Gadgetory

North American International Auto Show what was hot in a very cold Detroit's and we'll take a look back at CES the new Auto Show plus another reason to feel smug in your SUV time to check the temp you see cars differently under the hood but also check the tech and are known for telling it like it is ugly is included at no extra cost the good the bad the bottom line this is CNN on cars welcome to see net on cars the show all about high-tech cars and modern drivers I'm Brian Cooley coming to you this time from the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this is the big boy the biggest most important Auto Show in the US all year than one of the big two or three globally all year so a lot going on here people ask me what's the most important car you saw that's an extremely tough choice to make but if I had to pick it on layers of innovative technology I think I might give the nod to the Audi q7 why these q7 sure has changed so occupies the same basic slot in the market but it prints differently looking it now it doesn't really so much say crossover or a large SUV as it does say station wagon the change the proportions around as they've stacked the body modules the volumes now are lower longer and more of that wagon look now the technology underneath and inside the cabin is also very different look at the instrument panel you've now got a 12-inch irregularly shaped TFT LCD IP that's not that rare anymore as of this Detroit everyone's going LCD - you've also got the large center console screen and then look that they've done with that handwriting or finger recognition pad he used to be a small pad on top of a knob now it's flowing a large area in front of the nmi controller they really interesting story here's they're doing with the power train as well one of the options will be a plug-in diesel hybrid combine that efficiency with the fact that they've shaved over 700 pounds on this car through the use of more advanced materials as well as sculpted Aerodyne and they're saying a 25% bump in mpeg-4 what is not a small car outer on the back they've also used those Reaper portion to body elements to bring it down for a lower load floor they've got a gesture controlled automatic tailgate that's also a big trend in the world of utility vehicles some interesting cabin Tech works the option of some tablets in the second row you might say okay watching movies that's nothing new but this one has entertainment and nav on those tablets that can also tie into the front so finally your backseat driver can do something more than just drive you nuts they can actually help hopefully in a meaningful way and what's app maybe showing up as part of the MMI application stack for messaging that now moves in carmakers beyond SMS and calling people who buy SUVs have typically always thought they were in the safest seat on the road but that wasn't always the case however now things have changed see who has the last laugh when seen that on cars continues some years ago people were misguided in believing their SUV was safer than a car since a lot of them were not unstable by comparison but now thanks to improvements in and ubiquity of advanced Stability control something interesting has happened SUVs are now clearly among the safest vehicles by several measures the IIHS actually finds it from 2006 to 2009 there were only seven models of vehicles that had zero driver fatalities per million vehicles registered a year four of those seven or SUV the most of any vehicle class and generally across all measures of driver deft IIHS finds that SUVs are twice as safe for the driver than being in the average car it pays to double check the SUV your driving has stability control of course and know the new realities of the safest kind welcome back to see net on cars I'm Brian Cooley still here at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit let me take you on a lightning round a really fast loop around the hall to show you about a handful of car makers I think that are doing interesting things let's go Mercedes launched their g le coupe which for all the world looks like a baby BMW x6 they'll go all the way up to a 577 horsepower twin turbo v8 AMG version but for most people maybe the 350 d diesel makes a little more sense and around April or so we'll get a more conventional non coupe version of this same vehicle without the rakish roofline but in either case gles now replace the old ML and they'll be hitting the streets summer of 2015 board was all about performance at Detroit this year the shelby gt350r elevates the new mustang to its most track sharp level it's got a 5.2 liter v8 but no turbos no superchargers still gets around 500 horse and about 400 pound-feet of torque and uses something called a flat plane crank shaft real performance tech that along with very exotic carbon fiber wheels and no air conditioning or radio unless you insist make this a very rarefied beast and the new Ford GT stole the show in many ways it's the latest version of Ford's classic 1960s race car and it's really got some serious power 600 horsepower from just a 3.5 liter EcoBoost engine in the middle is a carbon fiber tub with aluminum sub frames around it an active pushrod suspension it's basically a race car you can register the new Chevy Volt revises the look of that car for the first time and it's substantially cleaner and more subtle it's now up to 50 miles of range in pure evie mode and volt buyers really pay