Electric Vehicles & Cars - Page 10

Ford has filed for a patent on a new type of system that is designed to cause drivers "discomfort" if they happen to miss consecutive car repayments.

The car manufacturer filed for the patent back in August 2021, but it only became public last week when it was published online. The Drive reports that the patent includes technology that would revoke key features of the vehicle in the event of car repayments being missed by the buyer. Features that would be taken away incrementally would be air conditioning, GPS, and even the radio.

Furthermore, the patent describes a new system called the "repossession system computer", which will serve as the brain for carrying out all these discomforts. The patent states that this new computer would begin with minor annoyances to the driver, such as removing air conditioning, cruise control, or the radio. Then if warnings of missed payments are continued to be ignored, the system could initiate an "incessant and unpleasant sound" whenever the driver is around.

Flying cars has always been this benchmark for something futuristic; that is, once flying cars are real - we're well and truly living in the future. And that's precisely what we've got here, with the Airspeeder MK4 from Alauda Aeronautics - based in Adelaide, South Australia.

A fully crewed flying racing car because we're already at the flying racing car stage. The Airspeeder MK4 is described as the world's fastest hydrogen electric "Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft."

It can reach its top speed of 360km/hr (225m/hr) in 30 seconds from a full-standing start and is set to debut in the burgeoning field of Airspeeder racing. Yeah, it's a flying racing card built for performance motorsports. As mentioned above, this is a hydrogen-electric flying car with an impressive range of 300km - with the vehicle weight being just 950kg.

Tesla has made an appearance at the Super Bowl, but it isn't a positive one, as the advertisement comes from one of the company's biggest critics Dawn Project.

The above Super Bowl ad was created by Dawn Project, an organization committed to making "computers safe for humanity". The organization was created by tech entrepreneur Dan O'Dowd and has been going after Tesla since the company began rolling out its Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature. The Super Bowl ad is designed to bring awareness to purported faults within Tesla's FSD software, and these faults are demonstrated numerous times throughout the duration of the video.

Dawn Project shows Tesla vehicles failing to stop for child-sized dummies that are crossing the street, failing to stop for stop signs attached to the side of a school bus, crossing illegally into the oncoming lane, driving past 'do not enter' signs and even hitting a stroller in the middle of the road. Dawn Project's goal for the Super Bowl ad is to bring awareness to FSD in hopes that lawmakers will ban the feature from public roads.

Mercedes-Benz has received a new level of driving automation for its Drive Pilot system, which is a direct competitor to Tesla's Autopilot system.

Mercedes took to its website with a press release that states its Drive Pilot system is approved for use in Nevada, receiving the first Level 3 "conditionally automated" driving certification, making it the very first car company to reach Level 3.

According to the announcement, Mercedes' Drive Pilot system at Level 3 capabilities will be able to keep the car in a lane, change lanes, and maintain the car at a safe distance behind the one that it's in front of by adjusting speed and more. However, all of this new technology is only permitted at speeds up to 40 mph. Notably, Tesla currently sits at Level 2 autonomy with its Autopilot system, but many of the features that make up Level 3 autonomy are already present in Level 2, which are already present on the road.

Sacramento Metro Fire District took to its social channels to share information about a Tesla Model S suddenly bursting into flames while traveling down eastbound Highway 50 & Sunrise Blvd.

According to the posts by the fire department, the firefighters arrived at the scene, and the vehicle was already engulfed in flames, and according to the driver, the Tesla Model S began emitting black smoke from under its hood while it was traveling at "freeway speeds". The driver pulled over, and the fire eventually took over the vehicle, causing it irreparable damage. Metro Fire of Sacramento notes that there were no injuries as a result of the incident.

Firefighters had to use 6,000 gallons of water to completely put out the fire as the vehicle's battery cells continued to combust, refueling the fire. Comparatively, a normal combustion engine requires approximately 700 gallons of water to extinguish and typically a single fire truck. Metro Fire of Sacramento states it needed two fire engines, a water tender, and a ladder truck.

