Tech Hugger

Source: WayRay A view of the Navion augmented reality driving system projected onto a windshield. WayRay's augmented reality driving system makes a car's windshield look like a video game. The Swiss-based company that makes augmented reality for cars won the grand prize in a start-up competition at the Los Angeles Auto Show on Tuesday. WayRay makes a small device called Navion, which projects a virtual dashboard onto a driver's windshield. The software can display information on speed, time of day, or even arrows and other graphics that can help the driver navigate, avoid hazards, and warn of dangers ahead, such as pedestrians. WayRay says that by displaying information directly on the windshield, the system allows drivers to stay better focused on the road. The display might appear similar to what a player would see on a screen in many video games. But the system also notifies the driver of potential points of interest along a route such as restaurants ...

PHOTO: REUTERS Battered by its emissions scandal, Audi launched its latest technology-packed A8 luxury saloon on Tuesday, aimed at overtaking rivals Mercedes-Benz and BMW as it struggles to overcome its biggest-ever corporate crisis. Last week Munich prosecutors arrested an Audi employee in connection with “dieselgate”, the latest setback to Volkswagen’s luxury car arm and main profit driver, after the German government a month earlier had accused Audi of cheating on emissions tests. On Tuesday, Audi shifted the focus back to its products with its top management hosting 2,000 guests in Barcelona to unveil the new A8, whose Level-3 self-driving technology enables the car to completely control driving at up to 60 kilometers (37 miles) per hour, beating the Mercedes S-Class and the BMW 7-Series. Having slipped behind its two German rivals on global sales last year, Audi has risked stalling without innovation and needed a new prestige product, said Stefan Bratzel, head of...

PHOTO: AFP Silicon Valley giant Intel on Wednesday announced plans for a fleet of self-driving cars following its completion of the purchase of Israeli autonomous technology firm Mobileye. A day after closing the $15 billion deal to buy Mobileye, which specializes in driver-assistance systems, Intel said it will begin rolling out fully autonomous vehicles later this year for testing in Europe, Israel, and the US. The fleet will eventually have more than 100 vehicles, according to Intel. “Building cars and testing them in real-world conditions provides immediate feedback and will accelerate delivery of technologies and solutions for highly and fully autonomous vehicles,” said Mobileye co-founder Amnon Shashua, who is to run the unit for Intel. “Our goal is to develop autonomous vehicle technology that can be deployed anywhere.” The Intel test fleet with include various types and makes of vehicles, and capitalize on Mobileye expertise in computer vision, mappin...

NASA is all set to send its next bird to Mars in 2020 and the preparation for landing on the Red Planet surface has already been started. NASA has been testing a parachute which will slow down the spacecraft traveling at a speed of 12,000 miles per hour descending on Martian’s atmosphere. According to Ian Clark from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the imagery of NASA’s first parachute inflation is almost as breathtaking to behold as it is scientifically significant. The test is first of its kind to present an actual object specifically designed to land on Red Planet’s surface. NASA has also been working on another project to support  Uber to introduce flying taxis by 2020 . In the video test appears to be much of a success, let’s have a look. Clarke seems to be very excited about the experiment “Everything went according to plan or better than planned. We not only proved that we could get our payload to the correct altitude and velocity conditions to best mimic...

FILE PHOTO: A self-driving car being developed by nuTonomy, a company creating software for autonomous vehicles, is guided down a street near their offices in Boston, Massachusetts, US, June 2, 2017. PHOTO: REUTERS Lei Xu and Justin Song once worked at electric carmaker Tesla, one of the hottest companies in Silicon Valley. But with interest and investments in autonomous vehicles mounting, they left to pursue what they see as the next big thing. Their company, Nullmax, is one of more than 240 startups worldwide, including 75 in Silicon Valley, attempting to design software, hardware components, and systems for future self-driving cars, according to a Reuters analysis. Xu and Song are bankrolled by corporate money, but unlike many of their fellow entrepreneurs, they skipped funding from Silicon Valley venture capitalists. Founded in August 2016, Nullmax got $10 million from a Chinese firm, Xinmao Science, and Technology. By seeking corporate backing in China, the Nullmax...

A self-driving vehicle being tested in a pedestrian zone of London. PHOTO: AFP It’s November 22, 2028, and Sarah, a young mother, gives her two children a kiss goodbye before buckling them into the driverless car that will bring them to school. Sarah doesn’t have a car and has no plans to buy one. Living in a suburb, she has run the numbers and the result is clear: It’s much cheaper to order a car only when she needs one. The “robo-taxi” has also made her life easier, but only after such vehicles upended the business models which carmakers had relied on for decades. The revolution is already underway, with every major brand racing to create autonomous electric cars and trucks that will always be just a few clicks of a smartphone away. Fully electric cars are expected to make up 12 percent of the global market in 2025, before jumping to 34 percent in 2030 and 90 percent by 2050, analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch forecast last month. The motivations are...

