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A Lexus SL 600 Integrated Safety driverless research vehicle is seen on display at the Consumer Electronics Show last month in Las Vegas. It may still be several years before driverless cars make it to the market. (Julie Jacobson/AP/File)
Driverless cars? Not so fast.
Speaking solely from a technology point of view, Google believes that autonomous cars will be a reality in three to five years. For the most part, the hardware exists today, so the stumbling block is really perfecting the software and firmware.
As Bloomberg points out, the obstacles that autonomous cars must overcome are more complex and far-reaching than just de-bugging code, meaning that self-driving cars will remain the stuff of science fiction long after the technology behind them is mature.
The first step is ensuring that hardware and software is fail-proof, or at the very least has redundant backup systems and ample warning of pending problems. Anthony Levandowski, Google’s product manager for self-driving car technology, sees this as the biggest remaining hurdle.
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“We’re really focusing on building in the reliability so we can trust and understand the system will perform safely in all conditions,” said Levandowski, “How do you design it with proper processes in order to understand and minimize failure? How do you bake into a car redundant braking?”
Get past this hurdle, and the next one is bureaucratic. Before the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration green-lights autonomous cars, it will need to set testing standards, performance standards and safety standards for the new generation of vehicles.
Complicating this is that the NHTSA isn’t exactly on the leading edge of automotive electronics research. The agency’s Dan Smith, associate administrator of vehicle safety, calls the issue a “massive challenge,” citing the need for comprehensive and objective testing to address every instance where failure could occur.
Assuming this can be addressed, given the NHTSA’s limited budget, the next speed bump on the path to self-driving cars will come from the insurance industry. Until it can decide who has liability in an accident (driver, car, component or manufacturer), expect the insurance industry to fight the roll-out of autonomous vehicles.
Ultimately, self-driving cars could greatly reduce (or one day, eliminate) the 33,000 fatalities experienced on U.S. roads each year. While fully autonomous cars may still be some two decades away, technologies that will lay the groundwork (like adaptive cruise control and lane departure correction) are being rolled out today.
As these become more familiar to drivers, expect to see a demand for the next steps towards self-driving cars. If the public leads the push, government, industry and insurance companies will likely be more motivated to move forward.
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Shai Agassi, Better Place founder and chief executive, walks in front of an electric car during the inauguration of a new vehicle demonstration center in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. (Gil Cohen Magen/Reuters/File)
Better Place electric car startup pulls plug on US, Australia
A growing number of cars in the U.S. run either entirely or partially on electric power, and that trend is likely to accelerate with time. The shift from gasoline to electricity will present plenty of opportunities for auto start-ups, but one is already calling it quits.
As our colleagues at Green Car Reports note, the electric car company known as Better Place has pulled the plug on its U.S. and Australian operations. Better Place will continue to sell and service vehicles in Israel (where founder Shai Agassi resides) and in Denmark, but it will shutter its corporate headquarters in Palo Alto, California and its offices in Australia.
Does this spell doom for the future of electric cars? Not in the least.
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What does it mean for consumers? The jury is still out on that question. ( Continue… )
The redesigned 2014 Toyota Tundra is photographed behind a projection screen during its unveiling at the Chicago Auto Show Thursday. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)
2014 Toyota Tundra debuts at Chicago Auto Show
The full-size pickup truck market still makes up a large portion of vehicle sales in the U.S., from the job site to the boat landing, American's rely on their trucks. Toyota made a serious play in the American pickup truck industry back in 2007, but a lot has changed since then, and Toyota knows it.
The competition has stepped up their game with more technology and fuel efficiency than ever before. Budgets are tighter than ever, and technology has advanced the way people work, and interact with their vehicles. Toyota'saddressing these issues with its redesigned 2014 Tundra.
More technology, easier and cheaper to repair
Toyota recognizes the need for the latest technology in pickups, and that's why a 6.1-inch color touch screen featuring Toyota's Entune system is available, providing Bluetooth streaming, navigation, and Pandora streaming audio. There's also a new 3.5-inch multi-information display in the center of the gauge cluster.
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Audio and climate controls have been moved 2.6 inches closer to the driver for easier access, and large knobs have been retained for easy operation while wearing gloves. ( Continue… )
The Chevrolet logo is shown at an auto dealership in Springfield, Ill. The Chevrolet Cruze Clean Turbo Diesel is Chevy's first diesel-powered passenger car since 1986, Voelcker writes. (Seth Perlman/AP/File)
Chevrolet Cruze Clean Turbo Diesel debuts at Chicago Auto Show
It's been a long time coming, but the wraps are now off Chevy's first diesel-powered passenger car since 1986.
The 2014 Chevrolet Clean Turbo Diesel model is being unveiled today at the Chicago Auto Show, and will go on sale the summer in the U.S. and Canada.
The 2.0-liter direct-injected and turbocharged diesel engine is rated at 148 horsepower and puts out 248 lb-ft of torque at 2000 rpm. It's paired with GM's six-speed automatic transmission.
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The company quotes 0-to-60-mph acceleration of 8.6 seconds, which is says is quicker than the automatic version of the Volkswagen Jetta TDI--the other mass-market compact sedan offered wtih a diesel. ( Continue… )
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco looks at the inside of 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray following a news conference Monday. The world may never know exactly why the Corvette was canned from the Super Bowl halftime show, Read writes. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings/AP)
Why did the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette get cut from the Super Bowl?
