Hasta La Gadget!

General Motors is set to unveil the new 2014 Cadillac CTS during the 2013 New York Auto Show. The New York Auto Show is the next major auto show to be held in the United States. We’ve known for a while that vehicle would make its official debut at the show and GM has already offered up information on its new V-6 engine that will find its weight under the hood.

However, one major detail we didn’t know about the new CTS was exactly what the vehicle will look like on the outside. Some official photographs of the 2014 Cadillac CTS have leaked online ahead of the car’s official launch in New York. The images show a distinctive front grill and a front bumper area that has a sporty look.

The images also show what appear to be LED daytime running lights, HID headlights, and LED fog lights. The rear of the car has a small deck lid spoiler, LED tail lights, and the familiar Cadillac crest. On the inside, the car is all-new using lots of leather, real wood trim, and Alcantara along with contrasting color stitching.

There will be multiple engines available in the new Cadillac, the most powerful being Cadillac’s new twin turbo V-6 engine. We previously talked about that new V-6 in depth and it will provide the new CTS with 420 hp and 430 pound-feet of torque. Cadillac says that the CTS fitted with this engine will be able to reach 60 mph in 4.6 seconds and have a top speed of 170 mph. I’d wager that engine will be available in the CTS V performance version only.

[via Motoward]

First images of 2014 Cadillac CTS leak is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Pratt & Miller has created a rear-facing radar that can track approaching cars, with the information gathered being offered to the driver via a display. The system was shown off at 12 Hours of Sebring, and is said to be the only currently available of its kind. You can check out a video of the intriguing radar after the jump.

Corvette Racing’s radar system is similar to the camera systems used to provide visibility in blind spots, but with a sophisticated vehicle tracking feature that can provide racers with information that could be difficult to get otherwise, such as during the night time. Check out the video below to see it in action.

Pratt & Miller embeddded systems engineer Chris Hammond said, “The system uses a rear-facing radar sensor to track up to 32 objects, and runs on a custom-built Linux PC with a Core i3 CPU. With a momentary glance the driver knows how many cars are following, how far back each one is, their closing speeds, and whether or not they are probably a faster class.”

The radar works something like this: The camera keeps an eye on the vehicles nearby, and whether it is bright and sunny or dim and rainy (or after dark), the system will use symbols to indicate things about other racers. For example, a yellow symbol is used to identify vehicles that are going the same speed as the driver’s car, while a green symbol is used to show a car that is going slower and a red symbol to show cars that are going faster.

[via Autoblog]

Corvette Racing’s rear radar system demoed in video is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’ve been following NVIDIA’s news blasts this past week, you know that they’ve revealed their next-generation chipset to be working with CUDA-capable GPUs. What’s more, you’ll have a bit of an idea what that means for mobile devices, the computing power they’ll have extremely soon, and you’ll be pumped up about that power coming to smart vehicles through their new developer program. This new developer kit goes by the name NVIDIA Jetson Development Platform – available to you right this minute!

This new platform is a big ol’ amalgamation of metal and plastic, power and next-generation precision. What developers in the smart segment of the next generation of our everyday road-ready vehicles will be doing with this beast is optimizing their ideas for the processing power of NVIDIA’s Tegra processors. Automakers will be able to work with this proof-of-concept in a tiny 1-DIN form that fits in a car stereo slot.

Jetson Development Platform package:

• Jetson main board
• Tegra VCM with automotive-grade Tegra 3 mobile processor
• Embedded Breakout Board (EBB) with a wide range of connectivity options
• NVIDIA CUDA-capable discrete GPU
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth module, and GPS antennas
• 64 GB mSATA Drive
• Touchscreen display and cables
• Power supply and cables
• USB cable (mini-USB to USB)
• HDMI to DVI cable

With the 1-DIN model of the Jetson, you’ll have the performance of a beastly NVIDIA Tegra VCM combined with the excellence of a Kepler-glass GPU. This GPU supports CUDA as well as OpenCV so any and all developers creating software for this setup will be able to do so with the following visual-based technologies:

• Pedestrian Detection
• Lane Departure Warnings
• Collision Avoidance

This development kit is made not just to make the developer’s job awesome with the processing power of Tegra and Kepler, but to make their job as easy as possible so they can concentrate on what matters most – making their ideas a reality. Jetson is designed to help automakers overcome three key challenges, too, each of them allowing for quicker and easier implementation of forward-thinking technologies.

NVIDIA’s Jetson Development Platform does the following:

1) Simplifies and streamlines the development of advanced driver assistance and connected car technologies.

2) Accelerates the transition to each new generation of mobile SoC, enabling automakers to better keep pace with the rapid innovation cycle in consumer electronics.

3) Reduces the number of processors and independent silver boxes needed to develop infotainment, navigation, computer vision and driver assistance capabilities.

Sound pretty good to you? Have a peek at the timeline we’ve laid out below for all the NVIDIA action you can handle from this past week alone! NVIDIA is ramping up for not just GPUs in your most masterful gaming desktop computers, not just for some of the most powerful mobile processor architectures in the mobile universe for your superphones and tablets, but for next-generation smart vehicles of all kinds, soon and very soon!

NVIDIA Jetson Development Platform hits smart cars with CUDA and Kepler power is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Jaguar has been working hard to bring a more sporting image to the brand over the last several months. The automaker has unveiled some incredibly attractive cars over the last year including the 550 hp XFR-S and the new F-Type convertible. Jag is set to unveil another high-performance car model at the 2013 New York International Auto Show.

At the New York International Auto Show Jaguar will add a new vehicle to its R performance line. The show will mark the global debut of the 2014 Jaguar XJR Sedan. Jaguar is holding off on the full details about this impressive vehicle until the auto show kicks off.

For now, all we get is the single teaser image you can see above and a few basic specifications for the vehicle. Jaguar is saying that the XJR will be the highest performance XJ sedan it offers. The vehicle will feature a 550 hp engine and a host of other modifications.

In addition to performance modifications, Jaguar says that the vehicle will also be an “extraordinary opulent machine.” Jag promises more than expected levels of interior luxury for buyers lucky enough to own one of these vehicles. The XJR will also get other modifications to the steering, suspension, and brakes to go along with the extra power. Pricing and other details should be offered when the auto show kicks off.

[via Jaguar]

Jaguar teases new XJR sedan is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A fault which could see Buick and Cadillac cars switch unexpectedly to Sport transmission mode has forced General Motors to recall almost 34,000 sedans and crossovers, the automaker has revealed. The software glitch, affecting the 2013 Buick LaCrosse and 2013 Cadillac SRX, will inconvenience drivers in the US, Canada, Mexico, China, and the Middle East, and require a swift reprogramming in order to fix it.

That attention will require a trip back to the dealership, and can’t be done remotely. General Motors says that 26,582 of the impacted cars are located in the US, though insists that it’s yet to hear of an injury or a crash caused by the problem.

Exactly what the cause of the software issue is, GM hasn’t said, only that it identified the fault while testing a 2014 engineering model. However, the end-result is clear: during driving, the auto gearbox can unexpectedly flick over from manual mode and into Sport mode, something which could increase the risk of a crash.

That’s because Sport mode has the side effect of “removing any transmission-related engine braking effect” GM explains [pdf link], so that taking your foot off the gas doesn’t allow the car to naturally slow itself. General Motors expects to kick off the recall on March 28, and owners of affected vehicles should speak to their local dealership to arrange a fix. There’s more information

GM recalls 33,700 cars over gearbox glitch danger is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.