Friday, 27 January 2017
Thursday, 26 January 2017
Ford Adds Retroactive Wi-Fi Option and More to 2010–2016 Vehicles
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Beginning this summer, current Ford and Lincoln customers will be able to add a host of technology features, including in-car 4G LTE Wi-Fi, to their 2010–2016 car or truck courtesy of a new system called SmartLink. The retroactive upgrade will be sold at Ford and Lincoln dealerships and can be plugged in to the OBD II port of eligible vehicles.
Ford’s announcement of SmartLink follows closely on the heels of the company’s news that a handful of 2018 model Fords equipped with Sync 3 will offer an in-car Wi-Fi network, a feature that General Motors has provided in a number of its cars since 2015. As at GM, the 2018 Fords equipped with Wi-Fi will rely on AT&T’s 4G LTE network to support up to 10 devices on the vehicle’s Wi-Fi network. SmartLink, though, will connect users to the internet via Verizon’s 4G LTE network and will support up to eight devices.
While the ability to add Wi-Fi to earlier-model Fords and Lincolns will surely be SmartLink’s most talked-about asset, the tool also integrates with a dedicated smartphone app that allows users to lock, unlock, and start their car or truck remotely. Additional features within the SmartLink mobile app include vehicle maintenance and security alerts and a vehicle location tool. The cost? Ford is not ready to talk pricing for the SmartLink hardware or Verizon’s data services.
Although most 2010 through 2016 Ford and Lincoln vehicles are compatible with SmartLink, there are some exceptions. Ford said the presence of a modem in the 2012–2016 Ford Focus Electric, 2013–2016 Ford C-Max Energi, 2013-2016 Ford Fusion Energi, 2015 and 2016 Lincoln MKC with the Reserve or Black Label package, 2015 and 2016 Lincoln MKZ with the Reserve or Black Label package, and the 2016 Lincoln MKX with the Reserve or Black Label package prevents these vehicles from supporting SmartLink.
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Nissan Z Concept Coming; Production Car Could Reach 500 Horsepower
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January 26, 2017 at 6:20 pm by Peter Lyon | Illustration by Best Car Magazine
It has been more than eight years since the current Nissan 370Z went on sale, but Nissan’s legendary Z-car soon will get its long-awaited redesign. The first major step will be taken at the Tokyo auto show this fall, where Nissan will reveal the next-generation Z concept, a preview of the production car said to offer several potent powertrains.
As this artist’s impression from Japan’s Best Car magazine shows, it is expected that the new Z concept and production car will have similar proportions to the outgoing coupe. The Z will also adopt an edgier styling language, including a gaping front end that takes cues from the latest GT-R facelift, and will ride on a shorter wheelbase courtesy of the Infiniti Q60’s FR-L platform.
Of the three powertrains on offer, the flagship twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6, borrowed from the Infiniti Q60 Red Sport, is said to punch out a healthy 400 horsepower at 6400 rpm and 350 lb-ft of torque at 1600 rpm; it will be mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. If this version lives up to those expectations, it could put the Nissan toe to toe with rivals such as Porsche’s 718 Boxster S and BMW’s M2.
In addition to the entry-level 3.0-liter V-6, generating 300 horsepower and 295 lb-ft, we also hear that Nissan is working on a hybridized model to be introduced later that could make the Z the most powerful in its class. It is expected to employ the same 3.0-liter V-6, teamed with a dual-clutch gearbox and an electric motor producing as much as 160 horses. One source told us that this model’s total output could reach an eye-popping 500 horsepower. The new Z is expected to land in showrooms by 2019, with the base model priced in the low-$30,000 range and the twin-turbo nearing $50K.
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From Rust to Robots: How the Midwest Could Become a Hub for Advanced Transportation
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A new collection of transportation agencies and universities is taking one small step toward transforming the Rust Belt into a place associated with the future instead of the past. Eleven agencies and institutions located in Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania have formed the Smart Belt Coalition, which will spur joint efforts on the testing and deployment of autonomous and connected cars.
The collaboration comes on the heels of a legislative overhaul of Michigan regulations last month, which have been relaxed to spur the testing of self-driving technology on the state’s public roads. Ohio and Pennsylvania do not have laws on the books governing autonomous vehicles, but in their absence, both states have encouraged such tests.
All three states have attracted their share of autonomous testing on their own, in some cases competing with one another for projects. Together, the efforts of the three states may serve as a regional counterweight to the autonomous testing that has proliferated in California, Arizona, and Nevada.
“While there’s competition in all these things, in the aggregate there’s a lot of benefit to cooperating, too,” said Jeff Cranson, the Michigan Department of Transportation’s director of communications.
The Michigan DOT is a member of the coalition, as is the American Center for Mobility, a proving ground for autonomous and connected cars on which construction crews broke ground late last year. Few places better symbolize the hopes these states hold in using advanced transportation as a means of economic reinvention. When completed, the ACM will sit on the grounds of the former Willow Run factory in Southeast Michigan. Both Ford and General Motors had used the assembly plant, which in its heyday was a manufacturing site for airplanes during World War II. Until recently, it had stood as a polluted reminder of industrial neglect.
In addition, the coalition includes the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Ohio Department of Transportation, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission, Ohio State University, and the Transportation Research Center, another independent proving ground under development in East Liberty, Ohio.
First, the coalition members intend to prioritize projects that evaluate autonomous and connected technologies in construction zones, including finding ways to make the areas more uniform and offering real-time information to nearby motorists. They’ll also focus on projects that involve truck platoons, the likes of which were tested by the U.S. Army last summer along I-69 in Michigan. Separately, Ohio permitted Otto, a subsidiary of Uber that is pursuing self-driving truck technology, to test its trucks along the Ohio Turnpike and Route 33 in the Buckeye State in late 2016.
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It’s a nice way to reframe the Rust Belt narrative.
— Jeff Cranson, Michigan Department of Transportation
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Ohio is spending $15 million along a 35-mile stretch of Route 33 to outfit the road with high-capacity fiber-optic cables as well as embedded and wireless sensors from which researchers can observe and obtain data in real time. While that effort began before the Smart Belt Coalition formed, it highlights the type of work researchers intend to do across the three-state spectrum.
The Transportation Research Center and the American Center for Mobility (ACM) are nonprofit venues that hope to attract private testing. The ACM was officially designated as an Automated Vehicle Proving Ground by the U.S. Department of Transportation last week. Earlier this month, the ACM, Ford, Delphi, and AT&T announced a partnership to test new LTE networks in connected-car environments. The city of Pittsburgh, where Uber has deployed a pilot project involving self-driving vehicles and an experiment that uses smart traffic lights to improve traffic flow, also received the same U.S. DOT designation. Last summer, the U.S. DOT named Columbus, Ohio, its first Smart City and gave it $40 million to allocate toward mobility projects.
The Smart Belt Coalition aims to build on these strengths.
“It’s been the subject of discussion among these entities for quite some time, including coming up with this name,” Cranson said. “It’s a nice way to reframe the Rust Belt narrative.”
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