Items tagged with vehicles
Volkswagen has taken a beating in the U.S. market after it was discovered years ago that the automaker was purposely cheating with software designed to help its popular diesel cars pass emissions testing. VW is trying to put that behind it and get Americans interested in its cars again. A new concept called the Atlas Tanoak has debuted at the New York International Auto Show and with the market for mid-size trucks being so hot right now this could be exactly what VW needs to woo American buyers. VW says that the Atlas Tanoak gets its name from a species of tree that is native to the Pacific Coast of the U.S. and can grow up to 135-feet high. The Tanoak is the first pickup that is based on the...
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Porsche is set to unveil the 2019 911 GT3 RS at the Geneva Motor Show next month and ahead of that official unveil the German automaker has given up details and images of the car. It's awesome, to say the least. The 2019 911 GT3 RS is a naturally aspirated car meant to tear up the street and the race track -- and it no doubt carries a hefty price of $188,550 including destination. That much money gets you revised styling inside and out compared to the previous model and a 4.0L flat-six that makes 520hp, a bump of 20hp compared to the 2018 version. Porsche also massaged more torque out of the engine the car uses with 346 lb-ft, a bump of 8 lb-ft compared to the outgoing model. Porsche gave the...
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Few things will force a smile the way a throaty V8 engine will when revving it even just in neutral, but the downside to muscle cars and sporty vehicles such as the Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 and Chevrolet Corvette Z06 is gas mileage. Best case scenario is twenty-something miles per gallon. Compare that to Toyota's 2016 model Prius, which goes farther on a gallon of gas than any vehicle Consumer Reports has ever tested.The new model Prius averaged 52 MPG during testing, besting the record held by Honda Insight's 51 MPG set all the way back in 2000 when a gallon of gas ran in the neighborhood of $1.50. A year prior, gas prices averaged $1.14 per gallon, according to AAA. Given that gas prices continued...
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Hopping in a vehicle today to get from point A to point B? Realize this: we're currently in the midst of an uptick in vehicle-related deaths, so it's never been more important to be cautious and keep your eyes on other drivers. This past week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released a report that sums up the first 9 months of 2015 in traffic deaths, and the trend is a little disconcerting. It's found that in the first three quarters between 2014 and 2015, the number of deaths rose 9.3%, and in particular, the growth in the third quarter alone (versus the previous third quarter) is 11.3%. Current estimates put the first three quarters of 2015 at 26,000 deaths, and if that average...
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We already know that Google is invested in autonomous vehicles, but what about Apple? It was reported this past summer that Apple's Special Project group met with officials at GoMentum Station, a 2,100 acre former navel base in San Francisco thought to now be a secure testing ground for new vehicles. Now word is spreading that Apple executives recently shared plans for a self-driving car with officials from California's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).Both reports originate from The Guardian with this latest one based on documents obtained by one of its staffers. According to said documents, one of Apple's senior legal counsels met with several key individuals working at the DMV, two of which...
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Is there anything scarier than the thought of a hacker remotely taking control of your vehicle's steering and braking functions as you barrel down the highway? Well sure, being eaten alive by flesh eating zombies like an episode of The Walking Dead would cause most people to soil their undergarments, but losing control of your vehicle certainly ranks right up there. And unlike the zombie scenario, these remote vehicle hacks are really happening. The newest threat is an exploit that exists in car infotainment systems that could allow an attacker to take complete control of a vehicle's brakes and other functions. It was discovered by NCC Group, a U.K.-based firm that demonstrated part of its scary...
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It's a pretty big deal that Ford is mass producing carbon fiber wheels for its Shelby GT350R Mustang. How so? For one, never before has a major automobile manufacturer offered carbon fiber wheels as standard equipment -- you'd have to enter the supercar scene, where only Koenigsegg has offered optional carbon fiber wheels. And secondly, there's actual rocket science involved. We're not making that up. Ford provided some details on its carbon fiber wheels, which involves using a plasma arc gun to liquefy a ceramic material. This is then sprayed on the front wheels. Critical points around the inner wheel barrel and on the back spokes are coated to provide thermal protection from brake...
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Google this week confirmed plans to take its autonomous car project into new territory to see how its self-driving cars handle and react to different challenges than the ones they've already been exposed to. The new location is Austin, Texas, an area that's been friendly to Google's projects, such as its fiber Internet and TV service. Testing has already begun in Austin with a single white Lexus RX 450h SUV. Unlike California and other states that have laws on the books for self-driving vehicles, Austin and Texas as a whole have no such regulations regarding autonomous vehicles, meaning Google didn't have to get permission to begin tests. Even so, Google gave a heads up to Governor Greg Abbot,...
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The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has grown tired of waiting on future technologies to help curb the dangers of distracted driving and is recommending that currently available collision avoidance systems be a standard feature on all new passenger and commercial vehicles. From the NTSB's standpoint, consumers don't pay extra for seatbelts, nor should they be charged for technology that can help prevent an accident from occurring in the first place. NTSB's recommendation is part of a special report that was issued this week. In it, the government organization points out that rear-end crashes claim 1,700 lives each and every year, while injuring half a million more. It's estimated...
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The automobile industry is changing right before our very eyes. We have companies like Chevrolet building insanely powerful modern-day muscle cars; Ford and others getting fancy with newfangled technology integrations; Tesla pushing new and used sales of electric vehicles; and of course companies like Google ready to hit the road with self-driving cars. Take your pick on which is the most interesting, but if you ask Nissan, the company might tell you that autonomous technology is where it's at.More than just a passing interest from the sidelines, Nissan's Chief Executive Office Carlo Ghosn indicated today that his company will have autonomous cars ready for the road by 2020, according to the...
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Summer is fast approaching, and that means swimming pools, backyard barbeques, vacations, and self-driving cars. Wait, what? That last one is being added to the list as Google gears up to unleash a few of the prototype autonomous vehicles it's been testing onto public roads in Mountain View, California, where the search is headquartered. Safety drivers will be inside the self-driving vehicles, and each prototype car is capped 25 miles per hour, a speed that Google calls "neighborhood friendly." Whether that brings you comfort or not depends on how you feel about self-driving vehicles and recent reports regarding the safety of these machines. Earlier this week, the Associated Press brought to...
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There was a lot of buzz in the media yesterday when it was revealed that four of the 50 self-driving cars deployed in California had been involved in accidents since hitting the streets last September. Three of those automobiles were using sensors provided by Google, though only two of the four accidents occurred when the self-driving cars were in control. None of the accidents were the fault of the self-driving cars or their drivers, though the lack of details made available to the public didn't sit well with those keeping a close eye on the program. To set the record straight, Chris Urmson, director of Google's self-driving car program, posted an informative article about what Google's learned...
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Google and others are investing in a future where automobiles are fully automated, getting us from point A to point B on their own. We're at a very early stage in what could be a revolution in the auto industry, though it doesn't bode well that around 8 percent of the self-driving cars motoring around California have been involved in accidents in the past six months.There are nearly 50 self-driving vehicles deployed in California. The state issued permits for companies to test them on public roads back in September, and of those vehicles being evaluated, four of them have been in accidents. Two of those occurred when the cars when in control, while the other two happened when a person was driving...
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As wearable tech concepts go, the idea of a "smart helmet' — a motorcycle helmet equipped to deliver usable information to its wearer via heads-up visuals projected onto the visor, such as GPS data — really is quite smart, allowing riders to keep their eyes on the road. And even smarter? Configuring said helmet to respond to voice commands, allowing riders to keep their hands firmly on the handlebars. So all of this considered, the LiveMap helmet is indeed one wicked smart piece of wearable tech. The brainchild of a group of Russian engineers, the lightweight Android-based LiveMap helmet is fitted with GPS and voice controls, developed with a $250,000 grant by the Russian Ministry of Science...
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Word to the wise -- you may want to cover your keyboard with some plastic wrap or other protective layer before reading on, lest you short it out with your drool. It's hard not to work up a slobber when reading about Audi's forthcoming R8 Competition, a limited edition supercar of sorts that was shown off at the 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show. Only 60 of these audacious automobiles will make it into the U.S. Each one will sport a 5.2-liter V10 engine that's been finely tuned and tweaked to deliver a remarkable 570 horsepower, which is enough to go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in a mere 3.2 seconds and hit a top speed of 199MPH. Performance is aided by a seven-speed, dual clutch S Tronic gearbox, sport...
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By now you've likely already heard that actor Paul Walker perished in a car accident over the holiday weekend. On the off chance this is the first you're hearing about it, a quick recap is that Walker went on a joyride with his friend and financial adviser, Roger Rodas, while attending a charity event for Walker's organization Reach Out Worldwide. The 'Fast And Furious' star was a passenger in his red Porsche Carrera GT, while Rodas, a former race car driver, manned the wheel. Speed was obviously a factor, as pictures from the scene show the car was nearly ripped in half by a tree before a fire reduced the vehicle to a smoldering pile of ash. Both Walker and Rodas died, though it's unclear if...
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Cars have already learned how to drive themselves courtesy of Google, and now Toyota is testing a technology that will allow automobiles to communicate with one another. Does anyone else see this as a possible premise for a sci-fi movie, one in which tons of steel and metal rise up against mankind? Perhaps Michael Bay can direct the flick. Lest we get carried away, Toyota isn't grooming vehicles into becoming sentient beings. The idea is to make driving safer by outfitting vehicles with sensors that allow them to send and receive data to transmitters installed on streets, using that information to avoid potential accidents. If a car is about to miss a red light, an electronic voice will alert...
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Could the choice of font used in your vehicle's front dash kill you? Potentially yes, say researchers. That sort of claim is going to require some explanation, so let's hop - err, drive - to it. The conclusion was reached thanks to the joint study conducted by AgeLab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Monotype Imaging Holding Inc., a typeface vendor. The goal was to see if certain fonts could require more time than others to read and comprehend. The test utilized two different typefaces - one, a flat, "grotesque" font, the other more "humanist". I admit that I figured the "grotesque" font would be easier to read given its clean lines, but that wasn't the conclusion reached. Instead,...
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Comedians often make cracks at banks for including Braille on drive-through ATMs (there are number of valid reasons why they do this), but given the progress made by researchers at The National Federation of the Blind and Virginia Tech, don't assume that the driver in front of you isn't actually visually impaired. While it may seem an unlikely scenario, the researchers are ever closer to developing a car for the blind, and in fact plan to demonstrate a prototype vehicle next year that will help those who can't see be able to drive. That's because it will come equipped with technology called "nonvisual interfaces," which use sensors to help a blind driver weave in and out of traffic and other...
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