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Starting in 2020, it’s going to be much easier to buy an EV
For the first time ever, buying an electric or hybrid car from most of the big automakers is a viable option. But these electrified vehicles are still a small part of the entire automotive world. At the Frankfurt auto show in Germany, many car companies either finally pledged or reiterated earlier promises to increase the number of electrified cars to their lineups by 2030.
Jaguar plans a production EV racing series for 2018
To date, watching a full-fledged EV racing series has meant watching custom-built Formula E race cars. They're great to watch, but not exactly reflective of what you can drive on the road. Jaguar aims to fix that. It's launching the first production-based electric vehicle race series, the I-Pace eTrophy, as a support series for Formula E in late 2018. It'll run on the same tracks as Formula E, but it'll rely on (what else?) a track-optimized version of the upcoming I-Pace SUV. Up to 20 drivers will take part in each race in an "arrive and drive" package -- they'll need an international racing license, but Jaguar and the FIA will take care of vehicles and support.
All Jaguars will have electric drivetrains in 2020
The electric car is the future. While sales of EVs are still dwarfed by traditional gas-powered vehicles, automakers are moving forward with plans to inject electric drivetrain elements into their product lines. The latest is Jaguar, which announced today that starting in 2020, all of its new cars will either be some type of hybrid or EV. To mark the occasion, the company unveiled two concept vehicles. One that looks to the past and another that's pegged on the future.
Jaguar's steering wheel of the future revolves around AI
The steering wheel as we know it doesn't have a bright future -- in fact, it might disappear altogether as self-driving cars hit the road. Jaguar Land Rover, however, has an idea as to how it might survive. The British automaker has unveiled a concept steering wheel, Sayer, that's designed for an era where cars normally drive themselves and personal ownership is a thing of the past. The wheel would have its own AI system, and would follow you from car to car -- you'd just hook it in to bring your experience with you.
Mercedes-Benz will join Formula E in 2019
Last October, Mercedes-Benz announced that it had reserved a spot in the Formula E racing championship for the 2018/19 season and today it revealed that it would officially be entering the competition during the 2019/20 season. To do so, the automaker will be leaving another competition, the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM), in order to focus on Formula E. In the 18 years it has competed in the DTM, Mercedes-Benz has won a slew of drivers', team and manufacturer titles. "Our years in the DTM will always be held high as a major chapter in the motorsport history of Mercedes," said head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport Toto Wolff in a statement.
Lyft teams up with Jaguar to test autonomous cars
There's a lot of reasons for the folks at Lyft to be happy, and not all of them involve schadenfreude about what's going down across the street. The ride-sharing company recently scored a further $600 million in investment, $25 million of which came from Jaguar Land Rover. But it wasn't just cash that the automaker is supplying: it's also handing over a fleet of vehicles to help the pair test autonomous vehicles.
Jaguar follows Chevy with unlimited LTE for your car
In-car WiFi is only worth having if you've got enough mobile data to make use of it. Following Chevy's lead, Jaguar Land Rover will offer a pre-paid, unlimited AT&T data plan for $20 a month. The luxury automaker says that you can connect as many as eight devices to the LTE network via the InControl feature on certain models, including the Jaguar XE. If that car sounds familiar, that's because it's one of the few that you can make in-car, cashless gas payments from. Would you pony up for the mobile data service? Let us know in the comments.
Jaguar and Shell partner for in-car fuel payments
Luxury automaker Jaguar Land Rover has partnered with Shell to make fueling up a touch more convenient. That's because everyone who owns a vehicle equipped with the company's InControl Apps will be able to pay for gas without ever leaving the driver's seat. All you need is the Shell mobile app, either a PayPal or Apple Pay account and at least $40,000 for one of the supported cars and you too can take advantage of the new feature.
Formula E drivers battled simulator pros in a million-dollar e-race
With $1 million on the line, cheering crowds and drivers from the likes of McLaren and Ferrari, the inaugural Visa Vegas e-race did a good job of conveying at least some of the spectacle of a physical motor rally. Held on the final day of CES 2017, the competition saw 30 competitors take to the tracks in a race that was streamed on Twitch, with a live audience numbering in the hundreds. The spectators, a mix of fans and corporate sponsors, cheered, winced and applauded the challengers, which included 20 professional Formula E racers and the world's 10 best simulator drivers.
A new supersonic jet, and more in the week that was
Tesla currently makes the world's best electric vehicles, but Jaguar's first EV could give the automaker a run for its money. Meet the I-Pace: a svelte, stylish electric SUV that's faster than most sports cars and can drive 220 miles on a single charge. In other auto news, a new law requires all electric vehicles to make noise by the year 2019, and VW's new e-Golf can drive further than the Nissan Leaf at 124 miles per charge. Long-haul flights are the worst, but a new supersonic jet called the Boom could cut them in half. And Noordung launched a stylish vintage-inspired e-bike with a built-in sound system.
The slow evolution of the tech-centric LA Auto Show
The LA Auto Show billed itself as the place where established automakers and enthusiastic startups would come together to show off the latest technological achievements in the world of cars. It even rebranded as "AutoMobility," combining the traditional show and connected car event into one.
Jaguar introduces its first electric concept car
A world where the majority of vehicles on the road are electric is pretty much inevitable at this point. With that in mind, British luxury automaker Jaguar unveiled its first battery-powered vehicle at the LA Auto Show today. But it's not the coupe or touring car you would expect -- instead the I-Pace concept is based on the company's F-Pace SUV line.
