The Car Tech blog

Plugging in your electric vehicle, or extended-range hybrid, may soon be a thing of the past. Evatran is developing a "hands-free" proximity charging system with the engineering team from Colorado company Syncroness.

The idea is to pull up to the Plugless Power system and get your car recharged. Evatran has a short animation depicting the process. The company will not have a product available until fall 2010, according to a press release.

The Gumball 3000 is just one of the stranger races held yearly around the world.

Five strange car races

Every car enthusiast worth his or her salt wants to attend events like the Indy 500, 24 Hours of LeMans, and Monaco Grand Prix, or, for fans of classics, the Monterey Historics, Goodwood Revival, or Mille Miglia Storica. But these are generally expensive propositions even for spectators, and forget about participating if you're not an excellent race driver or millionaire, preferably both. Cars are about glamour and going fast, sure, but life is about getting there and enjoying the ride along the way. This collection celebrates some lesser-known automotive competitions for which humor and good old-fashioned fun are essential elements.

With one exception, you can actually enter these events for low-four-figure sums at most, and for some of them that includes the purchase (or construction) of the actual race car itself. So grab a helmet, build up a sleep reserve, and get ready to have some cheap fun with a bunch of like-minded lunatics. Owning a race team isn't just for Roger Penske anymore.

(Credit: CNET)

As 2009 rolls to a close, we look back at the cars we've reviewed over the last year to see which one should earn our Tech Car of the Year award. From our survey of the 100 or so cars we've reviewed, we're pleased to see that the adoption of cabin tech by automakers is becoming more prevalent and ever more sophisticated, with features such as hard-drive-based navigation with traffic reporting becoming common.

Among the cars we've seen, we picked out five that show the most innovative technology. These cars use technology to enhance the cabin and driving experience, and push the automotive technology envelope. Please vote for the car you think should be the 2009 Tech Car of the Year, and discuss it in the comments. The Car Tech staff jury members will place their own votes, and we will announce the winner on January 11, just before the Detroit auto show. Voting closes on January 4, 2010.

Nominees

(Credit: CNET)

Audi's Quattro all-wheel-drive system, along with an active suspension system, makes the Q5 handle like a car, maintaining grip and composure during high-speed cornering. A new navigation system, powered by a Nvidia graphics chip, extensively renders urban areas in 3D.

(Credit: CNET)

BMW spared no technology in its effort to make the X5 SUV worthy of an M badge. The result? The heaviest vehicle we've ever rotated through a turn. Throw in a navigation system with satellite imagery in the maps, and we've got a tech leader.

(Credit: CNET)

Toyota may have turned the Prius into the iconic hybrid, but Ford's Fusion Hybrid is just a better all-around car. The hybrid system gives this midsize sedan excellent mileage, while letting it run under electric power at speeds up to 47 mph. Ford's cabin tech is anchored by Sync and Sirius Travel Link, and gets pushed up a step further with the driver-configurable ecology-oriented instrument cluster.

(Credit: CNET)

The new Prius might have made this list of nominees, if it weren't for the all-new Lexus HS250h. This car uses Toyota's hybrid system to get excellent mileage while showing that a luxury car doesn't have to be a full-size sedan. It makes use of a number of driver aid technologies, and incorporates Lexus' newest cabin tech suite.

(Credit: CNET)

Lincoln's new flagship sedan was a contender last year, and makes the list this year because of significant improvements. Along with its excellent Sync, Sirius Travel Link, and THX audio features, Lincoln gave it a high-tech engine in the form of the twin turbo direct injection V-6. Add to this adaptive cruise control and an automatic parking system that actually works, and the MKS shows up as a tech heavyweight.

(Credit: Automotive News)

DETROIT--What do the modern family, young people, truck lovers, performance enthusiasts, and the "eco-culture" have in common?

They're all part of Chevrolet's target audience, says the brand's new chief, James Campbell. Launching a marketing plan that reaches each tops his to-do list. Campbell, 45, a marketer by trade, takes over as Chevrolet works on a marketing theme to replace the five-year-old "American Revolution." The new ads will launch in the first half of 2010, Campbell said last week after his appointment. He declined to give more details.

Campbell's predecessor, Brent Dewar, left to pursue personal interests and spend more time with his family, General Motors said.

Through November, Chevrolet's U.S. sales dropped 27 percent, more than the industry's 24 percent decline but less than GM's 32 percent slide. GM will lean on the brand as the market recovers and as the company makes up for departing brands Saturn, Pontiac, Hummer, and Saab.

"No question, Chevrolet has got to carry the volume, so I definitely feel the responsibility of that," Campbell said. "So goes Chevrolet, so goes General Motors." Campbell, a GM lifer, worked in field sales and customer relationship management before joining Chevrolet in 1998. There he helped launch products such as the Cobalt, HHR, Colorado, and several Corvette models. He eventually directed GM's retail planning before becoming head of GM's Fleet and Commercial Operations in February.

New GM marketing executive develops plan to sell the Volt.

(Credit: GM)

Campbell said his work on the Corvette in particular taught him to understand customers and meet their needs.

In the coming year, Campbell will launch the Cruze small car, the re-engineered Silverado heavy-duty pickups, and the Volt plug-in hybrid. The Cruze is a high-volume vehicle, but because it will get up to 40 mpg on the highway, it will join the Volt in appealing to the "eco-enthusiast," he said.

Campbell is the first major appointee of Susan Docherty, GM's U.S. sales and marketing chief. She announced his new job a few hours before GM said Campbell's Buick-GMC counterpart, former Ford Motor marketer Michael Richards, had quit after eight days with the company. GM spokesman Chris Preuss said the company probably will seek an outside replacement.

(Source: Automotive News)

The Motion uses an electric motor to drive the front wheels, and an Ecoboost engine on the rear axle.

(Credit: Kepler Motors)

The phrase "hybrid supercar" gets plenty of use these days as a variety of automotive start-ups combine electric motors and gas engines to get outstanding 0 to 60 mph times, usually combined with claims of world-beating range on a single tank of gas. And we get excited every time we run across a new one. That's why a news release from Kepler Motors spiked our adrenaline when we saw it in the Monday morning in-box.

Kepler developed the Motion, a concept hybrid to debut at the 2009 Dubai International Motor Show. What's interesting about this car is that it uses Ford's new Ecoboost engine, a twin turbo direct injection 3.5-liter V-6 to drive the rear wheels, while an electric motor drives the fronts, giving the car all-wheel-drive. And we assume there is some control software to drive the wheels at the same speeds.

Even more interesting, and showing the potential of Ford's Ecoboost engine, is that Kepler tweaked it to output 550 horsepower. In the Lincoln MKS we tested recently, the same engine only makes 355 horsepower. The electric motor on the front wheels produces 250 horsepower, making for a combined 800 horsepower for the powertrain. But we wonder how much of that power actually gets put to the ground.

Kepler says the Motion will get to 60 mph in less than 2.5 seconds, but doesn't specify whether that number is based on actual tests or calculations. With this hybrid supercar announcement, there were no claims as to range.

To keep the weight down, the Motion uses a carbon fiber body, along with carbon ceramic brake rotors. Kepler says the two-seat cabin is designed to hold people of above-average size, suggesting the company expects luxury buyers rather than racers.

Don't expect to see one in your neighborhood, though--Kepler will only build 50, with production starting in 2011.

It used to be that the SEMA Show was the biggest mobile electronics show, but this year the usual suspects in the in-car electronics biz decided to stand back and wait for the new big show: CES 2010.

Now that the wait is almost over, just what should we expect from the world of car technology at CES? Here's our best guess:

The EcoRoute ESP will connect your Garmin Nuvi to your vehicle's diagnostics port.

(Credit: Antuan Goodwin/CNET)

You down with OBD?
On-board diagnostics connections have been required on vehicles for almost two decades. This mysterious window into your car's brain has been the best kept secret of mechanics and tuners, until now. We're starting to see more and more consumer electronics that take advantage of the diagnostics data provided by your car to perform all sorts of neat tricks, such as provide fuel economy data or keep tabs on teen drivers.

Earlier this year, Garmin gave us a peak at a system called EcoRoutes ESP that interfaces with a vehicle's OBD port to deliver real-time fuel economy and engine operation data to a Nuvi navigation device via Bluetooth. We expect that Garmin will be ready to share more information as to how ESP will affect the navigation experience when it arrives at the CES show floor.

GPS vs. smartphones, round 2
2009 was supposed to be the year that GPS-enabled smartphones finally crushed standalone navigation devices. However, instead of just rolling over and giving up, the portable navigation market has innovated. At CES 2010, we expect the battle to heat up with a number of new Internet-connected navigation devices and smartphone cradles.

TomTom has been quiet about its CES showings, but we suspect that--with a foot in both navigation worlds--it has something exciting up its sleeve.

Steve Ballmer and Alan Mulally at CES 2009.

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET)

Internet radio in your dashboard
In a relatively short period of time, the preferred in-car media of choice has gone from tapes to CDs to iPods. However, 2010 could be the year that we make the jump to the cloud with a number of rumors pointing at Internet radio coming to a car stereo near you. For example, Alpine is set to unveil the first-ever digital media receiver to offer direct control over the Pandora iPhone app.

