Category: Auto Industry

Report: Connected vehicle test granted another six months

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety, Technology

Vehicles equipped with dedicated short range communication systems, which features vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications.

The Department of Transportation and eight major automakers have spent a year testing vehicles equipped with dedicated short range communication (DSRC) systems in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but they have decided to extend the test for another six months, Automotive News reports.

With a focus on safety, DSRC is meant to reduce collisions using wifi-based vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication systems, which can alert drivers to red-light runners, blind intersections, vehicles in their blind spots, etc. DSRC-equipped vehicles have a multitude of alarms to alert drivers to danger, such as sirens, flashing lights or vibrating steering wheels or seats. The tests will help the DOT determine if the technology is ready for production, or if more research needs to be done.

As part of the test extension, the DOT and automakers will focus more heavily on DSRC with motorcycles and V2I communication. It is not mentioned which, if any, motorcycle manufacturers will be involved in the test. The DOT says that the six-month extension does not affect its plan to decide on the technology for light vehicles by the end of 2013, and heavy duty vehicles in 2014.

The test started last August with a fleet of nearly 3,000 vehicles from Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen. The automakers came together to develop a standardized DSRC system through a group called the Crash Avoidance Metrics Partnership.

Connected vehicle test granted another six months originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 01 Sep 2013 10:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Dashcam captures Taiwanese motorist escaping mudslide, Indiana Jones-sized boulder

Filed under: China, Videos

mudslide and boulder in taiwan

Talk about a close call! During a recent rainstorm in Taiwan’s Badouzi Coastal Park, a mudslide and accompanying colossal boulder nearly flattened a car on the roadway below. Fortunately for everyone involved, the iceberg-sized rock stops just short of the car and its very lucky occupants (hey, maybe they should play the lottery).

Fortunately for us, the whole incident was captured on another driver’s dash cam, making for one insane video clip. Check out the full video below for this disaster movie scene come-to-life, and as ThisIsColossal points out, pay special attention to the mountain peak at 00:03 to see the boulder begin its descent.

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Dashcam captures Taiwanese motorist escaping mudslide, Indiana Jones-sized boulder originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 01 Sep 2013 08:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Dashcam captures Taiwanese motorist escaping mudslide, Indiana Jones-sized boulder

Filed under: China, Videos

mudslide and boulder in taiwan

Talk about a close call! During a recent rainstorm in Taiwan’s Badouzi Coastal Park, a mudslide and accompanying colossal boulder nearly flattened a car on the roadway below. Fortunately for everyone involved, the iceberg-sized rock stops just short of the car and its very lucky occupants (hey, maybe they should play the lottery).

Fortunately for us, the whole incident was captured on another driver’s dash cam, making for one insane video clip. Check out the full video below for this disaster movie scene come-to-life, and as ThisIsColossal points out, pay special attention to the mountain peak at 00:03 to see the boulder begin its descent.

Continue reading Dashcam captures Taiwanese motorist escaping mudslide, Indiana Jones-sized boulder

Dashcam captures Taiwanese motorist escaping mudslide, Indiana Jones-sized boulder originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 01 Sep 2013 08:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Leno steals Porsche 918 from The Quail for latest Garage episode

Filed under: Coupe, Hybrid, Performance, Videos, Porsche, Misc. Auto Shows, Celebrities

Jay Leno's Garage drives the 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder

Just because he’s a famous celebrity doesn’t mean Jay Leno got to take it easy at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance earlier this month. Having already spent some time with the gorgeous Cadillac Elmiraj Concept and Ed Welburn for a recent episode of Jay Leno’s Garage, the late night talk show host also got to put a few miles on a prototype version of the Porsche 918 Spyder.

Like a usual episode of JLG, Leno first goes over the details of the car with Frank Walliser, head of the 918 Spyder’s development, before taking it out for spin. Check out the full episode, which is posted below, to hear what Walliser has to say about the car. More importantly, though, crank up your computer’s volume and let the car’s high-revving engine and amazing exhaust note do plenty of talking for itself.

Continue reading Leno steals Porsche 918 from The Quail for latest Garage episode

Leno steals Porsche 918 from The Quail for latest Garage episode originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 31 Aug 2013 19:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ETC: MO-TO wooden cars are begging for a spot on your desk [w/video]

Filed under: Classics, Videos, Toys/Games

MO-TO toy cars cop car

Normally when we report on promising crowd-funding projects, we’re writing about things and ideas that we’d like to see come to life. In the case of this new MO-TO wooden toy car collection from Candylab Toys, however, the online world has already voted loudly that the product should come to market. With close to 900 backers raising about $52,000 more than the Kickstarter goal of twenty grand, MO-TO designers Vlad and Florin seem to have a small hit on their hands.

