Turbo-charged Technology
Back in 2006, Lexus released the fourth generation of their luxury flagship sedan, the LS460/650h. Normally when an automaker comes out with a brand new luxury barge, they all tend to follow the same formula; they’re powered by huge V-12 engines that run-off baby seals, an entire cattle farm must have donated their hides in leather for their interior and they have enough technology crammed in it, that Bill Gates will drive home crying because even he is confused. What made the LS460 special from its competitors (aside from the fact it didn’t run-off baby seals) is that it could park itself, “Look honey, Timmy’s all grown-up. He can park himself!” And Timmy’s smaller cousins are growing up even faster.
The rate at which technology is migrating into the mainstream car market is staggering. The fact is, today’s cars can park themselves, stop themselves and even predict accidents. Automated parking systems like Lexus’ are available on vehicles as small as the Ford Focus – although their system, ‘Active Park Assist’ uses a more simplistic sonar application to find parking spaces and only controls the steering. Another example is Volvo’s Collision Warning with Auto Brake (CWAB). Say you have a boss similar to Jason Batemans’ character in the movie Horrible Bosses and decide to accidentally run him over with your brand new Volvo S60. Nay, nay. CWAB can reportedly recognize people (or the shapes of people as it is) in the cars’ path – through a radar/camera system and will calculate if you have enough time to move you’re foot from the accelerator to the brake and stop in time before you hit the pedestrian (or your horrible boss). If the math doesn’t pan out, it will stop itself. There is very little mechanical connection between the driver and vehicle today.
All of this technology is just a glimmer of what is coming, 20- maybe even ten-years from now. Much to the chagrin of auto-enthusiasts (I’m not one of them, but I play one in real life), the automated car is something all of them and myself, would admit is coming faster than we could’ve thought. And it won’t be Google who profits off-of it.
Several automakers are already experimenting with autonomous systems for current and future cars. GM recently showcased several working prototypes (called EN-V bubble cars), based off-of Segway mechanics and technology, for use in future urban environments. These bubble cars however are not fully autonomous. They can simply switch between “manual” and “autonomous” driving modes, but the decision is totally up to the driver.
Another auto giant, Daimler AG – better known as Mercedes-Benz, believes that future technology that will migrate into cars will have more to do with the connectivity between the driver and the driving environment. Mercedes recently displayed a new driver connectivity concept, at the Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas. DICE or Dynamic&Intuitive Control Experience, essentially turns the windshield into a giant digital display. One possible way to explain it, is that the windshield becomes an interface – like an I-Phone screen, with different applications displayed on it, albeit much more transparent. You can connect to social media sites through your smartphone; get real-time crash and traffic updates, weather conditions and even navigation routes can be displayed directly on the windshield. Really, the possibilities are mind boggling.
All this talk of self-driving cars and Borg-like interaction with your vehicle may bring up the feeling of technology overload. And rightfully so. My feeling is that cars will only have some level of autonomy, but will become more like I-Pods or I-Phones, specifically in constricted, urban areas. No one wants to sit in one spot for two hours or navigate their way through Montreal during rush-hour. More sympathetic I could not be. But to me a car will always be about individuality and freedom, not an I-Pod. Ironically, it is probably because of all this technology that makes the automated car even more sensible and makes the simple act of driving distracting. But future technology in cars will not solely be limited to touch screens and automaton. To quote an excerpt from an interview Motor Trend did with former GM boss Bob Lutz in the August ’11 issue: “It is entirely conceivable…that a Corvette would be a direct-injection, stratified charge, twin-stage turbo-boosted two-litre, four cylinder engine developing 800 horsepower.” I’ll buy one of those to go along with my I-Car.
Intentional non-acceleration
By Michael Trusiak
I'm not a fast driver, even though I pretend to be sometimes. Although I will admit I think of those black and white "maximum" signs as more of guidelines. Don't we all? Anyways, that's not the point. When you are expected to pass another motorist, particularly on a double-lane highway, jungle-road law dictates you would have the natural reaction to accelerate past said "guideline", if only for a minute. This is not always the case.
So you're driving from, let's say Fredericton to Woodstock, along the Trans-Canada Highway, when you see a semi-truck in the distance. Behind him is another motorist, who seems to be going along at the same pace as the 60-tonne vehicle in front of him. As you edge closer and closer, you start to think "crazy" thoughts, like, "watch, this guy's gonna cut me off," or "you better not pass him 'now' you (expletive, expletive)". Sure enough, just as you think those things, that beige, Ford Taurus slowly creeps into your speed zone and kills your momentum.
Normally, you would say a few curse words out-loud (in your car, no one can hear you scream... or something like that), but said motorist would pass at a decent speed. It's when they somehow seem to match the exact speed of what the semi is traveling at, that always enrages me.
"What are you doing?! Step on the gas! Look, now he's passing you!" you say to yourself.
If you're going to pass someone, especially when you notice another car coming up behind you, please have the common courtesy or sense, to disengage the cruise-control or whatever excuse you may have and use your right foot, just a little bit.
Honda and Toyota need more Zoom-Zoom in their vehicles
By Michael Trusiak
Maximum value. That seems to be what Toyota and Honda are up too these days. I can't say I blame them, what with their country being balsted (or shook) back a few years with the March Earthquake, Tsunami. As horrific as that event was for the Japanese auto-industry and especially the people of Japan, their vehicles have been getting the short-end of the stick by Automotive Journalists and analysts lately. And their criticism is valid.
The Civic has been Canada's best selling compact for 13 years in a row selling over 57,000 last year alone. This year though it has some stiff competition from the beautifully Xeno-morphed Hyundai Elantra, which actually was the best selling compact in August and July and June... In fact, you have to go all the way back to April to find the Civic at the top of the list. The Corolla hasn't been doing much better either. According to Good Car Bad Car (only!) 18,850 have been sold this year from January to June, with the Mazda 3 smiling in it's rearview mirror (if you've seen a Mazda3, you'll get the analogy) at 18,450. More on Mazda later.
Of course, probably the biggest Et Tu Brute moment for the Civic this year was the fact Consumer Reports decided to end its five-year relationship and not recommend the new Civic as a top pick.
Personally, you don't need a degree in auto-engineering or wizardry to figure out, just by looking at the new Civic or Corrolla, that they've become a little too arrogant with their sales numbers. In fact, what the numbers do show is that the competition has finally caught up to the "sales leaders".
So how did this happen?
In my opinion, complacency, some plain bad luck and loss of identity. They haven't paid enough attention to what the competition was coming up with next. They took the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" direction in making sure their products were ahead of the game instead trying to raise the bar. Then a massive earthquake and tsunami hit them on their home turf, just when the competition had finally caught up. As for the identity crisis, what I mean by that is they are looking too much at the numbers and not what made them successful. They're not pushing the envelope, while their competitors are.
And Mazda is a prime example of this envelope pushing.
The automaker has been doing some soul searching of late, as to what a car should be. The result is SKYACTIV Technology. In a nut-shell, it meant completely re-engineering the major components of a vehicle. From introducing high compression, lower emission gas engines, to lighter, stronger chasis, the small Hiroshima based automaker is determined to become innovators, rather than number one in the World. In other words, they have an identity.
Honda and Toyota aren't successful because they followed all the other car makers. In order to get where they are today, they had to continuously push the boundaries of what made their cars a Honda or a Toyota. They had an identity. They put hybrids on the road (as much as I hate them), they showed luxury is about quality not price tags (Lexus LS400) and proved small cars can be fun (Civic). But now they've lost some of it and have become "automotive appliances". They need to get back to their roots that gave them their identity. Zoom-Zoom.
