Tag: car

Categories
Ξ TREND

Here is the first electric flying car, it will arrive in 2025 and will cost 300,000 euros



The flying car has long been part of the collective imagination: from Back to the future has Star Trek Passing by Harry Potter, Blade Runner And The fifth Element, all these films made us dream by showing absolutely incredible cars, with which it was possible to move through the air. A society in which we all travel aboard these flying machines has been dreamed of for several decades now. In 1917, a man named Glenn Curtis first materialized this idea with his Autoplane, a flying car which, although it ultimately performed what amounted to large jumps rather than a long full flight, still had the merit of representing for the first time what these cars of tomorrow could look like.

A flying car “like in the movies”?

This year, it was finally a Californian company, called Alef Aeronautics, which presented its version of the flying car. This could then become the first successful flying car model, since the company has already announced that the first prototypes will be delivered to customers at the end of 2025. However, if the first images of this car are enticing and seem to show a car truly moving in the air, the president of the Alef Aeronautics company, Jim Dukhovny, expresses certain reservations about a truly long flight. “The driver will use the vehicle like a car, and will leap over obstacles when necessary,” he explains. This exceptional car should therefore not meet all of our wildest expectations, but would still be a real first step towards the construction of machines of this type.

This Model A is a flying electric car, capable of carrying one or two people, and almost resembling a drone, thanks to its propellers. It would have a range of 320 kilometers on the road, while it should be able to fly for 177 kilometers. This innovative technology, however, comes at a price, since the Model A costs no less than $300,000, or roughly the same amount in euros, taxes included. Not everyone will therefore be able to immediately experience this unique transport experience.

First public flight demonstrations coming soon

For the moment, no video revealing the machine in flight has been presented, even though the company claims to have been testing the capabilities of its product since 2019. However, this does not prevent the company from obtaining approval from authorities, since it recently received certification from the Federal Aviation Administration, which is none other than the government agency responsible for regulations and controls concerning civil aviation in the United States. Thanks to this precious authorization, the Model A can now legally fly in dedicated airspace, which represents a giant step in the history of flying cars since it is the first time that this right has been granted to a car fully electric steering wheel. This also confirms that the first flights can indeed take place in 2025 and that the first public flight demonstrations will be held soon. More than 440 people have already booked to have the chance to live this unique experience.

Even if the time when the whole of society will move in the air still seems far away, the imminent arrival of this flying car, just like the recent Air Scooter, presented at Vivatech and which should see the light of day in 2024, therefore leaves presage an ever more high-tech and innovative future. However, many questions remain unanswered regarding this machine, since its specific technical capabilities are still unknown (the president of the company Mr. Dukhovny, however, suggested that the car could not, for its first versions, reach high speeds), and that the regulation of these cars which could soon crisscross the sky is still too vague. Indeed, this car is currently designed to take off in an urban environment (for example when the streets of a city are congested, to avoid slowing down), the question of air traffic therefore remains unresolved.

Categories
Ξ TREND

The car driven by Tom Cruise in Rome in Mission Impossible 7 is the one we all dream of having to go on vacation this summer



Tom Cruise never stops. In Mission: Impossible 7, the 61-year-old actor once again demonstrates his love for well-done stunts… by himself. Always at the top of his form thanks to meticulous training, he leaves it to no one to hang himself in the void, to fight on a speeding train, to jump on a motorbike from a cliff (precisely to land on a train), to get into a plane in mid-flight (then to exit with a parachute a short distance from the ground), to climb buildings like the glass wall of the Burj Khalifa in Mission: Impossible 4 (which is on the podium of the best films of the saga, in our opinion), to ride a motorcycle like a madman in the streets of Paris or to jump from building to building, always in Paris, at the risk of breaking an ankle. In short, Tom Cruise does everything in Impossible mission (as in his other action films). And it obviously continues in Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning, part 1seventh feature film with agent Ethan Hunt at the helm.

Tom Cruise with his BMW and Fiat in the streets of Rome

If you have already seen the film released on July 12, there is one thing that is indisputable: you have been amazed. This allowed you to forget the soporific Indiana Jones 5 with Harrison Ford and to experience real action scenes interspersed, it is true, with slightly longer (and therefore very forgettable) moments during which the characters in the film exchange their thoughts on their lives, their memories, their regrets. In Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning, part 1, Tom Cruise is looking for a magic key. He’ll start looking for her in the big Abu Dhabi airport, relying on his cool aviator sunglasses to catch everyone’s eye. But it won’t be enough. He will soon have to go to Rome to further accomplish his mission.

Categories
Ξ TREND

In the series Bodies which is a hit on Netflix, the star car is a famous Renault which becomes ultra futuristic


The new Netflix series Bodysuits takes place over eight episodes, all breathtaking. This adaptation of the eponymous comic strip by Si Spencer is a complex and transgenerational police investigation. The story follows four police officers who discover the same body, in the same place, but several decades apart. 1890, 1941, 2023 and 2053 are the years when this mysterious victim, always the same, lost his life. But this implies that this same person has lived four lives and therefore four violent deaths throughout history. This makes no sense and yet, these investigators will try to resolve this complex case, 163 years apart, and understand the role that this mysterious corpse plays in it.

