1977 Cadillac Deville Base Coupe 2-door 7.0l on 2040-cars

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MIT puts V2V technology on its 2015 Top Ten list

Of all the technologies swimming around the automotive world, it is vehicle-to-vehicle communication that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has fished out as one of its Ten Breakthrough Technologies of 2015. It joined emerging tech like brain organoids, supercharged photosynthesis, and Project Loon on the list, and got the nod over autonomous driving because, as the MIT Technology Review wrote, V2V communication "is likely to have a far bigger and more immediate effect on road safety." How so? Because actual cars transmitting data like their location, speed, steering angle, and state of braking to one another at least ten times per second provides a greater degree of awareness than sensor readings and algorithms. The US Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have been working for years on standards and a regulatory schedule for introducing V2V to the marketplace, and Cadillac plans to incorporate V2V into at least one of its vehicles by 2017. Since we've begun the year with a number of stories of cars being hacked into, that got us wondering about the security of V2V communications. In a recent piece by our own Pete Bigelow on what motorists should know about getting their cars hacked into, he wrote that although cyber break-ins are extremely difficult, expensive, and time-consuming to do remotely, V2V is "one more conceivable avenue a hacker could use to impact multiple cars at a given time." So we spoke to Wilmington, Massachusetts-based Security Innovation about it. The automotive consultancy company has been working with the DOT since 2003 on V2V technology and the issues around it - namely security and privacy - and its chief scientist, William Whyte, is the technical editor of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1609.2 standard outlining its security protocols. Those protocols are expected to be finalized by the DOT toward the end of this year and then come into effect in 2016, and the company's Aerolink product is the security solution Cadillac will use. Whyte said, "If you hack into a car, V2V is the hardest place to start," and Pete Samson, the general manager of Security Innovation's automotive team, said "There are ten or 12 alternate attack surfaces" around the car that would make much easier targets.

2020 Cadillac CT6 losing the 3.0-liter TT V6?

In April we learned Cadillac would no longer offer the 2.0-liter four-cylinder on the CT6. The same day we heard the news, the CT6 configurator showed that engine option gone, leaving three engines on the menu. That menu could lose another option come 2020, according to a report in AutoVerdict. The site says it got an order guide for the 2020 CT6, and the 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 won't make it to the new year. That engine was once the top-tier choice, since eclipsed by the detuned 4.2-liter twin-turbo Blackwing V8 imminently available on the Platinum trim. AutoVerdict also read in the order guide that the horsepower figures haven't been finalized for next year's model. As it stands, the entry-level 3.6-liter six-cylinder makes 335 horsepower and 284 pound-feet of torque, the 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 produces 404 hp and 400 lb-ft, and the 4.2-liter V8 ginning up 500 hp and 574 lb-ft when it arrives. Retiring the middle option ostensibly puts a big ol' gap in output and pricing between the two models left. Right now $24,200 separates the entry-level Premium Luxury from the Platinum. However, since the present Platinum uses the 3.0-liter, it's safe to guess that the 4.2-liter V8 will cost more, creating a larger gap. The Sport model in between uses the 3.0-liter, too. Perhaps that goes away, or maybe it stays and gets further cosmetic upgrades to give it more edge and a higher price. Another change coming to the 2020 CT6 is its induction into Cadillac's metric-unit torque-based badging system. This, remember, converts pound-foot torque into Newton-meters, then rounds up to the nearest 50. That means the 3.0-liter V6 will wear a 400 badge, the 4.2-liter V8 gets an 800T badge - the T standing for turbo. The year's been full of engine rationalizations at General Motors. Theories about the CT6 dropping the 2.0-liter figured it might have been about making space above the CT5, or guaranteeing supply for other GM models that use the engine, like the Cadillac XT4. The folks at AutoVerdict suspect the 3.0-liter TTV6 could be making the move to the CT5, and to the hot-headed CT4-V we'll be getting a look at come the end of this month. Related Video:

Jay Leno welcomes a 2016 Cadillac CTS-V into the garage

After checking out a multitude of classic cars and customs over the past few weeks, Jay Leno switches things up with a modern performance machine in the latest video from the garage – a 2016 Cadillac CTS-V. Leno is curious about Caddy's attempt to challenge the BMW M5 and Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S, and he takes a long, technical look at the sedan with chief engineer David Leone. Not content to just peek under the hood, Leno puts the CTS-V up on the rack to see what it packs underneath the svelte body. Once he gets the lowdown on the Caddy's engineering, it's time for a drive. Leno also flexes his interviewing skills while behind the wheel and gets even more info about the CTS-V's capabilities from Leone. He seems fairly impressed, but Leno's most entertaining question about the 640-horsepower sedan is whether it can do a burnout. He provides a definitive answer to that at the end of the clip. Related Video: