Get ready for devices made for wearing in your car

The majority of carmakers are only just getting around to providing smartphone connectivity and charging docks in their latest vehicles, but, according to ABI Research, soon room in the cabin will also have to be made for wearable tech too.

The research and analysis firm believes that because wearable technology is heading quickly towards the mainstream by the end of the decade, some form of in-car integration will be available across 90 percent of new vehicles.

With in-car infotainment becoming a key customer proposition, the automotive industry is designing user interfaces both offering a rich and convenient experience and guaranteeing safety by preventing driver distraction. While head unit proximity touch screens, heads up displays and speech recognition are now well established, the quest for next-generation automotive HMI is still on with gesture recognition, eye control and augmented reality edging closer to implementation. At the same time, wearable form-factors are being explored bearing testimony to the automotive industry’s objective to keep up with consumer electronics innovation. But they also contribute to creating a seamless digital user experience inside and outside the vehicle, says VP and practice director, Dominique Bonte.

Looking at the current state of the consumer wearable technology device market it’s hard to believe that Google Glass or any of the current crop of smartwatches will have become ubiquitous tech devices like smartphones within the next five years.

However, for once, automakers who tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to non-essential in-cabin technology have been less than cautious in playing around with wearables.

Hyundai and Mercedes have both developed apps and features that help owners control their vehicles via Google Glass. BMW has developed an app for its new i3 electric car specifically for the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch. Nissan has gone several steps further and made its own smartwatch that collects biometric data from the wearer and compares it with telemetry gathered from the car when raced around the track.

The quickest way for wearable technology to cross into the mainstream and therefore into the car would be for Apple to launch a device. However, even if an ‘iWatch’ does launch in the coming months, there is still the issue of safety and driver distraction. As ABI Research points out, and as a number of high profile cases have highlighted, the use of wearable technology devices, particularly Google Glass, is still controversial when also in command of a vehicle.

Rolls-Royce hopes to make a splash with Bespoke Waterspeed Collection

Just 35 specially designed Phantom Drophead Coupés will be built to celebrate Rolls-Royce’s role in breaking the world waterspeed record 77 years ago.

On September 2, 1937 Sir Malcom Campbell pushed his Rolls-Royce-powered Bluebird K3 hydroplane boat to a hardly believable 129.5mph (208.41km/h) across Lake Maggiore on the Italian-Swiss border and, in doing so, brought the world waterspeed record back to the UK from the US after a five-year absence.

In order to pay homage to this momentous achievement and, of course, to demonstrate to potential clients the sheer depth of bespoking possible when ordering a Rolls-Royce, the company is building 35 very special convertibles.

Badged as the Bespoke Waterspeed Collection, the Phantom Dropheads will each be furnished with brushed steel, a unique Maggiore Blue color scheme and a handcrafted wooden inlay that Rolls-Royce claims will evoke the sense of a boat effortlessly gliding through water at pace.

The special edition cars are still in the development stage, but in order to whet potential clients’ appetites, Rolls-Royce on Tuesday published an initial design sketch.

Sir Malcolm Campbell’s successful pursuit of world-speed records on land and water were the result of his commitment to the most exacting standards of British design and engineering excellence, said Torsten Müller-Ãtvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. Such attributes are hallmarks of every Rolls-Royce motor car, ensuring the marque’s position at the pinnacle of super-luxury manufacturing. This special Collection, and those to follow in 2014, serve to display the breadth of Bespoke personalization available to every Rolls-Royce customer. I very much look forward to revealing these remarkable cars over the coming months.

As for Sir Malcom Campbell, the British speed fanatic continued to break records. Following his success in 1937, he went back to the drawing board, redesigned his Bluebird, kept the Rolls-Royce engine and broke the record again, hitting 141.74mph (228.11km/h) in 1939 on the eve of the outbreak of the Second World War.

Does this limousine have a sporting chance?

We already have sports cars, sports utility vehicles, and, if nanoFLOWCELL AG has its way, we’re about to get sports limousines as well.

Due to be unveiled at the Geneva motor show in March, the QUANT e-Sportlimousine is over 5 meters in length, seats four passengers, and will be powered by a special flow cell electric powertrain.

As the company behind the car, nanoFLOWCELL AG, explains, the car offers a unique combination of innovative technology, outstanding design and an entirely new energy storage system.

The company published two teaser images to pique interest ahead of the official unveiling next month.

The car could indeed be revolutionary and start stealing custom from more established companies such as Rolls-Royce and Bentley, but the last company to go all-in on a sporty limousine was Aston Martin whose Lagonda was such a failure that it nearly destroyed the company.

Then there’s the fact that the ‘Quant’ car name is quickly becoming synonymous with vehicles that never move past the concept stage. In 2009 the admittedly beautiful NLV Quant by Koenigsegg made its debut at the Geneva motor show, then was never heard of again. In 2010 another Quant concept was unveiled and then disappeared again. Let’s hope that it’s going to be third time lucky.

The name's Bond, James Bond Junior

Nicholas Mee & Co. is building miniature, fully functioning Aston Martins for the next generation of wannabe secret agents.

Called the DB Junior, the car is only missing is an ejector seat and retracting front-mounted machine guns. Built for children aged 10 and upwards, a base model will cost about $27,000 before any bespoke features.

Nicholas Mee & Co, an Aston Martin Heritage Dealer, says that the car has been developed to be big enough for a ‘big kid’ to drive and that many bespoking requests so far have been for interior trim and exterior finishes that match a customer’s existing modern or classic Aston.

Nevertheless, the standard car is a ‘real’ car, in as much as it is powered not by pedals, but by a 110cc, four-stroke petrol engine with key-operated electric start and a three-speed automatic gearbox.

And it will stop as well as it runs thanks to Brembo disc brakes. What’s more, the lights and indicators are all fully functioning and the car will hit a top speed of 46 mph (75km/h). However, the top speed can also be limited downward upon request.

Nicholas Mee & Co specializes in sourcing rare, unusual and classic Aston Martins for its clients, many of whom are serious collectors.

We regularly have enquiries from our clients looking for something unusual and different to add to their collection of classics. You’d be surprised how well the DB Junior is engineered, and how much room there is in the cockpit. It’s big enough for an adult and the pedals can be adjusted so that the DB Junior will fit a wide range of drivers. Let’s say ‘junior drivers of all ages’, explains Managing Director Nicholas Mee.

Government to require vehicle-to-vehicle communication as safety measure

WASHINGTON In a move that signals a great technological leap forward for the auto industry, the federal government announced Monday that it will take steps to require all new cars and light trucks to communicate with each other, with the hopes of drastically reducing the total of more than 30,000 vehicle deaths each year.

The technology, known as vehicle-to-vehicle or V2V, gives cars the ability to talk to each other and exchange safety data such as speed and position. If a nearby car abruptly changes lanes and moves into another car’s blind spot, the car would be alerted. The technology relies on vehicles repeatedly sending wireless signals to each other via a dedicated short-range radio network.

Vehicle-to-vehicle technology represents the next generation of auto safety improvements, building on the lifesaving achievements we’ve already seen with safety belts and air bags, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said during a news conference in Washington, D.C. By helping drivers avoid crashes, this technology will play a key role in improving the way people get where they need to go while ensuring that the U.S. remains the leader in the global automotive industry.

The move toward V2V has enormous implications for Silicon Valley. Companies like Google and Tesla Motors have been at the forefront of efforts to develop self-driving or autonomous cars. And companies like Cisco stand to gain millions of new customers since the infrastructure for the technology basically relies on wireless systems.

V2V is wholly harmonious with the efforts toward vehicle automation, Foxx said. It’s a building block that would be used in autonomous vehicles.

Research on V2V technology has been underway for nearly a decade, and more than 3,000 vehicles currently have the technology as part of a pilot program in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Federal transportation officials did not say when the new regulations would go into effect, but hope to propose the new V2V rule before President Obama leaves office in January 2017.

The potential of V2V to save lives is enormous, said David Friedman, acting administrator of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. The results could be revolutionary for roadway safety.

For decades, much of the focus in transportation has been about surviving the traumatic impact of crashes through features like air bags and seat belts. But the future is largely about avoiding those crashes in the first place, as future vehicles will be smart enough to realize when an accident is going to happen.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children and young adults in the U.S., with approximately 33,000 people killed and 2.3 million injured each year on America’s roads, said Scott Belcher, president and CEO of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America. While the auto industry has made great strides to reduce fatalities and injuries after a crash, the next giant leap is to enable real-time communication between vehicles and with the world around them so crashes can be avoided in the first place.

Contact Dana Hull at 408-920-2706. Follow her atTwitter.com/danahull.

