Technology

Given the proliferation of announcements for eight, nine, and even ten-speed automatic gearboxes of late, it would appear the world’s major automakers were giving up on dual-clutch technology, which are yet to exceed seven forward gears. Nothing could be further from the truth, however, as Volkswagen has confirmed it has a ten-speed DSG dual-clutch gearbox in the works.The confirmation was made by the automaker’s CEO, Martin Winterkorn, at last week’s 2013 Vienna Motor Symposium in Austria, though no other details on the advanced DSG were provided.Diesel and plug-in hybridsDuring his presentation, Winterkorn did however reveal that his company was focused on another technology that has appeared on the wane lately: diesel engines.Volkswagen is developing diesel engines capable of delivering 134 horsepower per litre of displacement, using variable valve timing, high-pressure injection systems running at more than 43,000 psi, and electric superchargers known as e-boosters.But Volkswagen is also a strong believer in alternative drive systems and just announced its first plug-in hybrid, the 2014 Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid. Due to the automaker’s modular vehicle system design, this plug-in hybrid technology will eventually spread to other models from Volkswagen including another Porsche, the Cayenne SUV, as well as the A3 and A6 from Audi, and the Golf and Passat from Volkswagen.“Over the coming years we will electrify all vehicle classes in this way and help electrically powered motoring to make the breakthrough,” Winterkorn said during his presentation.Natural gas systemsFinally, Volkswagen also sees great potential for natural gas drive systems. The automaker will be systematically rolling out natural gas technology on more models, starting with the Golf and Audi A3 lines. A natural gas version of the Up! is already available in some markets, offering a C02 emission level of just 79 g/km, and a new A3 g-tron model has just been announced.In addition, Volkswagen’s Audi brand has gone so far as to develop its own synthetic natural gas, using a process called methanation along with energy generated originally from wind farms. This means that when Audi’s synthetic gas is finally burned in a natural gas vehicle, the whole system is virtually CO2 neutral. “The gas engine is environmentally friendly, economical and suitable for everyday use,” Winterkorn said.Winterkorn went on to explain that over the medium and long-term, different technologies would exist side by side, which is why Volkswagen is investing heavily in electrified and natural gas drive systems in addition to improving existing gasoline and diesel systems.The end goal is a corporate average C02 emission level of just 95 grams of C02 per kilometer by the year 2020. That’s about how much Volkswagen’s smallest vehicle, the Up! city car, currently puts out when fitted with a 1.0-litre diesel engine.Factors that would make this possible, according to Winterkorn, include enhancement of the combustion process, intelligent lightweight design, innovative operating strategies and optimisation of friction levels and thermal management.www.motorauthority.com

Information is good, but domination is bad. So I like big digital speedometers, blind-spot warning systems and reversing cameras, but I'm against automatic parking, radar cruise controls and anything which can influence the steering.My personal jury is still out on automatic emergency braking, but I think it's probably going to get a tick. The reason for this reluctance runs all the way back to the very first cars I drove with anti-skid braking systems, a BMW 5 Series and a Honda Accord.I can clearly remember the wheels of the Accord chattering and skidding as I tried a panic stop, but the Five was worse. I was driving on a gravel road when I needed to brake for a corner.I did, but the car did not, and I can clearly picture to this day the tree I narrowly missed as I arrowed off the road with the ABS system working - or not - precisely as the engineers intended.Hitting the personal fast-forward button, there was a Lexus that insisted on applying emergency braking power when another driver cut into my lane and cut the beam for the over-sensitive radar cruise control, a Camry that cut engine power just when I needed it in a corner, and a Volkswagen that refused to accelerate from a Stop sign because I was holding the car on the brake at the same time as tickling the throttle.Just last year, there was a Mercedes-Benz that swerved me into the path of an oncoming car when it detected that I had drifted over the white line, when in fact I was easing gently away from a potential head-on smash.I know that technology improves and I like some of the stuff that makes life easier, but I was overwhelmed this week by the all-new Volkswagen Golf and a bank of safety equipment that runs from a fatigue monitor to radar cruise control, automatic wipers and lights, automatic parking and even multi-collision braking to stop the car after a crash.A lot of this stuff is good, and there's no doubt that it should make our roads safer. But it's also encouraging a breed of drivers who are really just passengers, relying on their cars to save them from themselves. And that cannot be good.This reporter is on Twitter @paulwardgover 