A Renault car in the casting of the Netflix series Bodysuits

In the passages of the series where the investigation takes place in London in the year 2053, Inspector Maplewood drives a very particular vehicle. This is the Scenic Vision concept car from the French car manufacturer Renault. White seats, central island dashboard, type steering wheel Yoke or even hologram displays on the windshield thanks to advanced on-board systems, this model from the future was presented for the first time in May 2022. To give it an even more futuristic appearance for the series, the Scénic Vison vehicle has underwent some modifications. Among them, a license plate in the shape of a round sensor instead of a classic plate of our time.

“For two years, the Renault brand has engaged in an ambitious product placement program highlighting our new range. Our Renault vehicles are notably in the casting of several Netflix fictions such as Lost bullet Or Lupine.” declares Stéphane Barbat, director of marketing partnerships at Renault. Indeed, a policy of highlighting electric vehicles in the world of streaming entertainment allows Renault to present several new models. The Mégane E-Tech electric, inspired by the concept car of the series, will be available from next year.

Categories
Ξ TREND

How to Change Car Camera Angle Settings in Saints Row (2022)


Saints Row is back and fans finally got their hands on the latest entry in the series. What sets this game apart from its predecessors is the fact that it is a reboot. That means it’s essentially a whole new game with hints and traces of Saints Row that everyone knows. As this is a new game, most people including fans will not be familiar with the mechanics and controls. That’s why we are going to show you how to change the car camera angle settings in Saints Row (2022).

Are there vehicle camera settings in Saints Row (2022)?

In Saints Row (2022) there is no exact functionality to change the angle of the car camera, but there are ways around this problem. Go to the options menu and select camera. In this section, you will be able to make several changes to the game’s camera, including sensitivity and aiming. You could change the camera sensitivity, but that would affect the camera as a whole, not just the vehicle camera.

Another option to change the vehicle camera in Saints Row (2022) is the accessibility menu. You can access it by going to the options menu and selecting accessibility. It’s right under the camera menu option. This section offers several options to make the game more accessible, such as difficulty, degree of camera shake, and aim assist. Under Tracking Options, you will see an option called Vehicle Camera Tracking. This option has a slider that the game says is for “Time it takes for the camera to recenter while driving.” With no sensitivity option for the vehicle camera, this is the closest thing to it.

I hope this guide was helpful to you as you traverse the city of Santo Ileso while playing Saints Row (2022). Be sure to stick around for our upcoming guides to the game.

Categories
Ξ TREND

Twitch streamer traumatized after stalker drove 1,000 km to burn her car


A streamer was the victim of a stalker who drove more than 1,000 kilometers to set her car on fire while she was on vacation. The flames from the vehicles nearly set fire to the house where his mother and her animals also live.

Once again, the Twitch streaming platform proves that it is capable of the best and the worst. Especially the worst, as shown for example by this AI-driven streamer who denied the existence of the Holocaust in full live, or even the proliferation of ___ographic deepfakes, since banned by Twitch which has taken measures. The story that interests us today is just as dark.

It was streamer Kylee Carter alias justfoxii who was the victim of one of her followers. The young woman is traumatized after this alleged stalker drove more than 1,000 kilometers to set her car on fire, creating a fire that nearly destroyed her house where her mother and animals also live.

She says in a YouTube video that she was on vacation away from home when the fire broke out. “I was sleeping, it was around two in the morning and my mother called me to wake me up“, she explains in the video, “she was crying and i knew something bad had happened“. His mother then said to him:Someone set your car on fire. The police are here.”

The fire nearly killed the mother of this Twitch streamer

The worst was avoided, as the car flames spread from the car to a nearby fence and then to the streamer’s house, in which her “mother and her animals“. Fortunately, the firefighters arrived in time to bring the situation under control. justfoxii explains that this drama has them all”traumatized in ways I could never describe“.

Shortly before the fire, security camera footage shows a masked man placing an object under the hood of the car. A local news channel reports that a 28-year-old man matching his description was taken into custody shortly after. This one would be from the State of New York, more than 1,000 kilometers from the home of the streamer and would have traveled this distance to commit his misdeed.

justfoxii has approximately 600,000 subscribers on Twitch and regularly streams games such as Fortnite and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. She is yet another victim of the hostility that strikes streamers like Amouranth, whose house was most likely burned down by criminals in 2021.

Categories
Ξ TREND

The Crew Motorfest: Turn off the engine, repair the car and lower it?

The new The Crew Motorfest was released a few days ago and, like the previous parts, the game is enjoying great popularity again. Even though most of the game functions and features in The Crew Motorfest are pretty self-explanatory, we sometimes asked ourselves various questions while playing. This included, for example, the question of whether you can lower a car and how you can repair the broken car. We also asked ourselves whether there was another way to turn off the engine and therefore the car.

