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Video: Ford engineer builds haptic shift knob with 3D printer, Xbox controller

Filed under: Etc., Technology, Videos

Ford's haptic vibrating manual gearshift knob

Vehicles with manual transmissions have been equipped with shift indicators (illuminated or audible) for decades. While some are used to improve performance, most are designed to encourage more fuel-efficient driving. Regardless of the original objective, nearly all drivers become desensitized or learn to ignore the illuminated lights and arrows after just a few short hours behind the wheel.

Enter Zachary Nelson, a recent MIT graduate and an engineer with Ford. Working at the automaker’s Research and Innovation Center in Dearborn, Michigan, Nelson devised a haptic shift knob that vibrates when it’s time to select another gear. “I wanted to create something that expands the car’s capabilities and improves the experience for the driver,” said Nelson. “I decided to use OpenXC to provide a new kind of feedback for the driver through the shift knob.”

The process, greatly simplified, has the vehicle transmitting data wirelessly from its on-board diagnostics (OBD) port using a Bluetooth OpenXC adapter. The knob uses the innards of a Microsoft Xbox 360 controller for vibration. “I decided to have a little fun with it and installed an LED display on top that shows the gear position and colored lights that glow from inside at night similar to the ambient lighting in Mustang,” adds Nelson.

Overall, it’s a rather fascinating idea that you can check out in the video below. The software-driven haptic shift knob allows the driver to keep their eyes on the road, while the vibration can be set to alert one of many different parameters, including optimal fuel efficiency, quickest acceleration, maximum torque, redline shifting and so on, giving it many different uses.

Continue reading Ford engineer builds haptic shift knob with 3D printer, Xbox controller

Ford engineer builds haptic shift knob with 3D printer, Xbox controller originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 29 Jul 2013 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Adorable Russian toddler knows her cars

Filed under: Etc., Videos, Humor, Russia

Russian toddler names car brands - video screencap

This Russian two year old is sharp as a tack when it comes to knowing her car brands. Over the course of this video, she names nearly every brand she passes; impressive when there are plenty of adults who don’t know an Audi from a Nissan. Another thing that’s clear from the video, Mazda, BMW (all in a row!) and Hyundai are pretty popular brands in this little automotive whiz-kid’s neighborhood.

Check out the video below for nearly three and a half minutes of full-on “awwwwww” – it’s a welcome dose of cute from the land whose car culture is too often associated with wacky and/or ghastly dashcam videos.

Continue reading Adorable Russian toddler knows her cars

Adorable Russian toddler knows her cars originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 29 Jul 2013 12:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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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.

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Video: World’s Most Expensive Motorcycle has frame made from gold

Filed under: Videos, Motorcycle, Design/Style

World's most expensive motorcycle?

This motorcycle embraces two very different dynamics. On the one hand, it’s quite possibly the most expensive motorcycle ever built, with some experts speculating that the frame alone is worth $1 million. On the other hand, it looks old and beaten up, like a steampunk MadMax.

Designed by an extremely wealthy Turkish motorcycle fan, Tarhan Telli, the basics are include an 1801cc V-Twin with 125 horsepower, a six-speed transmission and a 700-pound curb weight. But what makes it special, aside from the frame that’s made entirely from gold, is the artistry. As Motorcycle explains, Telli wanted high-end materials, like the gold, but wasn’t looking for something shouty, opting for worn materials with interesting patinas. So, basically, he commissioned a bike with a frame made from gold, but didn’t want it to be too loud, so he went to further lengths to obscure the gold finish. This may be the world’s biggest humblebrag.

Telli has approached the Guinness Book of World Records to get his one-off creation certified as the world’s most expensive motorcycle. He isn’t revealing what it cost him to build, but if he spent a million bucks on the frame, we’d expect the entire bike might be a few times that. Scroll down for the video.

Continue reading World’s Most Expensive Motorcycle has frame made from gold

World’s Most Expensive Motorcycle has frame made from gold originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 28 Jul 2013 17:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Hot lap the Hungaroring with Codemasters’ F1 2013 and Anthony Davidson

Filed under: Motorsports, Videos, Toys/Games

Au courant with the Hungarian Grand Prix running this weekend, Codemasters has released in-game footage from F1 2013 of a hot lap video of the Hungaroring driven by Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo and narrated by ex-Formula One driver and current Sky F1 commentator and sportscar racer Anthony Davidson. The graphics have improved over F1 2012, Davidson’s commentary is just as good as it was last year, and the rear-view mirrors are still huge.

There are also hot lap vids of the Nürburgring driven by Kimi Räikkönen in his Lotus and Silverstone piloted by Jenson Button in his McLaren. The game hits shelves October 8, but you can watch the hot lap videos below right now.

