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VW V-Charge is clever automated EV parking, charging tech

Automated parking is another niche that Volkswagen wants to rule, so the German carmaker has teamed up with five technology partners to develop its V-Charge system. In short, V-Charge allows an owner to use a smartphone app to send his car to find a parking space and return when requested. If it's an electric car, it will search for an open inductive charging spot, and when fully charged it won't squat over the charger, but will move to find a conventional parking spot. Valet Charge uses four wide-angle cameras, three stereo cameras, 12 ultrasonic sensors, and car-to-infrastructure protocols to avoid obstacles as it finds its way around, including areas like parking garages where GPS won't work. VW says it's been careful to use off-the-shelf sensors and technologies that are already installed in current cars, since it has an eye on near-term implementation of V-Charge. It's impossible to know what "near-term" means, but the sooner we can avoid the valet and trust our car to fetch a spot and come back to us like a faithful pet, the better. The video above shows it at work, the press release below has all the details. 'V-Charge': Volkswagen pushes development of automated parking and charging of electric vehicles - Parking spaces driven to fully automatically - Electric vehicles charged automatically - V-Charge places only minor demands on car park infrastructure - Intelligent form of valet parking Volkswagen aspires to holding the leading position in the field of automated parking. A look into the near future of automated parking is given by 'V-Charge', an EU research project, in which six national and international partners are jointly developing new technologies. Its focus is on automating the search for a parking space and on the charging of electric vehicles. The best part about it is that the vehicle not only automatically looks for an empty parking space, but that it finds an empty space with charging infrastructure and inductively charges its battery. Once the charging process is finished, it automatically frees up the charging bay for another electric vehicle and looks for a conventional parking space. 'V-Charge' stands for Valet Charge and is pointing the way to the future of automated parking. Wolfsburg, 14 July 2015 - In the USA especially, convenient valet parking is a big hit: you pull up in your car right outside your destination, valet service personnel park it for you and have it brought around again as and when you need it.

2019 VW Jetta vs. 2019 Honda Civic vs. 2019 Kia Forte: How they compare

The 2018 Detroit Auto Show was dominated by trucks, but there were also two all-new and completely redesigned compact sedans introduced: the 2019 VW Jetta and the 2019 Kia Forte. Follow their respective links to read our first driving impressions of each, but in short, both compacts are better positioned to steal potential customers away from the segment-leading 2019 Honda Civic, which itself was updated for 2019. Besides taking a look their specs and photos, I had the chance to go between them all here in Detroit, crawl around their interiors, sit in the backseats and figure out which of these not-especially-compacts, which all grew with their latest redesigns might have a practicality advantage. We also have full specifications on each model, which are laid out in the handy chart below. Exterior design There's honestly a little bit of the previous-generation Jetta visible in the 2019 Forte profile — especially around the doors and greenhouse. The Jetta, meanwhile, has the same sort of radically swept-back roofline as the Civic that's become all the rage throughout the automotive industry. The 2019 Jetta is also a little more visually interesting than the car it replaced, though neither the Jetta nor the Forte were as radically transformed as the Civic was two years ago. Alright, let's go to the slideshows. View 20 Photos 2019 Kia Forte View 61 Photos View 28 Photos Engines and transmissions The 2019 Jetta, 2019 Forte and 2019 Civic have considerably different powertrain options, with additional choices possible once the VW and Kia go deeper into their lifespans. Both the Forte and Civic rely on naturally aspirated four-cylinder engines in base specification, with the Civic's 2.0-liter engine making more power and a smidgen more torque than the Kia's. The Jetta goes the turbocharged small-displacement route with its 1.4-liter engine. It makes the same power as the Forte, but smacks down both in the torque department. It makes roughly 50 more pound-feet of twist than both naturally aspirated engines. The Honda Civic is the only one to offer an optional engine, which follows in the footsteps of the Jetta as a turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder. Its 174 horsepower is ahead of the others by nearly 40 ponies. However, its 162 pound-feet of torque still falls short of the Jetta. Impressively, all three sedans still offer a manual transmission option, and all of them are six-speed units.

Automakers not currently promoting EVs are probably doomed

Okay, let's be honest. The sky isn't falling – gas prices are. In fact, some experts say that prices at the pump will remain depressed for the next decade. Consumers have flocked to SUVs and CUVs, reversing the upward trend in US fuel economy seen over the last several years. A sudden push into electric vehicles seems ridiculous when gas guzzlers are selling so well. Make hay while the sun shines, right? A quick glance at some facts and figures provides evidence that the automakers currently doubling down on internal combustion probably have some rocky years ahead of them. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is a prime example of a volume manufacturer devoted to incremental gains for existing powertrains. Though FCA will kill off some of its more fuel-efficient models, part of its business plan involves replacing four- and five-speed transmissions with eight- and nine-speed units, yielding a fuel efficiency boost in the vicinity of ten percent over the next few years. Recent developments by battery startups have led some to suggest that efficiency and capacity could increase by over 100 percent in the same time. Research and development budgets paint a grim picture for old guard companies like Fiat Chrysler: In 2014, FCA spent about $1,026 per car sold on R&D, compared with about $24,783 per car sold for Tesla. To be fair, FCA can't be expected to match Tesla's efforts when its entry-level cars list for little more than half that much. But even more so than R&D, the area in which newcomers like Tesla have the industry licked is infrastructure. We often forget that our vehicles are mostly useless metal boxes without access to the network of fueling stations that keep them rolling. While EVs can always be plugged in at home, their proliferation depends on a similar network of charging stations that can allow for prolonged travel. Tesla already has 597 of its 480-volt Superchargers installed worldwide, and that figure will continue to rise. Porsche has also proposed a new 800-volt "Turbo Charging Station" to support the production version of its Mission E concept, and perhaps other VW Auto Group vehicles. As EVs grow in popularity, investment in these proprietary networks will pay off — who would buy a Chevy if the gas stations served only Ford owners? If anyone missed the importance of infrastructure, it's Toyota.