Switch off engine

Even though there is no button in The Crew Motorfest that allows you to turn the car off and on again at the push of a button, you can turn off the car by changing the car. So open the menu and select the desired vehicle under the “Vehicles” section of the profile. You then sit in the car when it is switched off and you can, for example, switch to photo mode if you want to take a photo of the vehicle when it is switched off. The important thing is that the engine switches on automatically as soon as you press the accelerator.

Repair damaged car

In The Crew Motorfest there is a small damage model in which entire car parts do not fly off, but scratches and other small damage are visible after crashes. If you don’t want to drive around with a dented car or a cracked windshield, you can easily repair the car by standing in place for about 30 seconds and not pressing any buttons. As soon as the camera pans around the car start, the car is automatically repaired. At the same time, the dirty car is also washed.

Lower the car?

As in The Crew 2, there is no direct option in the tuning menu to lower the cars. In some vehicles, such as some cars from American manufacturers, you can slightly “lower” the car by installing other springs. But you shouldn’t hope for too much here, as the difference is very marginal.

The new The Crew Motorfest was released on September 11, 2023 for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series and Xbox One.

Categories
Ξ TREND

The Crew Motorfest Change vehicle: Select car, boat and plane


In the new The Crew Motorfest you once again have the choice between different vehicles. In addition to road vehicles such as cars, quads and motorcycles, there are also boats and planes, as in the predecessor. If you have just plunged into the adventure of the new The Crew Motorfest, then sooner or later the question arises: which button can you use to change the vehicle? For example, how can you switch from a car to a boat and vice versa?

Change vehicles in The Crew Motorfest

There are two ways to change vehicles in The Crew Motorfest. On the one hand, you can call up the menu and then call up the “Vehicles” via the “Profile”. The garage then opens where you can see and select all unlocked and purchased vehicles.

You can also change the vehicles in The Crew Motorfest using the quick menu, which some players may remember from its predecessor and is much faster and easier. All you have to do is press the right analog stick (PS5 and Xbox Series) or the F button (PC). This opens the quick menu and you can switch between vehicle, boat and plane without having to access the menu.

Change vehicles via the quick menu

  • PS5 and Xbox Series: Press the right analog stick and select the vehicle using the buttons displayed
  • PC: Press the F key and select the vehicle using the buttons displayed

The change is direct, so if you are flying through the air in an airplane and switch to a car or boat, then there is a small crash landing.

Categories
Ξ TREND

Need for Speed ​​2015 best car: Fastest cars at a glance


There are quite a few cars in the new Need for Speed ​​2015 from Electronic Arts. To be more precise, you have the opportunity to race across the streets in over 50 different vehicles. There are not only the well-known luxury cars like the Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 or the Ferrari F40 with a top speed worth seeing, but also some classics like the Nissan Skyline GT-R or the Ford Mustang. Even if the appearance of the cars always depends on your own taste, you can quickly find an answer to the question of the best and fastest car in Need for Speed ​​2015 thanks to the known characteristics. So which car is the fastest car in Need for Speed?

Need for Speed ​​2015: The fastest cars

If you go by the top speed alone, you’ll see well-known names like the Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 and the Lamborghini Murcielago at the top of the list. While the Aventador can reach a top speed of a whopping 350 km/h, the slightly older Murcielago can still reach 336. After that comes the Dodge Viper SRT with a top speed of 331 and then the Lamborghini Diablo, built in 1995 and a maximum speed of 328, equal to the McLaren 570S.

The price differences should not be underestimated either. While you have to shell out a whopping $192,200 for the Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4, you can get the Dodge Viper SRT for comparatively little money at $88,100.

In the following list you will find the 10 fastest cars in Need for Speed ​​2015 based on their top speed.

vehicle Maximum speed (km/h) From 0 to 100 P.S Price
Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 350 2.79 700 192,200
Lamborghini Murciélago 336 2.99 661 157,500
Dodge Viper SRT 331 3.66 640 88,100
McLaren 570S 328 3.19 562 190,000
Lamborghini Diablo 328 4.53 510 140,000
Lamborghini Huracan 326 4.13 602 178,500
Ferrari 458 Italia 325 3.33 562 129,900
Ferrari F40 325 3.86 471 198,000
Chevrolet Corvette Z06 318 3.73 505 77,300
Nissan GT-R Premium 315 4.63 545 83,700

Need for Speed ​​2015: The best cars under $50,000

If you don’t have enough money to throw around yet and are still looking for a fast car in NFS 2015, you might find what you’re looking for in the following table. There we have listed the best cars under $50,000 and sorted them based on top speed.

vehicle Maximum speed (km/h) From 0 to 100 P.S Price
Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec 249 4.79 327 49,100
Mazda RX-7 Spirit R 255 4.92 276 25,800
Dodge Challenger SRT8 283 4.98 470 27,000
BMW M3 E92 297 5.13 414 41,000
BMW M3 E46 283 5.13 338 36,300
Lotus Exige S 238 5.13 220 47,422
Subaru Impreza WRX STI 238 5.16 305 38,700
Honda NSX Type R 275 5.26 276 44,600
Nissan Skyline GR-R V-Spec 251 5.36 351 35,900
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution MR 249 5.53 291 35,900

What is your favorite car in Need for Speed ​​2015? What is the best car for drifting? With the following tips you can earn money and rep quickly.

