This week the folks at Harman have pushed their Aha system to several vehicle communications systems including Porsche, this system being the one we’re having a peek at today. Porsche’s Communication Management System is shown here working with the newly announced Aha integrated with vehicle systems. Here we’re seeing the full 30,000 Aha internet-based stations in action, everything from internet radio to Facebook integration.
While you’re about to see this system working tethered to an iPhone 5, you’ll also be able to use it with Android. What you’re doing here is not just using your smartphone’s app to make this whole system work, you’re tethering with your smartphone for internet as well. This way you’ll only have the one internet bill rather than needing to work with another bill for your vehicle – well played.
Aha’s system allows for the display of Facebook and Twitter statuses and also allows you to interact with your friends on both of those systems in a relatively basic way. You’ll be able to get news updates and tap through to hear podcasts galore as well. This system is an extremely simple extension of the Aha app and ecosystem in a perfectly simple-to-work user interface via Porsche’s Communication Management System.
This system will be available to everyone using a vehicle equipped with the Porsche Communication Management System immediately if not soon, and Aha is pushing to several other similar car systems this week as well – Ford and Chrysler amongst them. In the near future, Aha will be integrating with Subaru, Honda, and Acura too.
Have a peek at our Porsche tag to see all the fabulous red hot vehicle action through our archives, our gigantic Car portal for vehicles of all kinds, and also be sure to catch up with everything CES 2013 through the rest of the week in our CES hub!
This week Ford has made it clear that they’re pushing forward with the app connection between their vehicles and apps of all kinds, not least of these being Amazon’s Cloud Player. This new integration works with Ford’s SYNC AppLink, here appearing with voice commands so you’ll be able to switch through songs and albums by speaking commands out loud. This release was joined by apps such as Glympse for navigation and point-of-interest locating as well as SINA (weibo.com) for instant updates for microblogging, news, and weather overseas.
With Ford’s AppLink system, apps are able to work in their own unique way with your next-generation Ford vehicle. Today’s Ford Developer Program takes the power that these high-powered and well-known app developers have and lets it go forth in the 3rd party space. Today’s offering of new apps included such gems as the Wall Street Journal, Rhapsody, and USA Today as well, several of them available via AppLink today.
Ford is aiming to show the public here how these apps are changing the way the vehicle is connecting to you, the user. Not just the driver now, the user. At developer.ford.com, developers will begin to take advantage of this space in the very near future, working with vehicles that are out now as well as autos that’ll be out in the near future.
Ford’s connection to the mobile smart device environment changed today – it evolved into an ecosystem. Instead of only working with developers that specifically have the audience that’ll capture everyone’s attention, they’re showing their willingness to open their platform up to the world. This system at its current state allows developers to integrate their apps with Ford vehicles at no cost (save the Developer Kit if they do so choose to pick one up.) Sound like a radical program to you?
This week the folks at Ford have introduced their mobile app Developer Program for SYNC AppLink. This program works not just with its own developer groups, but with third party groups as well. What this means for you, the everyday awesome developer, is that you’ll be able to create apps that work specifically with Ford’s interfaces on their next-generation vehicles via USB or Bluetooth, and you’ll be able to do it really, really soon!
With SYNC, drivers are able to interface with their Ford vehicles both wirelessly and without needing to tap with their hands – voice control is seen here by Ford to be the wave of the future, and it’s included in their Developer Program, too. Having already worked with iHeartRadio, MOG, MLB, Scout for Navigation, Pandora, and more, Ford is ready to expand beyond their original partners. This next generation of collaboration with developers of all kinds will, as Ford notes, benefit not only the company and the driver, but the developer as well.
Each new app submitted to the Developer Program will be reviewed by Ford’s own engineers to make certain that they’ll all be up to their own rigorous standards. You’ll be able to submit apps, as a developer, to one of three categories – those being Music and Entertainment, Navigation, and Location, with more categories on the way for 3rd party developers soon.
Video content, rich imagery, apps that require reading extensive text, and video games will be instantly denied access to the program, but pretty much anything else will be good to go. Developers will be able to purchase a SYNC Ford Developer Kit in the near future, and you’ll be able to work with JacAPPS (another 3rd party development partner) to help you out if you need help with development on the front end.
The final submission of your app will not necessarily cost you a penny (again, as a developer), and you’ll be inside the next generation of Ford vehicles in no time at all. Sounds pretty nice! Have a peek at our Ford tag portal to see more on the development of the Ford app-connected universe and our CES hub for CES 2013 from top to bottom!
