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Inside Honda's ghost town for testing autonomous cars

On the edge of the San Francisco suburb of Concord, California sits a ghost town. Dilapidated buildings and cracked roads are framed by overgrowth and slightly askew street signs. The decommissioned five acre portion of the Concord Naval Weapons Station that once housed military personnel and their families is now home to squirrels, jack rabbits, wild turkeys and Honda's mysterious testing lab for autonomous vehicles. This former town within a Naval base – now dubbed "GoMentum Station" – is the perfect testing ground for Honda's self-driving cars. An almost turn-key solution to the problem of finding somewhere to experiment with autonomous vehicle inside an urban area. Thanks to the GoMentum Station, the automaker has access to 20 miles of various road types, intersections and infrastructure exactly like those found in the real world. Just, you know, without all the people getting in the way. While the faded lane markers and cracked asphalt might initially make it difficult for the car to figure out what's going on around it, that's exactly what you want when training a self-driving system. Many roads in the real world are also in dire need of upkeep. Just because autonomous vehicles are hitting the streets doesn't mean the funding needed to fix all the potholes and faded lane markers will magically appear. The real world doesn't work that way and the robot cars that will eventually make our commutes less of a headache will need to be aware of that. Plus, it's tougher to train a car to drive downtown than to barrel down the highway at 80 miles per hour. A company is going to want to get as much practice as possible. While semi-autonomous driving on the everyone-going-the-same-way-at-a-constant-speed freeway is already a reality, navigating in an urban environment is far more complex. If you've driven on the streets of Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago or Seattle you know that driving downtown takes far more concentration than cruising down the interstate. With all that in mind, Honda's tricked out Acura RLX did a good job during an (admittedly very controlled) hands-free demo. It didn't hit either of the pedestrians walking across its path. It stopped at stop signs and even maneuvered around a mannequin situated in the middle of the road. The reality is, watching a car drive around the block and safely avoid stuff is boring. Not to metion, Google has been doing this for a while in the real world.

2021 Acura TLX A-Spec Long-Term Wrap-Up | Not-so-long-term car

Been wondering what ever happened to our long-term 2021 Acura TLX A-Spec test car? Wonder no more, for we have answers to share with you in our long-term wrap-up. Last we updated you on our bright Apex Blue sport sedan, it was experiencing electrical gremlins aplenty. We weathered odd issues — random shifts into Park while stopped, infotainment glitching — the car simply decided to not start one day. This led to it being flat-bedded to the Acura dealer where it stayed for an abnormally long time. It was just over two months to be exact. The problems were ultimately determined to be from water intrusion to the fuse box, and some of the wait was for parts that had become corroded due to water being where it absolutely shouldnÂ’t be. Of course, our first question was, how did water get into the fuse box? Acura didnÂ’t have an obvious answer for us at first, but donÂ’t worry, we eventually got one. So, once the parts were in and installed, Acura gave the car a clean bill of health, and we took it back with only a month left in our year-long loan term. Unfortunately, our TLX would not make it that long. Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore took the TLX for this final stint. Two weeks of regular driving went by without any issue, but then the electrical gremlins returned. One afternoon he went out to the car and the dash lit up like a Christmas tree, sending the car into what Migliore said felt like a limp mode. The car technically ran, but it was not drivable. This meant yet another trip on the flatbed to the Acura dealer for another diagnosis. The days came and went, and eventually our original year-long loan term with the TLX expired. Approximately a month after this, Acura finally had answers for what had befallen our poor TLX.  Why so long, you ask? Acura actually called in engineers to try and sort out what had happened with this particular car. The answer? Water in the fuse box, once again. Apparently, the water intrusion issue from before hadnÂ’t been fully solved because the original source of leakage wasnÂ’t found in the first go-round, and water was still making its way into the fuse box. Acura tells us that trying to find the source of the intrusion is quite challenging, and thatÂ’s why it took the dealer and engineers so long to diagnose and sort out.

2019 Infiniti QX50 vs. compact luxury SUV rivals: How they compare

With apologies to the EX35, or whatever it was eventually renamed, Infiniti has been without a proper, competitive entry in the compact luxury SUV segment. You know, the segment that's growing faster in sales and entries than any other? To say the 2019 Infiniti QX50 is long awaited would therefore be an understatement. At first glance and drive, the new QX50 would indeed seem to be wildly more competitive than its predecessor, which come to think of it, was eventually called the QX50 as well. This one is based on an all-new front-wheel-drive platform, and although it lacks the inherent verve of the old, rear-drive- and 370Z-based one, the resulting increase in cabin space should be a welcome tradeoff. In fact, as you'll see below, the QX50 has gone from one of the smallest compact SUVs to the most spacious. How does it stack up in every other way? Say, against the segment's four best-selling entries last year: the 2018 Lexus NX 300, 2018 Acura RDX, 2018 Audi Q5 and 2018 BMW X3. On paper at least, really well as it turns out. Let's go to the spreadsheet! Discover and compare other luxury crossovers with our Car Finder and Compare tools. Comparing engines, drivetrains and transmissions With the exception of the Acura, all of the contenders come with 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engines. As you can see, the Infiniti is the heavyweight amongst the four-bangers, boasting the most horsepower and torque. The Acura V6 nips it by 11 hp, but the QX50 is still the overall torque champ. Plus, as we documented in the QX50 first drive, the Infiniti's new VC-Turbo engine is also the most technologically advanced. The Lexus is the wimp of the group and is also the second-heaviest, which isn't exactly the ideal scenario. The Infiniti is the only one in the group to feature a continuously variable transmission. That's not going to generate much applause around here. The BMW tops the gear count with eight, while the Audi is the only entry with a dual-clutch automated manual. The Acura and Lexus have only six gears, but they're good transmissions and it's not like their fuel economy is off the pace. The Audi and BMW come standard with all-wheel drive, while the others offer a choice of front- or all-wheel drive. Comparing cargo and interior space The new front-wheel-drive platform is paying dividends inside for the 2019 QX50, as it now boasts the most maximum cargo space at 65.1 cubic feet.