Car Tech Articles

Los Angeles, once known for its smog, has signed on with the all-new Formula E racing organization to host one of the worldwide series of 10 electric-car races, kicking off next year.

Los Angeles joins Miami; London; Rome; Beijing; Rio de Janeiro; Putrajaya, Malaysia; and Buenos Aires, Argentina, in hosting races in the series. Two more cities in the series have yet to be announced.

The Formula E organization demonstrated one of its electric race cars in Los Angeles on Monday.

Although Formula E intends the series to be open to competitive build teams, the organization has contracted Spark Racing … Read more

If you wanted to impress on Earth Day, you could do worse than this all-electric motorcycle from Canada.

The Sora superbike from Quebec-based Lito Green Motion is finally hitting the streets after years of development and promos. The Canadian Ministry of Transport recently certified the firm as a motorcycle manufacturer, and the $41,000 bike is getting lots of attention.

The Sora, which means "sky" in Japanese, has a 12 kWh lithium polymer battery and a range of 185 miles on a single charge, which takes 8 hours, or 90 minutes with a quick charger. It can be recharged anywhere using a conventional plug. … Read more

Do you drum your steering wheel in traffic jams and at all the red lights? What if it could make drum sounds instead of dull thumps?

The ridiculously named Re-Inventing The Wheel (RITW) is an electronic drum pad that covers your steering wheel and links wirelessly with your car speakers and your iPhone.

The gizmo, which is the focus of a Kickstarter campaign, emits drum sounds through the car stereo via an FM transmitter or line-in jack as you rock along to your favorite tunes on your iPhone.

RITW has eight sensors that can be set to trigger a snare, tom, cowbell, or any drum sound you like, or effects like dog barks or even Chewbacca's howl. You also can hear your drumming -- solo or with background music -- through earphones or mini speakers. … Read more

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Few cars have inspired as much hope as the Subaru BRZ: Hope that cars can still be unvarnished, affordable, and directly connected to the road and the driver. The BRZ isn't overwhelmingly powerful, it doesn't raise the bar on tech -- hell, it barely meets it in many areas -- but it's a lot of fun to drive in a classic fashion that harkens to the 240Z, 2000GT, and S2000.

We did a video on … Read more

Look in the comments below any portable GPS navigation device review or news story on CNET and chances are that you'll find a large number of readers saying something akin to, "Why would I buy this when I've got an app that's better?" You people can't seem to get enough of your smartphones and your apps!

But while a suction cup mount and an aux-audio cable may be enough for some people, many could benefit from a phone-app integration system that makes accessing a smartphone's navigation and audio-streaming apps a bit more solid and a lot less distracting. With that in mind, I've rounded up some of my favorite car stereos that help you to (safely) get your app fix on the go.… Read more

The Magellan SmartGPS is a portable navigation device, but it's also part of a larger system that, at the time of publication, has parts that give users multiple ways to navigate, search for destination, and manage their favorite places. At the core of this system is the SmartGPS hardware, which can be used as a standalone navigation device. However, the hardware works best when used in tandem with Magellan's smartphone apps for iPhone and Android devices and a cloud syncing service called MiCloud that is accessible via any Web browser.

Design The SmartGPS hardware looks about like you'… Read more

Before the recession, automakers at auto shows regularly showed off futuristic concept cars, which seemed more about keeping the design departments busy than developing future products. When resources became scarce, concept cars largely became prototypes brought out to gauge public reaction.

Such is still the case, given the assortment of concept cars we saw during the most recent international auto show cycle.… Read more

Old rumors about Volkswagen and Apple collaborating on an iCar will come the closest ever to realization next week, when Volkswagen unveils its iBeetle at Auto China 2013 in Shanghai. The iBeetle announcement consists of a special-edition Beetle, a new iPhone dock, and a Volkswagen iPhone app.

The special-edition Beetle, coming out next year, will feature color schemes inspired by the iPhone. Available in hardtop or convertible form, it will also come with unique wheels.

An iPhone dock in the iBeetle sits at the center top of the dashboard. Volkswagen writes in a press release that "all iPhone functions … Read more

This may not be TomTom's first foray into the GPS sport watch business (that distinction came with the Nike+ SportWatch), but the announcement of the TomTom Runner and Multi-Sport are proof that the GPS hardware provider is getting serious about the fitness tech segment.

The Runner and Multi-Sport are based on identical core hardware but feature different software, wristbands, and accessories. The core unit uses a large, high-contrast, monochrome LCD display covered with Gorilla glass, so it should be up to being knocked around a bit. TomTom tells us that the display is not e-ink, but has been … Read more