0-60 Times | Find 0 to 60 & Quarter Mile Times Car Specs. Performance 1991 BMW 850i automatic. U.S. Safety Agency Advocating Stronger Truck Rear-Impact Guards. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is proposing that trucking companies be required to install stronger guards on their trailers to reduce deaths caused when cars rear-end tractor trailers.
The agency said last week that underride guards, which have hung down from the back ends of box trailers for decades, should be strong enough to protect passengers in crashes of up to 35 miles per hour, an increase from the current 30 mph standard. “Robust trailer rear-impact guards can significantly reduce the risk of death or injury to vehicle occupants in the event of a crash into the rear of a trailer or semitrailer,” said Mark Rosekind, administrator of the safety agency. “We’re always looking at ways to safeguard the motoring public, and today’s announcement moves us forward in our mission.” The agency is trying to reduce the number of people killed or injured in underride crashes. Canadian Standard NHTSA’s proposal would adopt the same requirements used in Canada. JVC Arsenal KW-V200BT DVD receiver at Crutchfield.com. Ford GT supercar takes flight with high-tech innovations.
PALO ALTO, Calif. – You might not have half a million dollars to buy the next Ford GT, but don't worry— some of the supercar's key technology will trickle down to more modestly priced Fords. That was the message delivered by Ford CEO Mark Fields here Thursday at the company's growing Research and Innovation Center. In shedding light on the technical specs of the new Ford GT supercar, Fields ran down a list – carbon fiber body parts, in-car computer networks, active aerodynamics – that seemed more akin with planes than cars. "We are talking about a decade of technological innovations that have led to this car," say Fields. "It's a striking vehicle that's really been enabled by great technology. " The genesis of this new car is Ford's Ferrari-beating icon of the 1960s, the GT40 (40 referring to the height in inches of the low-slung car). The 2005 GT boasted one main bit of high-tech: anti-lock brakes.
But its tech will not be. Read or Share this story: MINI Giving Drivers a Peek at 'Augmented Reality' GM's Using Simulated Crashes to Build Safer Cars. Crash test videos make for great marketing: They’re a clear sign an automaker is so concerned about your safety, it built piles of cars for the express purpose of slamming them into a wall and seeing how the poor dummy inside fared. But they’re also costly and time-consuming. And, like so many things we’re used to doing in the real world, they’re happening more and more on computer screens instead. Everything that goes into the vehicle—from the engine to the seats to the doors to the tires—must be considered. Largely thanks to Ralph Nader, the National Highway Transportation Safety Agency was created in 1970 to investigate automotive safety.
Two decades ago, a company like General Motors might need to crash over a hundred cars during the design of a single model, testing and refining as they went along. Thanks to computers that are more powerful than ever before, an on-screen crash can offer nearly as much information as a real one. John Deere's New Ride-On Mower Is One of the First To Have Airless Tires. Autonews. Peter Sweatman Julie Halpert Automotive NewsJanuary 26, 2015 - 12:01 am ET ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The self-driving concept car Mercedes-Benz showed off at the International CES and Detroit auto show this month provided a window into a not-too-distant future. Automakers and suppliers are working on cars that not only maneuver independently but also communicate with one another and with the surrounding infrastructure, creating a buzzing community among themselves. But this transformational technology raises significant issues, and as director of both the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute and the Michigan Mobility Transformation Cen- ter here, Peter Sweatman tackles those issues head-on.
The transformation center is building a 32-acre "mini city" for testing of connected and automated vehicles. Sweatman, 68, spoke with Special Correspondent Julie Halpert this month about what a community of cars could someday look like in a connected environment. Contact Automotive News. Ford Cars Will Soon Come with Pedestrian-Spotting Systems. Ford is giving its cars the ability to spot—and avoid hitting—pedestrians using a combination of radar and camera sensing. The system will appear in Europe next year on Ford’s Mondeo sedan. Although similar technology is available in some high-end cars, like the Mercedes S-Class, the move from Ford shows how rapidly automation is coming even to modest vehicles. The pedestrian detection that Ford is developing could also prove crucial to fully automated vehicles capable of driving in complex situations—something that remains out of reach. “It will scan the road for pedestrians and issue a warning [to the driver],” says Scott Lindstrom, manager of driver assist technologies at Ford.
“And if the warning isn’t sufficient, it’ll auto-brake.” Like other automakers, Ford is also experimenting with more complete automation. Ford’s pedestrian detection uses two sensors: radar in the bumper and a camera on the windshield. Sophisticated approaches to sensing are sorely needed for automated cars. A 360 degree “scanner” for trucks | Trucks at Work. Here’s an interesting concept: a 360 degree scanning system that warns the drivers of commercial vehicles if pedestrians or bicyclists are in any of the blind spots surrounding their trucks. Sweden’s Volvo Trucks developed and is now in the midst of testing just such a system in Europe, with Carl Johan Almqvist – traffic and product safety director for the OEM – noting that this technology “works much like the human mind,” allowing trucks to “interpret” its environment and suggest actions to avoid any incidents.