The Environmental Protection Agency has given the Fiat 500e the highest highway MPGe rating ever earned by an electric vehicle in the US – 108 MPGe. In addition, this snazzy little car is also estimated to get a range of 87 miles when completely charged, trumping all other electric vehicles in the US. The 500e will be arriving in California at FIAT Studios in Q2 of this year.
Because of its estimated range when fully charged, the Fiat 500e is now the best in its class according to the EPA. The estimated cost to “fuel” the car annually is a mere $500, with the vehicle using 29kWh over the course of 100 miles. This price is achieved by estimating the cost of electricity over the course of 15,000 miles of travel distance, using both a mixture of highway and city ratings.
Of course, the 500e is zero-emissions, and in addition, it received a 10 out of 10 score on two different EPA metrics that look at tailpipe emissions. The car is battery powered, and can be charged in under 4 hours with 240 volt. The powertrain is 111 horsepower/83kW. The body has been decked out with eight “exterior enhancements” that give it a 13-percent boost in the aerodynamics department.
FIAT North America’s head Tim Kuniskis offered this statement. “The FIAT brand is about unique Italian style, fuel efficiency and great value. Now we have taken a page from our own playbook to change the expectations of what an electric vehicle can be. Our environmentally sexy Fiat 500e offers a design proposition like no other, while delivering unsurpassed MPGe and class-leading range making our 500e a serious contender in the market.”
On December 20, Toyota announced that it will show off its advanced active safety research vehicle on January 7, one day before the CES 2013 tech event. To get enthusiasts ready, the company has just released a sneak-peek of the car with promises of more to come during the press event it has scheduled for Monday. You can check out the video after the jump.
The vehicle is designed to “explore the use of autonomous technologies and high-level driver assistance systems” that pertain to Toyota’s Integrated Safety Management Concept. The video is little more than a 5-second tease, but gives us a nice glimpse of the vehicle in all its decked-out charm driving down the road.
Judging by the looks of things, the vehicle is adorned with an autonomous driving system, congruent with the company’s plans to show off that autonomous technology next week. The equipment allows the car to be aware of its surroundings, such as the guard rail seen in the video, and operate accordingly. The vehicle upon which the contraptions are perched is the Lexus LS 600h.
More details will be available on Monday, when Lexus’s Vice President and General Manager Mark Templin will introduce the technology, research, and other information we can’t wait to hear. We’ll be covering CES 2013 next week, and will certainly keep an eye out for the latest information on Toyota’s system. Be sure to check back regularly for the latest updates.
This year the automotive world really stepped it up when it comes to technological breakthroughs, especially when it came to connecting to drivers’ personal mobile devices. What we’ve seen was everything from integration of mobile chipsets into automobile systems to wireless connectivity to smartphones from many of the top car and truck brands across the spectrum. Have a peek at some of the highlights in our 2012 run-down right this minute!
Note: the following set of vehicles and technology is in no particular order – the innovations we’re seeing this year are essentially all groundbreaking as we’re seeing the dawn of the mobile connectivity age in auto right before our eyes!
Audi A6: Google Maps, NVIDIA Tegra SoC, Bang and Olufsen audio
Back in January of this year we heard direct from Audi that they’d be teaming up with NVIDIA to bring the Tegra 3 quad-core mobile chipset to their automotive lineup. The Audi A6 took the opportunity to work with that processor and bust out a lovely touchscreen panel with 3D Google Earth views that the pilot is able to control on the fly. There’s also a touchpad where you can write commands to the vehicle one letter at a time as well as voice controls for next-generation control.
This machine works with Bang & Olufsen audio to keep your beats strong, and Audi assures the user that they’ve got plans for upgradeable entertainment and graphics modules as well. Keep an eye on our Tegra Portal to see NVIDIA continue working to bring high-powered processing to the market!
Tesla Model S: the year’s most infamous electric vehicle
The Tesla Model S has been in the news for months upon months now, gaining a spot up at the top of the “best of 2012″ lists for auto publications galore here near the end of the year. This machine is the flagship of the Tesla fleet and works with a collection of massive battery options – have at its birth the longest range of any electric vehicle on the planet.
This machine works with a beastly 17-inch capacitive touch LCD display with built-in navigation (with seven years of free updates if you pick the right package) and connection to a high-definition rear-view camera. This machine is shifting the way we work with cars here in the now, an essential cog in the machine that drives us toward an all-electric vehicle set for humanity.
