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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.

GM CEO Akerson calls out Tesla, says Cadillac will compete on EVs

Cadillac will be taking on Tesla Motors, the underdog EV manufacturer that's seen heaps of critical acclaim and stock market buzz with its most recent sedan, the Model S. "If you want to compete head-to-head with Tesla, and we ultimately will, you want to do it with a Cadillac," Dan Akerson, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, told media in Washington, according to The Detroit News.
Akerson continued, telling The News, "We'll sell more Volts and lose less money on the Volts than they'll lose on the Model S." He also took time to point out that Tesla getting vehicles out to customers isn't a guarantee of success or permanence, using Fisker as an example, saying "Does anybody even remember Fisker? I mean, there were a number of them; they are all gone."
This strong talk from Akerson comes after Doug Parks, another GM exec, let slip that the Detroit-based manufacturer has an EV in the works that will cover 200 miles per charge and only cost about $30,000, a massive upgrade over similarly priced EVs that struggle to top 100 miles per charge. Until that vehicle arrives, though, GM is preparing the Cadillac ELR, a small coupe that, like the Volt with which it shares technology, uses a gas engine as a mobile generator to recharge the batteries. Akerson took aim at Tesla again, saying, "But I do think when the ELR comes out late this year, early next - it's certainly the same postal code as Tesla, but now we're going to move up. It's not going to be a mass-produced car."

Cadillac CT4 Luggage Test | How much fits in the trunk?

If you go by exterior specs, the Cadillac CT4 is more similar to a BMW 3 Series or Mercedes C-Class. However, if you go by interior space (or price), it's more like a Mercedes A-Class or BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe. That's definitely true of the trunk, which measures a rinky-dink 10.9 cubic feet, according to GM's specs. That number is what you'd expect in a small luxury coupe rather than a sedan. Indeed, the old ATS Coupe had 10.4 cubic feet.  Nevertheless, the CT4 is somehow not the smallest in the segment. That would be the A-Class and its 8.9-cubic-foot trunk. Good grief. Now, Mercedes has been known to shortchange its cargo capacity numbers so we'll have to luggage test that at some point to know for sure. Today, let's see if the CT4 is in keeping with that 10.9 number. Also, how much worse is it than the also rinky-dink CT5 trunk or the overly optimistic 2 Series Gran Coupe? Yep, that looks pretty small. Also, note the weird rail-like things that hampered the CT5 (below right) are also present here in the CT4 (below left). There's also a similar lip to clear for the folding back seat, but the CT4's opening seems bigger.  As in every luggage test I do, I use two midsize roller suitcases that would need to be checked in at the airport (26 inches long, 16 wide, 11 deep), two roll-aboard suitcases that just barely fit in the overhead (24L x 15W x 10D), and one smaller roll-aboard that fits easily (23L x 15W x 10D). I also include my wife's fancy overnight bag just to spruce things up a bit (21L x 12W x 12D). All but the biggest bag fit, which is exactly the same number that could fit in the CT5. As the below photo shows, the bigger car has just a bit more space left over. Maybe for a pair of grocery bags. That would be consistent with the difference in cubic feet: 11.9 cubic feet versus 10.9. What about the BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe? BMW says it has 15.1 cubic feet of space, but it doesn't. At least not using the same measurement criteria that the vast majority of other manufacturers use. It can carry the biggest bag, but it would still need to leave the fancy bag behind. That's also while utilizing the 2 GC's ample under-floor storage compartment.  As such, the CT4 does indeed have a small trunk, but it's at least in keeping with its competitors. The CT5 cannot say that, regardless of which segment you compare it to.  Unfortunately for the CT4, though, the story does not stop here.