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EcoCar2 is on the hunt for a better, cleaner Chevy Malibu [w/video]

The students spent three years transforming an ordinary Chevy Malibu into a revolutionary vehicle. Not far from the building where General Motors once invented the Chevy Volt, a dozen or so college students are standing on the blacktop alongside a test track, watching a professional driver push the limits of a plug-in hybrid car they've built that's far more radical. These students, from Colorado State University, have spent the past three years transforming an ordinary Chevy Malibu into a revolutionary vehicle. At first glance, it still looks like a regular sedan. But under the hood, they've installed a hybrid powertrain that contains both hydrogen and electric power sources. Even by the standards of the Department of Energy competition they're participating in, it's an outlier. That's exactly what they had in mind. "We didn't want to come here and tell them how to build a better Volt," said Tom Bradley, faculty adviser for the Colorado State team. "They already know how to do that. We can tell them how to think about these possibilities in a whole new way." After three years of work, it all comes down to this. The Colorado State team was one of 15 that came to GM's Milford Proving Grounds last week for the final stretch of the EcoCar2 competition, which challenges regular college students who have no automotive experience to do nothing less than reinvent the American car. The teams have come from across North America, and include schools like Ohio State and Virginia Tech that have a long history of participating in similar competitions, and schools like the University of Washington and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University that are here for the first time. After three years of work, it all comes down to this. The teams have operated 24 hours a day for almost two weeks here at the Proving Grounds, running a gamut of tests that include a 310-point safety inspection, emissions and energy-consumption tests and road tests, in which professional GM drivers ensure they're road worthy. The winning team will be announced tonight in Washington D.C. Revolutionary cars, ordinary package While other green-car competitions encourage extreme designs, this one comes with a somewhat constraining twist: Yes, students must improve fuel economy and reduce emissions, but in the end, they still have to have a car that would appeal to mainstream customers. In practical terms, that means they must keep conveniences like air conditioning and trunk space.

nuTonomy beats Uber to market with self-driving taxi rides, and the latest Corvette ZR1spy shots | Autoblog Minute

Software developer nuTonomy beats Uber to market with self-driving taxi rides in Singapore. A 124 Coupe could soon join Fiat's roadster lineup, and we have the latest spy shots of the new Corvette ZR!. Senior Editor Greg Migliore reports on this edition of Autoblog Mintue. Senior Editor Greg Migliore reports on this edition of Autoblog Mintue. Show full video transcript text [00:00:00] Massachusetts based software company, nuTonomy, launched its self-driving taxi service in Singapore this week. nuTonomy specializes in developing software for self-driving cars. Testing of the companies ride-hailing smartphone app occurred in Singapore, where riders were able to book a free driverless ride. nuTonomy's robo-taxi fleet is comprised of Renault Zoes and Mitsubishi i-MiEVs. Engineers from nuTonomy were present at this public launch as a safety measure. [00:00:30] The company will now continue to collect data and conduct more testing with its self-driving cars in Singapore, Michigan and the United Kingdom. nuTonomy has plans to offer widely-available commercial service in Singapore in 2018. nuTonomy's aggressive play in Singapore has put Uber and its partner Volvo in the unlikely position of playing catch-up. Autocar reported this week that we should expect FCA to add a Coupe [00:01:00] to it's 124 roadster lineup. When? Well, seeing as the 124 Spider just recently made it US dealers we may have to wait until next year to see a hardtop Fiata. It's tough to predict what kind of performance we can expect out of a 124 Coupe but in the U.S. the Spider has 160hp using a 1.4-l turbocharged engine. So the car you see in these pictures is actually Fiat's 124 Rally car that will be used for competition. [00:01:30] Now that's not exactly how the street car will look but it gives you an idea of what a 124 with a fixed roof is gonna look like. This week we got another look at what we think is the Chevy Corvette ZR1 and its massive rear wing. Now to be clear, the images that we're seeing are actually demonstrations. The car was actually captured without the rear wing. However, our spy photographers photoshopped the wing, which we've seen before, on some of these new shots just so you could get [00:02:00] a sense of what the car looks like driving around in it's most recent state. Now we think this car will make more than 700hp, which is kind of a magic number. The Hellcats from Chrysler make 707 so certainly GM wants to beat them.

Burt Reynolds' vehicles up for auction at Barrett-Jackson

Burt Reynolds' influence on car culture cannot be overstated. Be it "Smokey and the Bandit" or "Cannonball Run," his films inspired a generation of car enthusiasts. He died a few weeks back from cardiac arrest at age 82. This weekend, four vehicles from Reynolds' personal collection — three Pontiacs and a Chevy — will go up for auction at Barrett-Jackson in Las Vegas. It seems Reynolds had plans to sell the cars before he passed. He even filmed a short teaser for the auction and planned to attend the event himself. Three of the cars are Pontiac Trans Ams. Two are re-creations of the cars he drove in "Bandit" and the film "Hooper." Both are 1978 models. The third Trans Am is from 1984 and was used to promote Reynolds' USFL team, the Tampa Bay Bandits. The fourth vehicle is a 1978 Chevy R30 pickup truck. It's styled like the truck he drove in "Cannonball Run." None of the vehicles were actually used in the movies. But they were registered in his name, making them far more legitimate than some other movie-inspired clones. It's unclear how many Bandit Trans Ams Reynolds has owned over the years. Another car connected to him sold for $450,000 back in 2014. His death is sure to drive the price of these new cars even higher. Related Video: Image Credit: Barrett-Jackson Celebrities Chevrolet Pontiac Auctions Truck Coupe pontiac trans am burt reynolds