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The skinny on Delphi's autonomous road trip across the United States [w/videos]

Rolling out of an S-shaped curve along Interstate 95, just past Philadelphia International Airport, the final obstacle between the autonomous car and its place in history appeared on the horizon. So far, the ordinary-looking SUV had traversed the United States without incident. It had gone through tunnels and under overpasses. It circled roundabouts and stopped for traffic lights. Now, on the last day of a scheduled nine-day journey, it was poised to become the first autonomous car ever to complete a coast-to-coast road trip. First, it needed to contend with the Girard Point Bridge. Riding in a rear seat, "I saw that bridge coming, and I thought, 'Oh my gosh, this is going to be a grab-the-wheel moment," said Kathy Winter, vice president of software at Delphi Automotive. The car, an unassuming Audi SQ5 nicknamed Roadrunner, had been well-tested. Back in January, a few inebriated pedestrians fell flat in front of the car during a demonstration in Las Vegas. It was the quintessential worst-case scenario, and the car admirably hit the brakes. More than drunken louts, bridges present a sophisticated challenge for the six radar sensors that feed data to the car's internal processors. Instead of sensing solid objects, radar sensors can read the alternating bursts of steel beams and empty space as conflicting information. "They're a radar engineer's worst nightmare," said Jeff Owens, Delphi's chief technology officer. Girard Point Bridge, a blue skeleton of girded steel that spans the Schuylkill River, might be a bigger challenge than most. Traveling across the lower level of its double decks, the autonomous car's radar sensors had to discern between two full sets of trusses. Cross the Schuylkill, and Delphi's engineers felt confident they'd reach their destination: the New York Auto Show. For now, the sternest test of the trip lay directly in front of them. A Data-Mining Adventure Until that point, the toughest part of the journey had been finding an open gas station in El Paso, TX. Trust in the technology had already been established. The main reason Delphi set out on the cross-country venture with a team of six certified drivers and two support vehicles was to capture reams of data. What better way to do that than dusting off the classic American road trip and dragging it into the 21st century? They did exactly that, capturing three terabytes worth of data across 3,400 miles and 15 states.

Car technology I'm thankful and unthankful for

The past few years have seen a surge of tech features in new vehicles — everything from cloud-based content to semi-autonomous driving. While some of it makes the driving experience better, not all tech is useful or well thought out. Automakers who are adept at drivetrains, ride quality and in-cabin comforts often fail at infotainment interfaces and connectivity. From testing dozens of vehicles each year and in the spirit of gratitude, here are three car tech features I'm thankful — and a trio I could live without. Thanks Connected search: This seems like a no-brainer since everyone already has it on their smartphones, but not all automakers include it in the dashboard and as part of their nav systems. The best ones, such as Toyota Entune, leverage a driver's connected device to search for a range of services and don't charge a subscription or require a separate data plan for the car. I also like how systems like Chrysler Uconnect use Yelp or other apps to find everything from coffee to gas stations and allow searching via voice recognition. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto: It took two of the largest tech companies to get in-dash infotainment right. While they have their disadvantages (you're forced to use Apple Maps with CarPlay, for example), the two smartphone-integration platforms make it easier and safer to use their respective native apps for phoning, messaging, music and more behind the wheel by transferring a familiar UI to the dashboard — with no subscription required. Heated seats and steering wheels: I really appreciate these simple but pleasant features come wintertime. It's easy to get spoiled by bun-warmers on frosty mornings and using a heated steering wheel to warm the cold hands. I recently tested a 2018 Mercedes-Benz E400 Coupe that also had heated armrest that added to a cozy luxury experience. Bonus points for brands like Buick that allow setting seat heaters to turn on when the engine is remotely started. No thanks Automaker infotainment systems: Automakers have probably poured millions into creating their own infotainment systems, with the result largely being frustration on the part of most car owners. And Apple CarPlay and Android Auto coming along to make them obsolete. While some automaker systems, such as Toyota Entune and FCA's Uconnect, are easy and intuitive to use, it seems that high-end systems (I'm looking at you BMW iDrive and Mercedes-Benz COMAND) are the most difficult.

Justin Bell laps Willow Springs... in the dark... using only night vision

Night vision has made its way into quite a few luxury cars as a night-driving safety feature, but eBay Motors wanted to see if the technology could be used to actually drive the car. Former racer and World's Faster Car Show host Justin Bell grabbed the keys to an Audi A7 and headed to Willow Springs Raceway to find out.
As if driving in the dark of the desert night wasn't hard enough, the car's windshield and side windows were blacked out, so Bell's driving relied completely on the three-inch night vision display located in the gauge cluster. In addition to navigating the track, his producers also threw in a few surprises for Bell on the track. We don't want to spoil too much for you, but based on the speeds exhibited in the video, we don't think 24-hour endurance races will be adding this tech any time soon; that being said, he probably drove the car faster and better than we could have.
Scroll down to watch how Bell does lapping the track using only the car's night vision.