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Ford, Volvo, Google, Uber and Lyft form self-driving alliance

Five companies arguably leading the worldwide effort to develop autonomous cars said Tuesday they're forming an organization to lobby the federal government to better prepare America's roads for self-driving technology. The founding members include some of the biggest companies in the automotive, autonomous, and ride-sharing realms – Ford, Google, Lyft, Uber and Volvo. Operating as the "Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets," they aim to work with lawmakers and regulators to clarify a disparate set of rules and regulations at both the state and federal levels that could hinder the deployment of autonomous cars. "The U.S. risks losing its leading position due to the lack of federal guidelines for the testing and certification of autonomous vehicles." – Hakan Samuelsson David Strickland, a former administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration who issued the first set of autonomous-related policies in that role (pictured below), will serve as the group's counsel and spokesperson. "The best path for this innovation is to have one clear set of federal standards, and the Coalition will work with policymakers to find the right solutions that will facilitate the deployment of self-driving vehicles," he said in a written statement. In January, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said his department would accelerate efforts to craft such federal standards. Those efforts include holding two public hearings on standards, the second of which is scheduled to be held Wednesday in Palo Alto, California. Foxx signaled the intent to deliver them by June. Google has been leading the efforts to ensure such standards are national in scope, warning their cars could run afoul of state-specific laws should they cross state borders or if standards varies between the federal efforts and regional ones. The complexity of such efforts was underscored recently, when NHTSA agreed that Google's software could be considered the driver of a vehicle for the purpose of meeting federal motor vehicle standards, an interpretation that would conflict with preliminary California rules that mandate a licensed driver operate a self-driving car that comes equipped with human controls like a steering wheel and brakes. At South By Southwest last month, Jennifer Haroon, Google's self-driving car business leader, said the company couldn't accomplish its goals under those regulations.

2015 Hennessey Ford Mustang hits 207.9 mph

After hitting over 195 miles per hour a few months ago, John Hennessey was barely out of his personal HPE700 Mustang before he said that 200 mph was achievable. Don't doubt a man who knows a ton about taking cars to insane speeds. With the new HPE750 Mustang, he and his customers can finally surpass the 200-mph mark in their cars. "If at first you don't succeed, just add more horsepower and rpm and try again," Hennessey said in the company's announcement. Rather than the 717 horsepower and 632 pound-feet of torque from the supercharged 5.0-liter V8 in the HPE700, the HPE750 ratchets the same powertrain up to an even more potent 774 hp and 648 lb-ft. In a real show of confidence, the Hennessey team brought along Jay Leno when it returned to the Continental Tire Proving Grounds in Uvalde, TX, to set a new top speed with the HPE750. The upgrades to the Mustang definitely paid off because the pony car reached a GPS-verified 207.9 miles per hour down the straight. The run will eventually appear on a segment on the upcoming Jay Leno's Garage TV show that will air CNBC. Prices for the HPE750 start at $59,500 USD, including the base 2015 Mustang GT, but building an exact replica of this one would cost $69,374, according to Hennessey. In addition to the huge top speed, the company claims that the coupe can reach 60 mph in 3.4 seconds and cover the quarter mile in 10.9 seconds. 774 HP Hennessey Mustang Tested to 207.9 mph Jay Leno visits Texas tuner for upcoming TV series on CNBC June 2, 2015 Uvalde, Texas—On Wednesday, May 27, 2015, professional driver, Brian Smith, drove the Hennessey HPE750 Supercharged Mustang to a top speed of 207.9 mph. In the process, Hennessey's potent pony car became the first 2015 Mustang to break the 200 mph mark. Jay Leno was on hand to witness the record speed while filming an upcoming episode of Jay Leno's Garage, which will air on CNBC later this year. The run was made on the 8.5 mile high speed oval at the Continental Tire Proving Grounds located in Uvalde, Texas – the same test track where John Hennessey test drove the company's HPE700 Mustang to a top speed of 195 mph back in February of this year. During both tests, speeds were validated with Racelogic's VBox 3i GPS data logging system. "If at first you don't succeed, just add more horsepower and rpm and try again," said company founder and president, John Hennessey.

eBay Find of the Day: 1970 Ford Torino King Cobra prototype

Over the last decade or so, competition in NASCAR has led to some pretty funky looking racecars. And when the sport was still up and coming, the tight competition actually led to some interesting production cars. The Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird are perhaps the most well-known cars of the sport's "aero wars" era but the Ford Torino King Cobra might have been the most memorable of all, if not for some different homologation rules established in 1970. The Torino King Cobra never made it to production and never competed in NASCAR, but three examples exist including this one now for sale on eBay.
Designed as a successor for the aero-tuned Torino Talladega, the Torino King Cobra has a sleeker front end with hidden headlights and a sloped nose. As the story goes, NASCAR made a rule change in 1970 requiring 3,000 of the vehicles to be produced, which was substantially more than the 500 units required by the previous rule. One of the three prototypes ever built - and the only one built with the Boss 429 engine - is now for sale on eBay with a starting bid of $500,000. With a little more than three days left on the auction there are still no bids, but in the grand scheme of things this seems like a relatively fair price for a rare piece of automobile and racing history.