technology

Track Testing at the ‘Ring Inspired Shelby GT350 Aero Updates

This entry was posted in cars Ford technology and tagged 2015 ford shelby gt350 mustang aerodynamics ford gt350 gt350r mustang naias 2015 naias2015 on by (updated 3593 days ago)

 

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The 2015 Ford Shelby GT350R Mustang gets a more prominent spoiler inspired by track testing at the Nurburgring

 

When the new track-focuse Ford Shelby GT350R drifted its way onto the stage in Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena on Monday morning, the most obvious visual difference compared to the base model was the massive rear wing.

When the white baseline Shelby was initially revealed at the LA Auto Show in November, only a subtle black Gurney strip was added to the trailing edge of the trunklid, the same setup that appeared on the prototypes that were spotted circulating the Nurburgring last July. Here in Detroit, that same baseline Shelby had a significantly larger, more aggressive rear spoiler similar to those found on non-Shelby Mustangs for 2015.

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When it was revealed in Los Angeles in November, the GT350 had a subtle Gurney strip on the trailing edge of the decklid

 

It turns out the testing at the ‘Ring and other tracks was behind the change. I spoke with Chris Svensson, Ford design director, the Americas while checking out the new GT and the GT350R on the show floor in Detroit.

“After analyzing the data from testing in Germany and validating it in the wind-tunnel and other tracks, we realized need to adjust the total downforce and balance front to rear,” said Svensson. “The front splitter and the rear spoilers have all had some additional development to optimize the high-speed handling.”

The baseline 2015 GT350 also gets a more prominent rear spoiler for extra downforce and better balance

The baseline 2015 GT350 also gets a more prominent rear spoiler for extra downforce and better balance

The result is an even more aggressive look to the already mean looking Mustang although Ford has yet to reveal specific details about precisely how much downforce or power the new pony will generate. Let the battle between the GT350R and Z/28 begin.

 

#NAIAS15 – The 2016 Chevrolet Volt – Fully Recharged

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Chevrolet electric Hybrid technology and tagged 2016 chevrolet volt chevrolet electric car extended range EV naias naias2015 volt on by (updated 3389 days ago)

2016 Chevrolet Volt

Eight years after the debut of of the original Chevrolet Volt concept at the 2007 North American International Auto Show and four years after the production launch, General Motors is ready to publicly debut the all-new second generation model.  I was part of a group that got an early look at the GEN2 Volt along with the leaders of the Volt team a few days before the big show.

Then vs Now

Eight years ago, the car we saw was a pure concept, powered by golf cart motor alongside a mockup of what the E-Flex propulsion system would look like if GM actually opted to build one.  The whole idea had only been thought up about nine months by former GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz and then-VP of program management Jon Laukner. Lutz and Laukner had been spitballing ideas for how to respond to the negative publicity around the film “Who Killed the Electric Car?” and the result was a extended-range electric vehicle (ER-EV). There were no firm plans at the time to actually produce the car.

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#NAIAS2015 – Ford Performance Comes out Huge!

This entry was posted in Carmakers Ford technology and tagged ford ford gt ford performance FordNAIAS gt350r mustang naias naias2015 phoenix shelby on by (updated 3594 days ago)

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While Chevrolet went all in on plug-ins today at the North American International Show, Ford went to the opposite extreme, rolling out a take no prisoners lineup under its Ford Performance banner. Ford CEO Mark Fields reminded the audience that Ford innovation began with racing, referring Henry Ford’s famous 999 race car of 1901. The winnings earned by that car were used to fund the launch of Ford Motor Company.

Ford CTO Raj Nair announced the new Ford Performance division at an event in Dearborn last month where he also announced that former Mustang chief engineer Dave Pericak would become the global director of the group. Under Pericak Ford Performance will bring together the engineering and design groups from North America’s SVT, Europe’s Team RS and Ford Racing. Nair had also announced that a new Focus RS was coming and it would be available in America, but that car was not shown in Detroit.

The most extreme factory Mustang yet

After unveiling the all-new Shelby GT350 Mustang just before the LA Auto Show in December, the crew from Ford Performance/SVT has come back with an even faster version here on home turf. Like the Laguna Seca edition of the 2012-13 Boss 302, the GT350R turns up the performance wick to 11 by shaving weight and adding more go fast parts for the true track-day addict. By dispensing with non-performance enhancing trivialities like a back seat, air conditioning and audio system, Ford has reduced the workload on the new 5.2-liter flat-plane crank V8.