One browse through the MO-TO promo page, and we can see why. The wooden cars may seem to be children’s toys in some of the images, but the forms inspired by muscle cars of the 1970s are destined for the office shelves and desks of car guys everywhere.

Beechwood bodies coated in glossy, high-contrast paint; rubber tires on white wheels; and long, low proportions all make the MO-TO cars pretty slick to look at. The Police Cruiser model is straight out of central casting and likely to be a favorite, but our hearts swoon for the fastback shape of the Rare Bird MOPAR tribute car. A $25 special model has long since sold out, but you can still get into the specially marked Kickstarter cars for $30 (not an outrageous price in the “heirloom quality” world of toys). Scroll below to see more in the MO-TO video.

Continue reading MO-TO wooden cars are begging for a spot on your desk [w/video]

MO-TO wooden cars are begging for a spot on your desk [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 31 Aug 2013 16:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MIT: vehicle emissions cause 53,000 extra deaths a year

Filed under: Etc., EV/Plug-in, MPG, USA

Winter Weather

53,000 early deaths are attributed to exhaust from cars and trucks, annually.

And now for some not-so-uplifting news for your Labor Day weekend, especially if it involves a long road trip. Emissions from electric-power generation, industrial operations, commercial and residential sources and transportation (road, marine and rail) sources cause about 200,000 premature deaths in the US each year, Green Car Congress says, citing a study from MIT’s Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment. The key point for us in the automotive world: road transportation alone accounts for “53,000 early deaths per year attributed to exhaust from the tailpipes of cars and trucks.” EV advocates shouldn’t gloat too much, as early deaths from electricity generation came in at 52,000, mostly in the Midwest where coal is still the main source of juice. The data MIT used came from the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Emissions Inventory from 2005, the most recent available.

MIT somehow calculates that pollution-related deaths essentially occur about a decade before that person would’ve otherwise passed away. As far as geography is concerned, California alone accounts for about 21,000 of those 200,000 premature deaths, and fans of The Wire might be interested to know that Baltimore is the US city with the highest number of emissions-related deaths per capita. Amid all this negativity, there is some good news. Pollution-related deaths from rail operations were “relatively slight.” So we have that going for us.

MIT: vehicle emissions cause 53,000 extra deaths a year originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Sat, 31 Aug 2013 14:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Jaguar XJ220 hooned remotely by a kid

Filed under: Classics, Coupe, Performance, Videos, Jaguar

Tax the Rich is at it again, this time hooning a Jaguar XJ220 over some unforgiving terrain.

The Tax the Rich crew has a knack for indulging in automotive fantasies and capturing it all on video, such as a tug-of-war battle between two Ferrari F50s, drifting a Ferrari Enzo on gravel roads and even powersliding a Rolls-Royce Phantom on a field of wet grass. This latest video features a Jaguar XJ220 and a kid with an iPad, who somehow is able to control the old supercar with the Apple product.

No, there’s no app for that (yet), and we lied – the boy isn’t actually controlling the car – but it sure is nice to see the XJ220 in all its turbocharged, six-cylinder glory doing donuts and sliding across a grassy field. It jolts us to see the old Jaguar – capable of 217 miles per hour and once described by Jeremy Clarkson as having no brakes and massive turbo lag – thrown about like a rally car, but then we never imagined anybody would abuse a Rolls-Royce like that either. We’ll continue to leave the high-stakes antics to Tax the Rich – we’re just glad somebody had the guts to behave so badly in such a valuable machine. What else were they made for?

Be sure to check out the video below, if you have a pulse.

Continue reading Jaguar XJ220 hooned remotely by a kid

Jaguar XJ220 hooned remotely by a kid originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 31 Aug 2013 12:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Study: US faces constant Labor Day-like traffic in coming decades

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety

US map of future traffic congestion

With Labor Day weekend upon our American readers, many of you have probably loaded up your vehicles for the last road trip of the summer. But with Labor Day weekend comes traffic. Lots and lots of traffic. And while the Labor Day scrum is generally as bad as things get for the year, a study by the US Travel Association reports that a number of freeways across the country are in danger of heavily increased traffic levels becoming the new normal.

