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Apple CarPlay drawing early safety concerns [w/video]

Apple's CarPlay infotainment system hasn't made it into a single vehicle yet, and it's already drawing criticism for distracting drivers among safety advocates. The new tech unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show pairs users' iPhones with the car's dashboard display to make calls, dictate messages and listen to music. Some automakers, like Volvo, also let users interact with the HVAC system from the screen.
"The idea that people want to be on their phones, and therefore let's give them a way to do that -- that's not putting safety first, that's putting convenience and the desire to be in touch first," said Bruce Hamilton, manager of research and communications at the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, to CNN Money.
Distracted driving is a huge concern on modern roads with more vehicles allowing drivers to use their smartphones through Bluetooth and infotainment systems. A Texas A&M study found that drivers' reaction time doubled while dictating text messages, according to CNN Money. The new tech is certainly not making drivers pay more attention.

2022 Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance Mega Gallery | The show in pictures

COMO, Italy — Held annually, the Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance is, in many ways, Europe's version of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. It takes place in a beautiful location, and it brings together an impressive selection of rare and valuable cars. It's a real treat for the eyes, the ears, and, if you're into champagne, the palate. The 2022 edition of the show was no exception: About 50 cars were shipped to Lake Como from over a dozen countries, and it wasn't just the usual suspects. Sure, there were a lot of pre-war cars (including a couple of one-off models), but some of the icons that younger enthusiasts grew up with (like the Lamborghini Countach) were present as well. This year's event was split into eight categories: The Art Deco Era of Motor Car Design, The Supercharged Mercedes-Benz, How Grand Entrances Were Once Made, Eight Decades of Ferrari Represented in Eight Icons, "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday," BMW's M Cars and Their Ancestors, Pioneers That Chased the Magic 300 KPH, And a design award for concept and prototypes. The jury gave the coveted "best of show" award to a 1937 Bugatti 57 S owned by Andrew Picker of Monaco, while the aforementioned classes were won by, respectively: The Bugatti 57 S, shown below, A 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet, A 1956 Chrysler Boano Coupe Speciale, A 1966 Ferrari 356 P Berlinetta Speciale Tre Posti, A 1961 Porsche 356 B Carrera Abarth GTL, A 1972 BMW 3.0 CSL, A 1989 Porsche 959 Sport, And the Bugatti Bolide concept unveiled in 2020. Winning at Villa d'Este is a big deal: The cars are judged by a panel of highly experienced judges. No one gave me a scoring sheet, presumably out of fear that I'd award points to the late-model Fiat 600 lurking in the parking lot, but several cars that didn't win an award caught my eye. One is a 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports, a grand-prix racer that was once owned by King Leopold III of Belgium and that has never been restored — its patina is inimitable. Another is a 1961 BMW 700 RS. One of two built (the other is in the BMW collection), it's a tiny, ultra-light roadster related to the 700 and powered by a 697-cubic-centimeter air-cooled flat-twin tuned to develop 70 horsepower. It won several hill-climb events during the 1960s, and it's one of the rarest cars ever to wear a BMW roundel. Aston Martin's freshly-restored 1979 Bulldog concept was cool to see as well; check out the cassette player integrated into the headliner!

Romania's Forza Rossa to join 2016 F1 grid

Bazac's Maranello ties have prompted speculation that Forza Rossa could be as closely affiliated with Ferrari as Hass. Formula One may be in a bit of a crisis at the moment, with two of its smaller teams collapsing into bankruptcy, but there may yet be light at the end of the proverbial tunnel as two new teams are gearing up to take their place. One of those teams is Forza Rossa, and while we haven't much anything about the Romanian entry in in recent months, a new report from Pitpass indicates that plans are well under way – if not without their complications. Forza Rossa is being backed by a number of Romanian parties, including veteran race strategist Colin Kolles (who was most recently involved in the Caterham buyout) and Ion Bazac, former government minister and Ferrari's Romanian importer (pictured above next to Giancarlo Fisichella). Interestingly, the latter's ties to Maranello have prompted speculation that the team could be at least as closely affiliated with Ferrari as Haas (the American team being started by industrial machinery magnate and NASCAR team owner Gene Haas). A third Romanian individual – former soccer player Constantin Cojocar – turns out to have been the one who bought Caterham Sports Ltd, the company which designed and built the cars for the Caterham F1 Team until its recent collapse. The plan was to supply chassis and components to both Caterham and Forza Rossa, but Cojocar evidently had trouble paying the bills and keeping the lights on. Caterham's bankruptcy, however, could present a golden opportunity for Forza Rossa to scoop up the assets of both the team and the manufacturer at a good price, building the new team on the burnt foundations of the old one – even if it has already been granted the go-ahead by the FIA to form its own entry. That, however, won't happen until 2016 at the earliest, whittling down the grid in the meantime from 22 cars to 18. According to the arrangement between the FIA, Formula One Management and the teams, that threshold would oblige at least the leading teams to make up the lost places on the grid by fielding a third car each – something they couldn't prepare in time for US Grand Prix this past weekend, but which could be put into action for next season.