Ford sync, Kia UVO,Is it only micorsoft way ?

Recent head lines where Ford sync and Kia UVO. Microsoft finds its way to cars but not saying its name. I was looking on old joke



MICROSOFT SHOULD MAKE CARS, GM SHOULD MAKE SOFTWARE

At a recent computer expo, Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated: "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving twenty-five dollar cars that got 1000 miles to the gallon." In response to Bill's comments/General Motors issued a press release stating the following: "If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally, your car would die on the freeway for no reason, and you would accept this, restart, and drive on.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart;
in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Only one person at a time could use the car, unless you bought 'Car95' or 'CarNT.' Then you would have to buy
more seats.

6. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was more reliable, five times as fast, and twice as easy to drive, but would only run on five percent of the roads.

7. The oil, water, temperature and alternator warning lights would be replaced by a single 'general car fault' warning light.

8. New seats would force everyone to have the same butt size.

9. The airbag system would say 'Are you sure?' before going off.

10. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

11. GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of Rand McNally road maps (now a GM subsidiary), even though they neither need them nor want them. Attempting to delete this option would immediately cause the car's performance to diminish by 50 per cent or more.

12. Every time GM introduced a new model, car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

13. You'd press the 'Start' button to shut off the engine.



Jokes apart, Now Microsoft is in Car software. But wonder what GM and others left with


Google : Android and Chrome OS (base Linux but apps and top abstractions varies )

This should be a good option for a car company to approach Google and get the Android or chrome OS ported to car so that they can add new car apps and make app stores also

I was reading already a company called Continental announces Android-based Autolinq for cars.

Nokia : There are also 2 operating systems : Maemo and Symbian - the problem with both are they are not eye catchers.

Apple : A port of iPhone OS /Mac OS : Its again great and proved it can do the purpose and with apple multi touch patents and interface design it can make clean way to premium cars ( apple means premium )

Embedded Linux : Any distribution : can be done but again but in a marketing point of view, its better to use names like Android as all are Linux

The BSDs : They are kool and stable but getting attention is a big problem as these systems and developing app infrastructure will take more effort.

I am sure one or more of these are going to make its way to new vehicles. I really think Android/Chrome OS may be the best for a Chevy as people can write applications and add a lot value (specially trucks ).


As a joke GMC may choose Chrome OS in a denali version as it can have Chorme inside out ;-)





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ecomodder + kits idea

Couple of good one men shows before corporates chip in. Corporates still have a problem in thinking out of the box because they can't make money but couple of people don't worry on loosing the money.


The below video requires a bit of appreciation as i see its a good effort.








Lets congratulate them :-)


Boat tails, Wheel skirts and more. I think its a nice idea to have aero kits from the corporate itself and they can make money making designs and offer aero kits so that interested can purchase ( safe game still room for imporvement ).

example its a nice imagination for a 2010 Equinox to come with

1) Optional Front aero kit
2) Optional Aero tail kit
3) Optional wheel skirts

and these kits should be on order production and dealer fitted. They should be configurable on a dealer order or a internet configuration wizard.

This can be a better fit for small cars/crossovers also ( like expected orlando ).



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More inspirations on the way

Found a couple more inspirations




1984 Chevrolet Citation IV



Ford probe IV and V







GM Precept


Seems it now time for govt to act. They have to follow/make similar model of japan on defining a class of cars where which gets insurance and tax breaks ( like kei cars ) so that companies can come forward, make business cases and design and sell new products !!

Its not because companies has ideas to innovate but its only because govt is not allowing them to go out of the box solutions and gives opportunity to sell them them.


My ideas on the new class definition is like for a start they should come up with parameters like

Min: 80 mpg ( from regeneration and optimizations - no external alternative energy supply )
4 wheeler ( 2 - 4 seats )
should pass min crash test ratings ( ex: 3 stars for frontal, side, rollover etc )
etc etc.

For plug-in rules should be different and the standards should be moving , like 120mpg on 2015 .. and must plugin-features and safety features.

this makes more people buy commuter cars which are very effective and takes less to maintain + develops new ways to find solutions for problems apart from electrification and allows use of other technologies like aerodynamics,regenerations etc to be in practice.

For GM Precept its nice to have visit on : http://www.electrifyingtimes.com/gmprecept.html
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My- Aero car thoughts and insperations

Seems i am using my time on vacation to draw pics :-) and getting the level of my kid. He seems to be drawing better too.

Today i was able to get a clear picture of an aero design from existing size requirements from a normal car.

Picture follows :-)




Even its easy to swap the engine space and boot space so that a RR (Rear-engine, rear-wheel drive) layout can be made from the above design. On other thoughts , Putting a hybrid power train may increase the fuel economy and EV ranges.

The basic idea is the reduce the frontal area - for CdA (mostly airfoiled frontal area and reduced the back area ) and increase/optimize the curves over top,down and sides to that they can contribute forward pull using aerodynamics. The top,sides and bottom curves seems much important as they can give resulting forward moving forces. The bottom (down part ) curve may help more to push to front and same time balance the extra down (vertical component ) of the force made by the top curve. Its also very important to optimize curves for max advantage of those parts without affecting the passenger comfort and utility space.

I took the base height, width and other ratios from a Volvo S70 (my current car which i like the space inside ) for the above model so that it can seat 5 comfortably and have enough space ( its not a small car now - its a 5 seat modern hatchback bigger than Toyota Prius).



To my wonder, Its really great to see some old models , Let me upload them also to get a pic of how people were thinking in old days.



1937 Pillsbug : CD of 0.13 6 -7 Passenger






1937 Maybach





Don't know the model info but looks EV1 was taken from this one.




1984 Chevrolet Citation IV concept





GM EV1






Mercedes-Benz bionic car

Links :

Ecomodder : 65+ tips : http://ecomodder.com/forum/fuel-economy-mpg-modifications.php


Cars to Emulate and Study: http://neilblanchard.vox.com/library/post/cars-to-emulate-and-study.html

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An HHR replacer ?

A bit paint, base picture of an ev innovations Wave and here we go

A Ute and a 5 passenger hybrid crossover ? .








My wife was saying the first name came to mind after seeing the pics is "AirBus" .Second name she told was "Rino".

Intial comments came : Proportions are not proper, The CUV looks like more a stretched limo. the UTE looks good other need proportions adjustments :-)


Wondering this suites well to replace the HHR than an Orlando :-)

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Hybrid Auto rickshaw

Was wondering what may really help the world. One idea found was a Hybrid Auto rickshaw.

Auto rickshaw is a very popular common man travel in India. I think its popular in all developing world where there is more man power available.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_rickshaw

Looks its a very good use case for a Hybrid power train as

1) it has a lot of possibility for regenerative breaking as its runs more in city traffic and low speeds

2) An electric motor for low speeds can make the efficiency improvement

3) Most important : less pollution

4) Millage increase as ICE works more on optimized conditions

I am not sure why companies like bajaj is not considering a hybrid powertrain for an auto rickshaw




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Is that great ?

Is that great ? - that question made me think, They can did the the stuff with in minutes i requested. So it should be great ?

Why i had to request and they has to respond , so its great response not the great, If it was great then i will never have to request. But how i get a chance to recognize it was great ?

Finally i am understanding the great is never recognized. People think its normal never thinks it was great till they realize it was.


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