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The Voodoo V8 engine remains unchanged in the GT350R with somewhere north of 500 normally aspirated horsepower and a six-speed manual gearbox. Further weight reductions come courtesy of available carbon ceramic brakes and the first ever use of carbon fiber wheels as standard equipment on a road-going vehicle. The 19-inch composite wheels are wrapped in 10-millimeter wider 305/30 front and 315/30 rear tires. All together, the GT350R has a more than 130-pound weight advantage over the baseline GT350.

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The next-generation factory off-road race truck

Ford hit a surprising home run with the first generation SVT Raptor several years ago by creating a truly credible off-road racer style truck. The performance team has now applied the lessons from that effort to the new lighter aluminum-bodied 2015 F-150 for a second-generation Raptor. While the original launched with the 5.0-liter V8 and later upgraded to the larger 6.2-liter V8, like its more mainstream siblings, the new Raptor comes out of the gate with turbocharged EcoBoost power.

The 3.5-liter twin-turbo, direct-injected V6 that has powered 40 percent of F-150s in the last several years has been given some upgrades for its new role. Although Ford didn’t give specifics yet, they did say it would produce more than the 411-hp and 434 lb.-ft. of the outgoing V8. The Raptor engine will also be backed up by one of the first applications of Ford’s new 10-speed automatic transmission.

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50 Years after its first victory at Le Mens, the GT is back

We’ve all heard the story about how the GT40 came to be. Henry Ford II wanted to beat Enzo Ferrari after failing to buy the Italian sports car brand. After two years of trying, the Ford GT40s earned the first of four consecutive victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966. As the 50th anniversary of that first victory approaches, Ford has revealed a concept for the all-new GT that will go into production in 2016.

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The last GT used an all-aluminum chassis but this time it will be equipped with the latest and greatest material technology with a carbon fiber tub and body panels.  Rather than a thundering V8 engine, the GT will emulate the new Raptor with turbocharged V6 power. A next-generation twin-turbo 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 based on the unite that was so successful in the 2014 Tudor United Sports Car Championship is the starting point. The production engine will send more than 600 horsepower through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission to the rear wheels.

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The new GT eschews the retro look of the last edition in favor of a more modern design that retains a few cues for familiarity, most notably the two large triangular vents in the front cover. I can’t wait to try this one out!

General Motors Would be Crazy to Show New EV Next to Volt

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Chevrolet electric Hybrid technology the business and tagged 2016 2016 chevrolet volt bolt chevrolet chevy volt volt on by (updated 3389 days ago)

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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Chevrolet will reveal a new electric car concept with a 200-mile range on Monday morning at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. We already know for a fact that Chevrolet will show the all-new second-generation Volt at the show (check back here after 12:01am EST on Monday, January 12 for my thoughts on this car) but I personally believe that showing the new concept would be insane.

It has previously been reported that Chevrolet has registered a trademark for the name Bolt, and GM executive vice-president for global product development Mark Reuss has acknowledged that the company planning a new EV with a 200-mile range for the 2017 time frame. We’ll just stipulate Chevrolet will in fact build a 200-mile EV called the Bolt at some time in the next two to three years.

My problem is with the idea that Chevrolet would show this car alongside the new Volt. GM designers and engineers have spent the past four years and at least hundreds of millions of dollars developing a second-generation Volt. No doubt, a big part of that effort went to reducing the manufacturing and part costs in the hope of at least breaking even if not making a profit on Volt. GM will want to sell as many gen-2 Volts as possible both to recover that investment and also to boost the company’s corporate average fuel economy numbers.

We have no idea how much the new Volt will cost, but I’m guessing it’s not going to drop much below $30,000 if it drops at all. Based on the photos of camouflaged prototypes released by GM, the new car doesn’t look like it’s going by much larger or roomier than the original.

According to the WSJ report, GM is targeting a starting price of just $30,000 for the Bolt. The Bolt is also expected to be larger than the Volt. Looking at this purely from a marketing perspective, why would you show a battery electric car with perhaps three to four times as much range, more space and a potentially lower price that won’t be available for two more years next to a car that you need to sell right now?

I can certainly understand wanting to get Bolt out ahead of Tesla and their Model 3. However, given Tesla’s track record for delivering products on time (reminder, they have never delivered anything on time), GM will probably be first to market. However, there is absolutely no reason to show the car now. I would wait until at least the LA Auto Show in November after people have driven the new Volt or perhaps the 2016 Detroit Show. What customer would even consider a Volt if they new the Bolt was coming?