The astonishingly powerful Bentley Flying Spur

Another Bentley! They keep on sending them. Well, maybe the average Guardian reader really is thinking of getting one you just need a hand deciding which model. That’s why I’m here, to help. You’re welcome.

So this one is the new Flying Spur, a bloody great barge of a car. If the Continental, the baby Bentley, is the footballer’s car, then this one is the chairman’s. Obviously, as an Arsenal supporter myself, I could never own a car called a Flying Spur. Perhaps they should have thought of that. I’ll take a Renault La Gooner over this, any day. There could be a Twitter hashtag here: #FootballClubCars. An Aston Martin for the Villa fan, etc.

So, what’s it like? Well, in many ways astonishing. Astonishingly powerful (616bhp from its twin-turbo, 48-valve W12 engine). And astonishingly quick (look at the figures in the box). And huge.

A monster like this is never going to feel like a sports car, however quick it is. It’s down to physics: two and a half tonnes travelling at 200 miles an hour equals an awful lot of momentum, and doesn’t change direction easily. Not that we did reach the full double ton up, Officer, on the school run, or on the way to Tesco.

Driving a Flying Spur is something like a cross between driving the Queen Mary and flying Concorde (he says, having never driven either). But a lot of Flying Spur owners won’t ever find out. They’ll be driven. And they’ll be driven in China (more Flying Spurs are sold there than anywhere else). Chinese football chairmen, then, sitting in the back.

And they will be very happy there, reading their Guardians, having their backs (and egos) massaged, and their cracks aired hot or cold by their beautiful leather seats. They can play with the remote control, put on a movie, perhaps. Or plug in a laptop, connect to the internet using the car’s own Wi-Fi hotspot. Do some deals, buy some new players. Obviously everything is perfectly colour matched, and hand-stitched, and buffed, and buffed again, by the good folk of Crewe. Lovely.

Which makes the outside all the more disappointing. It’s just a bit of an anonymous lump, really. A big brick. It caused very little stir on the school run, in the Tesco car park, parked in our road, where Bentleys are rare. Wasn’t admired or envied or even resented. C’mon, people: it’s worth £180,000. Oh yes, $229751.54 is the minimum. But by the time you’ve added a few extras $9131.36 for a (very) nice stereo, $2030.10 for contrasting stitching, $660.39(!) for a bit of carpet in the boot it quickly adds up. If I’m… if you, Guardian-reading potential Bentley buyer, are spending that kind of money, you want at least to be noticed, no?

Bentley Flying Spur

Price From $229750

Top speed 200mph

Acceleration 0-60mph in 4.3 seconds

Combined fuel consumption 19mpg

Eco rating 1/10

Cool rating 5/10

This article originally appeared on guardian.co.uk

BMW 4 Series has space of a sedan, looks of a coupé

The BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé is for drivers hankering for something that has space and doors for all the family, but still has the good looks of a coupé.

Normally, a BMW customer has two choices when it comes to choosing his or her next mid-sized car from the German company. A sleek, focused two-door which is intoxicating to drive but, thanks to a heavily sloping roof, a bit cramped in the back. Or an equally sporty four-door sedan that sacrifices a little in terms of rakish good looks in order to accommodate rear passenger doors and more rear-seat headroom.

BMW clearly worries that this is a difficult decision to make and one that might be driving its customers into the welcoming arms of Audi and Mercedes as, unlike its closest direct competitors, it currently doesn’t have a car that offers the best elements of a coupe and a sedan. That is until now.

The 4 Series Gran Coupé is essentially a ‘stretched’ but not a distorted coupé and that’s because it’s been stretched upwards, rather than outwards. Raising the roofline by 12 mm has done nothing to spoil its lines. Neither has adding two extra doors. The car still looks like it means business even on the school run.

And of course, because BMW has waited until Mercedes and Audi have already launched their offerings in this space (the 4-door A5 and CLA respectively), it can make sure that the 4 Series is ‘best in class’ in terms of things like trunk space and headroom.

Under the hood, the car will be powered at launch with a choice of five engines, four of which will be petrol power plants and one will be of the turbo-diesel variety. The most potent will be the 306 hp, 3-liter, in-line 6-cylinder unit, but there will also be a choice of less potent four-cylinder engines too.

In terms of internal specifications, that’s down to the individual customer. There will be three levels of standard trim and features, plus an options list that is huge (as with all BMWs); plus the BMW Individual Program will allow owners to create something even more exclusive.