service Archives | AutoDepot

Report: Google invests $250M in Uber ride-share service

Filed under: Technology

The number of people who haven’t yet heard of the transportation/technology startup Uber is shrinking by the minute. Uber produces a mobile application that is used to connect passengers with drivers of vehicles for hire, typically luxury vehicles – kind of a high-tech, high-zoot taxi calling service.

Use of the app may be spreading gospel of Uber within urban centers, but the company is also generating tremendous buzz for sourcing massive investment, including a reported $250 million sourced from Google Ventures. Google’s quarter-billion makes up the better part of a $360-million investment round, with a resultant company valuation set at a staggering $3.5 billion.

So, what does Google, famous researcher into autonomous car technology, want with Uber’s popular ride-sharing software? Our wandering minds immediately leap to fantasies about driverless limousines and taxis as a logical next step. And, while that type of service might be possible down the road, a recent article from Forbes indicates that the road in question is a long one.

The reality may be a bit less theatrical than robot cabs, but is interesting nevertheless. Forbes believes that Google likes the concept of repurposing Uber tech to work with its own blooming Google Shopping Express play in the near term, along with all kinds of on-demand delivery in the not-distant future. The core idea of Shopping Express is to create a near-seamless way to go from a one-click purchase on your laptop to the knock of a delivery driver at your front door. Imagine combining the depth of Amazon’s shopping experience with the instant gratification of ordering Chinese food, and you get the idea. Google would seem to believe that Uber’s app, technology, and engineer brains are a fast step forward in that direction.

Google invests $250M in Uber ride-share service originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 23 Aug 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Report: Google invests $250M in Uber ride-share service”

Video: Mercedes celebrates its service departments with ill-advised anthem

Filed under: Videos, Mercedes-Benz

Worker anthems are always dicey (Exhibit A: the Hyundai Steel song), focused as they are on ideologies and products that usually don’t register beyond the bounds of the factory floor and burdened with dirge-like tunes and queerly reverential lyrics. Mercedes-Benz created a peppy tribute to its service department workers called Your Best that avoids the morass of the dirge but doubles down on the queer lyrics. Thanks to it being on YouTube, it also comes with imagery that is the closest we think we’ve ever come to service department erotica.

As far as we can tell the song is from the standpoint of a Mercedes trilling hosannas to company wrenches. The taste of the lyrics above should tell you all you need in order to hit the ‘play’ button, but if you need more, two lines later comes “I don’t like when they hit the brakes, want them to keep up with my speed.”

Alrighty then. You’ll find the short version and the five-minute version (!) below.

Continue reading Mercedes celebrates its service departments with ill-advised anthem

Mercedes celebrates its service departments with ill-advised anthem originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 28 Jul 2013 19:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Video: Mercedes celebrates its service departments with ill-advised anthem”

2012 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Estate called into service as F1 medical car

Filed under: Motorsports, Wagon, Mercedes-Benz, Police/Emergency, Racing

2012 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Estate F1 Medical Car

2012 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Estate F1 Medical Car – Click above for high-res image gallery

When Mercedes-Benz unveiled the updated 2012 C63 AMG Estate at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month, we saw a super-hot revision of Merc’s power wagon – complete with the 6.2-liter V8 and all the trimmings of the old model, but with a new front fascia and Speedshift MCT transmission. The version that will debut in Australia this weekend, however, adds emergency lights, four individual bucket seats with six-point harnesses, two integrated dashboard monitors, a communications radio and a boot full of emergency medical equipment. That’s because this isn’t an ordinary C63 – this is F1’s new medic car.

Joining the SLS AMG that acts as safety car and replacing the old C63 wagon that served in this capacity previously, the new C63 AMG Estate Medical Car will debut at this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix to kick off the 2011 Formula 1 World Championship (after the Bahrain round was canceled due to civil unrest).