General Motors and Ford will partner to build a new generation of automatic transmissions -- nine-speed and ten-speed automatics that the companies will use to boost fuel economy across their lineups.The US carmakers have worked together in the past to engineer automatic transmissions, to reduce the engineering and development costs. The six-speed automatic installed in many large GM and Ford crossovers is a result of the companies' more recent joint efforts. So far, the companies have built more than 8 million gearboxes from that project.The new transmissions will be used across both companies' lineups, in both front-wheel-drive and rear-wheel-drive applications.Ford and GM won't be the first to develop nine-speed automatic transmissions. Chrysler has one on the way in the 2014 Jeep Cherokee, while Land Rover announced recently that it's working on a nine-speed transmission with ZF. Ten-speed automatics would be a new development.The transmissions are expected to hit the road within the next three years, with differences in programming to give each automaker its own approach to shift quality and economy.Both GM and Ford rely heavily today on six-speed automatics, while some competitors like Lexus and Chrysler have moved quickly to eight-speed automatics, in the hunt for better fuel economy in their larger vehicles.www.thecarconnection.com 

The animatronic wizards behind some of the creatures in Prometheus and the Harry Potter films have unleashed a monster you can drive. Not on public roads, of course. And drive is probably not the best word for piloting the six-legged 2.8-metre Mantis Hexapod – even though it’s powered by a 2.2-litre turbodiesel engine.There are no figures on what kind of power and torque the Perkins engine outputs, but it drives the 1900kg Mantis at a leisurely 1kmh – roughly the speed of CBD traffic, then. The creators, Micromagic Systems, say the machine has the potential to speed up to 3kmh if they give it a bit of tinkering under … whatever passes for a bonnet on the Mantis.And if traffic slows to a stop, the 2.8-metre monster’s claim to be the largest all-terrain operational hexapod robot in the world should mean you’ll be able to clamber right over the top of every vehicle in the snarled streets, with the three hydraulic actuators in each leg offering the flexibility to stomp pesky hatchbacks into submission.“This is definitely the largest hexapod we have built so far,” says Micromagic Systems founder and Mantis chief designer Matt Denton. “It’s been called an instant design classic and an inspiring engineering project for the next generation.”The idea for the Mantis was sparked in 2007, he said, and following private funding in 2009 the team spent three years building it. It’s available for hire, and offers you the chance to both drive it from the cockpit – using a computer panel – or remotely via a WiFi link. 

As an avid listener of Paul Gover on 3AW, I find the reception to AM radio stations is deteriorating, with increased static. Could it be my car, an SS Holden ute? Is there anything I can do to my car to increase sound quality? I have a functioning manufacturer supplied aerial that is in good working order.

Overall we have been happy with our "30th Anniversary" Mitsubishi Challenger except that the proprietary radio with essential "Blue Tooth" phone facilities has so much interference that we can't use the radio on local AM stations. Despite considerable correspondence with our dealer and Mitsubishi, who agreed that there were problems with the system, they were not prepared to cover the cost of a modification to our audio unit to fix the problem. We have had the problem fixed by the installation of an alternative antenna, but believe this to be an expense that MMAL should cover, as we believe their original equipment was not fit for purpose. Hope you can assist us.

