Hasta La Gadget!

From time to time, I wish I had one of those tiny city cars that could park almost anywhere, because it would make living in the city a lot easier. However, most of the time, these tiny cars are a bit boring to drive because of their lackluster performance. Renault sought to change this with their new concept car.

If you can believe it, the Twizy Sport F1 Electric concept borrows technology used in Formula 1 race cars. This single-seater race car comes with a front splitter, side pods, a rear wing, and a diffuser to give it a sporty look. It uses a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) to recover lost power, which is similar to the one used by Renault F1 cars. It allows this little car to push out almost 100hp, making it as fast as the Mégane Renault Sport 265 (which has 265 horses!).

The car even comes equipped with an F1-style steering wheel, which would provide access to the vehicle’s various functions.

I’m curious to see if or when they’ll use this technology in a production vehicle. I’m sure that many city dwellers would be interested in driving one.

[via designboom]

We all know by now that directly interacting with a phone while driving is a very bad idea. There are many more potential distractions at play in a car, however, and the US Department of Transportation has just published the first phase of guidelines to help infotainment device and vehicle makers keep drivers’ eyes on the road. Many of them are logical recommendations for avoiding text, video and the web while on the move, although the federal agency suggests curbs that would surprise those with cutting-edge rides. While the DOT agrees that hands-free calls are safer, it still sees an added degree of risk from using them; it’s not a big fan of GPS systems that introduce 3D or photorealism, either, as they potentially distract from the navigation at hand. The current guidelines aren’t hard and fast rules, but it’s clear the DOT will be watching companies closely — and when the advice is just one part of a three-part series, we’d expect close scrutiny of phones and other mobile devices before too long.

Filed under: Cellphones, GPS, Transportation

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Via: Wired

Source: NHTSA

Many see Apple and Volkswagen as two peas in a pod given their similar marketing, even if previous talk of collaborations amounted to little more than speculation. That purported dream team will soon become real through the iBeetle, an adaptation of the modern VW Bug designed with a little help from Apple. Don’t get your hopes up for a tie-in on the level of VW’s iPad-friendly Bulli concept, however. The integration mostly amounts to an iPhone dock as well as a car-optimized iOS app that can play music, read messages aloud, take photos and augment the instrument cluster. It’s a solid idea, especially when a large number of us already use our smartphones this way, but it isn’t very adventurous — the iPhone won’t coordinate extensively with the center stack, unlike smartphone-aware infotainment platforms such as GM’s MyLink or Ford Sync. We’d still take a close look at the iBeetle when coupe and convertible models reach US dealerships in early 2014, but it may be best for those already bent on getting some fahrvergnügen from their next ride.

Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation, Apple

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Via: Autoblog

Source: Volkswagen

Cadillac has long been a brand associated with luxury and sophistication, but it was also long thought of as the car your father – or your grandfather – might drive. Well I’m here to tell you that has definitely changed. I recently had the opportunity to put the 2013 Cadillac ATS to the test for a full week, and not only is it an excellent vehicle, it can be packed with all of the high-tech goodies that gadget geeks like you and I want in a car.

I won’t spend too much time talking about the car’s performance and styling – my focus will be on the technology inside the ATS. However, I will tell you that the ATS is one good looking car, with modern and agressive body styling, and a comfortable and luxurious interior. The all-wheel-drive, direct-injected 2.0L turbo model that I drove had plenty of punch (272 horses and 260 lb.-ft. of torque to be exact), while maintaining a consistent 25 MPG fuel economy combined across highway and city driving. The car handled like a dream – especially when I put it into “Sport” mode, which tightens up the steering and suspension so you feel in control of every move. It’s this incredibly solid handling along with a punchy little engine that makes this truly a driver’s car. Despite its zippy and sporty performance, it offered an exceptionally quiet ride.

The model I tested was loaded with tech features, with Cadillac’s vaunted CUE (Cadillac User Experience) system at the center of it all. This provides a centralized control panel for audio, navigation, climate, and other vehicle preferences. The system uses a pair of displays – a 8-inch multitouch display that’s the main controller, and a small 5.7-inch display that’s located in the instrument panel behind the steering wheel. Sound for the system is provided by a powerful Bose surround sound system.

In addition to the touchscreen, there are a number of touch-sensitive chromed “buttons” beneath the main display, providing quick access to power, volume, climate, and CUE’s Home screen. While neither the chromed buttons nor the touchscreen provide the physical “click” that you might find in traditional controls, CUE includes a haptic feedback which provides a gentle “thump” sensation to confirm your finger presses.

CUE itself provides a very clean and simple interface which should be familiar to anyone who uses a tablet or a smartphone. Its Home screen offers icons for Audio, Navigation, Phone, Settings, Climate, and OnStar. While there is room on the Home screen for a couple more icons, GM was smart to place a couple of icons on a second page for Pandora and Weather apps, so you get used to the swipe gesture to change pages. You can always drag and drop the icons around if you want to reconfigure them.

The arrow icon at the bottom right of the screen pops up a handy list of your favorite audio presets, which can be from any of the different sources, including Sirius/XM, AM, or FM. You can also pull up on this bottom menu to access more than five presets at a time. The CUE touchscreen also has proximity sensors, which turn on the menus at the top and bottom of the screen only when your hand is nearby. When you move your hand away, the screen displays only the most relevant information, greatly simplifying the displayed information.

One of my favorite features in Audio mode is the “Browse” screen. This lets you quickly swipe through the list of hundreds of radio stations, and tap directly to the one you’d like – just like using the Contacts list on a smartphone.