Categories
Ξ TREND

Need for Speed ​​Payback best drift car


What is actually the best drift car in Need for Speed ​​Payback? Which car is best for drifting in NfS Payback? In every racing game, sooner or later the question arises: what is the best and fastest car in the game? In Need for Speed ​​Payback, it’s not just about top speed, because you can compete in different “disciplines”. A certain car is better suited for drifting, while it is not so well suited as a racer or off-road, while another car is better suited for a race or off-road.

Best drift car in NfS Payback

Even though there are numerous good cars for drifting in NfS Payback, there are some cars that are particularly suitable for the discipline. If you’re looking for a good drift car in Need for Speed ​​Payback, you can’t avoid the Mazda RX-7 and the Nissan Fairlady 240 ZG. The two cars are among the best drifters in Need for Speed ​​Payback. If you haven’t unlocked the vehicles yet, you should take a look at the Lamborghini Huracan. The Huracan is also well suited for drift tracks.

What do you think is the best drift car in Need for Speed ​​Payback? Feel free to share your experiences on the topic here in the comments section under this article. What is the fastest car in Need for Speedback and which car has the best top speed?

Categories
Ξ TREND

I’ve played the Pacific Drive demo for almost ten hours: this gem is the perfect definition of crazy love for a car


Surely most of you have at some point felt the so-called bus or cafeteria loves, those fleeting infatuations with people whom we will probably never see again. That’s exactly what I felt when I saw Pacific Drive for the first time during the Future Games Show in 2023. After rewatching the presentation, I gobbled up all the trailers, gameplays, and images I could find.

I’ve had almost three weeks to try out the Pacific Drive demo on Steam (PC). This is the early stages of the game and lasts 1-2 hours for anyone who gets straight to the point. There are a total of three locations dedicated to history and as many dedicated to exploration. They are small-medium sized open areas separated by fast travel.

In short, I have dedicated almost ten hours to the demo. Five or six of them playing as such and the rest trying things like disassembling all the parts of the car, falling off all the possible ravines, throwing the car down hills without a handbrake and more crazy things to test the limits of the game.

Pacific Drive: Exploration, Farming and Driving

Bluntly: I’m in love with Pacific Drive to the hilt and I can’t wait to have it in full on my PS5 to tell you all the details of this adventure. For the moment, it is enough to say that we are a young woman lost in a radioactive exclusion zone (Olympic Peninsula, USA) (STALKER or Metro) and our most powerful tool is a Buick Electra Estate Wagon (40s-60s).

It is difficult to pigeonhole Pacific Drive. Although it recalls Firewatch both in the prominence of the story and in the artistic section, it has a couple of equally important pillars: survival and simulation. I will explain as briefly as possible because the presentations do not do them justice.

  • Survival: exploration, mining and resource management, crafting all kinds of tools, parts, gadgets and consumables, skill development, upgrades… You must collect materials, upgrade the car and add upgrades to face all the problems and survive the journey through the exclusion zone.
  • Simulation: Its driving is halfway between arcade and realistic. It has very sophisticated physics and you can screw up any part of the car by being silly, from the engine itself to any of the parts of the sheet metal. Not to mention that the car has a battery (electricity) meter and that you can even suffer punctures, being able to repair the wheels with patches.

The part of the headline that says “it’s the perfect definition of crazy car love” is not an exaggeration. You can’t choose another car and the closest thing to having something unique is customizing it. Pacific Drive It puts you in the following situation: all you have is a beat-up Buick Electra Estate Wagon and you are forced to work with what you find along the way.

This means that you will spend dozens of hours restoring, improving, maintaining and driving the same car, sometimes even adapting it to different locations. After doing some research into the upgrade menus, I have come to the conclusion that the amount of parts for the car is overwhelming. We talked about how there are different tires, protections, roof racks and even specialized insulators for electricity and radiation, among others.

The message I want to convey to you is that Pacific Drive It is not a video game to consume quickly and move on to the next. Already from the demo it cries out for dedication and patience, souls capable of enjoying both the mechanical moments and driving during exploration. You don’t need to have knowledge of engines, but you must be willing to spend hours in the workshop.

It is impossible for me to tell you everything I want about the game without leaving a mile-long article. I have filled out a sheet of my notebook (two sides) with just notes, but I think what is shown is a fairly accurate summary. My goal was to make it clear that the adventure of Ironwood Studios It is deeper than it appears. I hope that the 25 minutes of gameplay will help in this task.

