Automated vehicles in the UK are clear to begin testing on public roads after the Department for Transport released a report stating that the country was in a “unique position” to make these trials a success.
Most European countries have signed the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, requiring every moving vehicle to include a driver. However the UK has signed, but not ratified the convention meaning it can give the green light to
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United States Senator for Massachusetts, Ed Markey, has released a new report criticising the current connected car security measures that many top manufacturers currently employ.
Almost all modern vehicles have a wireless entry point, while some even have multiple WEPs, including Bluetooth, keyless entry, remote start, wi-fi and telematics. All of these are susceptible to vulnerabilities or hacking, according to Markey.
“Drivers have come to rely on these new...
According to a recent research conducted by HARMAN, road noise is the top noise distraction for drivers. An astonishing 55% of respondents in the survey cited this ‘droning’ sound, caused by road noise transmitted through the vehicle structure, as the number one complaint in an environment where they want to enjoy their music.
HARMAN’s survey, conducted in late 2014, also confirmed that car remains the most popular place to listen to music. Of particular interest is the rise among younger...
Ford has put the finishing touches on an agreement that will see it supply driverless vehicles to the UK government-backed Autodrive initiative.
During 2015 Ford will hand over two prototype cars with vehicle-to-vehicle communication features to Autodrive that will help the organisations study the contribution driverless and connected cars can make to society.
Since the turn of the year Ford has come out all guns’ blazing with its investment in upcoming technologies. Just last month it unveiled a new...
Technology has come on leaps and bounds over the past few years, especially when it comes to in-car gadgets.
Here is a look at some of the eye-catching infotainment systems to get excited about:
If you are a music fan, the very thought of a car being devoid of a CD player may sound like a nightmare. Do not panic though, as Hyundai has a nifty solution should they decide to leave a CD player out of some of their future vehicles.
The South Korean manufacturer’s Display Audio...
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London has fallen victim to a new wave of tech-savvy criminals that have been breaking into cars through their keyless entry features.
To paint a picture of how commonplace this is, the Metropolitan Police Office reports that more than 6,000 cars and vans across the UK’s capital were stolen without the owners’ keys, which is an average of 17 vehicles each day. These figures represent 42% of all car and van thefts.
Thieves are said to be using a device that can...
Taxi app Uber has revealed its intention to build the Uber Advanced Technologies Center in Pittsburg, after announcing a strategic partnership with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU).
In a blog post on Uber’s site, the firm revealed that its primary focus would be in “mapping and vehicle safety and autonomy technology”. The company clearly sees driverless as the next big evolution of its product.
Uber’s plans appear to be in direct competition with Google’s own autonomous vehicle...
Flash storage manufacturer SanDisk has announced a number of new solutions designed specifically for connected cars and automotive infotainment systems.
The automotive-grade NAND flash memory has been optimised to help bring about more reliable in-car applications, such as 3D mapping, navigation-based augmented reality, driver-assist technology and data event recorders.
SanDisk is offering an SD card and iNAND embedded flash drive product in a range of capacities rising to 64GB. Both are said to enable faster...
A flaw discovered by Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club e.V. (ADAC) in BMW’s ConnectedDrive system has now been solved by the manufacturer.
More than 2.2 million vehicles were said to be affected by the vulnerability to ConnectedDrive, BMW’s in-car operating system. ADAC reported that a mobile was all that was required to access the platform.
By spoofing a phone network ADAC was able to break into ConnectedDrive. From here it was possible to control heating, ventilating, and air conditioning,...
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Automated vehicles are just one aspect of the driving experience Google is investigating, with news emerging that the company has won a patent where gestures can manipulate in-car controls.
The idea is to help drivers remain focused on the road because as in-car technology increases, so does the amount of controls required to use it. Even speech-to-text solutions can cause their fair share of...
Asian web services company Baidu has revealed plans to compete with Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto in China with CarLife.
Hyundai has announced that it will be one of the first manufacturers to use the service after the two companies signed a memorandum of understanding and it is planning to embed the software in a Sonata sedan.
The ongoing wrangling between the Chinese government, Google and Apple over their systems is what led Hyundai to investigate Baidu’s carlife, according to...
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Google may have to skip the likes of Volkswagen, Daimler and Audi when looking for driverless partners if the German government has its way.
During a recent interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany’s transportation minister Alexander Dobrindt, spoke of a government initiative it was calling Digitales Testfeld Autobahn that would involve a stretch of smart highway in Bavaria.
Dobrindt, who may have concerns about the NSA tracking German citizens, revealed that...
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Over the next five years the number of connected cars on the road will rise significantly, making them a major player in the internet of things according to Gartner.
The research and advisory company has forecasted that one in five vehicles across the world will have a wireless network connection by the year 2020, which will equate to 250 million connected cars.
Connected cars are no longer available for the wealthy, with James F. Hines, research director at Gartner, commenting on...
Palo Alto’s Silicon Valley will be the location of a new Ford research centre, which the company hopes will drive innovation, connectivity, mobility and autonomous vehicles.
By the end of the year, Ford wants its new project to be one of the largest automotive manufacturer research centres in Silicon Valley with 125 researchers, engineers and scientists.
Ex-Apple man Dragos Maciuca, who has a background in consumer electronics, semiconductor manufacturing, aerospace and automotive, will take up the...
Software management firm Red Bend Software has been acquired by audio and visual infotainment group Harman International for a fee of $170 million.
The deal seems like a good fit for Harman, which was perhaps missing a connectivity string to its bow and Dinesh C. Paliwal, chairman, president, and CEO of Harman confirmed it was a strategic purchase.
“This acquisition of Red Bend, a true pioneer in OTA and virtualisation technologies for cyber security, adds a critical component to our automotive systems...
Driverless vehicles are the talk of the automotive industry after busy CES and Detroit motor shows, but testing them in a safe environment, that can accurately replicate the challenges of road navigation, has been a challenge until now.
US education establishment, the University of Michigan, has released more information surrounding M-City, its ambitious project to create a detailed urban test area for driverless...
Back-seat drivers can be a real annoyance to drivers and Jaguar Land Rover appears to be drawing on this bothersome trait for its latest bicycle safety system.
Jaguar Land Rover has launched an array of new features to help reduce the 19,000 cyclists killed or injured on UK roads every year, with one solution likely to prove divisive among drivers.
Bike Sense, Jaguar’s new system for cyclist detection, can detect when a bike is coming up the road behind the car. Depending on whether the cyclist...
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Connected car company Mojio has announced that its open platform for vehicles is now available to the world beyond Canada’s borders thanks to a partnership with AT&T.
Mojio has made a name for itself by breathing new life into the cars that manufacturers forgot when releasing new models and their shiny connectivity gadgets, giving them features such as parking...
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Looking at the recent news from some of the world’s biggest auto manufacturers, it is clear to see just how much progress has been made and how the connected car is revolutionising the in-car experience. At CES in January 2015, GM announced AtYourService, a suite of new OnStar services aimed at allowing retailers and other merchants to promote deals directly to drivers. These promotions include hotel...
As the doors closed at the Las Vegas Convention Centre and its countless exhibitors tidied away their wares, it is clear that the connected car is at the forefront of the most compelling developments in the technology industry.
Technology firms have earmarked automotive as a sizable growth area and are investing heavily in developing products for car manufacturers to implement in one or all of their models.
Nuance, a company best known for its voice-transcribing software for desktop PCs, is a prime example of this strategy...