1995 Chevy Camaro Convertible on 2040-cars

Auto blog

When Android Automotive goes in the dash, Google wins — and automakers lose data

You've gotta hand it to Google for the way the Silicon Valley tech giant has made indelible inroads into the car on multiple fronts. The most obvious is with its pioneering self-driving car technology that's caused car companies to get their act together on autonomous vehicles — and also collaborate with Google. Google has more directly extended its influence and data-mining capabilities into the car with its Android Auto smartphone-projection platform that most major automakers have adopted along with Apple's CarPlay. And now it's preparing to dig even deeper into dashboards by deploying its open-source operating system, Android Automotive, beginning with Audi and Volvo. Volvo recently announced that its next-generation Sensus infotainment system will run Android Automotive as an OS and include Google's Play Store for cloud-based content, Maps for navigation and Google Assistant for voice recognition, which can even command a car's climate control. By embedding Google in the dash, Volvo says owners will get an improved connected experience. "Bringing Google services into Volvo cars will accelerate innovation in connectivity and boost our development in applications and connected services," Volvo senior vice president of R&D Henrik Green said in a statement. "Soon, Volvo drivers will have direct access to thousands of in-car apps that make daily life easier and the connected in-car experience more enjoyable." Having Android Automotive onboard could benefit drivers — and provide a big win for Google, since it opens a deep and lucrative new data-mining vein for the company. But it's a wave of a white flag for car companies when it comes to delivering their own cloud-based content and services. It also represents a massive data giveaway and, for Audi, a reversal of earlier reservations about letting Google get too much access to car data. Not long after Android Auto and Apple CarPlay were introduced in 2014 and most automakers eagerly embraced the technologies, several German automakers second-guessed their decision when they realized what was at stake: data. At a conference in Berlin in 2015, Audi CEO Rupert Stadler said car owners "want to be in control of their data, and not subject to monitoring." A few months earlier, Stadler stated that "the data that we collect is our data and not Google's.

Drive visits a Mercedes Pagoda collector in Bangkok

The term "icon" gets thrown around a lot, but if there was ever an automobile that deserved the honorific, certainly the Mercedes SL is one of them. Now in its sixth generation, the SL has been the prototypical German roadster since the 1950s. A sports car with that long a history will inevitably attract a great many collectors, but with values of first-generation 300 SLs and 190 SLs skyrocketing, those enthusiasts without bottomless pockets are turning in growing numbers to the second generation. Known as the Pagoda due to the design of its removable hardtop, the W113-generation SL arrived in 1963 and stayed in production until 1971. By that point Mercedes had built nearly 50,000 of them, selling over 19,000 of those in the United States alone. Through three engine variants – dubbed 230, 250 and 250 SL – and numerous body-styles, all featured an inline-six, transmitting to the road through manual or automatic transmissions with four or five gears. More of a cruiser, then, that an outright sports car, but one that warrants its place in the history of the automobile. In this latest episode, Drive travels to Bangkok to profile a local enthusiast and collector. That's a rather difficult undertaking in Thailand, where it's illegal to import old cars, but Sittisan Quan Sundaravej rises to the challenge, locating classics together with like-minded local enthusiasts. The heart of his collection, though, isn't one he acquired, but rather inherited from his late father. That's the kind of provenance you can't buy.

Mercedes completes production of G63 AMG 6x6

Considering its 19-foot length, it sure was short-lived. A flash in the pan, really, in so far as a 4-ton beast could possibly be. But the Mercedes G63 AMG 6x6 is reportedly wrapping up its short production run this month. Based on a military variant of the legendary Gelandewagen but built for civilian consumption, the G63 AMG was – and will likely forever remain – the ultimate version of Benz's ultimate off-roader. It features six driven wheels on three axles with five differentials, all powered by AMG's stalwart 5.5-liter twin-turbo V8. Mercedes rolled out the 6x6 on all its half-dozen driven wheels barely over a year ago, and despite its half-million-dollar sticker price, demand soared. But after selling about 100 of them, the German automaker is putting it to pasture, ensuring its rarity in the annals of off-roader history. In its place, Benz will now begin production of the (relatively and slightly) less bonkers G500 4x42, which employs a tamer 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 driving a more conventional four wheels, and ditches the pickup short-bed for an enclosed wagon body-style, but keeps its eccentric big brother's jacked-up ride height. Those looking for the last word in power, though, will be more interested in the twelve-cylinder G65 that will now be coming to US dealers with a $200k+ sticker price. Related Video: