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CES Automobitive Highlights 2020

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2020 is the first major show of the year for customer tech and a lot more. Since cars these days have more tech on board than your computer at home it is no surprise that more and more car manufacturers find their way to Las Vegas. We had a look at what the car manufacturers, suppliers and other tech companies had to offer in the automotive and picked our top highlights.

Sony wows the world with an electric car

Sony Vision-S

The biggest news, by far, was that Sony had been working on autonomous car tech in relative secrecy. As you would expect, entertainment is firmly in the driving seat with this concept car. The Japanese behemoth isn’t expected to put the Vision S into production any time soon, but it is expected to offer its technology to the wider industry.

What Sony presented is a fully operational electric car, packed with technology. It is 5G-enabled and capable of over-the-air system updates. There are four main cameras around the outside of the vehicle – back, front and the two sides – all fitted with Sony’s high-end CMOS sensors and an in-car 360 Reality Audio system.

What’s most impressive though, is that a company with no history in the automotive segment (as a traditional manufacturer at least), can put together something so polished. The project is supported by automotive supplier Magna but even then we’re sure it had some of the traditional manufacturers scratching their heads.

Mercedes-Benz teases organic battery

Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR

Mercedes-Benz had a concept car to release this year. Tied with the upcoming Avatar 2 film, the Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR previews the future of autonomous driving. There is no steering wheel, much like James Cameron’s characters, Mercedes-Benz believes that the vehicle will blend with the driver, recognising the human driver’s heartbeat and breath.

It gets a 110-kilowatt-hour electric motor that can produce 469 hp and a range of roughly 435 miles. But it is not the powertrain which makes this concept very interesting but the battery tech: The batteries are presented as a graphene-based concept. The organic material was discovered in 2004 and is currently the strongest material known to man. While no commercially available battery exists at this point, research has found that graphine batteries charge 12 times faster than lithium-ion batteries and can be produced and recycled in a very environmentally friendly manner. Perhaps this is the future?

Hyundai presents their vision of mobility with Uber

Hyundai Uber Future

Hyundai and Uber’s joint vision for the future of the automotive looks suspiciously like an aeroplane. Developed under the title Uber Air Taxis, this concept is called the Personal Air Vehicle (PAV) model, S-A1.

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It has a cruising speed of up to 180 mph (290 km/h) at altitudes of roughly 300 to 600 metres above the ground. Trips will be limited to 60 miles on 100% electric propulsion. Each ‘car’ will seat four passengers.

Amazon sets aims to invade the automotive industry with Alexa and Fire TV

Lamborghini and Alexa

Amazon extended its Alexa and Fire TV offerings in the automotive industry. It announced new partnerships with Rivian and Lamborghini to bring Alexa into their vehicles. They join Ford, Audi, BMW, GM, and Toyota who had already announced partnerships. Even if you don’t buy one of these vehicles, the Echo Auto device will soon be available to make your car Alexa-ready.

Alexa gets new auto-specific skills including the ability to pay for gas at Exxon stations through the voice assistant. BMW and Fiat Chrysler add Fire TV systems to their vehicles too with the ability to stream TV shows through an onboard LTE connection.

ZF presents Level 2+ and Level 4 autonomous driving tech

ZF Automotive also presented new technology. The German giant is a market leader in autonomous driving technology. It presented an update on progress with its Level 2+ systems for consumer vehicles and Level 4 systems for commercial vehicles. The level 3 system hurdle which transfers responsibility in certain autonomous driving modes from the driver to the manufacturer is proving a big step to tackle with regulators around the world withholding manufacturers permission to homologate their systems. Level 2+ is a temporary solution that offers customers the most of the available tech with the restriction that the driver remains responsible at all time.

Its releases for the Level 2+ market focused on its coASSIST system, an affordable system which is expected to enjoy demand from a range of manufacturers. For a price of around $1,000 it offers feet-free and hands-free operation, automated lane change and overtaking, automated garage parking and route learning.

In the meantime ZF among others offers Level 4 systems for applications on non-public roads and private grounds like airports, factories and harbors. The demand for these full autonomous systems is stronger than ever and it is just a matter of time until we will see the first autonomous cars on the road.

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January 10, 2020 / Comments Off

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Lamborghini Huracan Evo gets Amazon Alexa tech at CES 2020

In-car technology is a must, Lamborghini development boss Maurizio Reggiani told Autoblog as he unveiled the Huracán Evo‘s touchscreen-based infotainment system in 2019. Amazon Alexa integration announced at CES 2020 is the next part of the march towards supercars that are as smart and connected as they are quick.

By programming the voice assistant directly into the native infotainment system, rather than adding it as a third-party app, Lamborghini claims it achieved seamless integration that lets drivers control an extensive list of functions in the car, and in their home. If your butt is cold, you can ask Alexa to turn on the heated seats. You can also make calls, turn the map lights on or off, get directions, check the weather at your destination, and set the A/C, among other things. And, because Alexa speaks to connected devices, you can raise the temperature in your living room while doing hot laps at Watkins Glen, or turn on the porch lights as you pass a Porsche. The catch is that Alexa goes on strike if the Huracán isn’t connected to the internet.

Lamborghini and Amazon plan to deepen their cooperation in the coming years, though they didn’t reveal precisely what they’re hoping to achieve. They could teach Alexa new functions, but don’t expect the Italian brand to release a car with an entirely button-free cabin in the near future. The driver still has to manually switch between the driving modes, for example, and the ignition button remains under a fighter jet-like red flap positioned on the slanted center console.

Amazon Alexa will be available across the entire Huracán Evo range — which will grow to include a rear-wheel drive model developed to replace the 580-2 — by the end of 2020. Lamborghini told Autoblog it hasn’t decided whether the feature will be standard or optional yet.

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January 6, 2020 / Comments Off

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Genovation GXE, electric Corvette Grand Sport conversion, coming to CES

Last year, Rockland, Maryland-based Genovation Cars announced the second generation of its electric sports car, the GXE – which stands for Genovation Extreme Electric. This week, the company announced the pre-production GXE will make a silent splash at next month’s Consumer Electronics Show. The first gen took the C6 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 as a donor vehicle, swapping the supercharged 6.2-liter V8 for two electric motors producing roughly 600 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque. The organ transplant was good for a land speed record for street-legal electric cars at 205.6 miles per hour, and a standing-mile record for electric cars at 190.4 mph.

The second generation switches to the C7 Corvette Grand Sport, the new GXE’s two electric motors should get something like 800 hp and 700 pound-feet of torque. All of that power, mind you, goes to the carbon fiber wheels at the rear. On top of more powerful electric motors, Genovation upped the battery capacity from 44 kWh to 60 kWh and maintained 50/50 weight distribution. Range is said to be around 150 miles if you play Holly Golightly with the throttle pedal, or just enough for two UFO-sounding laps of the 12.9-mile Nürburgring. Genovation says the the bolt to 60 mph happens in under three seconds – a traditional Grand Sport does it in 3.5 seconds – and top speed will be on the far side of 220 mph.

The coming GXE proves the adage that the best things in life are free, the second-best things in life are hideously expensive. Each of the 75 examples Genovation plans to build will cost $750,000. The limited run helps keep the price high, and buyers can opt for a feature not seen on any other electric car we know of: a seven-speed manual transmission. The company believes it won’t have any trouble finding buyers, and plans to use the haul of loot to finance a less expensive electric sports car called G2. Genovation has schedule GXE deliveries to begin at the end of 2019.