Californian carmaker Rezvani has unveiled the Rezvani Vengeance, and the Batmobile-like SUV comes with a military package that is truly shocking.

The Rezvani Vengeance is not your typical SUV as this vehicle is truly equipped for an apocalyptic event with the inclusion of bulletproof glass, blinding strobe lights, electrified door handles, smoke screen, thermal night vision, EMP protection, gas masks, and even a pepper spray dispenser. Looking at the Rezvani website, the company states that "vengeance is yours," and if you decide to get the military package, all of the aforementioned features are yours.

Notably, these features and the vehicle by itself don't come cheap. The Rezvani Vengeance base model, without the bells and pepper sprayers, comes in at $285,000. Those that decide the military package is a necessary upgrade will have to pay a whopping $499,000. It should be noted that tactical weaponry equipped to the Rezvani Vengeance isn't marketed towards the US military personnel but to everyday Americans.

A Tesla owner has bragged online that he used his vehicle while intoxicated to make it back home after Christmas celebrations.

The Tesla owner, whose Twitter handle is @denguyen73 admitted to the act on Twitter Spaces, where he said that he was a little bit "tipsy" after Christmas day celebrations and that he was "probably drunk" when he got behind the wheel. The driver said that he engaged Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) after jumping behind the wheel and Tesla's autopilot driving software "flawlessly" took him home.

As you can probably imagine, driving while intoxicated, even with Tesla's FSD beta software engaged, is completely illegal, which led to many members of the public speaking out about the driver's admission. One Twitter user whose handle is @eriz35 simply booed the driver while the Twitter Spaces call and said, "Don't do that", adding, "please don't do that again".

CES 2023 - Sony's new electric vehicle packs in serious high-end tech including tons of sensors and a fully-fledged PlayStation 5, but the car's name is rather odd.

Sony and Honda are teaming up to make an electric smartcar that fully utilizes each company's breakthrough tech, namely Sony's sensors and Honda's overall vehicle designs. The result is an interesting new car called Afeela that blends entertainment, connectivity, and something that Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida calls "intelligent mobility."

Sony unveiled a concept prototype for its new EV platform at CES that's essentially a roving tech ecosystem on wheels. Afeela features 45 cameras and sensors inside and outside of the vehicle specifically designed by Sony, including a system of onboard computer chips and SoCs that deliver a combined 800 TOPs that will help facilitate advanced AI and deliver both automated drive and ADS (Automated Drive Assistance) to operators.

Adrenaline junkie Travis Pastrana decided to wind down 2022 by releasing "Gymkhana 2022" - a video of him driving a tricked out 1983 Subaru GL Wagon able to produce more than 850 horsepower.

Of course, a simple driving video wouldn't be any kind of fun for Pastrana and company. Instead, the video needs to feature cameos of a fighter jet, helicopter and 3000-hp Chevrolet El Camino - along with Pastrana managing to grind his car like it's some kind of insanely oversized skateboard.

The car has full active aero, AWD sequential transmission, rear-mounted radiators and a 2.3-liter billet Subaru Boxer 4-cylinder engine - with carbon fiber roof racks and carbon fiber found throughout the rest of the vehicle.

Kindred Motorworks recently showed off its latest creation, the Kindred Chevy 3100 pickup truck - a late 40s-50s era truck with an electric drivetrain. Interested buyers will need to wait a couple of years and can expect to pay at least $159,000.

Kindred used Chevy 3100 models built from 1947 to 1953 and packed in a 294hp direct drive electric AC motor electric powertrain. The 74 kWh battery provides a 200-mile range - with a 6.6 kW on-board charger with 120v and 240v support. Charge time with a level-2 charger will take nine hours.

The interior features a bench seat with custom leather upholstery with headrests and center seating. There is an EV-specific style gauge cluster, a touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay support, and a wireless charging dock. Overall, the exterior also underwent a full restoration, so Kindred put in the effort to refurbish the old school truck.