attention to that that's a gain of around a dozen miles before it kicks into a hybrid mode and it can seat five finally thanks to the fact that the battery hump in the back seat is now submerged and just to make for some fanatic fun Chevy also sholde a new concept called the bolt it's their pure electric car project with 200 miles of range and a look and color than a rather reminiscent of a BMW i3 they say you'll be able to get one for about $30,000 after government credits but the bigger cloud over its horizon is the specter of continued really cheap gas this Buick Evanier concept was vying for what may be the best-looking shape on the floor this year now it's all styling exercise but you can see they've really pulled in a Buick Classic that line across the top side of the body it's a Buick spear if you will I don't know if this is gonna come to market in any shape remotely like this but I can hope and Buick hasn't sold a convertible since the Reata went away in 1991 but that's about to change here is a reworked version of a European GM car that's gonna be called the cascada here convertibles tend to do well in rising economic times and this one's tidy and trim so should be relatively economical on both purchase and operation but a quick look at the rear seat and trunk space may make it a bit of a tough sell or at least a second car and the Acura NSX wasn't literally new at Detroit but to see it in final production trim was this is it still mid-engine like the original but now with three electric motors tossed in one between the engine and the trans axle in the back and another pair detailed to run the front wheels for wickedly fast and intuitive all-wheel drive they say custom orders will start in the summer around 150,000 dollars and you may be lucky enough to see one pull up to you next to a stoplight by fall of 2015 in a moment we leave Detroit for much warmer climes and more car tech went CNET on cars returned we seen a lot of technology here at the North American International Auto Show but there's another Auto Show that kicks off the year each January CES the Consumer Electronics Show we had 10 of these same car makers there and a handful of them impressed me what they were doing VW's had some pretty ghastly cabin Tech over the years but they're trying to fix that now here's a giant mock-up of what's in that the VW Golf R Touch notice at the top is about a twelve point eight inch master screen with most of your information display below it would be about an 8 inch touch panel we're mostly virtual controls we'll go this is not unlike what Honda and Acura do with two screens one larger one smaller but a very different flavor and this lower panel by the way is indicative of how VW is trying to move to get rid of all switches and rotary knobs in the car those physical tactile controls from the old days if you will it's debatable whether an all touch interface is better worse just a lateral perhaps from the traditional knobs and switches also here and related to this we're looking for who's going to install carplay Android auto and mirror length mirror links more of a dark horse but Volkswagen here talking about moving forward with mirror link which not a lot of other car makers are doing then addition to all those touchscreen innovations that VW is showing is also a new idea of controlling interface not by touch but by gesture this has been tried on the auto industry a couple times we've seen it here at CES before it keeps getting better and we're getting to the point where it seems to be nuanced enough look how this works there's a sensor here right behind the gearshift that will pick up my hand the home position to go into gesture mode is to hold your hand there open and it'll recognize open fingers and then you've just got five simple gestures not a lot of complicated things you're not going to do typing of text in the air or anything you have a left a right you can push down you can select with your finger like you might imagine clicking on a mouse now this is not replacing all the gestures in a car it's primarily for the more coarse ones and the ones that are very commonly used volume change climate change zoom in and out of a map or go back and forth in a menu to select something on his own now this is not set for production any time soon but we're starting to see how Volkswagen is starting to really think differently about how they do their interface you may recall that when GM first brought out built-in 4G through OnStar I was kind of disappointed it was mostly a hot spot in your car service but I don't find that interesting now it's getting more interesting unique custom built in services in the car powered by 4G in this case here's one called OnStar at your service based on where you are or where your programs should go in the nav rig they're gonna come up with offers that supposedly are gonna be smart based on where you're going and also based on your interests they're playing my tune they're showing a demo here of Dunkin Donuts coupons popping up I'm in they would also work with RetailMeNot the big online coupon discount site to bring those offers in based on where you are and where you're going you could also book a hotel at the last minute while you're driving along through Priceline so in that case you do get an operator involved now the Devils in the details of course how well this is elegantly executed how well it's customized to what I'm really doing and not