The specially prepared wagon is otherwise stock, comes with the optional performance package for increased output and will sit on standby in case of a severe crash. We love seeing the C63 wagon speeding around the track, but in this case, we hope it stays put. See the medical hotness for yourself in the high-res image gallery below, and follow the jump for Mercedes-Benz’s official press release.

Gallery: 2012 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Estate F1 Medical Car

[Source: Mercedes-Benz]

Continue reading 2012 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Estate called into service as F1 medical car

2012 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Estate called into service as F1 medical car originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “2012 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Estate called into service as F1 medical car”

T-Mobile tapped for Audi Connect service, LTE not coming until 2015

Filed under: Technology, Audi, Luxury

2012 Audi A7

2012 Audi A7 – Click above for high-res image gallery

Audi has announced that T-Mobile will supply wireless data for its growing line of net-connected vehicles, allowing drivers to access a range of Audi Connect services on the go. That’s the good news. And there’s a bit more.

The service will debut on the 2012 Audi A7 (with integration for the 2012 A8, A6, Q7 and Q5 Hybrid coming later) and allow drivers to access Google Local Search and Sirius Traffic data, which combined with voice-controlled Google Earth integration will provide drivers with topographical and satellite imagery – the first of its kind in the industry.

Other services include real-time news, weather data and fuel prices, and if your passengers have a WiFi-capable device, Audi Connect will turn the vehicle into a secure, rolling hotspot. All of this will be accessed directly through Audi’s MMI control system, with a T-Mobile sim card provided by the dealer, plugged into the dash and owners given a six-month trial period for the service. After that, you’ll have to sign up for a monthly plan, which Audi and T-Mobile have yet to announce pricing for. So… all good stuff. Now for the bad news.

Markus Putze, VW/Audi’s Senior Engineer on the program, told Autoblog from the CTIA Wireless show that Audi’s much-hyped implementation of 4G LTE connectivity won’t be coming anytime soon. “There are no automotive grade [LTE] modules available at this time,” says Putze, and because of that, integration of high-speed wireless broadband into Audi’s lineup isn’t due to arrive until 2015. At the earliest.

And before the naysayers jump in and say T-Mobile already offers 4G, we’ll stop you right there. According to the definition provided by the International Telecommunication Union, T-Mobile’s HSPA+ system doesn’t provide the speeds necessary to be defined as 4G – that’s at least 100 Mbps down and T-Mobile’s “4G” service only clocks in at 12 Mbps.

However, the agreement between Audi and T-Mobile is set for a minimum of eight years – plenty of time for the carrier to roll out its own real 4G LTE network – and if the deal with AT&T goes through (at least nine months to a year away), that could escalate the development of the service.

Gallery: Audi A7

Continue reading T-Mobile tapped for Audi Connect service, LTE not coming until 2015

T-Mobile tapped for Audi Connect service, LTE not coming until 2015 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “T-Mobile tapped for Audi Connect service, LTE not coming until 2015”

Report: CA court rejects class action suit against Toyota over service contracts

Filed under: Government/Legal, Toyota

The California court system has found that Toyota Motor Insurance Services does not violate the state’s consumer warranty law. According to Automotive News, a court of appeal found that the contracts offer enough services outside of the factory warranty to be considered legal. Toyota was originally sued after Weber DeSiqueira purchased a then-new 2007 Tundra. At the time, the vehicle came with a three-year, 36,000 mile warranty, but DeSiqueira also laid down $1,145 for a Toyota Extra Care Vehicle Service Agreement. The lawsuit alleged that the service agreement covered the same items as the factory, putting the Japanese automaker in violation of the California warranty law.

But a Los Angeles judge dismissed the case without allowing it to go to trial. DeSiqueira appealed, and a three-judge panel unanimously decided that the automaker’s service agreement and the factory warranty are not identical. The plaintiff sought damages and retribution in the form of a refund for the price of the service agreement for himself and other car buyers who had opted into the program.