Now that I have clarified what I consider most important, I want to do a quick review of several relevant aspects, both positive and negative. The last few have not been very numerous, but they have been annoying.

  • The graphics and performance section They have performed perfectly at all times. It looks nice, the framerate is stable and I haven’t had any crashes.
  • I suffered a couple of bugs with the missions: They were not completed correctly or did not indicate the objective well. Some indications can be confusing. For example: the trunk door is considered a normal door. In fact, you have to make a normal door and it converts when you place it.
  • The protagonist urgently needs a flashlight, even if it has to be manufactured and powered with batteries. I have not found plans or options to turn it on in the controls. There are flares, but I don’t think they’re enough. Searching for resources indoors and at night is torture. You literally can’t see anything.
  • The subtitles couldn’t be worse placed. They are located in the upper area and are very difficult to read when you are driving. Taking into account that an accident is very expensive, they should be down by default.
  • The sound is great, it has music (radio) and the artistic section is for asking whoever designed it to marry you. The HUD and menus have a very cool retro-futuristic vibe similar to Pip-Boy from Fallout.

In conclusion: although the aspects to improve have been annoying (subtitles and flashlight especially), my first impressions on a general level are very good. I am very happy with Pacific Drive. I’m looking forward to analyzing it in its entirety and continuing to play at my own pace after its release on February 22, 2024 for PC and PS5. I recommend not losing track of it!

Categories
Ξ TREND

NfS Heat Car is on the roof: how to reset it?


How to reset the car if it is on the roof in Need for Speed ​​Heat? Anyone who has already spent an hour or two with NfS Heat and has already driven one or two races will perhaps have rolled over and found themselves with the car loaded on the roof. Occasionally you are forced off the road by the police and your car gets stuck. The question arises, how can you reset the car in NfS Heat and get it back on the road?

Need for Speed ​​Heat: Reset Car

If you have put the car on the roof in Need for Speed ​​Heat, you simply have to hold down the X button (PS4) or the A button (Xbox One) for around three seconds and continue to press the accelerator pedal. The car then automatically reverses and lands back on the road. By the way, it is important that the car is stationary. Only when the car stops moving can you reset it and turn it around again by pressing the X or A button.

In rare cases, the car is stuck so badly that even resetting it as described above doesn’t work. In order to get the car back on the road, you usually have to reload the save game. If you are currently in a race, the race will of course end prematurely and have to be repeated.

Tip: This is how you can sell a car in NfS Heat. We also show how you can unlock the new Need for Speed ​​part, the ultimate parts for the car and change the engine.

Categories
Ξ TREND

NfS Heat: Purple symbol at the car dealer?


What does the purple symbol with the star at the car dealer actually mean? If you want to buy a new car in the new Need for Speed ​​Heat, you have to go to the car dealer. The car dealer is shown on the map with a kind of hand symbol and can also be reached by fast travel. In order to unlock more cars at the car dealer, you have to collect REP points and increase the REP level. You can then use the money you earn to buy a new car. If you scroll through the car list, some players will probably notice the purple symbol or the purple star and the question arises, what does that mean?

Need for Speed ​​Heat: Purple star at the car dealer

The purple star is displayed on cars whose optical tuning cannot be adjusted at all or only to a limited extent in the garage. You can see the symbol especially on expensive cars that have been heavily modified ex works or that are special editions, such as the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Coupe or the McLAREN P1 GTR.

How much you can modify and visually tune a car can be seen not only from the purple symbol with the star, but also from the so-called tuning rating. If a car has a low tuning rating, the customization options are very limited and sometimes the car can hardly be customized except for a few parts. With a car with a high tuning rating, you can make a lot of adjustments to the car.

In addition to the purple symbol at the car dealer, many Need for Speed ​​Heat players are also wondering what the exclamation mark on the map actually means. The exclamation mark will always appear on the map during a race if the race is available for different levels with different ratings. Depending on how high the rating is, the level of difficulty also increases. At the same time, you also get more money or REP points for the races (depending on whether you race during the day or night).

Tip: These are the fastest cars in Need for Speed ​​Heat.

Categories
Ξ TREND

what this startup has achieved and why Amazon has decided to conquer the autonomous car


Amazon has bought Zoox, the company has officially announced. In total, more than 1.2 billion dollars, as described by The Information and the Financial Times. Is its largest investment in the autonomous car sector and a strategic purchase to try to save on an expense as important as the cost of delivery personnel.

After investing in Rivian and Aurora, Amazon buys this startup founded in 2014 and which was valued at up to 3,200 million dollars in 2018. A figure considerably higher than the amount that the giant Jeff Bezos would have paid.

Why has Amazon made this bet on a company that had not yet launched its autonomous vehicle service? Here’s what we know about the operation, about Zoox, and about Amazon’s plans for autonomous cars.

Who is behind Zoox and what is Amazon looking for?