As originally reported on The Car Connection, Americans may be driving less, but the number of cars on our roads is outpacing that decline, which in turn places greater stress on the interstate network. Take Interstate 96, the freeway that runs from downtown Detroit to Grand Rapids, as an example. The only major cities on that east-west road, besides its termini, is the state capital, Lansing. But during Labor Day weekend, its traffic volume increases 154 percent. The USTA warns that unless a project is started quickly, the increased traffic flow will become the norm by 2030.

The USTA also analyzed 15 other major interstates, including three different stretches of I-95 on the country’s east coast, I-5 between Los Angeles and San Diego, I-45 between Dallas and Houston and I-15 between southern California and Las Vegas. Each route was at risk of anywhere from 117- to 159-percent increases in traffic flow by 2040. See the map above for more examples.

All of that sounds pretty daunting, but we also have to wonder if advances in vehicle-to-vehicle communications and autonomous technology over the same period will go a long way toward increasing average traffic speeds by greatly reducing accidents while safely increasing traffic density through platooning.

Either way, scroll down to take a look at the complete study.

Continue reading US faces constant Labor Day-like traffic in coming decades

US faces constant Labor Day-like traffic in coming decades originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 31 Aug 2013 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorsports: FIA gears up to launch new Formula 4 championships worldwide

Filed under: Motorsports, Racing

Dallara F4

Formula One may get all the glory – and rightfully so – but it’s not the only racing formula out there. There are many steps along the motorsports ladder, but they’re all run by different authorities and under different names. There’s GP2, GP3, Formula Three, Auto GP, Formula Renault, Formula Ford, Formula BMW, Formula Vee… the list goes on, and leaves some rungs missing on the ladder up to the big leagues in some countries. But Gerhard Berger is keen on fixing that. The former F1 driver – winner of ten grands prix for teams like Ferrari, McLaren and Benetton – serves as the president of the FIA’s Single-Seater Commission, and he’s out to launch a new class of Formula 4 around the world. The idea is to provide a stepping stone between karting and Formula 3, which is too expensive for many would-be racers to get into without the sponsorship that can be attracted in lower formulae.

Rather than launch the new FIA F4 category as one unified series, with one engine and one chassis, the idea is to make it as diverse as possible. Individual countries are being encouraged to run their own F4 championship, yet each can choose its own engine supplier (conforming to a common 1.6-liter, 150-horsepower standard) and different chassis suppliers are being invited to participate.

One of them is Dallara, the Italian chassis constructor that makes race cars for numerous other single-seater series, including IndyCar and the FIA’s new Formula E series. Dallara has given little in the way of details about the new design, but it looks to incorporate a comprehensive aero package including front and rear wings and underbody ground effects.The FIA is calling for carbon-fiber construction to keep things light, strong and safe. Similar to its F3 chassis, however, Dallara plans on adapting the new F4 platform to accommodate different engine installations, including a possible hybrid version, for whatever power the individual national series organizers choose.

Dallara expects to launch the new car next spring, when it will have to compete with other chassis constructors as well on racetracks around the world. In addition to launching new series in some countries, Berger and company are looking to bring into the fold existing championships like Germany’s ADAC Formel Masters, France’s Signatech Formula 4, Italy’s Formula Abarth and Britain’s Formula Ford – many of which already have their own constructors in place.

Continue reading FIA gears up to launch new Formula 4 championships worldwide

FIA gears up to launch new Formula 4 championships worldwide originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 31 Aug 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Driving the million-mile Porsche 356

Filed under: Classics, Coupe, Performance, Videos, Porsche, Luxury

Petrolicious makes a video about a man with a million-mile Porsche.

Maybe you’ve seen or heard about the Porsche 356 with almost one-million miles (though it doesn’t look like it), but Petrolicious finally has produced a video to show us what it’s like to drive the 982,000-mile car. Guy Newmark’s beautiful, dark-blue 1964 356C looks great in motion – much better than in photos – and serves to remind us not only what meticulous car care can do for old classics, but that old Porsches were built to last.

So how fastidious is Newmark about maintaining it? He takes the car to his mechanic of 40 years every 3,000 miles for an oil change and to fix anything that needs attention.

Newmark says his 356 “is everything you could want,” and that he finds errands to do just to go drive it. We would, too. The next-best thing is to watch the inspiring video below of the well-traveled Porsche.

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Driving the million-mile Porsche 356 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Aug 2013 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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