Nexus 5X and...
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Tesla took to the track at Laguna Seca Raceway (or WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, if you prefer) and set new lap record (unofficial) for a four-door sedan, with a pre-production Model S built around a new "Plaid" powertrain. The prototype vehicle is even faster goes even faster than what current Model S vehicles can achieve in "Ludicrous" mode. "Some personal news. We lapped Laguna Seca in 1:36.555 during advanced R&D testing our Model S Plaid powertrain and chassis prototype. That's a second faster than the record for a four-door sedan," Tesla stated on Twitter. Electric vehicles (EVs) have grown up fast in the past several years. Earlier this month, for example, Porsche debuted its Taycan...
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Perhaps someday in the future autonomous vehicles will be the norm, not the exception. There are plenty of hurdles standing in way of that ultimate goal, with safety being the obvious main concern. Doing its part, Waymo has decided to share its rich collection of self-driving car data with researchers at no cost. If you ask Waymo, the company will tell you it is one of the largest and most diverse self-driving datasets every released for research. It contains data from 1,000 driving segments, with each segment capturing 20 seconds of continuous driving corresponding to 200,000 frames at 10Hz per sensor. This type of continuous footage can be a potential goldmine for researchers attempting to...
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Money may not buy happiness, but I don't imagine there will be many miserable faces sitting behind the steering wheel inside Pagani's newly unveiled Huayra Roadster BC. Born out of a research project that began in 2017, the Huayra Roadster BC is a street-legal hypercar that is one part artwork and several parts a beastly automobile. Pagani says the BC model weighs 2,756 pounds, which is 66 pounds lighter than the regular Roadster model. The engineers at Pagani were able to shave some weight off by using lighter materials, such as carbon-titanium HP62 comprising the monocoque structure. It also features front and rear tubular steel subframes, and a forged aluminum alloy independent wishbone with...
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How many times have you been in a situation where you are towing 1 million pounds of cargo and thought to yourself, 'I could never do this in an electric vehicle!' Probably never, but if you did find yourself in that situation, you would be wrong for making such a statement. Ford just proved it by towing a train filled with dozens of trucks, using a prototype all-electric F-150 pickup truck. Cue the Tim Allen grunt. Electric vehicles are making headway in the automobile industry, spurred in large part by Tesla's efforts. It's not just Tesla, though. Other automakers are pushing electric cars and trucks. Hell, even Harley Davidson is getting in on the action by developing electric motorcycles...
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Ford has gone on record saying its GT supercar will compete one final time at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but it is not retiring from the French race quietly. Instead, it is going out with a bang. Ford and its race partner Multimatic today revealed the Ford GT Mk II, a limited edition, track-only GT with 700 horses underneath the hood and a $1.2 million starting price. "The GT Mk II unleashes the full performance potential of the Ford GT without any artificial performance limitations dictated by racing sanctioning bodies," said Hau Thai-Tang, Ford chief product development and purchasing officer. "It’s the closest GT owners can get to the Le Mans-winning performance and exhilarating feeling...
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One of the first things you learn in driving class is to keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel. That is easier said then done these days, with increasingly functional mapping apps and digital displays getting in the way. To help with that, Google Assistant is heading to the Waze navigation app, Google announced on Monday. Google acquired Waze back in 2013 for $1.3 billion, and it continues to operate independently of Google Maps. Over the years, however, Google has ported several of Waze's features over to its own home-brewed maps app. On occasion, some of the features in Google Maps have also found their way over to Waze. The latter is the case here, at least technically—Google...
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Following an investigation into a fatal crash involving a Tesla Model 3 and a semi-truck, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined that the autopilot feature in the Model 3 was in fact engaged at the time of the accident. Interestingly, the Model 3 was traveling 68 miles per hour in a 55 MPH zone on US 441 in Delray Beach, Florida. The southbound highway where the accident happened consists of two lanes, with two more lanes going northbound, separated by a grass median. There is also a turn lane that heads into a private driveway where the accident occurred. "As the Tesla approached the private driveway, the combination vehicle pulled from the driveway and traveled east...
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Huawei is off to a good start in 2019, in terms of its overall business. The Chinese telecommunications company generated 179.7 billion Chinese Yuan (around $26.7 billion in US currency) in revenue during the first quarter, which represents a 39 percent year-over-year increase, resulting in an 8 percent jump in profits (slightly higher than last year). Those figures are not terribly surprising, since Huawei is the biggest smartphone maker in China. However, the company's financial success is noteworthy considering the war of words it finds itself in with the US government, amid repeated attempts to expand its business on US soil. Just last week, for example, the US Central Intelligence Agency...
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When I was younger—a lot younger—it seemed we were headed towards a future where flying cars would be the norm, a thought no doubt influenced by television (The Jetsons comes immediately to mind). That probably won't come to pass in my lifetime, though the widespread use of autonomous vehicles might. Several companies are invested in self-driving cars, including Apple, which not surprisingly is hoping to build the necessary technology in-house if a supplier doesn't step to the plate with an attractive offer. We've seen this play out with Apple in the mobile phone space, with the company designing its own custom Bionic processors for its iPhone family. Granted, those chips are based...
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