The Week: Most Recent Auto Industry:Driving in America

7 imaginative attempts to improve the DeLorean

By The Week Staff — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:30:00 -0500

In Back to the Future, Doc Brown builds a time machine by inventing a flux capacitor that powers a time-cruising DeLorean DMC-12 sports car. And ever since the film came out in 1985, the DeLorean has had a cult following, with many fans daydreaming about some awfully impressive ways to improve the sports car. From hovercrafts to monster-trucks, take a look at some of the most out-there ideas:

1. The DeLorean hovercraft: Spotted by a YouTube user, this modified DeLorean was converted into a hovercraft. Yes, it actually floats on water while you cruise around. Unfortunately...

The 'smart headlight' that makes raindrops invisible

By The Week Staff — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 12:38:00 -0400

Your car's old headlights may be getting a makeover. A new "smart headlight" invented by the brainiacs at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute purportedly has the ability to make even the thickest rainstorm or snowfall look like a light drizzle, drastically improving visibility. Here's what you should know about this innovative new technology:

How does it work?
When you're driving a car equipped with conventional headlights through the rain, their steady beams hit water droplets and reflect light back at you, making it harder to see. But this new headlight mounts an intelligent camera...

Ford's 'Traffic Jam Assist': Are we close to a driverless car?

By The Week Staff — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 15:20:00 -0400

Ford Motor Company is joining the race to develop a hands-off system that would let motorists relax while cars drive and park themselves. At an event showcasing the automaker's 2013 models on Tuesday, Ford unveiled a a new tool called Traffic Jam Assist, which will give drivers the option of handing over control to the car in slow, heavy traffic. Is this a leap toward the dream of kicking back while a Jetsonian driverless car takes you where you want to go? Here's what you should know:

How does Traffic Jam Assist work?
The system uses radar and cameras to keep track of all surrounding vehicles...

Honda's Segway alternative... that you steer with your butt

By The Week Staff — Mon, 21 May 2012 07:31:00 -0400

The video: Fancy the mobility of a Segway but don't like standing? Honda's new project, the UNI-Cub, might be right up your alley. At first glance the "personal mobility device" looks like a motorized unicycle — and we've all seen how "easy" it is to ride a unicyle. But Honda says the UNI-Cub is quite nimble, allowing users to maneuver with a large front wheel to control horizontal and forward movement while a smaller rear wheel helps pivot through turns. (Smartphone controls are optional.) The device has a max speed of 3.7 miles per hour, and is designed for both indoor and outdoor...

The Ford Mustang's new European look: A big mistake?

By The Week Staff — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:50:00 -0400

Few things are more classically American than a Ford Mustang, the Pony car that spawned dozens of imitators after it was launched in 1964. And today's Mustang still bears strong resembles to the original, part of a years-long attempt by Ford to ride a retro trend that saw baby boomers buying Volkswagen Beetles and Chevrolet Camaros. But all that is about to change, says Mike Ramsey at The Wall Street Journal. Ford is planning a sleeker, "European" look for its new Mustang, in a bid to attract younger consumers who have less affection for muscle cars of yore. The new Mustang will reportedly launch...

Coming soon: Self-driving cars?

By The Week Staff — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:03:00 -0400

When will self-driving cars take to the road?
They're already out there. For the past two years, Google has been testing computer-controlled cars in California. Its self-driving Toyota Priuses have so far clocked more than 200,000 miles on busy highways, mountainous roads, and congested city streets with only occasional human intervention. (There are always two human drivers onboard, ready to take the wheel in case of a malfunction). "This car can do 75 mph," said Google engineer Chris Urmson. "It can track pedestrians and cyclists. It understands traffic lights. It can merge at highway speeds...

Should America ban cell phones for drivers?

By The Week Staff — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:17:00 -0500

Keep your eyes on the road and your phone in your pocket. That's the gist of the new guidelines proposed Tuesday by the federal National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB wants states to ban drivers from any non-emergency use of cell phones and other electronic devices that aren't built into their automobile. "We're not here to win a popularity contest," said NTSB chairwoman Deborah Hersman. "No email, no text, no update, no call is worth a human life." Here's what you should know:

How dangerous is "distracted driving"?
Very. Commercial drivers are 163 times more...

Time for Amish buggy driving tests?

By The Week Staff — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 06:30:00 -0400

Two Amish children were killed and three others injured in a Labor Day accident in Indiana, after the 10-year-old at the reins of a pony cart pulled out of a driveway and into the path of an SUV. The tragedy has ignited a debate over whether it should be legal for young children to drive horse-drawn buggies on open roads. Here, a brief guide:

How old must a kid be to drive a carriage?
The Indiana Driver's Manual says people in horse-drawn vehicles have the same rights and responsibilities as all other drivers — but the law sets no minimum age for buggy drivers. In Amish communities, it's apparently...

