Ever hear of an antivirus with a V12 engine? It may sound a bit confusing, but that is what you get when you mix software companies and the automotive world. Kaspersky Internet Security has announced the launch of a special Ferrari Edition antivirus to celebrate the Formula One season. This special antivirus has been developed in cooperation with Ferrari and will be available worldwide at the end of March 2011. And here we thought automakers were going to stop at mugs, apparel, and bicycles.
"It’s the first time that Ferrari has co-branded with a software company,” said Kaspersky co-founder and CEO Eugene Kaspersky. "Ferrari is co-branded everywhere, with merchandise and clothing in Ferrari stores all over the globe. This is the next step in our partnership; from my point of view Ferrari is perfect for us. It has speed and safety, and in IT security we also are all about speed and safety."
Don’t expect too much of Ferrari in the new program, though. There will only be a new Ferrari-themed user interface and an added Windows desktop gadget.
Tesla Motors has based their whole business model on batteries. They kind of have to since, after all, they sell electric cars. Tesla’s Roadster contains 6,831 lithium ion laptop-style batteries and the company’s up and coming 2012 Model S will have around 8,000 lithium ion laptop-style batteries. This is why it’s such a surprise to hear Tesla CEO Elon Musk say that he doesn’t think batteries will be part of the breakthrough that really pushes electric vehicle transportation into the mainstream.
While speaking at Cleantech Forum in San Francisco, Musk said, “If I were to make a prediction, I’d think there’s a good chance that it is not batteries but capacitors [that will facilitate the breakthrough].”
Musk might be onto something. One of the biggest drawbacks to electric vehicles is the “range anxiety” caused by the very batteries that electric vehicles need to store their energy. Batteries not only take a long time to charge up, but the state of their charge is largely dependent on ambient temperatures.
Capacitors are a lot like batteries. They’re commonly used now in consumer electronics to maintain power while the batteries are charging. Capacitors can also release quick bursts of electricity and since they can withstand more charging cycles than batteries, they should last longer. The only thing that batteries have on capacitors is that they can store more energy.
Now we’re not engineers, but if Tesla was somehow capable of combining large capacitors with a battery, so that the capacitors could both run the car and charge the battery when the battery is depleted, and supplement it with regenerative braking and solar panels, they might just be onto something BIG. In theory, that could be a real self-sustaining car. That could also be just the breakthrough that Tesla needs to remain viable into the 21st century auto industry.
Ten years ago there was very little discussion about electric or hybrid vehicles. The technology was far from perfected and no low level consumer was able to purchase it. Throughout this past decade our economy, natural resources, and priorities have shifted towards conserving the environment and our funds. This has helped the renewable and green energy proponents to make large discoveries that are moving the industry forward faster than ever.
Americans tend to be very stubborn and change can rub us the wrong way all too easily. Most of the negative sentiments about electric and hybrid vehicles are based around ignorance. Quite simply, most people could not tell you the difference between a hybrid car and a full electric vehicle. Come to think of it, most people could not tell the difference between a diesel and a petrol engine besides the fact that they would have to use the green pump at the gas station. For the hybrid automakers to start selling these vehicles in larger quantities, the public must be educated about their benefits and potential pitfalls.
Several basic types of low emissions vehicles exist and are currently being marketed by the major auto manufacturers. The biggest seller of these is Toyota with their Prius model, which is a hybrid vehicle. Making distinctions between the different cars available will be helpful to a potential buyer by allowing them to get a vehicle that best suits their respective uses and needs.
Understanding the future of mobility might seem like a topic that’s too complicated to grasp for some people, but as the final part of BMW’s“Wherever You Want to Go” documentary will tell you, it’s as simple as asking yourself a simple question: “What do I want to see for the future of mobility?”
This is what the final film of BMW’s documentary is all about. The future, as all the respondents in the video will tell you, is an inevitable thing that we, as humans, cannot stop. So instead of thinking of ways to try to circumvent what’s coming, it’s important to start embracing what it holds, even at the cost of sacrificing some of the technologies that we enjoy today.
Now, understanding and doing something about it is easier said than done. But when we open our minds to what the evolution of technology holds for all of us, then we can all be excited about all the possibilities it has in store for us.
If you missed the first three installments of the documentary, you can check out the episodes after the jump.
Ever imagine what the future of mobility is going to be like?
Strange as it sounds, the future really is a matter of perception mixed in with a dose of reality, one where you perceive something based on what your idea of the future is while keeping in mind the limitations of what the present holds. In the auto industry, the search on how forms of transportation will evolve based on new technological advancements and how they’re going to affect the future is a not much of a question in people’s minds as it is putting the advancements done to good use.
BMW’s four-part mini-documentary titled “Wherever You Want To Go” tackles the important questions people might have of what future mobility is going to be like. In the third installment of the documentary, the question on how it’s going to affect mobility is being answered in ways that not many people expected would be answered this soon. Granted, "technological advancements" as per the phrase is still a matter of subjection that should be put in the proper context, but the possibilities of what the future holds are now bigger than its ever been.
Check out the full story, plus Parts 1 and 2 of the "Wherever You Want To Go" documentary, after the jump.
This isn’t your uncle’s old Test Drive simulator from the 1980’s and it’s certainly isn’t Gran Turismo 5. What it is, though, is the future of racing simulators, one that involves driving your very own sports car in front of a huge screen at the fastest possible speed your vehicle is capable of.