The driver's seat in my 2011 Ford Falcon G6E seems to have developed a mind of its own. When the car is left unattended it is quite common to return to the car to find the seat has moved, usually fully forward to a position under the steering wheel. It does not matter if the car has been locked or not and it does not appear to move to one of the five pre-set positions. The saved settings are usually lost when this happens. A similar memory loss problem occurs with the passenger side rear vision mirror, which goes down okay when reverse is selected, but does not always come back up. Ford says there is no record of this happening before with the G6E. Do you have any thoughts on what could be causing this strange behaviour?

To find out why your car is giving you ‘check engine’ warning, you’ve had to take it to a mechanic with an expensive diagnostic computer. Until now.A new app and tiny device called Automatic Link -- due to hit the US market in May for about $70 -- will analyse your car’s problems and feed the information to your smartphone.The device plugs into your car’s onboard diagnostics (OBD) port and sends the information to your iPhone via Bluetooth.Automatic Link doesn’t stop at diagnosing your vehicle’s health. It will analyse your fuel use and driving style – and give you a weekly score based on efficiency and safety, with a few hints about how to improve.The device continually monitors engine behaviour, fuel and distance travelled and the smartphone app crunches the data into information that could save you money at the bowser – and in expensive repairs if you ignore an engine alert.Using GPS, it can detect fuel prices at nearby service stations and can remember where you parked your car. And with a built-in accelerometer, the app can sense if you’ve had an accident, alert emergency services – and your next-of-kin -- and lead them to your location. 

The camouflaged car sliding through the snow in Scandinavia is the upcoming Genesis luxury sedan, which promises to take the South Korean company up against a new range of rivals including BMW and Mercedes-Benz.The all-new Genesis is the bait for a new brand of buyer, as well as potentially revolutionising the Korean brand in Australia. Hyundai has already committed to sales of its next-generation Genesis coupe in 2015 and the battle has begun to get the four-door sedan equipped and priced right for Australian buyers."Nothing is confirmed yet. At the moment we're looking at the business case. That's pricing and specification," the spokesman for Hyundai, Bill Thomas, tells Carsguide. But there are some promising pointers."It's confirmed that it will be built in right-hand drive, like the coupe, which is a good indicator that it's appropriate for us. And we're definitely taking the coupe," says Thomas. Our Carparazzi pictures show a car that already looks ready for production, with impressive proportions and the promise of both 3.8-litre V6 and 5.0-litre V8 engines with an eight-speed automatic gearbox.It's already locked for its first official appearance, although it's not clear if there will be a motor-show tease as a concept. "The car is due to be shown at the Detroit motor show next year. I'd imagine it's a 2014 model," says Thomas. The mechanical package under the next-gen Genesis will be shared with the Kia Quoris and perhaps also slide under an upscale SUV.Carparazzi says the newcomer is codenamed DH and uses an update of the existing rear-wheel drive package, with all-wheel drive also likely. On the design front, the car will be sleeker and more upscale - a move obvious from the shape of the bodywork and little touches including the LED running lamps needed for low-light snow driving during testing.  

The navigation system in my 2012 Holden Cruze appears to be way off and does not know where it is going. It is really frustrating. Holden service advised me the maps were 18 months behind - surely they could be a bit more up to date? Not only that but the radio does not even turn on, and the screen is black until I turn the car off and on again, not to mention how hot the storage compartment is that is above the whole unit in the dash. I had some coins in it and when I reached in to get them they burnt my hand. After you intervened and asked Holden to help out the radio was replaced. I have to say that Fred from Holden Customer Service was absolutely fabulous, he kept me informed, dealt with the dealership for me, and called every time he said he would. In this day and age there is no Customer Service, however I plan on sending the Manager a note to say how good he is at his job. Nevertheless, my car has been recalled twice now for other issues, as well as an open case left on the radio that the engineers are aware of with a black screen. This has only happened so far to me twice since the new install and it was only momentary so if it happens again I will just call Fred. Thank you so much for your assistance, as without it I would be nowhere with the dealership, they were not interested in looking into it for me, which is a little disheartening. I am just so grateful that you were able to get me the assistance that I needed which came in the form of Fred from Holden Customer Service.