'Drivemocion': Emoticons for your car

By The Week Staff — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 13:05:00 -0400

The image: Emoticons, those cute, if not always endearing, little faces that people use to enrich their emails and text messages, are hitting the road with a new device called the "Drivemocion." An LED circuit board that attaches via suction cup to a car's back window and is operated by remote control, the Drivemocion comes programmed with 16 messages to express a wide range of driver emotions, including remorse (SORRY, when cutting off another driver), lust (a smiley face with hearts for eyes), worry (SLOW DOWN), and, of course, anger (BACK OFF, or a peeved frowning face). There's even a message...

Ford's 'sexy' Evos: Can this car run your social life?

By The Week Staff — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 18:01:00 -0400

The video: This week, Ford released images of its "sexy" new concept car, the Evos. Set to debut later this month at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the Evos is no mere hybrid, but a sleek vision of how a cloud-connected car could integrate itself into seemingly every facet of your daily life. (Watch a video about the Evos below.) The car would communicate wirelessly with gadgets in your home or office to play the same music as you come and go, turn off the lights in your house as you hit the road, and be constantly aware of your schedule. Evos even boasts a heart rate monitor — not to mention...

Will SUVs finally become fuel-efficient?

By The Week Staff — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 18:18:00 -0400

The competition to develop vehicles with greater fuel efficiency has heated up in the face of ever-more-stringent government standards. But new government rules are also creating unexpected alliances. In a first for the auto industry, U.S. automaker Ford and Japanese behemoth Toyota have announced a partnership to create new gas-electric hybrid engines unlike anything available now. Here, a guide to this development:

What are Ford and Toyota working on?
Trucks and SUVs, primarily. New rules from the Obama administration require automakers to develop a fleet of vehicles averaging 54.5 miles per gallon...

4 reasons 'Carmageddon' didn't cripple L.A.

By The Week Staff — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 10:38:00 -0400

Los Angeles' so-called weekend of "Carmageddon" was impressive, but not for the reasons city officials had feared (and news producers had, perhaps, relished). The closure of a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 405 did not produce an apocalyptic snarl of traffic as predicted because Angelenos largely stayed off the area's freeways, creating surreal scenes of a traffic-free Los Angeles. Equally stunning, the freeway-closing bridge demolition was completed 17 hours ahead of schedule, allowing the 405 to reopen at about noon on Sunday. Why did the episode end in such a whimper? Here, four theories:

1...

How soon will we have flying cars?

By The Week Staff — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:35:00 -0400

In 1989's Back to the Future Part II, Michael J. Fox travels in a DeLorean to the year 2015, when flying cars and hoverboards are the norm. Now, in 2011, that sci-fi fantasy is looking like it could one day be a reality... sort of. Terrafugia, the company that developed the Transition flying car, is one step closer to making its futuristic product available to the public. How does the Transition work, and when might it hit the market? Here, a brief guide:

There's really a car that can fly?
The Transition is more accurately called a "roadable aircraft." It's a multi-purpose vehicle that can drive...

The folly of doubling down on electric cars

By The Week Staff — Tue, 31 May 2011 15:01:00 -0400

The government-sponsored shift to electric cars hasn’t had the best possible launch. Despite federal subsidies for purchases, and government arguments for electric as the green option of the future, buyers have — to paraphrase Samuel Goldwyn — stayed away in droves. Chevy only sold 281 Volts in February, 601 in March, and 493 in April. For the year, Chevy has only sold 2,029 of its newest Volt model. The Nissan Leaf has fared even worse, selling only 1,044 for the same model year.

Those numbers may be artificially inflated as well. The National Legal and Policy Center reported...

Ford's health-monitoring cars: Too intrusive?

By The Week Staff — Fri, 20 May 2011 11:45:00 -0400

Ford is transforming its cars into personal health and lifestyle tools, with a set of voice-controlled apps that will perform wellness tasks like monitoring diabetics' blood sugar, or checking pollen counts for allergic drivers. The interactive tools could be on the market within a year or two. Given how much time people spend behind the wheel, says Ford's chief technology officer Paul Mascarenas, it's time to see "the car as more than just a car." But do we really want "smarter" cars that get intimately involved with our bodily functions?

This is a bit creepy: Ford has a point that cars are becoming...

Googling your way to better fuel economy

By The Week Staff — Thu, 12 May 2011 14:48:00 -0400

Ford is hoping to make its hybrid cars even more efficient — with the help of Google. At the Google I/O Conference in San Francisco this week, the carmaker said it wants to use a tool called Google Prediction to plot out energy-saving changes for drivers. Here, a guide to Ford's plan:

What's the plan?
Ford wants to use Google Prediction to analyze drivers' tendencies, and come up with customized strategies for saving energy. The idea would make use of cloud-based computing "to collect and process information about how drivers use their vehicles," according to Stephen Lawson at PCWorld.

Umm...