However, the OEMs may not be completely left out of the Internet radio game, with Ford Sync being rumored as another possible platform for Pandora streaming. Perhaps Ford Motor Company Chairman and CEO Alan Mulally will confirm this rumor during his address on the opening day of the show.

(Credit: Automotive News)

It sounds bananas, but Yokohama Tire Corp. has figured out a way to use oranges to make a greener tire.

Nearly 20 gallons of petroleum go into a set of tires, meaning that about 5 million barrels of oil annually are consumed by a 10 million-vehicle market. By infusing oil extracted from orange peels into natural rubber, Yokohama has cut the amount of petroleum in its dB Super E-spec tires by 80 percent.

"We've been working on this technology for 20 years," said Mark Chung, Yokohama director of strategic marketing. The tires have been tested in racing venues such as the Porsche GT3 Class series.

"Most eco-tires are just a harder compound, which means they have less grip until they heat up," Chung said. "But the base temperature of an orange tire is better. It's also stickier at heat because the natural rubber and orange oil interact."

Yokohama's orange tire uses 80 percent less petroleum to produce.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Wear and braking performance are on par with standard tires, Chung said. During a closed-course test in a Mini Cooper S, the tires felt balanced and in control, although a little more prone to squeal and howl under duress.

Yokohama's orange tire also has 22 percent lower rolling resistance than the standard tire on a Toyota Prius, meaning better fuel economy. Also, it weighs 2 pounds less than most original-equipment tires.

The tire is produced in an emissions-free plant using peels discarded by orange juice manufacturers. "It's not like we're growing orange groves to do this," Chung said. Yokohama offers the orange tire as a replacement on the Mini Cooper, Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid, Honda Insight and Nissan Versa. At tirerack.com, a typical Prius replacement tire is the Goodyear Integrity, priced at $74 per tire. The Yokohama dB Super E-spec is $105.

Sadly, the tires don't have a citrus scent when they heat up. And in case you were wondering: they're black, not orange.

(Source: Automotive News)

Not so long ago, large, numerate brains got together to create a mathematical formula for choosing the right wife.

Not content with satisfying the need for perfection in human relationships, mathematicians have now dedicated themselves to creating equations for the perfect relationship with the physical world.

Yes, according to the Telegraph, a British math professor has created a formula for successfully slipping your car into a parking spot.

You might think this a trivial pursuit. You'd be right. However, Vauxhall Motors, which participated in this useful experience, claims that 15 percent of hardy Brits say that the the biggest challenge of their holiday period is finding a fine place to park their car.

Please don't be square-rooted to the spot this Holiday Season, unless you're very good at math.

(Credit: Cc David Hilowitz/Flickr)

So in drove professor Robin Blackburn of the University of London's Royal Holloway College to inscribe a few symbols and square roots in order to solve a real human problem.

The formula involves knowing such simple numbers as the radius of your car's curb-to-curb turning circle and the distance from the center of the front wheel to the front of your car.

Frankly, if you don't have these numbers stored at the very front of your brain, just behind seven pictures of Tiger Woods' alleged mistresses, then you have no business being on the road.

Professor Blackburn is merely putting all your most intimate numbers together for you. As he told the Telegraph: "Everyone has had the experience of ignoring a space because you're not sure if you can fit in or not. This formula solves that problem."

Indeed it does. Save for one small issue. You see, a U.K. government survey showed that almost 7 million Brits have math skills that are below the level of an average 11-year-old.

Many places in the US might have larger parking areas, but US math skills are not exactly proportionate. The National Assessment of Educational Progress suggests that only 4 out of 10 fourth- and eighth-graders are, well, any good at math at all. And only 42 percent of high school graduates left prepared for college-level math.

Professor Blackburn's formula is not simple. So I fear a new onset of holiday season accidents as willing but unable parkers attempt to enact his mathematical genius, only to plow into the silver Volvo in the adjacent parking space.

Pandora prepares to invade the dashboard. Porsche embraces lithium batteries--but not the way you think. Honda's CR-Z has a leak, and it's not transmission fluid! Ending the stigma of an in-car breathalyzer. And we go parking in a car that does it all by itself--and really well.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

• Pandora prepares to enter the dashboard--via SYNC?

• Tasty Honda CR-Z brochure leaked (Temple of VTEC)

• CNET drives the 2010 Lincoln MKS EcoBoost

• Porsche Cayenne Hybrid slotted for 2010 arrival

• New in-car breathalyzer tech may take away the stigma