LAHORE:  Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) Limited arranged a test drive event for media officials in Bali, Indonesia. It was aimed at giving a true taste and experience of the all-new BR-V, Pakistan’s first locally manufactured midsize 7 seater SUV, to top media officials across Pakistan. The participants flew from Pakistan to Bali, Indonesia to take part in the exciting event. The BR-V test drive was arranged at the scenic Batur Geopark, the site of the active Mount Batur volcano. With its Solid Wing Face and High Ground Clearance BR-V was a perfect vehicle for the beautiful Batur Geopark. The vehicle is tough and sturdy which nicely adapts to rough terrains and off-track conditions.  The participants were thrilled by the grandeur of the landscape coupled with the comforting BR-V drive.

Plug-in hybrid models likely to follow. PHOTO: AFP Japan’s Honda Motor Co will launch an all-electric battery car in China next year as demand for plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) expands in the world’s largest automobile market, a senior company executive said. Yasuhide Mizuno, Honda’s China chief, told reporters on the sidelines of the Shanghai auto show on Wednesday the automaker was “expediting” the development of the EV. He said he expects the car to arrive in showrooms before the end of next year. Mizuno added that plug-in hybrid models would likely follow, but did not say when that car might hit the market in China. Carmakers in China are scrambling to develop and sell so-called new energy vehicles (NEVs) in anticipation of tougher new rules expected to be implemented as early as next year. Those rules will likely require companies to generate as much as eight percent of their China sales with plug-in cars, either fully-electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Automotive industry moving rapidly into electric and self-driving cars. PHOTO: AFP Japanese carmaker Honda Motor Co on Thursday spelled out for the first time its plans to develop autonomous cars which can drive on city streets by 2025, building on its strategy to take on rivals in the auto market of the future. Unveiling its mid-term Vision 2030 strategy plan, Honda said it would boost coordination between R&D, procurement, and manufacturing to tame development costs as it acknowledged it must look beyond conventional vehicles to survive in an industry which is moving rapidly into electric and self-driving cars. Honda has already spelled out plans to market a vehicle which can drive itself on highways by 2020, and the new target for city-capable self-driving cars puts its progress slightly behind rivals like BMW. “We’re going to place utmost priority on electrification and advanced safety technologies going forward,” Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo said. Developing...

Elmar Degenhart, CEO of German tyre company Continental, poses for the media before the annual news conference in Hanover, Germany March 2, 2017. PHOTO: REUTERS Continental said on Tuesday it would join a self-driving platform developed by BMW, Intel and Mobileye with the German auto parts and tire maker handling integration of components and software. The costs to integrate hardware, software and data and the accelerating pace of development of self-driving vehicles has sparked a growing number of alliances between automakers and suppliers. Continental, the world’s second-biggest supplier to carmakers by sales, said it would play a key role in commercialising the new platform, which is to be sold to other auto manufacturers. “We can meet the steep demands in autonomous driving through an industry-wide collaboration more comprehensively, rapidly and at lower costs than by going alone,” Chief Executive Elmar Degenhart said in an emailed statement. BMW already last y...

The company wants to build electric cars in China to avoid a 25-per cent tariff on imported vehicles. PHOTO: REUTERS Tesla Inc took a step closer toward establishing an electric vehicle manufacturing plant in China with its announcement on Thursday that it is in exploratory talks with the Shanghai municipal government. Tesla has said it wants to build electric cars in China to avoid a 25-per cent tariff on imported vehicles. The company did not provide a timeline for setting up a China plant, but said it expects to “more clearly define” its China production plans by the end of the year. Tesla shares closed up 1.7 per cent at $382.61 in Thursday trading. China’s central government requires foreign companies such as Tesla to have a Chinese partner in new auto manufacturing ventures, with the foreign company owning no more than 50 per cent. Tesla did not say which companies it might partner with, sparking rampant online speculation. At least three companies – Shangha...

The first model went on sale in Japan on November 5, 1966. PHOTO: REUTERS This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the Toyota Corolla, one of the world’s best-selling cars. Since the first model went on sale in Japan on Nov. 5, 1966, some 44.3 million Corollas have been sold globally through the end of September, including the Corolla Fielder station wagon and other variants, the Japanese automaker says. Here are some milestones along the way and where it stands today. Car for the  masses In the late 1950s, as Japan’s economy recovered from World War Two, automakers aimed to produce an affordable car for the average family, most of whom didn’t have a vehicle. PHOTO: REUTERS Toyota Motor Corp first came out with the Publica, which wasn’t very well received. In 1966, it introduced the sportier two-door Corolla with a jaw-dropping plan: to build 30,000 of them a month at a time when Toyota’s total monthly production was 50,000 vehicles. The car ...