None of us expected to see an ad from General Motors during Sunday's Super Bowl broadcast. In fact, the company announced months ago that it would bypass the costly commercials associated with the big game.
But Chevrolet's communications chief Michael Albano had been dropping hints that GM's bowtie brand might have a couple of surprises in store for football fans. He reiterated to Detroit News that ads were off the table, but suggested that there might be other, creative ways of shoehorning a Chevy into the game day festivities.
Today, GM confirmed that Super Bowl organizers had tried to include the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray in the Super Bowl XLVII halftime show. But in a statement released to the media, the company said that ultimately, those efforts didn't pan out.
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What inquiring minds want to know is: why? There are a couple of tantalizing clues left behind. ( Continue… )
The Nissan Leaf electric car is displayed for media in Tokyo. US Nissan Leaf sales this year will rise notably from 10,000 a year, Voelcker predicts. (Junji Kurokawa/AP/File)
Will Nissan Leaf sales soar in 2013?
It happens every so often: a spate of media reports with gloom-and-doom headlines about what a dismal failure electric cars are.
Take, for instance, this morning's in Reuters--"Electric Cars Head Toward Another Dead End"--or a weekend report in The Detroit News entitled "Electric Vehicle Sales Sputter."
So, let's review.
Yes, the optimistic predictions of plug-in electric cars sales made by manufacturers two or three years before production and sales began have not been met.
Yes, electric cars will be a small portion of the market for several years to come.
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Yes, battery-electric cars may be a smaller portion of the total than range-extended electrics and plug-inhybrids for years to come as well. ( Continue… )
A 2012 Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle is parked at the solar-powered electric charging station at General Motors Co's assembly plant in Hamtramck, Mich. (Rebecca Cook/Reuters/File)
How to read plug-in hybrid specifications
We’re going to let you in on a little insider’s secret: when manufacturers are shilling their wares, they tend to favor statistics that illustrate their own version of the truth.
As any politician (or car company) will tell you, you can always find a set of numbers to work in your favor.
Take the figures used by Toyota’s webpage to compare its Prius Plug-In against the Chevy Volt, for example. On the page, the Prius Plug-In is $7,200 cheaper, has more front headroom, more front leg room and features active head restraints unavailable on the 2012 Volt.
These decisive victories are even marked by blue dots, lest the consumer remain unaware of the Prius Plug-In’s triumph over the Volt.
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As My Chevy Volt points out, the facts aren't quite as cut and dried as Toyota would have you believe. The difference in price between the cars isn’t as significant as shown, since the Volt qualifies for a $7,500 tax credit, compared to the Prius Plug-In’s $2,500 credit. ( Continue… )
The 2013 Toyota Prius C debuted at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last January. With a smaller, lighter body than the regular Prius and a smaller engine, the Prius C just grabs the spot from the larger car thanks to improved city mileage, Ingram writes. (Paul Sancya/AP/File)
Top 10 hybrids for great gas mileage
Are you in the market for a hybrid car?
You probably want great gas mileage, without switching to diesel fuel, or taking the next step into plug-in vehicles.
The good news is, plug-ins aside, virtually all the most fuel-efficient cars on sale right now are hybrids. Whether you're after a spacious subcompact or a sleek sedan, there's a hybrid to suit most needs.
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Below you'll find our run-down of the ten most efficient, rated by EPA combined mileage. Click on each vehicle title to go to its review page, or simply use it as a handy guide to the hybrids with the best gas mileage. ( Continue… )
A Nissan Leaf charges at a electric vehicle charging station in Portland, Ore. Quick-charging stations can recharge a depleted Leaf battery pack to 80 percent of capacity in just half an hour, Voelcker writes, adding more than 50 miles of range under most circumstances. (Rick Bowmer/AP/File)
Nissan aims to triple number of quick-charging electric car stations in US
Nissan announced today that it would provide 40 quick-charging stations to NRG, which will use them to expand its eVgo electric-car charging network into the Washington, D.C., region.
Working with its dealers, local authorities, and charging-station partners. Nissan hopes to triple the number of quick-charging stations available in the U.S.
There are now about 160 quick-charge stations, mostly on the West Coast and in Texas; Nissan hopes to add another 500 new stations over the next 18 months.
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The company envisions "a quick-charging network that links communities and neighborhoods where people live, work, shop and socialize,” according to Nissan’s director of electric vehicle marketing and sales strategy, Brendan Jones. ( Continue… )
A woman sticks her hand out as she tries to grab the attention of a taxi driver on a hazy day in Beijing Wednesday. Earlier this month, smog in the city was so thick it was barely possible to see the building next door, Ingram writes. (Petar Kujundzic/Reuters)
Beijing to scrap 180,000 polluting cars
Recent pollution figures in Chinese capital Beijing have made 1970s Los Angeles look like a crisp day in the Rocky Mountains.
The city, like Hong Kong last month, has finally decided to take action, and the city's acting mayor is set to scrap 180,000 old vehicles from the roads.
Additionally, reports Bloomberg, Beijing will replace 44,000 coal-burning heaters in homes to try and cut air pollutants by 2 percent this year.
Earlier this month, smog in the city was so thick it was barely possible to see the building next door, and citizens were alerted to stay indoors to avoid pollution levels so bad they were literally off the scale.
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On the U.S. Embassy's particulate matter scale, which runs to 500 and on which anything over 150 is considered unhealthy, one day two weeks ago produced estimated figures in the mid-700s. ( Continue… )
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