Continue reading Hot lap the Hungaroring with Codemasters’ F1 2013 and Anthony Davidson

Hot lap the Hungaroring with Codemasters’ F1 2013 and Anthony Davidson originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 28 Jul 2013 13:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: 1948 Tucker Torpedo surfaces in Jay Leno’s Garage

Filed under: Classics, Videos, Celebrities

Jay Leno's Garage with 1948 Tucker Sedan screencap

The story of the Tucker Car Corporation is a tragic one. Its sole model, the 1948 Tucker Sedan, had a huge number of innovations, with a particular focus on passenger safety, but a catastrophic debut and the ensuing media firestorm it created caused severe problems for the brand. Other issues followed, with an SEC investigation and rumors of troublemaking on the part of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.

Only 51 Tuckers were completed before the company went bust, making the three-eyed sedans some of the rarest American cars ever produced. With a unique, tail, complete with six exhaust pipes, a Tucker went for $2.915 million at a 2012 auction.

Martyn Donaldson takes Jay Leno’s Garage through a brief tour of his Tucker, chassis number 1003, explaining just what was so innovative about these vehicles, along with what drew him to the rare cars in the first place. Scroll down for the full video.

Continue reading 1948 Tucker Torpedo surfaces in Jay Leno’s Garage

1948 Tucker Torpedo surfaces in Jay Leno’s Garage originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 26 Jul 2013 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Skoda Octavia vRS is just the thing for your pumped-up neighborhood

Filed under: Volkswagen, Humor, Skoda

2014 Skoda Octavia RS front three-quarter

Skoda, oh Skoda. You’re just so cool. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s a brand that we don’t get in these United States, but Skoda’s rebadged Volkswagens, in particular the new Octavia vRS shown here, are just different enough from the hum-drum VWs on our shores that the Czech brand seems strangely desirable. Maybe we’re just craving forbidden fruit.

This short, minute-long spot covers the new vRS in a world of excess, where strollers ride on 26-inch wheels, lawnmowers feature V8 engines and ice cream cones are the size of toddlers. As things often go in these ads, the Octavia vRS draws the eyes of passerby that are seemingly use to things far more ridiculous than a reasonably priced Czech sedan. In reality, the Octavia should be fairly familiar to American buyers. It uses the same 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-pot found in the Volkswagen GTI and Jetta GLI, with 217 horsepower, and sits on the same platform as the Audi A3 and Volkswagen Golf. Take a look at the full spot, below.

Continue reading Skoda Octavia vRS is just the thing for your pumped-up neighborhood

Skoda Octavia vRS is just the thing for your pumped-up neighborhood originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 26 Jul 2013 19:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Valentino Rossi’s personal paradise as seen by Dainese

Filed under: Motorsports, Europe, Videos, Motorcycle

Valentino Rossi tearing it up on a motocross bike - video screencap

Valentino Rossi recently invited Supermoto World Champion Thomas Chareyre and road-racing icon Guy Martin to go dirtbiking at his private track – and, for the first time, let a film crew in to capture it all on video.

Talk about a home track advantage, Rossi says owning the course, which he bought near his home in Tavullia, Italy three years ago, was one of his childhood dreams. It’s made of a thin layer of gravel on top of a concrete base, a dirtbike-friendly surface that promotes fat powerslides. As competitive as he is in the MotoGP series, the nine-time World Champion says that riding at his track in the countryside is all about having fun – he never goes alone, always with friends. Watch the professional riders tearing it up in the video below.

Continue reading Valentino Rossi’s personal paradise as seen by Dainese

Valentino Rossi’s personal paradise as seen by Dainese originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 26 Jul 2013 17:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Honda celebrates the life of Ayrton Senna the best way it knows how

Filed under: Motorsports, Japan, Marketing/Advertising, Videos, Honda

Honda is returning to Formula One in 2015 with McLaren, and when that engine maker and that F1 constructor are mentioned together, two other words are never far behind: Ayrton Senna. There are engine suppliers, constructors and drivers that have bigger numbers, but those three form a triumvirate that came close to defining F1 in the eighties.

Honda Japan has produced a commercial called Sound of Honda that celebrates Senna at a race that turned out to be one of the most momentous of his career for good and bad reasons: the 1989 grand prix at Suzuka where he won, then was stripped of, the driver’s championship.

The commercial has a terrifically simple premise – there’s no CG, no old footage of Senna, no one says a word, it’s just sound. And it’s pretty damn good. Check it out below.

Continue reading Honda celebrates the life of Ayrton Senna the best way it knows how

Honda celebrates the life of Ayrton Senna the best way it knows how originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 26 Jul 2013 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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