This is about as real as a car simulator can get. It’s the work of an Australian-based company, TAG Systems, who spent the better part of the past eight years developing, honing, and testing out their system to look and work the way it does now. Just how cool is it? Cool enough, apparently, to get even Jay Leno to leave his beloved garage in favor of an old factory warehouse. In the latest episode of Jay Leno’s Garage, the comedian was invited by TAG Systems’ general manager, Anthony Walsh, to give the simulator a baptismal of fire of sorts.
Leno took his Chevrolet Corvette Z06, which has been perched atop a dynamometer and clamped down using aluminum clamps over the suspension arms, on a panoramic virtual joyride around a number of tracks - a test track, a night track, a basement parking lot, and a drag strip, among others - while going pedal to the metal, and doing all of it inside the warehouse.
Understandably so, we’re pretty impressed with how this simulator works, although it does have one pretty glaring drawback that, in fairness to it, no simulator in the world can replicate: the sheer thrill of racing sports cars to the limit with the wind blowing in your face to the sound of Don McLean’s "American Pie".
Take that whole real life experience out of the picture and Tag Systems’ amazing simulator is definitely one for the books.
Mercedes just turned 125 years old recently – hard to believe they’ve been around that long – and in a celebration befitting their status as one of the pre-eminent automakers in the world, the German company decided it was time to reveal the Aesthetics 125 sculpture.
Similar to the Aesthetics 2 sculpture that was unveiled at the just-concluded 2011 Detroit Auto Show, the Aesthetics 125 is more than just a fancy and shiny ivory sculpture. According to Mercedes, the Aesthetics 125 is actually a sample – a preview, shall we say – of the company’s future design language. The sculpture, in so many words, will be the inspiration of what the company’s future models are going to look like.
See what we meant by being more than just a fancy work of art?
The Aesthetics 125 was created using a new rapid-prototyping technology, which allows digital data to be directly transferred to a design object, thus making all the tech workings and application in fine layers work as seamlessly and as efficiently as possible.
The result is an amazing sculpture that points both to the company’s historical importance in the industry and it’s continued emphasis on breaking through new barriers in its continued pursuit of being one of the auto industry’s trailblazers.
This is who Mercedes-Benz is and if the Aesthetics 125 sculpture is any indication, this is who they’re going to continue to be.
Let’s just say that you’re in need of someone that can literally create something out of nothing. You’re not going to find anybody better than this genius Chinese dude named An Jiaxuan.
You know how the term ‘inventor’ has been thrown around these days like it doesn’t mean something? Well, thank goodness for this man. An Jiaxuan does justice to that title because he’s a pretty darn good one.
Together with his buddy, An Jiaxuan can create just about anything with his hands, including a software that allows him to electronically control a BMW 1-Series from his Nokia C7 smartphone. We’re not talking about those little R/C cars you buy at Toys ‘R Us. We’re actually talking about a real, life-sized 1-Series.
This video is a definite must-watch, one that leads you to think how a dude like An Jiaxuan isn’t employed by an automaker that can definitely use his technological wizardry.
We’ll be honest; a side of us wants to be apprehensive about this whole deal because it’s just too good to be true. But if this is indeed legit, which we sincerely hope it is, then this is about the coolest thing we’ve ever seen.
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) isn’t exactly known for delivering a plethora of automotive goodies for our undivided attention. In fact, this major technology-related trade show has presented some of the greatest tech products such as this year’s immense number of tablets and 4G smartphones. Not exactly our cup of tea, right?
Wrong. This year’s CES was chock full of auto gizmos and gadgets. So much so, that we had to go back and try to cover them all. In researching the products presented at CES, we came across many automakers who chose this tech show, as opposed to actual auto shows, to showcase their technological advancements in car-to-driver communication. Yes, we said communication. Turns out, a computer or a smartphone can provide access to an array of features and notifications for your vehicle, making it that much easier for drivers to check on the charge levels of their electric ride. Other automakers are finding better ways to charge up their electric cars; without a plug.
Sound cool? We thought so too, so hit the jump to check out some of these ahead-of-the-game technological advancements.
Few technological advancements have been as important in the auto industry as the development of carbon fiber. Lighter yet stronger than most materials that were once used in building vehicles, carbon fiber has become an integral element in the development of some of the world’s fastest and most powerful cars on the planet, including Formula One race cars.
On their end, Lexus knows a thing or two about supercars with the development of the LF-A. The company has even taken to new lengths to provide the LF-A with the best possible materials by building their very own carbon fiber loom to create the carbon fiber materials that will be used in the LF-A.
The revolutionary loom is able to weave three-dimensional carbon fiber shapes that will be put in the company’s supercar, including the steering wheel and the A-pillar. Knowing the great lengths company’s go through to outfit as much carbon fiber as possible on their supercars, Lexus saw fit to take the game to a whole new level with the invention of the carbon fiber loom, a technology that’s the first of its kind in the world.
Eventually, the machine will also be used to create materials for other Lexus models, signaling a concrete step in helping bring the weight down and improve performance of the company’s future vehicles.
Check out the video featuring Lexus’ new carbon fiber loom. If there ever was any indication just how fast technology is shaping the auto industry today, this is it.
