Auto & Car Blog

Filed under: Etc., Euro, BMW

Don’t go getting too excited, it probably won’t mean a crate version of the S65 or N54 for Roundel fans. Running an automaker is expensive, especially a manufacturer that leans more toward niche status than casting a wide net. BMW is looking at all options for future revenue, and one of the thoughts that’s occured to the well-respected manufacturer of cars with chutzpah is to bank on its engineering chops and sell engines to other carmakers. Lotus has pimped themselves out for years to other automakers, and the Porsche name has ended up on things like hard drives, so BMW selling their award-winning engines to gain an extra stream of return on their investment is a far less radical move. Hey, if selling their more mundane powerplants to emerging markets like India and China keeps the coffers full and awesome performers rolling our way, we’re all for it.

[Source: Motor Authority]

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Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Transportation Alternatives, Mercedes Benz

A scientist speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in San Francisco has predicted robot-driven cars that could drive humans around by the year 2030. Intelligent robot vehicles are likely to be used on battlefields even sooner though predicts Sebastian Thrun, an associate professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Stanford University. Thrun is leading the Standford team again in this year’s 60 mile DARPA Urban Challenge (see related post).

Physorg.com reports Thrun as saying, “I think they’ll be on the battlefield by around 2015. It is going to make sense to use them in situations such as convoys, or in hostile environments where there is danger to personnel.”

Computer aided driving systems are already filtering into luxury cars and fully robotic systems are sure to follow. Autonomous Cruise Control is a good example that is already available on a wide range of both luxury and mainstream car brands. The system utilises radar or lasers to monitor the distance between the car and the vehicle in front and will automatically slow the car down or speed up when required.

Another example of computer aided driving is Adaptive Braking, a technology found in the new 2008 Mercedes-Benz C-Class. Adaptive braking includes hill assist and panic brake assist. The hill assist detects when you are starting on a slope and maintains some brake pressure in the calipers when you move your foot to the accelerator until you actually apply the gas, to keep you from rolling back down the hill. The panic brake assist detects when you do a quick brake apply and helps to apply full pressure.

Analysis: Sounds to me like cars in 2030 are going to be a cross between the Terminator and the Maglevs of Minority Report. They’ll get you where you want to go quickly, safely and with the highest degree of comfort but wont let other robotic cars cut in front of them in traffic. Hopefully the robotic cars wont rise up against their human masters post-2015 and we’ll all get the chance to enjoy being safely chauffeured around circa-2030.

Related:

• Stanford Racing Team building autonomous Passat TDi with DSG gearbox
• Autoblog eBay Find of the Day: future Lexus from Minority Report
• AGB POLL: Best way to spend the DOE’s money

[Source: Physorg.com]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

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Filed under: Trends, Etc., Tech

Mechanically actuated valves may soon be a thing of the past. We’ve made over a century’s worth of improvement on the same basic combination of a camshaft, followers (or lifters), a poppet valve and a spring. We’ve gone from using pushrods and rocker arms to actuate the valvetrain to direct-acting buckets motivated by an overhead camshaft with variable phasing and lift. While engineering ingenuity has managed to wring incredible performance and flexibility out of these setups, there’s only so far you can go before bumping into the laws of physics. French automotive supplier Valeo SA has been working on camless engine technology for quite some time and they expect to have their system on the street by 2010 or 2011. Valeo is working with several automakers to implement the camless technology. Eliminating a traditional valvetrain is expected to yield efficiency improvements nearing 20 percent. An increase in performance and emissions decreases will also be realized from the system.

More after the jump

[Source: Valeo via Autoweek]

Continue reading Behold the cam-less future

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

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Filed under: Motorsports

Despite all the ongoing rumors of this country and that preparing bids for F1 czar Bernie Ecclestone, few of them are anywhere near that stage. As track designer Hermann Tilke has pointed out, many of the speculative locations lack circuits that would be ready to host grands prix.

Tilke has to his credit the designs of most of the new F1-spec race tracks around the world, including Malaysia, Bahrain, Istanbul and Shanghai.In addition to those, he’s working on Abu Dhabi’s. The overwhelming likelihood is that Tilke Engineering would be commissioned to draw up the plans for any new track if prospective organizers are serious about their F1 bids.

In an interview with British publication Autosport, Tilke said that Mexico, India, Russia, South Africa and Greece are a long way from making their Formula One dreams realities. Mexico, he says, is stalled with political problems, India and Russia are merely topics for discussion, plans for a return to South Africa are “dormant” and the Greek bid has “fizzled out.” That leaves plenty of room for progress on each front, but then again, there are a lot of countries vying for Tilke’s talents…and for Bernie’s attention.

[Source: F1i]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

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Filed under: Marketing/Advertising, Chrysler, DaimlerChrysler, Mercedes Benz

Chrysler will further tout its connection to Mercedes beginning with the launch of the Sebring convertible. Well, gee, the Mercedes DNA is fairly oozing off the Sebrings, isn’t it? Underwhelmed by the Sebring sedan’s sales performance thus far, Chrysler has decided to move the image for the entire brand upmarket. The idea is to play up the idea of “German Engineering” while also emphasizing that Chrysler is the premium American offering under the DCX tent. Ultimately, the goal is to attract customers from Toyota and Honda, which are also seen as premium-engineered vehicles.

Time will tell how successful they are about passing off the Sebring and other mainstream Chryslers as having any link to Mercedes (LX platform excluded). The “merger of equals” has played out more like Mercedes throwing their dregs over to Chrysler in the form of the R170 platform for the Crossfire and the suspension design under the LX cars. The mainstream Chryslers — the ones that actually need to be popular instead of the halo cars — have nary a lick of Mercedes in ‘em as far as we can tell. Premium in this case must mean content and value for the dollar, which the Chrysler line certainly represents. Then again, how strong is the connection between Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz if one is about to be auctioned off to the highest bidder?

[Source: Auto News - sub. req’d]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

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