At the end of May, the first details of Amazon’s interest in acquiring Zoox appeared. According to Morgan Stanley analysts, this purchase was intended to achieve savings of $ 20 billion annually, mainly related to the salary of parcel delivery transport drivers.

“Autonomous technology is a natural extension of Amazon’s efforts to build its own third-party logistics network,” the analysts noted. According to FT one of the sources close to the operation, Amazon plans to work with Zoox to create a fleet of autonomous vehicles and rival Waymo and Google. From the point of view of some analysts, Amazon’s plan would be closer to integrating Zoox’s technology into its delivery service.

The move is close to that made this year by Intel with the purchase of Moovit for $ 900 million, but the development and implementation of autonomous vehicles is not being easy. In addition to the many challenges associated with this technology, the coronavirus crisis has further delayed its arrival. In April of this 2020, Zoox laid off close to 100 employees, out of the more than 1,000 employees it currently has.

Buying Zoox is Amazon’s second largest purchase since 2009, when it bought Zappos and only behind the Whole Foods acquisition in 2017. Aicha Evans, CEO of Zoox and Jesse Levinson, CTO of Zoox, will remain with the company after the operation. Zoox will continue to operate independently, similar to what happens with Twitch.

“We have come a long way with our specially designed approach to safe and autonomous mobility, we now have an even greater opportunity to achieve a fully autonomous future,” Aicha Evans explained in the statement.

An ambitious startup pitted against Tesla

Zoox has its own software for its autonomous vehicles. They have been testing it for a long time in real environments and on different prototypes. Zoox expected to manufacture its first own model this 2020 and in October of last year it began its expansion to Las Vegas.

In March 2019, the litigation between Tesla and Zoox. Elon Musk’s company accused four former employees of having “leaked with Tesla-owned documents that they found useful to their new company” in order to “help Zoox do without all the years of work required to develop and run their own. warehousing, logistics and inventory control operations “. In April of this year, Zoox admitted possession of those documents and agreed to pay Tesla a certain amount of money as compensation.

Zoox is one of the autonomous driving startups whose plans are more ambitious. The company does not focus solely on software, but his plans went through the construction of the entire vehicle to later operate their own autonomous taxi service. Similar to what Cruise Origin intends.

In a video published by the company, a Toyota Highlander can be seen driving through the streets of San Francisco. The video shows the vehicle crossing intersections and continuing through tunnels without the use of GPS. Its autonomous driving is based on a 360º vision system composed of 18 cameras, 10 radars and 8 LIDARs.

Amazon has been experimenting to date with the delivery of warehouse drones and robots, this acquisition marking a turning point in Amazon’s bid for autonomous vehicles. We will have to wait and see if they decide to turn it into their own car service and rival Waymo or if they take advantage of all the technology of Zoox to improve the automation of shipments. Because if there is a company interested in saving costs in transport, that is Amazon.

More information | Amazon

Categories
Ξ TREND

Social Media for Car Dealers: How to Market Like a Pro


A few years ago, researching a car online meant visiting the dealer’s website to get information before buying. That has changed. Dealers now follow potential buyers to their favorite platforms–where they like to hang out–to market to them. According to statistics, global internet users spend 144 minutes on social media every day.

Considering that more than half of the global population uses social media, targeting car buyers on these platforms makes perfect sense for any dealership. Here are four tips on how to market your car dealership on social media like a pro.

Encourage and Respond to User Reviews

Nothing works magic in dealership marketing like positive testimonials. According to one report, more than 90% of car buyers read online reviews before visiting a dealership. Social media is a great place to encourage and monitor reviews. Customers can talk to you directly about their experience and get instant feedback. You can also offer timely responses to complaints by unhappy customers.

On social media, you can generate new reviews and control conversations. You can also import and post other positive reviews from websites to your social media pages and get more leads. Just ensure that as you encourage customers to share reviews on your social media pages, you also take time to read and respond to their concerns.

Post Fresh Web Content

Social media marketing is more effective when used alongside other strategies. One of these strategies is content marketing. You can start an informational blog on your website about different topics, such as what to look for when buying used cars. This is a clever way to draw potential customers to your website to read content by your car dealership. Whenever you have a new article on your website, you can post its link on your social media platforms.

Use Multiple Platforms

Different people have their favourite social media platforms where they spend most of their time. Confining your social media marketing strategies to one platform will only limit your reach. Advertise on multiple social media platforms to reach people of different demographics.

For instance, Instagram is the perfect platform to target millennials and Gen Zers. Young people are more fascinated with pictures and videos and are more likely to get their news from such platforms. Starting a YouTube channel for car maintenance and simple repair tutorials is another great idea. But it’s worth mentioning that content that may work for one social media platform may not work on another.

Create Compelling Videos

Videos draw attention and make people feel more connected. People will easily scroll past a text-based post but pause to watch a video. Include short but quality videos in your social media posts to encourage clicks. It could be a short Facebook ad for a new vehicle or direct advertising.

