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Volvo EX90 will be the XC90's all-electric successor

Clarification: Volvo reached out to clarify that the EX90 will be "our new flagship sold alongside XC90 for the foreseeable future" — more of a "successor" than a "replacement." The story has been updated to clarify.     Volvo has announced what we've long suspected. The XC90's successor as the Volvo flagship will be an all-electric crossover. Its name, as officially stated by Volvo, will be EX90, rather than the previously thought EXC90 or even more evocative Embla, and it will be sold alongside the XC90 for a time The primary philosophy of the new flagship, the company says, will be that old Volvo calling card: safety. The automaker promised in a statement that "standard safety in the EX90 will be beyond that of any Volvo before it." They are also reiterating that they're working to be a 100% crash-less and 100% carbon-neutral company. Volvo says the EX90 will cruise down the road with an "invisible shield" of cameras, radar and lidar sensors. They will work in unison to create a "360-degree real-time view of the world," a description that sounds like Tesla's not-quite FSD visualizations that show 3D representations of lanes and traffic movements on the center screen. Volvo says over time the software can reduce serious injury and fatal accidents by 20% and overall crash avoidance by 9%. The software is made to share data from the entire fleet similarly equipped Volvos, learning as it goes.  Inside, the car will monitor driver alertness with algorithms that track eye gaze and focus. Volvo claims the programming is "beyond what has been possible in a Volvo car to date." If the system detects distraction it will respond with increasing levels of assertiveness, starting with "softly nudging". However if the driver falls completely unconscious it's designed to safely pull over and call for help, in what sounds similar to Mazda's Co-Pilot feature or VW's Emergency Assist 2.0. Volvo has not revealed specs or the actual design of the EX90. We suspect it will be based on last year's Volvo Concept Recharge, though it could also look like the unearthed patent images from last month. The Volvo EX90 will be revealed in full on November 9.

Everybody's doing flying cars, so why aren't we soaring over traffic already?

"Where's my flying car?" has been the meme for impending technology that never materializes since before there were memes. And the trough of disillusionment for vehicles that can take to sky continues to nosedive, despite a nonstop fascination with flying cars and a recent rash of announcements about the technology, particularly from traditional automakers. Earlier this month, Toyota applied for an eye-popping patent for a flying car that has wheels with spring-loaded pop-out helicopter rotors. The patent filing says the wheels/rotors would be electrically powered, while in on-land mode the vehicle would have differential steering like tracked vehicles such as tanks and bulldozers. At an airshow in July, Aston Martin unveiled its Volante Vision Concept, an autonomous hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicle it developed with Rolls-Royce. Aston says the Volante can fly at top speeds of around 200 mph and bills it as a luxury car for the skies. Audi used the Geneva Motor Show in March to unveil a flying car concept called the Pop.Up Next it developed with Airbus and Italdesign. If the Pop.Up Next, an electric and autonomous quadcopter/city car combo, gets stuck in traffic, an app can be used to summon an Airbus-developed drone to pick up the passenger compartment pod, leaving the chassis behind. Audi said that the Pop.Up Next is a "flexible on-demand concept that could open up mobility in the third dimension to people in cities." But Audi also acknowledged that at this point it has no plans to develop it. The cash-stoked, skies-the-limit Silicon Valley tech crowd is also bullish on flying cars. The startup Kitty Hawk that's backed by Google co-founder Larry Page announced in June that it's taking pre-orders for its single-seat electric Flyer that's powered by 10 propellers and is capable of vertical takeoffs and landings. The current version can only fly up to 20 mph and 10 feet in the air and has a flight time of just 12 to 20 minutes on a full charge. The Flyer is considered a recreational vehicle, so doesn't require a pilot's license. Uber says it plans to launch its more ambitious Elevate program and UberAIR service in 2023. "Uber customers will be able to push a button and get a flight on-demand with uberAIR in Dallas, Los Angeles and a third international market," Uber Elevate promises on its website.

Vehicles awarded IIHS Top Safety Pick awards skyrockets for 2015 [w/video]

By practically every measure, passenger vehicles in the US are continuing to get safer. With the year rapidly coming to an end, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is releasing its annual list tallying of the scores for the latest vehicles to see how they compare to last year. Judging by the agency's evaluations, the numbers look quite positive. According to the institute, 71 vehicles earned either the Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ rating so far in its testing for 2015. Among the latest winners, there have been 33 TSP+ awards and 38 TSP medalists. That's a healthy increase over the 22 TSP+ and 17 TSP grades in 2014. The figures appear even more impressive when you consider that it keeps getting harder to earn the + designation. In the latest round of testing, a vehicle must offer some form of front crash prevention automatic braking to get the mark. Previously, just a warning to drivers was necessary. This list also illustrates the ways that automakers adapt to new testing procedures. In 2013 there were 117 TSP ratings and 13 TSP+ awards. Then, the IIHS mandated that to be a safety pick, a model had to score Good in the institute's four crash tests, plus a Good or Acceptable in the small overlap front test. That brought a plunge in 2014 to just 17 TSP grades. With the numbers climbing again, companies apparently have deciphered how to perform better. Some brands especially stood out on this year's list. The IIHS praised Volvo, Mercedes-Benz and Acura for offering standard front crash prevention systems on some models. Subaru received at least one of the awards for all seven of its models. Toyota also had seven, and the Honda brand did too – though the institute counts the two- and four-door versions of the Civic and Accord separately. Check out the full announcement below and a video about this year's winners. The full list can be viewed, here. Safety gains ground: More vehicles earn top honors from IIHS The number of vehicles earning either of the Institute's two awards has jumped to 71 from 39 this time last year, giving consumers more choices for optimum protection in crashes. The number of winners in the top tier - TOP SAFETY PICK+ - has increased by 11 for 2015, despite a tougher standard for front crash prevention. "This is the third year in a row that we are giving automakers a tougher challenge to meet," says IIHS President Adrian Lund.