You’re a ZipCar customer.
You have an iPhone in your pocket, and would like to know where the nearest available car is.
You open the ZipCar application.
The map shows you a wide selection of cars. You specify the type, the selection shows those.
You touch the screen and reserve a car.
As you get to where it’s parked, you press a button, which makes the car honk, helping you find it.
And then you open the car, enter and drive off.
Owning cars just changed—a lot.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot indeed. How could Toyota Prius, The Next Generation, not offer direct access to Apple’s technophile (technophobe?) gizmo? No USB paradise by the dashboard lights? True story, brought to you by PriusChat (motto: “Press our buttons”). “The USB integration won’t be available out of the factory until September, and it will only come with the Navigation option package that is available in the Prius III, IV, and V. Customers who buy their Navigation-equipped Prius before September will be able to have the USB kit installed at the dealer, but at their own expense. There are no specifics right now, but it looks like in September when the USB connectivity is added to the Navigation package, the price of the Navigation package will be going up. It hasn’t been established yet whether that price increase would be the same as the price a dealer will charge to install it, or if the dealer-installed USB will be more expensive.” It doesn’t take much Insight, or a Honda Odyssey without iPhone integration, to realize that this is a major marketing misstep by the ToMoCo. Did you know that Microsoft’s Zune can operate through your vehicle’s FM radio? Just sayin’.
When developing new car gadgetry, automakers are faced with making a very basic assumption about their potential customers. Are we the consumers willing to trade our fundamental, if somewhat-anarchistic, assumptions of freedom for some wimpy, gas saving benefit? From accident black boxes to driver-behavior monitors, most red-blooded pistonheads say, hell no! Apparently BMW reckons that more people want toys than want (perceived) freedom. And they’re developing an intelligent navigation system that will learn your driving habits to prove it.
Ford has released a study (via PR Newswire) that shows its proprietary (for now) SYNC system reducing the amount of time spent looking away from the road while performing tasks that probably shouldn’t be done while driving anyway. Want to find a new song on your iPod while doing 65 on the freeway? Ford says that without SYNC this task can take 25 seconds of crash risking attention from the road. With SYNC, the task is done in a mere two seconds. Reading a text can take 11 seconds, but Ford claims that SYNC’s text-to-speech output can reduce the task to two seconds. “We know people want to stay connected in their vehicles, so Ford is continuing to deliver that connectivity for them responsibly and safely, says Susan Cischke, Ford’s group vice president of Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering. But unfortunately, their study used subjects who were already regular SYNC users. If you’re still getting used to the system, fiddling with it could return your in-car cell phone use to DUI-levels of danger. After all, how hard is it to wait for a light (or heaven forbid, suffer through a song you don’t like) before messing with your iPod? Luckily, if you do crash while playing with SYNC on the go, Ford has added an Onstar-like 911 feature to rush rescuers to your mangled Focus. Or if you want OnStar-like features from a non-Detroit OEM, that might be in the cards as GM is in talks to license its in-car Big Brother.
The vocabulary used to classify hybrid drivetrains has been lagging considerably behind new developments, as Wikipedia’s article on the matter proves. The old parallel, serial, mild and plug-in hybrid categories do little to illuminate public understanding of the underlying technology, and much to confuse it. Enter the BYD Dual-Mode, VW “Twindrive” and, now, the AVL “Turbohybrid”. With cooperation from BMW, Bosch and LuK, AVL has developed a mild-ish hybrid drivetrain. The consortium claims it’s cheaper and more fun to drive than a “full hybrid” while offering nearly the same efficiency. Care to deep dive?
If you answered yes to both questions, chances are you’re feeling relatively isolated from the economic pressures of the recession. Congratulations! Now go treat yourself to one of these iPhone applications compiled by CarType. Thanks to the power of Steve Jobs you can now shop for car insurance, look up the lowest gas prices in town, receive RSS updates on cars for sale, receive press releases from MINI, VW and Mercedes Benz, calculate your mileage, look up EPA ratings, receive traffic alerts in a number of countries, and play a plethora of time-wasting games all from your phone. Delphi’s James Bond-like bluetooth control for complete vehicle systems (first teased a year ago) is, sadly, still not available on the consumer market.
“The front suspension is operated by a wireless remote control unit by the driver. It enables the car’s front suspension to rise by 55mm enabling it to negotiate obstacles such as car park ramps, speed humps, high kerbs etc. without expensive damage to the front spoiler or underside of the car. If the driver forgets to cancel the system and lower the suspension after he has negotiated the offending obstacle, the “Airlift Suspension” will automatically lower the car back down to normal ride height once it has reached a speed of 50 km/h.”