CUE also offers all of the requisite tech features you’d expect in a modern vehicle, including voice-based turn-by-turn GPS navigation, and Bluetooth integrated hands-free calling. Both of these features worked effortlessly for me in my tests, but being such utilitarian features, didn’t really surprise me in any way. It also offers “Natural Voice Recognition” for hands-free operation, which definitely is more intuitive than having to remember things like whether to say “Call” or “Dial” on other voice-based systems.

I mentioned before that CUE also offers Pandora support, and it provides a truly integrated experience, with album art, thumbs-up/down, bookmarking, and direct access to all of your mixes. Keep in mind that this only works over Bluetooth with Android and Blackberry devices, and iOS users will need to plug into the USB port in order to take advantage of the Pandora app.

There’s also a Weather app which provides quick access to current and forecast information, and Cadillac is expecting more applications down the road, after it announced an app developer program and SDK back at CES this past January.

I will say that it took a little getting used to the touch-only CUE interface, but once you realize that you can use standard gestures like swipe and pinch-zoom (which is really handy on the nav interface), it’s quite a nice setup. That said, I would still like to have physical buttons below the CUE display instead of the touch sensitive metal ones. I’d also like to see hard buttons for the major functions like Audio, Nav and Phone so I could quickly change between these without taking my eyes off the road. One other thing to note is that both the screen of the CUE and the glossy surfaces in the center console of the ATS are major fingerprint and dust magnets. Fortunately, Cadillac was kind enough to include a little gift in the glove box…

In addition to the touchscreen, CUE offers a set of handy steering wheel controls which quick access to many functions, including volume, track and even access to settings directly in front of you on the 5.7-inch widescreen dashboard display. You can even use the joystick-style controller on the right side of the steering wheel to customize what information is shown on the dash, such as a compass, fuel range, MPG info, or even a trip timer.

Another whiz-bang feature in the ATS I drove is the Forward Collision Alert system. This automatically can detect if you’re in imminent danger of rear-ending a vehicle in front of you, flashing a bright red LED heads-up indicator on the windshield, while simultaneously vibrating the driver’s seat.

This is part of the optional Driver Awareness Package which uses the same vibration feedback to alert you if you should stray from your lane while driving, or if you’re getting too close to an object while parking. The seat is pretty nifty tech, because it actually vibrates in different locations depending on if its a general alert, or if the hazard is to the left or right. This is a much better – and less annoying – feedback mechanism than I’ve seen in other vehicular warning systems. Plus, it’s like a free butt massage when it triggers, so how can that be bad?

My car also came equipped with two features which are great to have if you live in a cold place like here in Chicago. Both passenger and driver’s seats came with three-level heating, but perhaps my favorite little surprise feature was the heated steering wheel. Yes. See that button next to the orange light on the steering wheel above? Just press it, and your cold hands will be in heaven in under a minute. Not that it’s a rational thought at all, but I think the government should make this mandatory equipment on all cars that drive in temperatures below 40 degrees.

The ATS also comes with 12 months of OnStar service, which includes driving directions, operator assistance, automatic crash response, and remote lock/unlock and start capabilities via the OnStar RemoteLink smartphone app.

Other high-tech features aboard the ATS include keyless ignition and locks, a rear backup camera, complete with lines that indicate wheel trajectory, electric windows, locks, and electric driver’s and passenger seats. It’s also got universal home remote capability for controlling your garage door opener.

Technophiles looking to fully outfit the ATS can also opt for Adaptive Cruise Control – which maintains a pre-set distance between you and other drivers, a configurable Heads-Up full color display, and even Adaptive Forward Lighting, which swivels the cars headlights to cast their beams in the precise direction of your steering. Cadillac also offers optional LED accent lighting on the front of the car, and LED interior accent lighting is standard.

Overall, the 2013 Cadillac ATS is quite a desirable vehicle. It’s luxurious, comfortable, sporty and packed with technology (especially when fully-outfitted), and a car that I would be happy to be seen driving down the road. The CUE system does offer some innovations when compared to other technology packages, and it’s only in its first generation. Since Cadillac is promising that the system is software-upgradeable, I can imagine that CUE will only improve over time.

Base price for the 2013 Cadillac ATS starts at $33,095 (USD) for the RWD, 2.5L 4 cylinder model, and prices go all the way up to $55,005 for a top-of-the-line version with a powerful 3.6L V6. As equipped, the ATS 4WD 2.0L Turbo version I tested had a base price of $41,395. The addition of CUE, the Advanced Security Package, Driver Awareness Package, 18″ Aluminum wheels, the Cold Weather Package, and destination charge brought the final sticker price up to $46,275.

Disclosure: Cadillac provided the loan of the car for review in this article. However, all reviews are the unbiased views of our editorial staff, and we will only recommend products or services we have used personally, and believe will be good for our readers.

Back in February, we mentioned some cool build-your-own iPhone remote control Brick Cars from Utico that had landed in Japan. These cars let you drive around using your iPhone or other Apple gadget as a controller and you get to build the car as well. When they first surfaced they were only available in Japan and were priced at about $43 each.

If you thought those little LEGO-style remote control cars were really cool, you’ll be glad to hear that you can now buy them in the United States via iHelicopters.net. The downside is that the price has increased with the little kits now selling for $59.95 (USD).

There is a Mini Brick car kit and a Mini Brick Van kits to choose from. Both allow you to customize the design of the vehicle to suit your style. While they’re too small to use with LEGO bricks, they’re actually compatible with Nanoblocks building blocks.

The kits use wireless connectivity with a control range of 20 to 30 m. Charge time for the transmitter is 60 minutes for 120 minutes of play and charge time for the car itself is 20 minutes for 10 minutes of play. The control app is available free on the iTunes app store right now.