You can create an educational video with interesting information about car features or even give your customers a behind-the-scenes tour of your dealership. The more people see your videos, the more they’ll feel connected to your brand.

Categories
Ξ TREND

Yes, it is possible to install CarPlay on an Android tablet for use in the car

CarPlay is the system that Apple has created to use the iPhone in the car, it is a kind of special interface to use the iPhone in a much simpler way so much to control the music, as to see the applications of maps or, even, it will send messages without problems.

To to use CarPlay in your car you need a compatible deviceAlmost all current cars have this option, but if your car is more than 2 or 3 years old, it is more than likely that you will not have this option at your disposal. For this reason, this option that we bring you today can be very interesting and cheaper than others on the market.

With a small accessory you can turn any Android tablet into a CarPlay compatible display, so if you can place a small tablet in your car, you can have CarPlay very easily, we will tell you how.

Use an Android tablet as a CarPlay device

In this little tutorial we are going to tell you everything you need to create your own CarPlay screen to ride in your car without having to spend all it costs to install a new infotainment system in your car.

What do we need

The first thing we need, obviously, is an Android device, in principle it works with both tablets and smartphones or even with car screens with Android as the operating system. Therefore if you do not have one of these devices you will need one. Our recommendation is a small tablet no more than 8 inches and Amazon options are the best possible:

Amazon Fire 7 | 69.99 euros Amazon Fire HD 8 | 99.99 euros

Next we need an accessory that activate, so to speak, CarPlay on this device, it is also compatible with Android Auto. These accessories connect via USB to the tablet and, after install an app on the device, make it a CarPlay compatible display. There are many accessories of this type, we share with you one that, according to the opinions, works very well, it has different prices depending on the store where you buy it.

Carlinkit (Amazon) | 92.99 euros Carlinkit (AliExpress) | 29.85 euros

In addition to this, it is recommended that you buy a cable with micro USB to USB adapter that also allows charging the tablet constantly. And you will also need a accessory to place the tablet correctly in your car, the two options that we recommend here below are cheap and of quality.

Micro USB OTG | 7.99 euros Magnetic holder

How this system works

Once we have everything you must download the application that indicates the Carlinkit accessory on the Android tablet, then you just have to connect it to the tablet and connect your iPhone. In principle, this accessory allows you to use CarPlay both by cable and wirelessly.

The procedure is quite simple and fast once you have everything you need and this application installed. It is an interesting option for have CarPlay for less money than a new display radio system would cost compatible, also if you have an old Android tablet at home it will be even cheaper.

Categories
Ξ TREND

Avtotor showed the first prototype of the Russian electric car Amber


The Avtotor company published a photo of its first prototype of the Amber electric car, which was created on the basis of parts from Lada Vesta. The photo is available in the “Autostream” telegram channel.

The prototype has a two-door body with an unusual design of the front end and running boards. However, the production version of Amber, as the creators say, will look different.

The prototype is currently being used to test the platform and units that will be installed on production electric cars. Details about the technical characteristics of Amber are not yet known, but it was reported that it will have a frame-panel design and Russian-made power electronics.

Avtotor, together with Rosatom, is also building a plant for the production of batteries for electric cars, which will be able to produce up to 60 thousand batteries per year.

Serial production of Amber will begin in 2025 in Kaliningrad. The plant plans to produce 50 thousand electric cars per year. Amber will have several modifications for different purposes, including for youth and people with disabilities.

In addition, Amber will have the ability to install traditional internal combustion engines.

Categories
Ξ TREND

Android Auto sounds bad: four tricks to improve the sound quality between your phone and the car


If when you go on a trip you always play your favorite music or podcasts on your Android Auto to liven up the journey and you are not satisfied with the sound quality, or even you do not hear the calls or the assistant’s instructions well, we have good and bad news for you: the bad news is that Google’s infotainment system does not have a tool to improve the audio, but Yes, there are effective solutions so that you can hear Android Auto and the sound that comes from there better..

Android Auto sounds bad. If we analyze in depth the reason for low quality sound or that it does not meet our expectations with the Google infotainment system, we will see that the critical points (leaving aside, of course, the sound system in your car with its respective limitations or possible problems) are in the connection between mobile phone and car, the sound quality of the file or the source configuration, in this case, our Android phone.

Thus, if the mobile phone and the console are connected via Bluetooth, then we face challenges such as interference or compression inherent to the technology to optimize transmission and energy consumption. Likewise, we cannot expect the same quality from a track with high-resolution sound as from a lightweight file that we have downloaded in. Finally, parameters such as volume, balance, equalization or even the sound mode configured in the application from which we play on the mobile affect the final result through the car.

I want to improve my sound experience with Android Auto

Of the possible causes why our sound experience with Android Auto can clearly be improved, some solutions can already be anticipated.

  • Better wired than Bluetooth. Wireless connections are exposed to problems such as drops, problems, delays, inferior data transfers… which with the cable you minimize the probability of happening or directly avoid. Transmitting with cable it is possible for the system to receive sound without loss or compression, which translates into sound with more sharpness and clarity.
  • With downloaded music there is less risk. In the same way that offline maps are insurance for areas without coverage, if you download the podcasts or albums that interest you to your mobile before starting your trip, you can choose the best quality for the process and enjoy it later. Otherwise, you are exposed to optimizing the use of mobile networks and the coverage.
  • Spend time setting up the playback app. It is worth investing some time in trying the different options offered by both players (if you have the music downloaded to the device) and streaming services that also allow it, such as Spotify or Amazon Music, for example the volume, the equalizer , sound effects, modes. So, if, for example, you use Spotify without downloading music, you can adjust the audio quality to the most ambitious (although you will use more data).

  • Beware of Dolby Atmos. Your phone may support Dolby Atmos, a technology that offers a more immersive and immersive experience. Bad news: Android Auto is not and that can result in some distortion or losses. So when you play music from your cell phone so that it plays in the car, it is better to deactivate it.

Categories
Ξ TREND

Cyberpunk car 2077 appears in Forza Horizon 4


The futuristic Cyberpunk 2077 Night City is packed with spectacular cars and is so sensational that it cannot be limited to one game.

If you are excited about Cyberpunk 2077 cars, you might be interested in going to Forza Horizon 4, which has just received Quadra, one of the main vehicles in the CD Projekt RED game.

Through Reddit, acreamymeme shared that he spotted the 2058 Quadra in Forza Horizon 4, which is currently celebrating the recent Super 7 update, as initially advanced by (Destructoid).

Playground Games suggested new features for the Game Awards and the arrival of a Cyberpunk 2077 car package at Forza Horizon 4 was one of the strong possibilities, but it looks like one of the cars was seen ahead of time.

Through the new Super 7 mode, you can use the Quadra and bring some Night City to that game.

Categories
Ξ TREND

Rumor: Codemasters’ new WRC game lets you build your own car


In recent years, Kylotonn Racing with publisher Nacon has provided us with official rally games, but that will change next year. Codemasters has the license back and that means we can expect a new official WRC game from them.

The game hasn’t been announced yet, so we don’t have any official details yet. Unless we can assume new information from insider Tom Henderson. He writes in a new message Insider Gaming that the new game has a unique feature: the ability to build your own car.

As a player you can build your car from the ground up, choosing which parts of which brands you want to use. This would be very in-depth, similar to the video below. This would also have an in-game currency tied to it, which must equate to a long in-game grind.

As soon as you build a car, you will have the opportunity to test drive your build before actually purchasing specific parts. You will also be able to design your car in terms of livery from A to Z to your own taste.

Categories
Ξ TREND

This BMW is not a car, it is an official PS2 (and you need a key to start it)


When we talk about collector’s items that are worth their weight in gold, we usually always turn to games from decades ago with pixels like cathedrals or retro machines with very limited runs in which the condition of the box is almost always key. In the case of this ps2It is neither retro nor does it have a box.

Although retro would admit debate because we are talking about a piece with almost 20 years behind it, the key here is that we are facing a ps2 only. Such a rare version of the legendary black console from sony that there is only one in the whole world and nobody knows where the hell it is.

The BMW M3 that is a PS2

If we reviewed its characteristics like the one that makes an article on a motor page, this ps2 based on the characteristic BMW E46 M3 GTR It gives for a much more extensive review than it might seem at first glance. By boat soon it only seems like a ps2 with a car shell on top, right?

Well not exactly. With the hood serving as protection for the CD player, the rest of the machine is integrated by means of special connectors for two controls, under the car, and two rear ports for power and TV connection that simulate the vehicle’s exhaust pipes.

In addition to the two controllers, also personalized, a copy of the Need for Speed ​​Most Wanted game, and the mythical DVD controller that Sony launched to remind our parents that what they were buying was not just a console, the special edition also had lights for the underbody and headlights. The tuning fashion got a little out of hand around that time.

The icing on the cake are two keys bmw that were used for actions such as turning on the console or opening the hood to insert the CD, which ended up giving an even more spectacular touch to this very strange edition.

The most epic PS2 mod ever made

Completely forgotten for almost two decades, it recently made noise again when the page of the project that had resulted in this curious console was found. There is only one in the world, and the lucky one who got it through a contest at the Leipzig Games Convention in 2006 is unknown.

Two years before Cologne took over the German video game fair and changed its name to gamescomEA commissioned a group of modders to create a special PS2 based on the well-known car game.

Released just a year earlier, Need for Speed ​​Most Wanted It was the game that jumped the shark in the EA franchise, after reaching that summit supported by the success of the Need for Speed: Underground that had preceded it, never again generated so much noise.

If one day you meet one ps2 that looks like a bmwdo not hesitate to try to get it at all costs, because despite looking like a toy from a store with everything at 1 euro from the outside, you are actually facing one of the most special consoles in the history of video games.