Archive for Technology

If you look at photos of car interior overseas, you could most likely notice that the area where we normally have our 2-DIN sized CD players is taken up by a little computer, with navigational information as well as entertainment functions. Most of the cars in Malaysia do not have such features, as it’s pretty pointless with the lack of map data on Malaysian roads. Plus it would drive up the costs of our already expensive cars.

These navigational systems normally run on either Microsoft Windows Automotive, or a proprietary OS based on a set of specifications called uITRON. uITRON is not an OS, but a set of specifications for a small-scale industrial RTOS (Real Time Operating System).

Toyota feels that a single control system OS would be more beneficial, as it would reduce the development load between car manufacturers. It is developing a new OS in a joint effort with Nagoya Unviersity’s Center for Embedded Computing Systems. A car’s automotive computers are normally divided into two parts – the information systems OS and the control systems OS. Toyota’s efforts with Nagoya are on the information systems OS, and will be based on a Unix base.

It will use a multi-core processor for the heat reduction benefits that comes with a reduced CPU frequency, and it will have a firewall for the communication between the two operating systems. Toyota intends to allow other car manufacturers to use this operating system once it is complete, but is currently heading development to control the direction it takes.

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This is amazing. This is a video of BMW’s extreme testing innovations. For a producer of cars so packed with technology, it’s only normal for their testing procedures to be highly advanced too. They actually have a Nurburgring track test simulator, which allows a BMW being tested to experience the trials of the Nurburgring track without actually having to be there. There’s also a room where ultraviolet light is used to test the car’s hardiness against the harsh sun. This ultraviolet light is so intense that it could give you a sunburn in 3 minutes.

“One of the most important things is testing, testing, testing, to produce quality in the hands of our customers. The quality really depends on the R&D process. It starts at the R&D process. You cannot produce quality at the end of the production line.” – Anton Ruf, BMW Head of Technical Integration.

If you have a BMW, it will really make you appreciate the work and effort that went into the vehicle that justifies it’s premium price tag. A highly recommended watch.

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Audi has launched a new series of Audi A3 and Audi A4 cars with a new turbodiesel powerplant. The new 2.0 liter TDI powerplant makes 170ps, which is 30 extra horses over the previous 2.0 TDI engine which makes 140ps. This extra power is achieved through the use of pieze injector technology.

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BMW totally owned the 2006 International Engine Of The Year awards again, just as it did last year. It’s 5.0 liter V10 engine used in the BMW M5 and BMW M6 won both the Best Performance Engine Award as well as the overall International Engine Of The Year 2006 award for the second year in a row. BMW also won 3 other awards, the 3L to 4L category with it’s BMW Z4M/E46 M3 3.2 liter straight-six engine, and the 2.5L to 3L category with it’s 3.0 liter twin turbodiesel engine. That makes BMW’s total award count at a nice number 5. Let’s have a look at the engines that won awards in the International Engine Of The Year Awards 2006.

Click here to read the rest of 2006 International Engine Of The Year Awards Results

Peter Bee, a Smart car enthusiast wanted somemore power out of his little Smart ForTwo. The original Mitsubishi engine in the Smart ForTwo made about 60hp, and through some tweaking he managed to get this up to 100hp. But it wasn’t enough for him.

He approached Z Cars, a kit car company specialising in putting motorcycle engines into cars. Z Cars had put Yamaha R1 engines into Mini Coopers. They seemed like the right people for the job. He also approached Phil Seton of Seton Racing, who provided a personally tweaked Suzuki GSXR1000 engine (stuff like Yoshimura exhausts, etc) which made a maximum of 180hp, screaming all the way up to 13,500rpm. The engine was mounted at the rear of the car. The result was called the Smartuki, a mash of the names Smart and Suzuki of course.

The Smartuki goes from 0-100km/h in 4.2 seconds, does the 400 meter dash in 12.4 seconds and tops out at 213km/h. There are two videos of this monster after the jump. The pocket rocket sounds like an F1 car on the track… enjoy!

Click here to read the rest of Smartuki – Smart ForTwo with Suzuki GSXR1000 superbike engine

Volkswagen’s Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG) is the world’s first dual-clutch automated manual gearbox in a production car. This provides the driver the ease-of-drive of a car equipped with an automatic transmission, but the efficiency and flexibility of a manual transmission.

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Telematics Research Group has done a study on the use of technology gizmos in cars. BMW and Mercedes Benz tops the list, and Hyundai comes in last. Audi seems to be lagging behind it’s other two German counterparts. These are brands in the USA, for 2006 and 2007 models. Click the image for a bigger version.

I think it’s pretty normal, luxury car markers tend to include more of these kind of computer assists and gadgets into their cars compared to car makers that focus on economy like Hyundai. In fact I would be suprised if Hyundai appeared any higher on the list.

Flexi-fuel vehicles, short for “flexible-fuel” or “dual-fuel” vehicles are cars that can run on two sources of fuel. Common flexi-fuel vehicles run on gasoline and ethanol. Our Malaysian taxis are also flexi-fuel vehicles, as they can run on petrol and natural gas.

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Questions from beginner car enthusiasts on where to get blow off valves for normally aspirated cars are not uncommon as they don’t know what blow off valves are for, and how they work. It is not possible for you to install a blow off valve onto a normally aspirated car, they are for forced inducted engines. No matter how much you like the sound. Hehe.

Click here to read the rest of What are blow off valves and can I put them on my normally aspirated car?

Nissan is developing a safety feature for it’s cars to help avoid colliding with the vehicle in front in the case of a possible sudden brake situation.

In Nissan’s accelerator pedal safety system, a combination of radar sensors connected to a computer system monitors the car’s speed and the distance to the vehicle in front. If the vehicle in front suddenly slows down (like a jam brake situation) or there is any other possibility of a rear-end collision as calculated by the computer system, the gas pedal will automatically rise against the driver’s foot as a signal to step on the brake.

Once the driver lifts his foot off the accelerator pedal, the system does not wait for him to start braking, it automatically kicks in. Of course, the driver’s foot would go ahead and press the brakes anyway.

This makes me think, doesn’t this system require the use of brake-by-wire? Brake-by-wire’s benefits versus safety hazard is still being debated in the industry, though most modern brake-by-wire systems like Mercedes Benz’s Sensotronic Braking Control comes with a manual safety net.

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