Fisker Karma: a lot of bad press for a radical plug-in hybrid luxury sports sedan
What we saw with the Fisker Karma this year was nothing short of a negative press nightmare with two major recalls, one starting in December of 2011 and reverberating through the press through 2012, the other logged in August of 2012. The first recall was for a battery fire risk caused by coolant leakage, the second was for a faulty cooling fan unit. Then there were several fires, one of them in May in Fort Bend County, Texas, another in August in Woodside, California. After a single vehicle model has more than a couple incidents with it such as these, the press tends to pick up even the most minor incident – the result was that this futuristic beast had a lot more “negative” visibility than it did positive in 2012.
On the other hand, Fisker hasn’t fallen to the press. They’re bringing on the Fisker Atlantic EV early in the year and a new $100 million dollar investment round in September. They’ve also got plans for a less expensive vehicle by the name of Fisker Atlantic which will be appearing no sooner than 2014.
BMW 3 Series and friends: packed tight with technological mainstays
The folks at BMW have brought on a fabulous mix of high-tech features to not just their 3 Series and X3 SUVs, but the BMW X1 Crossover [check out our full review here] as well, most notably with the iconic center control station you see in the photo below. BMW comes correct on more than one model this year with blind spot detection, heads-up displays, lane departure warnings, and both rear and side parking cameras so you’ll never miss that rambunctious pet of yours.
BMW brings on adaptive cruise control, auto-high-beams, and internet integration with your center stack display – you’ll want to pick up a brand new 3 Series or X3 SUV for every single one of these features should you pick up the right package. It’s not going to come on cheap, but BMW created some of the most impressive packages the whole year long.
Ford Focus: an affordable line of forward-thinking vehicles for the whole family
The Ford Focus lineup includes several lovely little beasts pumped full of technological features, including the hatchback, the sedan, Focus ST with EcoBoost engine, C-Max station wagon / MPV coming in two iterations (hybrid and plug-in hybrid), and the fabulous Focus Electric. These vehicles each have their own fabulous feature high-marks like electric power-assist steering, iPod jacks, Bluetooth wireless connectivity to your smartphone, and parking sonar.
With Ford’s parking sonar technology ties up with electric power-assist steering to bring on automated self-parking and brings on cross-traffic alerts as well. You can upgrade your Focus in several cases with on-screen navigation, and there’s a bit of brand Ford brought forward that’ll place a smile on the faces of parents everywhere: MyKey. With MyKey, parents are able to limit how fast a Focus can stop, the on/off and volume of the vehicle’s audio system, and crash notifications via the web.
We also got a hands-on look at the AT&T-branded MyFord Mobile app for the 2012 Ford Focus Electric earlier this year that you’re going to be able to have a peek at below. This app works on iOS and Android and allows you to jump right into the guts of your vehicle without even being in the same neighborhood – hot stuff!
Nissan Altima: it’s got two display size options, sure, but it’s really all about the tires
The Nissan Altima works with either a 5 or 7-inch display ready to work with your tunes and your backup camera. This display allows you to work with Pandora radio, Google-powered local destination alerts, text messages, and more – though for some of these items you’ll need a connected smartphone. You’ve also got blind spot warnings, lane departure warnings, and moving object detection too. This machine also packs a simple AUX-in port that every modern vehicle should so you can connect your MP3 player or smartphone with a simple headphone-sized audio cord right out of the box.
The most instant-win technology you’ll get on this line is Easy Fill. With the technology known as Easy Fill, you fill your tires up with air until the vehicle beeps once when you’re near the correct pressure, then again when you’re there. Extremely simple feature that we’re certain most people would love to have.
Toyota Prius: a hero for the hybrid class gets a big tech upgrade
This year the Toyota Prius blasted forth once again with the new highest-mpg on the road along with the all-new Entune music and smartphone connectivity system. The Prius line carrying Entune works with your Entune account, your compatible smartphone connecting with the official Entune app and Bluetooth (or USB) with apps galore. Bing brings you local points of interest, as does OpenTable – dinner reservations too, Pandora and iheartradio bring on the runes, and MovieTickets.com allows you to pick up tickets for the next big blockbuster from your center console.
Entune also brings on local Fuel Prices, Stocks, Sports, Traffic, and Weather information too – and of course Entune isn’t limited to the Prius, it’s hit quite a few of Toyota’s 2012 and 2013 models. The Prius line is coming forth with Bluetooth and USB jack standard from now through the foreseeable future, too, Toyota making such connections an expected feature in cars across the industry (so it is expected).