just nagging me we'll see when this hits the market how well they've worked those nuances let me also show you how they want to use 4G to make you a better driver this one's called smart driver assessment what this does is utilize the 4G connection in the car to harvest all kinds of data points about how you drive and do so for a long time 90 days is the snapshot they take that's not even a snapshot that's a big look that is cloud service processed by OnStar and after 90 full days of you allowing the service to see how you drive then they send you a report they email it to you as well as giving you tips along the way through the vehicles interface how you could drive better it could be braking steering accelerator behavior the way you travel at a certain speed in certain zone that's one part then if you agree to and only your permission they can upload that to at this point one insurance company to qualify you for an insurance discount now this is getting into the area of pay as you drive or usage based insurance you don't need a 4G connection for that a lot of the insurance companies will give you a little wireless dongle that goes into your obd2 port but this is making it more integrated into the vehicle and using the 4G to a cloud service to really crunch a lot of data about how you drive not just some nuggets consumers were weary of pay as you drive a few years ago but the trends have been getting pretty healthy a lot of folks say you know what if I get a meaningful discount I'm willing to let it happen now let's talk about something interesting on carplay and android auto now here at Hyundai they're doing something a little different as they roll out toward getting it in showrooms with most car makers you buy a car that already has nabbed an elaborate media and all of that and then you add car player Android auto to it and you've got some duplication you feel like maybe you're paying for more than you need Hyundai's got an interesting strategy they've announced here starting in their 16 model year cars they're gonna have this fairly basic display audio system here they're trying to thin it down and bring the cost down if you don't have a phone plugged in it's pretty basic AM FM bluetooth streaming and calling and that's really the all the bells and whistles but then when you plug in your smartphone Android or iOS it pulls up car player Android auto and brings in all that incredible richness you didn't buy it two or three times those functions are only coming from your phone so you're really leveraging the services and connections of your phone in a less duplicate of way and not redundant with what the car maker has in there as well it's not a very efficient and elegance this allows them to move it to a lower price point they think is going to apply to 60 plus percent of their sales volume in the 16 model year we gotta wait a little while for this one in the meantime by mid 2015 Hyundai will roll out carplay and android auto but stacked on top of head units that already have their nav and apps now here at CES Tim Stevens and I just hosted a really good next big thing panel on virtual and augmented reality and one of the areas where I'm most excited about AR augmented reality is coming up in cars especially in these head-up displays that are getting very popular this one doesn't just show you information statically on the windshield or through the windshield it puts it in context on the road let me tell you what I'm seeing here there's a warning about a car that just crossed my path and the warning followed the car as I go along now I'm getting indication about lane drift and it's putting a colored line right on the lane where I'm drifting there's a traffic signal right in front of me perhaps I didn't look up and see the traffic signal it's put it right in front of me so I don't miss the red lights and here comes a car cutting me off rat bastard and the vehicle showed me the corner of the car to really emphasize that's where the impact point might be coming here is a navigation prompt showing me one exit to take and it's kind of like that fidelity advertisement it's putting in this case a blue line on the road none of this is coming to production tomorrow this is pretty elaborate stuff in terms of projection technology and of course making sure the data is right so it's not giving you any false cues that matters when you're on the road but I'm glad to see a are coming to cars I can barely think of a place where it matters more BMW showed new ways to use laser headlights aside from reaching 1,800 feet they can elaborately beam shape so you can stay on high beam while making cutouts in the projection to avoid oncoming drivers these lights can work with the nav system to spill light out where the car is going next even before the wheel turns they can work with the driver assist cameras to call out pedestrians and animals on the side of the road by lighting them and BMW show tail lights that use OLED technology for extreme flexibility of the light itself but also flexibility in the pattern by which it illuminates even if this tech were ready today though u.s. regulations lagged far behind it in terms of approval hope you enjoy this special edition of seen that on cars thanks for watching if you know someone who would like this show and maybe isn't watching why don't you let them know send them over to seen that on cars.com we'd appreciate it I'll see you next time we check the tack you