Jaguar Land Rover plans semi-autonomous car tests on UK roads
Fresh off of the announcement of its plan to take self-driving cars off paved roads, Jaguar Land Rover revealed that it's preparing to test autonomous and semi-autonomous tech, or what the company calls Connected and Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) technologies, on roads in the UK. First, the automaker is planning to amass a fleet of over 100 test vehicles over the next four years, the first of which will cruise a 41-mile test course around Coventry and Solihull this year. The company says the first stage of testing will involve semi-autonomous technology that allows cars to communicate with each other and with infrastructure like signs, traffic lights and more.
Jaguar Land Rover aims for self-driving cars on any terrain
As quickly as self-driving car technology is improving, it's still near-useless off-road. What good is an autonomous SUV if it can't drive to your camping site? Jaguar Land Rover hopes to fix that. It's showing off research into all-terrain self-driving tech that would adapt to different surfaces. A mix of cameras, lidar, radar and ultrasonic sound would give vehicles a sense of what they're driving on, and adapt accordingly -- say, going slow and steady on a dirt road. They would plot 3D paths that account for not just the ground, but low-hanging tree branches and other obstacles that could wreck your ride. You might not risk getting stuck in the mud simply because you didn't know how to tackle a challenging ravine.
Land Rover puts Tile's stuff-finding Bluetooth tech in an SUV
Tile's Bluetooth-connected trackers are made to keep you from misplacing all kinds of stuff -- keys, bags, phones, laptops, whatever. Now Land Rover is building the tech into a vehicle that makes it pretty much impossible to leave your important items behind. In the 2017 Discovery Sport Tile will be a part of its InControl apps setup, ready to alert the driver if tagged items aren't in the car. Maybe you've never shown up to the airport one bag short, but for the rest of us, it's one way to avoid an awkward situation.
Jaguar returns to racing with its first all-electric car
Jaguar hasn't been involved with motorsports since it offloaded its Formula 1 team to Red Bull, but it's about to come back in a big, big way. The automaker has announced that it's working on an all-electric car (its first) that will compete in Formula E's third season, which kicks off in fall 2016. Jaguar is saying precious little about what that racer will be capable of, but the entry is possible because the beleaguered Trulli team is backing out of the league, leaving room for a new entrant.
Jaguar adapts NASA tech to monitor brainwaves and avoid accidents
If you're wondering how many projects Jaguar Land Rover's developing in addition to its pothole and cyclist alerts, the answer is "quite a few." In fact, the company has revealed that it's working on several technologies, which can monitor your condition to prevent accidents, collectively called "Sixth Sense." The most intriguing one in the list is "Mind Sense," which was derived from a NASA tech used to enhanced a pilot's concentration skills. Mind Sense aims to read your brain waves (amplified and filtered by software) using sensors embedded in the steering wheel. An on-board computer will then assess whether you're alert enough to commandeer a vehicle weighing thousands of pounds. The steering wheel could be programmed to vibrate or the computer could issue a warning sound, in case you're daydreaming or starting to fall asleep.
Jaguar Land Rover's latest project uses in-car alerts to protect cyclists
Jaguar Land Rover has done quite a bit of work in automotive safety with its Virtual Windscreen project, but now, the company is looking to protect cyclists. Bike Sense, the automaker's newest R&D concept, uses a series of in-car alerts to warn the driver of an approaching cyclist or motorcyclist. Sensors on the outside of the car detect the biker's movement, and when they get close, a bicycle bell or motorcycle horn blasts from the speaker closest to their location. When someone is coming up from behind, an air cushion inside the seat "taps" the driver on the shoulder on the appropriate side. There's also a collection of LED lights on the window sills that change from yellow to red when the bike approaches, and their movement shows the path that person is going to take.
Jaguar's smart windshield will eliminate blind spots
It's hard to spot every possible road hazard. Mirrors and cameras will show what's behind you, but your car's roof pillars can still hide careless pedestrians and aggressive drivers. They won't be issues if Jaguar's 360-degree Virtual Urban Windscreen comes to fruition. The update to the company's windshield project uses cameras to create "transparent" pillars which highlight threats you can't see, giving you an extra moment to take evasive action. It promises distraction-free navigation, too -- the screen generates a ghost car that shows you where to turn, as if you're simply following a friend. The technology is still in mid-development and probably won't be as sleek as Jaguar's concept video suggests, but it hints at a future where you're rarely caught off-guard while driving.
Jaguar Land Rover's infotainment system adds voice control
When Jaguar Land Rover's InControl system becomes available throughout the brand's full lineup in 2016 (currently only 2015 Jaguar F-TYPE and Land Rover's have it), it'll be equipped with its latest feature: voice control. The British company has just launched a voice command program called justDrive (developed by Silicon Valley startup CloudCar) that drivers can use for hands-free access of InControl apps (like Spotify, Yelp and Twitter). It can also be used to text or call contacts, or even to send them the user's location on a map using natural language. Despite being designed for vehicles, justDrive is actually a smartphone app -- one simply has to connect that phone to the infotainment system via Bluetooth and USB every time s/he wants to use voice control. After connecting the phone, the dash will show a simple interface with large short-cut buttons (check out CNET's hands-on experience to understand what we're saying) to minimize distraction while driving.