Hyundai Santa Fe Sport: geofencing, smartphone connectivity, and a massive display up front
Earlier this year we had a test drive of the Hyundai Santa Fe Sport and had a peek at its futuristic insides. This machine brings on an 8-inch color LCD touchscreen with full navigation integration. This vehicle’s system includes Bluetooth connectivity to your smartphone for music streaming as well as an iPhone app for remote start, locking, and unlocking. You’ve also got the option to “geofence” this vehicle digitally, setting physical limits for where this vehicle can drive – drive too far and the whole vehicle shuts down.
2013 Cadillac ATS: with the Cadillac User Experience (CUE) in full effect
We had a close-up peek at the CUE in our 2013 Cadillac ATS Review – it was clear basically immediately that the high-quality interior on this machine was right in step with the competition, starting with its 8-inch capacitive touchscreen and running right through to USB and SD card compatibility. Have a peek at the hands-on video with CUE and feel the excellence in informatics and entertainment – Bluetooth connectivity with up to 10 devices included as well.
This machine works with physical buttons galore as well, pushing information to another 5.7-inch display in the instrument cluster and a heads-up display as well. The audio in this machine works with Bose technology, including a noise-cancellation system to reduce road and engine noise while you’re jamming at high speed.
Kia Soul (Eclaim!): bringing the Microsoft UVO Infotainment System to the great outdoors
The Kia Soul comes in several different spec models, as many fine modern vehicles do: our Kia Soul Review from earlier this year went by the name !, or Exclaim! This machine brought on the Microsoft-powered “UVO Infotainment System.” This system works with a 7-inch touchscreen in this case, bringing on Bluetooth stereo, USB and aux-in connections for your smartphone, and voice control. You can work with Sirius XM satellite radio right out the gate, and of course there’s a back-up camera so you’ll be in-line with governmental regulations for many years to come.
Mazda CX-5: with SKYACTIV, this machine may well be the best competition future-friendly electric batteries have
This machine takes on the hybrid and all-electric competition with Mazda’s SKYACTIV technology, combining “weight reduction, efficiency improvement and design rethinking”, as our Mazda CX-5 Review mentions right up front. This machine also works with three-stage heated front seats, rear-view mirror auto-dimming, and of course, a 5.8-inch LCD display. This display is touch friendly (provided you get the right package) as well as TomTom-powered GPS navigation.
Wireless connectivity with your smartphone is provided by Bluetooth and syncing allows you to access you contacts and make a call from the vehicle’s touchscreen. There’s a controller down by your parking break called the Multimedia Commander that you can use to scroll through selections on your touchscreen – or you can just use the generally OK voice command system via the dedicated activation button on the vehicle’s steering wheel.
Wrap-up
SlashGear will continue to be your source for the top technology coverage in automotive through the future with many more high-powered vehicle reviews to come in 2013. Be sure to check out our monstrous [Car Portal] to see the futuristic automobile segment from any angle you do so choose, top to bottom, and get pumped up about the connections you’re about to make!
This week the folks at Hyundai have previewed a concept vehicle system in which you’ll be able to use your smartphone to unlock your vehicle with a physical tap. This system uses NFC tags to make the connection between your smartphone and your vehicle, taking away the need for you to use a key at all, whatsoever. This system is called “Connectivity Concept” quite simply at the moment and is being previewed at the moment only at the manufacturer’s European headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany – but we’re expecting more up close and personal looks here in the USA soon.
This concept is being shown on the manufacturer’s New Generation i30, using Near Field Communication to make the connection. Your smartphone makes the vehicle unlock its doors and is then placed in a center console in the vehicle for further use. Once you’re connected within, you’ve got a 7-inch touchscreen to work with up front on the dash where you’re able to access music, phone contacts, radio, and phone settings.
This system also works with wireless charging, this we must assume being compatible with all of the new devices that are working with said technology including the Nokia Lumia 920 and friends, the HTC DROID DNA (and Butterfly), and the LG Nexus 4. Of course it’s no guarantee, and the device they’re using in the demonstration thus far is none of these, but we can dream!
