1971 Lincoln Continental Mark Iii on 2040-cars

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Lincoln owners in San Diego, your chauffeur awaits

In an effort to make up lost market share, Lincoln is trying desperately to differentiate itself from other luxury automakers. The automaker is offering and expanding a number of services aimed at setting itself apart not only from Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, and Audi, but also the Fords that so often share showroom space. One such offering, the Lincoln Chauffeur, is expanding beyond its initial rollout in Miami, Florida, across the country to San Diego, California. The concept is simple. For $30/hour, a chauffeur will drive you around in your own vehicle, stopping at the store, the gas station, or even at school to pick up the kids. The chauffeur can do these things with or without you present, meaning the driver can drop you off at the airport and return the car home, allowing others to use the car rather than leaving it parked at the airport. The service is available to old and new Lincoln owners, though the former get eight free hours to try the service. San Diego was part of a planned expansion. If things continue to go well, look for further rollouts in cities across the country. Related Video: News Source: Lincoln via Automotive News Lincoln Ownership

Weekly Recap: Racing legend Jim Hall explains Chevy's futuristic Chaparral concept

"I said our cars are built to be winners." – Jim Hall Racing legend Jim Hall never thought he'd be a video game consultant, but when Chevrolet asked for his advice to create a futuristic Chaparral for the Vision Gran Turismo series, he was eager to help. He reviewed early sketches and suggested some changes that made it onto the concept, including the addition of a camera that's mounted onto a mast over the cabin to aid the driver. The Chevy Chaparral 2X Vision Gran Turismo concept was revealed this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show and will be part of a downloadable update for PlayStation 3's Gran Turismo 6 in December. Theoretically, at least, it uses a laser-beam propulsion system and an air-powered generator to produce 900 horsepower in the video game. It's capable of sprinting to 60 miles per hour in 1.5 seconds en route to a top speed of 240 mph. Those gaudy performance specs – even in the virtual world – came at Hall's urging. "I said our cars are built to be winners," Hall told Autoblog on the floor of the Los Angeles show. The 79-year-old drove Lotus racecars in Formula One before launching the successful Chaparral Cars in the 1960s. Like his innovative Can-Am racers, the Vision Gran Turismo project has an eye toward the future. It also introduces the iconic Chaparral name to a new generation of fans, and hopefully, Hall says, gets them excited about engineering and design. "It emulates what we did in the '60s," he said. And what they did back then still resonates. Chaparral Racing and Chevy partnered more than 45 years ago for development work on the composite monocoque chassis, lightweight alloy powertrains, automatic gearboxes and active aerodynamics. "He [Hall] walked right back into this and was able to apply thinkings and learnings," said Clay Dean, General Motors executive director of advanced design. The Chevy Chaparral 2X Vision Gran Turismo concept was created at GM's North Hollywood advanced design studio, and it will be on display at the show through November. Other News and Views Sebastian Vettel joins Ferrari team in 2015 Ferrari confirmed that four-time Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel will join the Scuderia for the 2015 season, jettisoning Ferrari's current ace, two-time champ Fernando Alonso. Vettel has been F1's most successful driver since Michael Schumacher, though he's struggled to match his previous accomplishments in 2014.

Ford's BlueCruise gains hands-free lane changes and more in update

Ford is sending out an update to BlueCruise that will enhance its functionality with some nice features we tend to enjoy on other advanced driver assistance systems. Plus, in addition to BlueCruise getting the update, the Lincoln version named ActiveGlide will get the same update. For starters, both BlueCruise and ActiveGlide will gain hands-free lane changing. Similar to other lane-change assist systems, you’ll prompt the lane change by activating the turn signal. ItÂ’ll scan for traffic, and if all is clear, the vehicle will move into the requested lane. Ford says that itÂ’ll even suggest lane changes to the driver in the cluster as you approach slower-moving traffic. What this new feature doesnÂ’t do, though, are automatic lane changes. Systems like Super Cruise and TeslaÂ’s Autopilot will recognize slower traffic, then make a pass all on their own to move around said traffic — theyÂ’ll even move back over into your previous lane after making the pass. We wouldnÂ’t be surprised if Ford adds this functionality to the system in a future update. Another update in this release is new “In-Lane Repositioning” programming. ItÂ’s designed to recognize when there are vehicles in adjacent lanes and will then shift you further away from them within your lane of travel. Ford says itÂ’s especially helpful when passing semi-trucks, and will give you the usual and more comfortable buffer that a human driver might give a truck. The final update is a Predictive Speed Assist feature that will adjust your speed as you approach a curve. It will signal to the driver in the cluster that the car will slow for a curve, then do so gradually as you approach it. This is the sort of feature we typically like to turn off as soon as possible, since weÂ’d rather just remain at the same speed for curves on the highway. But, if youÂ’re one of those folks who like to slow down for curves on the highway, this will provide a more natural driving feel. Ford says that customers have cumulatively put over 16 million hands-free miles on cars with BlueCruise at this point. This update, simply named 1.2, for BlueCruise and ActiveGlide will see its initial rollout this fall. It will hit the Mustang Mach-E first, and Ford says other vehicles will follow. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. POV drive of the 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E