For many cities, the grid of the streets and transit systems were likely laid down long before the buildings grew up around them, thanks to the rigor of planners and engineers who knew best. But as cities transition in ways that challenge the century-old plan, they need new and quick ways to improvise connections between areas of growth. These are known as "desire lines."
Would you get paid to act as a third passenger in a vehicle so the car could drive into a congestion-restricted area? How about signing up to pack people into crowded subway cars? Dress up as a zebra and walk the streets, preventing cars from running red lights?
It goes without saying that there is a fast growing group of nouveau riche over in China, and luxury car maker Bentley is not going to let this opportunity pass them by. No sir, they have underlined the importance of the Chinese market by using the Beijing motor show as its vehicle (pardon the pun) to unveil its very first attempt at a hybrid concept car, not to mention using this opportunity to debut another three more models.
This hybrid ride will be based on Bentley’s £225,000 flagship Mulsanne model, where the hybrid system makes use of both petrol and electric power, allowing you to plug into its mains in order to juice up your ride whenever it starts to run low on juice. The manufacturer touts that the system will be able to increase the car’s power output by 25%, while cutting emissions by 70%, in addition to letting you get around on this vehicle for 30 miles before its batteries run well and truly flat.
Ricky Tay, Bentley’s China managing director, shared, “China has always been a key market for Bentley and, after a remarkable year in 2013, we have seen an impressive start to 2014 with a 19pc increase in sales in the first quarter. Our customer base is growing and we are expanding our dealer network to offer our ultra luxury products and a unique brand experience throughout the region.”
Bentley Hybrid Car Set To Wow , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Green, Transportation, bentley,
We all wish the United States had better trains. (If you don’t, you should.) That’s why this subway-style map of every U.S. Highway and Interstate in the country is so much fun. You can almost imagine heading down to your local stop for a quick jaunt up the East Coast. If only…
The military is definitely one place where you can work and “play” with the latest “toys” that are in the market – or maybe not even released yet. Most of the time, such tools will be used to make your military unit as efficient as possible, whether it is meant for offense or defense. Logos Technologies recently picked up a DARPA award in order to work on a silent-capable hybrid electric military motorcycle.
Hybrid Motorcycles To Serve The Army Soon original content from Ubergizmo.
The always interesting urban exploration crew at Trackrunners have assembled all of their various trips down beneath the streets of Barcelona into one long super-post, an epic catalog of all things lost and subterranean in that Spanish coastal city.
Driving an electric car has its fair share of advantages – electricity is a whole lot more affordable than a full tank of gas, not to mention electric cars have no emissions that will clog up the earth’s atmosphere with poisonous gases. The thing is, a gas station is whole lot more common than an electric vehicle charging point, and Nissan intends to encourage the uptake in their Nissan LEAF electric car by expanding on its successful “No Charge to Charge” promotion that will see the automobile manufacturer offer two years of free public charging with the purchase or lease of a new Nissan LEAF.
Nissan Offers Free And Easy Charging For LEAF Cars original content from Ubergizmo.
Walk? Like up that giant hill? Yeah, no. This ain’t the 15th century, we have funiculars for that now. In fact, here are seven of the swankiest ground-based gondolas to ever put the "fun" in "climbing steep-ass inclines without breaking a sweat."
When Apple announced CarPlay, they revealed a handful of car manufacturers that would be officially supporting the platform upon its release, but what about older car models and cars not of those brands listed on Apple’s website? We’re sure the last thing Apple wants is to shun other companies, but in the meantime both Alpine and Pioneer have since come forward and announced their plans for aftermarket CarPlay installations.
Apple’s website has since been updated and has seen both Alpine and Pioneer’s logo added to the CarPlay page, meaning that for those worried that these aftermarket solutions are not official, you can rest assured that Apple has given both Alpine and Pioneer their blessings. Both companies have recently announced that they will be bringing aftermarket solutions to older cars and brands that aren’t officially supported by Apple yet.
CarPlay support will be added through firmware updates to their existing infotainment units, but for drivers who do not have Pioneer or Alpine’s systems in their cars yet, they will be able to purchase those units where they are expected be priced between $700-$1,400 for Pioneer’s NEX series (not to be confused with Sony’s NEX series of cameras) and $500-$700 for Alpine’s systems.
Mercedes-Benz has been announced as one of the official car manufacturers to offer CarPlay systems in their future vehicles, but the car company has also stated that they are looking into offering an aftermarket solution towards the end of the year, although apart from that statement we’re not sure what Mercedes-Benz’s solution might look like. Either way if you have an older vehicle, these are aftermarket solutions you can look forward to.
Alpine And Pioneer Added To Apple’s CarPlay Website , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Apple, Transportation, carplay,
When one talks about Volvo, great vehicle design is not the first thing that pops into one’s mind, as most of the time, as safety seems to be the major keyword instead. This iconic Swedish automaker has had its fair share of safety features introduced in the past, with the most recent one being an inflatable child seat concept that will hopefully see action in production vehicles soon. This time around, Volvo looks to enhance the in-car experience by signing a multi-year agreement with AT&T for the mobile carrier to deliver in-car connectivity services.
This agreement would see AT&T’s single SIM platform be the brains behind Volvo’s in-car solution that is known as Sensus Connect, where it will kick off with model year 2015 vehicles that are sold in the US and Canada. Sensus Connect happens to be an infotainment platform that will rely on technology from Ericsson.
Operating on AT&T’s HSPA+ network, it might seem to be a surprise to some considering how many people are making the jump towards LTE connectivity in the US, but I guess Volvo is more concerned with ensuring that everyone gets adequate coverage just about everywhere, instead of concentrating on the more modern areas of the country. It remains to be seen as to how much Volvo will charge customers for connectivity, so go figure.
Volvo Gets AT&T To Provide HSPA+ In-Car Connectivity , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Transportation, AT&T, volvo,
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