Allan Rushforth, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Hyundai Motor Europe, noted the following about the system as it stands today:
“Hyundai’s Connectivity Concept showcases the brand’s philosophy of making tomorrow’s technology accessible to a wide range of customers. With this technology, Hyundai is able to harness the all-in-one functionality of existing smartphone technology and integrating it into everyday driving in a seamless fashion. As the technology continually develops there will be capabilities to store driver’s seating positions and exterior mirror settings, providing customers with a comfortable and individual driving environment.” – Rushforth
This system works with MirrorLink technology for wireless connectivity and also makes it known that Hyundai is working in a joint development agreement with Broadcom Corporation to make this all possible. We’ll be seeing more of this action soon!
We mentioned earlier this month that rumors were circulating that the federal government would move to place event data recorders inside new vehicles. Federal regulators are now proposing that all new automobiles sold in the US after September of 2014 will be required to be equipped with these event data recorders. The recorders are somewhat like the black boxes that are found inside aircraft.
The boxes will reportedly be able to record all sorts of information about a vehicle including how fast it was traveling, the number of passengers, and the vehicle location. The National Transportation Safety Agency is calling for public comments on the proposed rule by February 11, 2013. The NTSA has the authority to set motor vehicle safety requirements and it is within the agency’s power to require automakers install event data recorders in the vehicle.
The way these boxes would work is that the devices would activate the record data for about 30 seconds during certain events. This would mean during sudden braking, acceleration, swerving, or other types of driving that could lead to an accident. The information would be able to be downloaded from the box remotely or through physical connection depending on the vehicle model.
The federal regulators say that the data would be used “primarily for the purpose of post-crash assessment of vehicle safety performance.” You can bet if the information is available; it will also wind up being used in court to prove or disprove the drivers fault in an accident. Privacy advocates want the data to be anonymized and wants guarantees that the information won’t be marketed. Insurance companies could potentially take this information and use it to increase rates for an area.
We can now all move on with our lives amid the freeing of the Steve Jobs-commissioned superyacht from impound as the estate and designer Philippe Starck have reached a monetary agreement. This agreement comes after the Starck group Ubik set the ship in impound because of unpaid fees from the Steve Jobs estate. The big news today has the ship set free. It’s been a devastating five days that the ship has been stopped from glorious water freedom.
It would appear that Starck’s attorney Gérard Moussault has spoken with French daily Le Monde about the situation this week, assuring us all that the Jobs estate had placed a security deposit in a bank account so that the ship could be set free. The amount placed in the account has not yet been made clear. The folks working for Starck had hired a debt collection agency to create a legal order to keep the boat from leaving the Netherlands.
Bloomberg reported that the disagreement included a loose agreement in which Starck would receive 6 percent of the yachts end construction costs. The initial cost of the ship was supposed to be 150 million euros, but according to the Steve Jobs estate, the final cost ended up being closer to 105 million euros – because of this rather sizable difference, the final payment to Starck ended up being 3 million euros short.
The ship goes by the name Venus and has been described several times over the course of the past year. This massive ship is controlled with Apple products such as the set of iMac machines pictured in the one hands-on tour given of the ship this Summer. Have a peek at the timeline below to check out the full epic journey of this beast from rumor to release.
The next generation Ford Lincoln MKC compact crossover vehicle has been tipped to be appearing for the first time at the Detroit Auto Show 2013. This vehicle has been said to be appearing by the Detroit Bureau where they’re confident that this downsized crossover-utility vehicle will be one of many similar vehicles to be showing their face for the first time officially. The MKC has been said to be sharing many features with the Ford Escape (as pictured below) save for many luxury features that’ve been cut out to make this machine more affordable for the mass market.
The Ford Motor Company will be bringing four new Lincoln luxury vehicles to the market between here and 2014, the MKC being one of them. There’s also a new MKZ planned, so says the same source, this being accompanied by a replacement for the larger MKS. The fourth vehicle has been tipped to be a complete replacement for the full-sized Navigator SUV.
The 2013 Lincoln MKZ that’s been out in the public eye for some time now is set as a precursor for the MKC, both vehicles said to be working with many of the same features, top to bottom. The MKC is said to be working with the same horizontal grille as its predecessor and will have the same C-segment platform as the Ford Escape and the Ford Focus. The new Lincoln MKZ has been tipped to be working with several different powertrain options including the Ford 2.0-liter EcoBoost or possibly the 1.6-liter turbocharged EcoBoost.
We’ll be seeing this vehicle within the next few weeks if not straight up in-person at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show. This show also goes by the name North American International Auto Show and is set to be a massive display of excellence from car and truck brands from left to right, as always. Stick with SlashGear for the full scoop!
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