Whoever might have thought showing a Bolt concept now should perhaps be relegated to the same dark corner as the marketer that came up with the infamous Volt dance at the 2009 LA Auto Show.

2014 Prius PHV – Skip the Plug on This One

This entry was posted in cars electric Hybrid reviews technology Toyota and tagged 2014 toyota prius phv car review car reviews phev plug-in hybrid prius on by (updated 3142 days ago)

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Back in 2006 when I first started writing professionally about cars, plug-in cars were just starting to make a comeback to the marketplace with the reveal of the Tesla Roadster. At the time, a number of fans of the second-generation Toyota Prius wanted in on the action and started adding bigger battery packs to turn them into plug-in hybrids. A combination of wanting to grease that squeaky wheel and plug-in vehicle mandates from the state of California eventually led Toyota to produce a plug-in variant of the third-gen Prius and I recently got to spend a week driving one.

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Ford Reboots Infotainment With Reveal of All-New SYNC 3

This entry was posted in cars technology and tagged connectivity ford infotainment sync 3 on by (updated 3626 days ago)
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TI may have given up on phone and tablet sector but it’s still mobile with the OMAP5 and QNX-powered SYNC 3 from Ford

Ford led the auto industry with the 2007 introduction of SYNC, a quick and easy way to connect mobile devices and control them with voice commands. The system was relatively reliable and easy to use but when the time came for a followup in 2010, the automaker stumbled badly with MyFord Touch. Ford will attempt a reboot in 2015 with a completely new system dubbed SYNC 3.

Ford unveiled SYNC 3 and demonstrated it today at its Dearborn Product Development Center and it looks extremely promising so far. Like MyFord Touch which was known internally as SYNC 2, the new system is based around a touch screen display. Unfortunately the earlier system had a dark and cluttered user interface that was prone to frequent crashes and lockups and even after two major software updates was still slow. MyFord Touch also never incorporated AppLink to enable the control of smartphone apps, a feature that was available on the entry-level SYNC system.

As soon as SYNC 3 launches, the changes are immediately apparent. The bright new interface is dramatically simplified and easier to use. The look and feel seems to have taken inspiration from the work that Google has done one recent versions of Android although iPhone users won’t feel left out either.

When sampling the system on some demonstration bucks, the performance improvement was immediately apparent. Where a button press on the MFT screen would be met with a pause before any response would occur, SYNC 3 seems to respond almost immediately. The capacitive screen supports multi-touch and gestures like swipe and pinch-to-zoom. The Microsoft Auto Windows Embedded Platform that powered earlier versions of SYNC has been replaced with the same QNX system used by many other automakers. The whole thing is now running on a more modern Texas Instruments OMAP5 processor based on ARM Cortex A15 cores used in many smartphone chips.

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The smartphone style keyboard includes predictive typing and the ability to learn from driver’s usage patterns

The SYNC 3 system also includes a built-in WiFi receiver that you can pair with your home network. Every few weeks, when the car is parked, it will automatically ping the Ford servers and look for updates, just like modern phones do. When updates are available, they will downloaded and installed automatically with no user intervention needed. No more mailing out hundreds of thousands of USB drives for Ford or visits to the dealer to re-flash the radio.

Ford CTO Raj Nair announced that SYNC 3 will support Apple’s SIRI Eyes-free out of the box. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support will eventually be added as well although no time frame was given.

It’s way too early to tell how well this is all going to work when it arrives in new Ford vehicles beginning in 2015, but at this point it certainly looks promising and it can’t really be any worse than MyFord Touch can it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audi Puts on Impressive Show With Autonomous RS7

This entry was posted in cars technology the business and tagged audi audi piloted rs7 autonomous driving autonomous RS7 autonomousvehicles self-driving car on by

However, it didn’t really prove anything other than that the basic technology for self-driving cars is now fairly well understood.  That doesn’t bring the full-function self-driving car any closer to regular use on open roads. That probably won’t happen until the end of the 2020s.

This demonstration was done on a closed course that is well mapped with no other vehicles around. The real issue that Audi and every other manufacturer has to deal with is working out all the kinks of dealing with weather, less than ideal road conditions, system robustness and of course programming ethics into the system.

That’s not something this particular group of engineers had to deal with. Not to take anything away from their achievement, but there is still a huge amount of work to do before we let self-driving cars loose.

Audi RS 7 piloted driving concept

2014 Nissan Leaf Review – It’s Remarkably Normal

This entry was posted in cars electric environment Nissan reviews technology and tagged 2014 nissan leaf battery bev car reviews charging electric car electric vehicle EV leaf lithium ion nissan review on by (updated 3142 days ago)
2014 Nissan Leaf SV

2014 Nissan Leaf SV

Somehow in the eight years since I started writing about cars I’ve driven lots of electric vehicles but have never managed to spend an extended period with one until now. Having now spent a week with a 2014 Nissan Leaf SV, I can say that it’s a very good car regardless of how its propelled. That doesn’t mean it’s the best car for everyone in search of a compact hatchback, but for those whose lifestyles overlap with the limitations of today’s battery technology it’s a great choice.

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Full-function self-driving cars are probably still at least 15 years away, but along the way we'll have incremental steps in technology

This entry was posted in cars technology the business on by (updated 3690 days ago)

Full-function self-driving cars are probably still at least 15 years away, but along the way we'll have incremental steps in technology?

A Few Steps Closer to Autonomous Vehicles

As engineers, scientists, executives, and government officials involved with transportation systems gather in Detroit this week for the annual ITS World Congress, the auto industry took another inc…

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Honda Goes With Android and Nvidia for Europe

This entry was posted in cars technology and tagged android honda honda connect infotainment nvidia paris motor show on by (updated 3697 days ago)

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At the 2014 Paris Motor Show this week, Honda and Nvidia come together to announce that the automaker’s new industry-first Android-based Honda Connect infotainment system would be powered by the Tegra 3 system-on-a-chip. While Honda is not actually the first automaker to announce an infotainment system that runs on Android, they should be the first company to actually bring such a system to market.

At the Geneva Motor Show back in March 2011, Saab showed off a concept car called the Phoenix with an Android-based system dubbed iQon.Unfortunately for Saab fans that was followed soon after by another period of insolvency and the car and iQon were never seen again.

Honda on the other hand doesn’t appear likely to go away anytime soon, so its new Connect system should arrive in early 2015 on updated European versions of the Civic, Civic Tourer and CR-V. There’s no word yet on when or if the new system will come to North American models.

tegra-honda-android“Nvidia has been providing processors for automotive applications for 10 years now and Honda is the 19th automotive brand to adopt our automotive-grade chips,” said Danny Shapiro, senior director, automotive at Nvidia. “The Tegra 3 SoC used by Honda is based on the same architecture previously used on smartphones and tablets but optimized for the automotive environment including temperature and shock resistance.”

Among the first applications for the Tegra 3 were the original 2012 Google Nexus 7 and the Tesla Model S which uses two of Nvidia’s chips, one for the massive 17-inch center console display and a second for the instrument cluster. Other Nvidia automotive customers include Audi and BMW.

Nvidia’s powerful graphics chips have been popular with video gamers for two decades and automakers are increasingly dependent on that kind of power for the complex entertainment interfaces and re-configurable instrument clusters.

Kristian - IsraelDevelopment of Honda Connect began well before the January 2014 announcement of the Open Automotive Alliance and Android Auto. Because of the testing and safety requirements in the auto industry, lead times to validate software for something like an infotainment system are much longer than in the phone business which is why the new Honda system is built on top of Android 4.0.4 which was initially released way back in October 2011 with the dessert code-name Ice Cream Sandwich. Honda added a custom interface to its Android implementation with a grid of six large buttons, similar to numerous other infotainment systems.

Honda Connect uses a seven-inch capacitive touchscreen to show off the navigation, radio, rear camera and other vehicle data. The system will include access to the Honda App Center for access to download compatible apps for use in the vehicle. These will presumably be conventional Android apps that have been vetted by Honda to ensure they are suitable for use on the go without distracting the driver.

The system comes pre-installed with the Aha Radio app for playing a variety of media and also includes support for MirrorLink on compatible phones to push the phone display to the vehicle.

Honda has not yet replied to inquiries for more information about the Connect system. Many of the automaker’s North American vehicles already support Apple’s SIRI eyes-free and Honda has announced plans to support both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It’s unknown at this time if the Android-powered head unit will include support for the two newer smartphone app conduits or if drivers will be restricted to apps from the App Center. Nvidia spokesman Alan Hall did say that the Android system is only for the European market at this time.

Click here for the Nvidia press release NVIDIA Honda PR 2014_FINAL and here for the Honda Europe release