Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve seen what other companies have in store for our automotive future, and now Audi’s given us a glimpse of what we can expect from its car of tomorrow. The company’s Silicon Valley research lab have teamed up with four universities here in the US to develop technologies that will give city drivers the full KITT treatment — vehicles that recognize the driver (and his or her preferences) and can detect and avoid dangers and traffic delays. Called the Audi Urban Intelligence Assist initiative, each participating university has a specific area of urban mobility research ranging from urban crash analysis to aggregating historical and real-time traffic, parking, and pedestrian data in cities. The schools will also study how best to deliver relevant information to drivers and get them from point A to point B as easily and efficiently as possible. Looks like the groundwork is being laid for a German counterpart to GM’s EN-V we test drove in Vegas, and we look forward to the fruits of their labor. Ich bin ein Ingolstädter!

Audi commissions four US universities to research urban mobility issues originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Jan 2011 18:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toyota’s not too pleased with the general scarcity of rare earth minerals and China’s near-monopolistic grip on the world’s supply, so it’s decided to act before it’s too late. A company spokesman has been cited as saying the Prius maker is hard at work on a new electric motor design that should dramatically reduce (though seemingly not eliminate) the need for rare earths in its production. Aside from being made of less price-volatile materials, the new electric ticker is expected to be generally cheaper to manufacture. Further details aren’t yet available, but we hope this turns into a classic case of necessity breeding innovation — that Prius C concept deserves a set of internals that can keep up with its bodacious exterior.

Toyota developing new type of electric motor in an effort to escape dependency on rare earth metals originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Jan 2011 04:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here’s a shocker in more ways than one. Earlier this month, Enterprise Rent-A-Car announced that it would soon be offering Chevrolet’s Volt at the company’s Mark Christopher Auto Center in Ontario, California, and we reasonably assumed that renters best watch out for any unforeseen charges that may arise from returning it with a dead (or near-dead) stash of batteries. For anyone who has rented a gasoline-powered automobile in the past score, you’ll know that returning a whip with a fuel tank that’s just 90 percent full won’t quite cut it, and you’ll be stuck ponying up for your oversight. Thankfully — at least at Enterprise — a similar surcharge setup will not be applied to electric vehicles. Lisa Martini, a spokesperson for Enterprise, got in touch with us to clarify the outfit’s plans, and they’re shockingly consumer-friendly:

“[Enterprise] does not plan to charge customers for bringing back EVs without a full charge. Enterprise is installing charging stations at locations that will offer EVs, and plans to charge the vehicles once they’re returned.”

That pretty much sums it up for at least one major rental company, and we can only hope that everyone else publishes similar intentions before their accountants publish something to the contrary. Power to the people, eh?

Will rental car companies ding you for returning half-charged electric vehicles? Enterprise won’t. originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 Jan 2011 12:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Sunswift IV (aka IVy) might look like a mobile dinner table, but it’s actually the world’s fastest solar-powered vehicle. The table-top on wheels got the official nod from the Guinness Book of World Records last week, for hitting a top speed of 88km/h (about 55 mph) — nearly 10 km/h faster than the previous record-holder, the GM Sunraycer, which bears a striking resemblance to a disembodied Android monster. IVy, designed by Sunswift, a student-run non-profit at the University of New South Wales, reached its top speed using 1050 watts, about 400 watts less than the Sunraycer, and performed its record-smashing run without the 25kg battery it’s usually packing. Faster runs have been clocked, including by IVy, but Guinness has not been on hand for confirmation.

Sunswift IV, world’s fastest solar-powered racer, leaves GM Sunraycer in its dust originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Jan 2011 03:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not one to be one-upped by Hertz — which already announced a plug-in rental program that’ll include the almighty Tesla Roadster and the diminutive Smart Fortwo — Enterprise Rent-A-Car has just announced that it’ll be the first to offer Chevrolet’s Volt later in the month. The company’s Mark Christopher Auto Center in Ontario, California will have an undisclosed amount in stock for daily and weekly rentals, and it sounds as if it’ll be grappling for more just as soon as they roll off of the production line. For those who can’t quite make it down to the desert, Enterprise will be offering 500 Nissan Leaf vehicles nationwide, with charging stations already installed in Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Monica. No word on what type of fee you’ll be hit with when you bring it back with only 20 percent of the batteries charged, but you can rest assured the bigwigs at Enterprise are already thinking about it.

Continue reading Enterprise to offer Chevy Volt in California, probably ding you for bringing it back half-charged

Enterprise to offer Chevy Volt in California, probably ding you for bringing it back half-charged originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 09 Jan 2011 01:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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