Kids rule, telecoms drool. In this case, AT&T figures pester power will entice car owners to stump-up $1299 and $28 a month for an in-car satellite TV system. That and installation charges for a roof-mounted antenna pod thingie that will do for automotive aerodynamics what the Olsen twins did for the food pyramid. AT&T calls the service “Cruisecast,” ignoring the obvious connection to the Al Pacino movie and lifestyle choice known as Cruising. And what’s with that satellite following the car? Anyway, “A final channel lineup is still being developed,” PC World reveals, quoting this morning’s press release. “But AT&T says it will include lots of family-friendly entertainment, including Disney Channel, Disney XD, Discovery Kids, Animal Planet, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network Mobile, USA, COMEDY CENTRAL, MSNBC, CNN Mobile Live and CNBC.” I know what you’re thinking: HOW much? And if you’re geeky, you’ll wonder how AT&T TV can keep on keeping on when it’s out of sight of the company’s birds. All hail its “breakthrough buffering technology keeps the show going even when you’re under a tunnel or other line-of-site obstacle.” Just in case that doesn’t fly with car buyers/owners, Avis and Budget car will offer Cruisecast in some of its rental cars for $9 a day or $63 a week. Or you could just toss a couple of iPhones in back.
The Truth About Cars: they’re hideously complicated devices that must be able to serve duty in every sort of meteorological condition. The controls required to help keep their owners comfortable in this huge and ever-changing range of temperatures and climatic conditions are subject to neglect, abuse and constant use. Not to mention simple human nature, which is simple, but not so easy to satisfy in any meaningful bio-mechanical way. So hats off to the designers, engineers and assembly workers who delivered unto us, the driving public, a sane, sensible way to control our own personal micro-climate. I present to you, gentle readers and humble auto industry-types, TTAC’s Top Ten HVAC controls 2009, with comments by our very own Best and Brightest. [Gallery below. Printed list and comments after the jump.]
Reuters reports that Toyota is set to introduce its own version of GM’s OnStar telematics-based service: Safety Connect. The news agency’s story emphasizes… safety. “The service… is designed to provide drivers with emergency support in the event of an airbag deployment or an accident, through embedded cellular technology and a satellite-based navigation system. The system-equipped vehicles also come with an SOS button, through which customers can communicate with emergency call centers for 24 hours a day. In the event a vehicle is stolen, the service also assists in tracking the location of the stolen vehicle.” The AP widens that remit. “The luxury Lexus version also includes driver convenience features such as driving directions and an advanced voice command program.” You hurt your what? (Enhanced voice recognition.) The official press release adds the finishing touch: the Lexus system will be called “Enform,” which sounds a bit like a feminine hygiene product to me. Anyway, there are ramifications here…
Life’s a drag. If you’re an automobile, the faster you go, the more of a drag it becomes. As early as the 1920’s, engineers realized that a car’s shape was no less important than an airplane’s; it determined the the automobile’s aerodynamic efficiency, which has a major impact on its fuel efficiency. (Cars may not have been born from jets, but the same rules apply.) For mass motoring, decades of cheap gas made automotive aerodynamics more of an optional art class than a required science. Now, with government regulators demanding maximum fuel efficiency, aerodynamics are back in play, headed for the mainstream. Active aerodynamics are taking center stage.
According to the Daily Mail, you can now buy a microwave that plugs in to your car’s 12v socket. Because you need that hot pocket when you’re commuting. Because talking on your cell phone while driving is only so distracting. And because that cell phone only delivers minimal electromagnetic radiation risk. The $190 appliance made by Maplin Electronics is small enough to stash in the boot of car, features a robust steel construction with heavy duty handle and is operated by a LED touchscreen. According to a company rep, “you no longer have to worry about searching for places to eat as the microwave ensures you can plan your day as you want to and eat when you’re hungry. It gives you the flexibility and freedom to enjoy hot food wherever and whenever you wish.” Be still my fat-clogged, barely-beating heart.
As the video proves beyond the shadow of a doubt, parallel parking is a cinch. For those who nonetheless feel challenged by the maneuver, and view it as scarier than crossing the 38th parallel, Ford has a cure: Ford plans to offer two Lincoln models in 2009 that can park themselves, Marketwatch reports. Parallel parking will get as boring as pushing a button. The miracles will be on display at the Detroit Auto Show. The parallel parking robot will be an option on the Lincoln MKS sedan and MKT CUV for the 2009 model year. For the TTAC B&B, this news is a yawner, as automatic parallel parking attendants were introduced by Toyota in their Prius as far back as 2004, followed by Lexus, BMW, the VW Touran, and possibly others.
I know what you’re thinking. If Ford’s dedicating itself to building automobiles without A-pillars the size of redwood trees and blind spots that could hide a girl scout chapter, then huzzah! The Blue Oval Boyz get it! Uh, no. The only thing FoMoCo wants to “get” is more money for backup cameras. “Ford Motor Company is answering consumer requests for more visibility around their vehicles. Ford plans to continue its aggressive technology onslaught by doubling the number of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models that offer its innovative and affordable Rear View Camera System by the end of 2009. Approximately 75 percent of Ford vehicles will offer the feature by the end of next year, including the new 2010 Ford Mustang – the only sports car to offer the feature when it arrives in spring 2009 – and the recently introduced 2010 Ford Fusion and Fusion Hybrid.” Don’t get me wrong: my minivan’s backup camera is much appreciated (by my neighbors if no one else). But if “our research shows that visibility is one of the biggest customer concerns today,” why not design for it? Oh right, the Ford Taurus. OK, carry on then.
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