We Finance 06 Awd Clean Carfax Cd Changer Leather Alloys Bose Rear Park Assist on 2040-cars

Auto blog

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.

Cadillac planning its own engines, halo cars

Cadillac is in the midst of some big changes. It's got a new chief executive. It's taking some distance from parent company General Motors and moving to a new headquarters in New York. And it's instituting a new naming scheme that will allow not only for a more clear progression in its lineup, but also for more models. But that's not the end of the story. Not by a long shot.
Speaking with Automobile magazine, Cadillac's new president Johan de Nysschen revealed his intention to develop several new models and powertrains. For starters, he does not want Cadillac to continue borrowing engines from the GM parts bin, but intends to develop a new range of engines specifically for the luxury automaker. The program will likely start with smaller-capacity engines but eventually lead to new V8s as well, taking the place of the long-serving Northstar engine that finally ended its lifespan a few years ago after some two decades of production. Along with other technologies, de Nysschen envisions possibly sharing these powertrains with other GM divisions, but developing them first and foremost for Cadillac.
The bigger question, however, is where those engines would go, and de Nysschen had some thoughts to share on that front as well. For starters, the former Infiniti and Audi exec sees room for an even bigger sedan above the upcoming new CT6 that will cap the current range. Maybe even two of them. But that's not all. Johan wants to see Cadillac get (back) into the sports car game with a new halo model or two - something it hasn't really done since the Corvette-based XLR roadster. A pair of new crossovers are also said to be in the works, flanking the SRX on both sides with smaller and larger models.

GM recalling 54k Cadillac SRX, HD pickup models

There are more recalls to report General Motors, but these latest actions pertain to newer examples of the Cadillac SRX, Chevrolet Silverado HD and GMC Sierra HD. With so much scrutiny on the company's recall strategy, GM is under increasing pressure to call in defective models more quickly, and it appears to be doing so here.
Here in the US, the automaker is recalling 50,571 Cadillac SRX crossovers from the 2013 model year fitted with the 3.6-liter V6 because the transmission control module programming can cause a three- or four-second lag in acceleration at low speeds. The explanation filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states, "if the following sequence occurs within two seconds: during an upshift from first to second gear (8-10 mph), the driver then brakes the vehicle to less than 5 mph, and then accelerates again," the delay can occur. According to Automotive News, the recall effects 56,400 vehicles worldwide, and the company is not aware of any crashes caused by the problem. The fix consists of a transmission control module (TCM) reflash.
In a separate recall, GM is repairing 51 Chevrolet Silverado HD and GMC Sierra HD pickups from the 2015 model year in the US. In vehicles with diesel engines and dual fuel tanks, the nuts that connect the fuel pipe to each side of the transfer pump between the tanks may be improperly torqued, which could cause a fuel leak. Obviously, this could be a fire hazard. The remedy is simply tightening the hardware. According to GM spokesperson Alan Adler, there have been no fires actually caused by the potential leak. "Only 21 of the trucks are in customer possession and they can be fixed anytime because there are no parts involved. The others are being fixed at dealerships," Adler said in an email to Autoblog.