World of Auto Toys

2011 & 2012 both Mercedes and some new companies will be adding a line of electric cars that will have more horsepower and torque that the gas or diesel vehicles on the road today...

The federal government intends to set stringent new fuel economy and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions standards for model year (MY) 2017–2025 vehicles. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are working with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to establish the standards.

On May 14, 2010, Dorian Comeau, owner of House of Boost in Lenexa, Kansas, was severely injured while testing a 1,500 hp LS-powered off-road racer, which his company had just completed. The injury has left Comeau paralyzed with untold and still increasing medical expenses. To help deal with these expenses, members of the industry and friends of Comeau banned together and established the Drive to Survive event.

6/15/2011

Ford CEO Alan Mulally has outlined plans to boost the carmaker’s worldwide sales volumes by more than 50 percent by mid-decade, putting it close to parity with the industry’s two 800-pound gorillas, GM and Toyota.

But Ford won’t find its task an easy one. The carmaker faces a variety of challenges, including the need to revive its long-struggling Lincoln brand and rebuild its European operations, which have been lagging behind some key competitors, notably Volkswagen, for the past decade.

Mulally acknowledges that the new global goal will require the automaker to finally gain some real traction in Asia, a region the CEO expects to account for at least a third of Ford’s volume going forward. Nowhere is Ford’s challenge more apparent than in China, a market it has had little success cracking. While GM now holds a hefty 15 percent market share in China, Ford has been able to capture only 4 percent of what is now the world’s largest automotive market.

Mulally has had little patience with business-as-usual since joining Ford in late 2007. He has shaken up the company’s management structure and transformed its operations from a network of regional fiefdoms into a truly integrated global entity.

Ford’s CEO Alan Mulally demonstrates plugging in the Ford Focus Electric to a charging station. The automaker hopes to nearly triple sales of its battery-based vehicles to 100,000 a year by 2013.

A Sneak Peek at the Future of In-Car Information Systems

The exhibition floor at last week's Telematics Update Detroit 2012 was lined with vendors showing off the latest in-car software, hardware and wireless services for connected cars. Goliaths such as Verizon, Ericsson and Pioneer shared the floor with a bevy of smaller, lesser-known brands vying to provide the next generation of in-car information systems. Here are three products we'll be keeping tabs on.

PLDS Wireless-Charging Solution

If one thing is for sure in the telematics industry, it's that your phone is going to play an increasingly pivotal role in your car. Of course, more tasks means more battery drain, and nobody wants to constantly deal with that pesky charging cord. The PLDS wireless-charging station could change all of that. Inductive charging stations have been available for a few years now, but PLDS and Convenient Power are attempting to build a charging base that meets car safety standards and the standards of the Wireless Power Consortium, which has created the Qi standard for wireless-charging stations and devices like mobile phones. This means that any phone with the required hardware can be charged by simply placing it on the pad. The charger is still a few steps away from implementation--for example, they need to figure out a way to ensure your phone doesn't become a dangerous projectile during an accident. But hopefully sometime in the not-too-distant future, your phone will be able to charge cord-free while simultaneously streaming your favorite Internet radio stations. Aside from getting their charging stations built into new vehicles, PLDS also hopes to put out aftermarket stations for use in any vehicle.

H2i Technologies Whaptics Touchless Touch

The Whaptics Touchless Touch is a gesture-recognition system already used in Europe for household items such as kitchen appliances and lamps. A simple row of LEDs register movements along an X-Y axis and feeds that information to an 8-bit CPU. That keeps the system cheap, too: One member of the team said the smaller sensors could be made for $10 or less. Combine the inexpensive cost with the untapped possibilities of gesture recognition in a car, and there's a good chance Whaptics Touchless Touch could gain traction with some auto manufacturers. The booth got a lot of attention at the TU Detroit 2012, and for good reason. Imagine skipping songs with a mere wave of your hand, eliminating the need to take your eyes off the road or clutter the wheel with buttons.

IMS iLane 7100

One way to mitigate driver distraction in a connected car is to let your voice do the work. Voice-recognition systems are increasingly common, and what's great about the iLane is that this aftermarket product can be used in any vehicle. When you get in the vehicle, the in-car device automatically syncs up with any RIM or Android phone (we were told iPhone compatibility is on the way). Once activated, the system remains ready to receive commands via a Bluetooth dongle, allowing you to use your phone hands-free. You can answer email, texts and calls without lifting a finger. Schedule a meeting while driving and the system will automatically update your phone's calendar. A host of services and apps let you request news, movie times or even the score of a game. The folks at IMS say they are working on expanding the app bundle to include more features, including Facebook, Twitter and a traffic system. The voice recognition performed solidly in our tests, with only one error in four tests. Currently the iLane 7100 in-car device costs $149, with subscriptions running $110 for one year, $99 for two years and $88 for three years.