“Unprotected road users such as pedestrians and cyclists are especially vulnerable in urban areas where a lot of large vehicles move around,” he explained. “Now this technology enables a vehicle to ‘see’ its complete surroundings and feed information to the driver on how to avoid accidents … receiving information via sensors, radars and cameras placed around the vehicle,” Almqvist added. [This is a very big deal, especially on this side of the pond. Air-powered cars unveiled at Paris auto show. No one can accuse Peugeot-Citroen of being full of hot air.
In fact, the automaker’s latest technology is a breath of fresh air. Under pressure to meet a French initiative to develop an affordable vehicle that gets 2 L/100 km fuel efficiency by 2020, the company’s engineers took a deep breath, exhaled, and then got to work on a potential hybrid system that combines a gas-powered engine with a hydraulic motor running on compressed air.
The technology was officially revealed last year, but got another airing at this week’s Paris auto show, where two concept vehicles are showcasing the airy goods — the Peugeot 208 Hybrid Air 2L and the Citroen C4 Cactus Airflow 2L. It’s no coincidence that both feature 2L in their names. As currently configured, with a plethora of fuel-saving technologies, both vehicles are said to be capable of achieving that fuel-efficient holy grail of 2 L/100 km. Here’s how it works: A storage tank holding compressed nitrogen is connected to a hydraulic motor. Autos - Coming soon: The printed car. Henry Ford's assembly line helped spur the rise of the passenger car, but after more than a century virtually unchanged, the old cogs of mass production are showing wear. Enter Local Motors. Fewer parts, greater flexibility In September, the Phoenix, Arizona-based manufacturer of low-volume, crowd-sourced automobile designs moved the industry down the line just a bit further with the Strati, a full-size 3-D printed car.
Though it took years to conceive, the Strati was printed on the floor of the International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago in just two days. Nearly everything but the electronics, powertrain and suspension was layered together using a fast-drying carbon fibre-infused plastic. The Strati, with fewer than 50 parts, was then assembled in two days. As impressive as the Strati is on its own merits, the implications of its manufacture are even greater.
Adapting what already exists The utility of 3-D printing is well-known in the auto industry. Knock-on benefits. New wireless technology could help drastically reduce vehicle crashes. UGC FROM ARTICLE: {allow_comments=true, allow_photos=false, allow_videos=false, comments_period=14, comments_source=washpost.com, default_sort=, default_tab=, display_comments=true, is_ugc_gallery=false, max_items_to_display=15, max_items_to_display_top=3, moderation_required=false, stream_id=}!!! Technology Takes the Wheel. Continue reading the main story Video DETROIT — Google’s driverless car may still be a work in progress, but the potential for semiautonomous vehicles on American roads is no longer the stuff of science fiction. By the end of the decade, a growing number of automakers aim to offer some form of hands-off-the-wheel, feet-off-the-pedals highway driving where a driver can sit back and let the car take control.
The very nature of driving, experts say, will be radically reshaped — and the biggest players in the auto industry are now vying to capture a slice of the revolutionary market they see coming within a matter of years. “This is the year we’ll look back on as the turning point,” said Scott Belcher, president of the nonprofit Intelligent Transportation Society of America, who has helped organize a global connected car expo for seven years.
Photo The potential goes beyond just the idea of a souped-up cruise control. “They now see it as real, and they want to get ahead of each other,” Mr. Mr. Autonomous braking 'biggest safety improvement since seat belt' Figures revealed by Thatcham earlier this year suggest that fitting all cars with AEB from 2015 could result in 17,000 fewer deaths and serious injuries from car accidents by 2025, as well as reducing insurance premiums by 10 per cent. Last year there were 1,713 deaths and 21,657 people seriously injured on Britain’s roads, according to official government figures. Mr Shaw said AEB, which uses radar and lasers to detect obstacles and activates the brakes if there is no response from the driver, “has the potential to be as important a breakthrough as the seat belt in terms of vehicle safety” and called for the Treasury to offer £500 subsidies for cars fitted with the mechanism.
Edmund King, president of the AA, added: “It is incredibly impressive technology. “This incredible technology should be fitted as standard,” said Dudley Curtis of the European Transport Safety Council. 2015 Polaris Slingshot | 3 Wheel Motorcycle - Reverse Trike. Dramatic New Video Shows the Moment a Semi-Truck Flies Off an Overpass and Barely Misses a Passing Car. A semi-truck flew off a highway overpass in Texas over the weekend, killing the driver and narrowly missing a car that had just passed moments before the truck crashed and burst into flames. A camera caught the whole ordeal on video just now being released. It shows the 18-wheeler being launched from the Interstate 30 ramp into the north-bound State Highway 161 lane. The incident occurred in Grand Prairie, which is between Dallas and Fort Worth, on Saturday afternoon, according to the Dallas News. The moment the truck was launched from the ramp.
(Image: KTVT-TV video screenshot) The accident ended up shutting down both lanes for several hours. (Image: KTVT-TV video screenshot) The driver was killed in the accident but his exact cause of death — if he died on impact or as a result of injuries — has not been released. People can been seen running from their cars to see if there was anything they could do to help. Watch raw footage of the dramatic scene posted by KTVT-TV: