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Mercedes to market Tesla-powered 2014 B-Class EV in U.S.

Looks like another Tesla Motors investor will be looking to cash in on their connection. Autoweek reports Mercedes-Benz will offer their B-Class in the U.S. with Tesla propulsion.
The magazine says their source at the German automaker confirms plans for a B-Class electric-only vehicle. While Tesla already provides battery packs for the battery-powered Smart ForTwo, the B-Class EV will reportedly have Tesla batteries, motor and other components. U.S. residents should be able to procure one sometime in 2014.
The same Mercedes source says plans for a hybrid B-Class have been postponed for now. Adding a range-extending, gasoline-powered engine to an electric vehicle would put the car into a different class for which rebates and incentives aren't as favorable in the States.

AMG-powered Aston Martins still years away

After flirting for several years, Mercedes-Benz and Aston Martin have finally tied the knot. Just don't expect to see any offspring to result from the union for at least three or four years.
This according to Auto Express, which spoke with Daimler chief Dr. Dieter Zetsche at the Frankfurt Motor Show last week. AE reports that a new range of AMG-developed turbocharged V8s, transmissions and electrical components will make their way into the successors to the current V8 Vantage and DB9, but that these models are still a few years off.
Purists might balk at the thought of a Mercedes-powered Aston holding true to the brand's heritage. But while David Brown (for whom the DB range is named) may have steered clear of shoehorning in Detroit muscle into his cars, the entirety of the company's current range is powered by engines borrowing technology from Ford, and that arrangement seems to have worked well for Aston until now. And if you're still skeptical, look no further than Pagani and its AMG-sourced engines and you should have all the proof you need that the new relationship between Daimler and Aston could be a success.

Mercedes F1 to use Qualcomm 5 GHz WiFi for its tire data

In Formula 1 you need more of everything. More speed, more grip, more hospitality, more money. And you need data, reams and reams of data. The Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 team – the guys with the silver cars driven by 2015 F1 champion Lewis Hamilton and his teammate Nico Rosberg – need so much information that they've teamed with Qualcomm to wirelessly upload thermal imaging data of its tires. During a typical race weekend Mercedes's two racecars will generate approximately half a terabyte of data. Live telemetry has been a feature of Formula 1 for 20 years, though there are more restrictions on it than in the past. (In the days leading up to last weekend's United States Grand Prix in Texas, Formula 1 major domo Bernie Ecclestone said that F1 needs to cease being an engineering war and return more responsibility to the drivers.) Nevertheless, F1 teams gather vast amounts of data during a race weekend, particularly in practice sessions during which restrictions on what they can upload from cars – from engine/power unit parameters to aerodynamic loads – are less prohibitive. For example, during a typical race weekend Mercedes's two racecars will generate approximately half a terabyte of data. Mercedes F1 technical director Paddy Lowe points out that the standard telemetry system simply doesn't have the bandwidth to handle the thermal tire imaging data that the onboard thermal cameras generate. Why do you want a thermal video of the tires? Because it tells the engineers and drivers precisely how much temperature there is across the surface of a tire during a lap, in corners and on the straights. It also indicates how quickly the tires come up to temperature and when they potentially overheat. Understanding the temperature variations allows the team to set the cars up optimally for grip and tire life during a stint. Qualcomm's system works with the race cars like this: Each car has forward- and rear-facing cameras in a winglet mounted on the left side of the engine intake behind the driver's head, which continuously record thermal images of the tires. As a Mercedes enters the pit lane, it passes a Qualcomm 802.11ac WiFi receiver to which it uploads the thermal data. As the car nears the garage, another receiver takes over the upload. Several Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processors crunch the raw data as it uploads. The data is encrypted – there are always prying eyes in Formula 1.