It’s been more than eight years since I first drove one of BMW’s MINI E electric prototypes around downtown Los Angeles. One of the first characteristics I noticed about that car was the extremely aggressive regenerative braking that enabled driving virtually without touching the brake pedal. While BMW has persisted with that strategy as the only control mode on the production i3, other automakers have provided similar abilities only when shifting the transmission to Low mode. After driving the new Chevrolet Bolt EV from Tesla’s Silicon Valley backyard into the heart of San Francisco, I think all Bolt drivers should consider driving this way all the time.
It’s been a decade since General Motors finally gave up on trying to stake out a claim in the minivan market and then trying to recast its vans as pseudo-SUVs. In 2006, GM launched an all-new platform for full-size crossover utilities that was known internally as Lambda and ultimately spawned four nameplates, Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia and the now-defunct Saturn Outlook. Having achieved some notable success with the platform with steadily growing sales of more than 200,000 units annually since 2010, an all-new second-generation Lambda is now ready and hit the streets in 2016 under a redesigned version of the Acadia.
The launch of the second-generation XC90 marked the beginning of a new era for Volvo a couple of years ago. The XC90 is the first model to ride on the company’s all-new scalable product architecture (SPA), the first all-new platform to come from Gothenburg since Ford sold the Swedish brand to China’s Geely in 2010. After initially being available only with boosted four-cylinder engines, the XC90 is now the first regular production plug-in model Volvo is offering in America and I recently spent a week driving one.
There's a bit of a witch hunt lately against data-driven services. But it wasn't long ago that the torch-bearers were singing a different tune. Today Apple executives will take the stage at the keynote address for the Worldwide developer conference. WWDC. I'll be watching. Like Google I/O… #android
On Google, Apple, data, privacy, rhetoric — and making up your own mind There’s a bit of a witch hunt lately against data-driven services. But it wasn’t long ago that the torch-bearers were singing a different tune. Today Apple executives will take the stage at the keynote address for the Worldwide developer conference. WWDC. I’ll be watching. Like Google I/O nearly two weeks ago and Microsoft’s Build conference earlier this year, it’s a preview of…
Android Auto and Apple's CarPlay are going to be game-changers for many of us. But that doesn't mean we don't still have questions. So we brought in analyst (and engineer and former PR rep for a major manufacturer) Sam Abuelsamid for a fascinating discussion about what's going to change… #android
Android Central 224: The Android Auto, CarPlay and smartwatch special! Android Auto and Apple’s CarPlay are going to be game-changers for many of us. But that doesn’t mean we don’t still have questions. So we brought in analyst (and engineer and former PR rep for a major manufacturer) Sam Abuelsamid for a fascinating discussion about what’s going to change for us in the cockpit. Of our 2005 Honda Civic. And in the second part of this two-parter, Phil has…
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.
“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.
Development 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.
Unless things change dramatically under Google ownship, I suspect that the Droid 3 I'm running right now will probably be the last +Motorola Mobility phone I ever buy. Motorola has reneged on their promise last year to unlock bootloaders on phones, and to provide operating system updates for at least 18 months.
They published an updated list today of devices that will get official upgrades to Android 4 and confirmed that the Droid 3 and X2 will stay on 2.3 Gingerbread forever despite having debuted less than 12 months ago.
What really annoys me is that D3 and every Moto phone since runs on the same TI OMAP4 platform as the Galaxy Nexus so it seems like this should be a no-brainer.
Frankly this is bullshit and the only saving grace is that there are now several very good independently developed ICS ROMs for the D3. I just flashed the May 16 build of AOKP last night and its running great. Still a couple of minor issues with bluetooth and the camera but very stable and faster than the stock rom ever was. At the very least Motorola should release all of the drivers for the D3 and X2 so that devs can get the final remaining issues worked out.
Hopefully this means that future Motorola phones will stick closer to stock Android rather than continuing to apply skins as Sanjay Jha has been saying recently. With any luck it might also mean a speedier process for updates. #android
On Google, Apple, data, privacy, rhetoric — and making up your own mind
Android Central 224: The Android Auto, CarPlay and smartwatch special!
Development of Honda Connect began well before the January 2014 announcement of the 