Despite the fact that the appeals court effectively scuttled Desiqueira’s lawsuit, one judge did suggest that the consumer may have a legitimate claim that Toyota engages in deceptive sales practices by leading buyers to believe that the service agreement offers greater protection than it actually does.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req]

Report: CA court rejects class action suit against Toyota over service contracts originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 17:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Report: CA court rejects class action suit against Toyota over service contracts”

Could the U.S. Postal Service fleet be outfitted like Google Street View?

Filed under: Etc., Technology

US Postal Service

The U.S. Post Office is having a rough run of things. With expenses increasing at every corner, our nation’s mail system is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Needless to say, the institution is currently looking into extra ways to rake in cash that doesn’t involve hiking the price of stamps. Michael Ravnitzky, Counsel to the Chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission, has come up with a pretty clever plan that could turn postal vehicles into high-tech havens capable of pulling down information on everything from weather and air pollution to road conditions and public safety.

The premise is simple: slap a cheap set of data recording equipment on the roof of each mail truck and then sell the collected data to interested parties. The trucks could be calibrated to warn of biological or radiological attacks to alert the defense department or simply provide a larger sample group for meteorological study. The post office could even lease space on its vehicles for whatever sort of data collection equipment government agencies or private entities could dream up, and Ravnitzky says that it could even be used to fill in blank spots in cell phone coverage. Of course, the likelihood of this coming to fruition seems pretty slim. After all, this is the federal government we’re talking about…

[Source: The New York Times | Image: Joe Raedle/Getty Images]

Could the U.S. Postal Service fleet be outfitted like Google Street View? originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 20 Dec 2010 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Could the U.S. Postal Service fleet be outfitted like Google Street View?”

2011 Kia Optima receives service bulletin for accelerator pedals

Filed under: Sedan, Recalls, Safety, Kia

2011 Kia Optima

2011 Kia Optima – Click above for high-res image gallery

That was quick. Kia has issued a service bulletin asking its dealers to check the operation of the accelerator pedal on all-new 2011 Optima models that are just now arriving at dealerships across the country. According to Consumer Reports, workers are to press and release the pedal 25 to 30 times to listen for noisy operation and anything that would indicate unsatisfactory pedal feel. If either problems surface, Kia will replace the pieces under warranty free of charge. As of right now, it’s unclear whether sticking pedals instigated the service bulletin or some other fault prompted the Korean automaker to issue the service bulletin.

Keep in mind that a service bulletin differs from a recall in several ways; most notably, recalls are government mandated and require automakers to alert consumers. Service bulletins are voluntary and typically just go out to dealers. Since the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration isn’t forcing Kia’s hand, we’re guessing that there isn’t any danger to consumers. Models impacted by the bulletin were built between October 16th and November 24th of this year.

Gallery: 2011 Kia Optima: First Drive

[Source: Consumer Reports]

2011 Kia Optima receives service bulletin for accelerator pedals originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 13:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “2011 Kia Optima receives service bulletin for accelerator pedals”

Mercedes-Benz updates Mbrace app with ‘Concierge’ service

Filed under: Technology, Mercedes-Benz, Luxury

mercedes-benz mbrace Mercedes-Benz and its partners at Hughes Telematics have released an updated version of its Mbrace app for the iPhone, and 2.0 brings along a new line of location-based services.

In addition to the usual array of safety and convenience features (locking and unlocking doors, finding the Benz in a parking lot, etc.), the app now includes Mercedes-Benz’ Concierge service which can pull down everything from driving directions and traffic updates to movie times and restaurant listings and then ports them directly into the navigation system. The Roadside Assistance program has also undergone a rework and Mbrace Plus subscribers can download it now from the App Store. Full details in the press blast below the fold.

[Source: Mercedes-Benz]

Continue reading Mercedes-Benz updates Mbrace app with ‘Concierge’ service

Mercedes-Benz updates Mbrace app with ‘Concierge’ service originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Mercedes-Benz updates Mbrace app with ‘Concierge’ service”