Jaguar 1969 E-type 2+2 Coupe, With 4 Speed Gearbox on 2040-cars

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Waymo opens its self-driving taxis to 'Trusted Testers' in San Francisco

Alphabet's fully autonomous driving unit Waymo is ready to offer rides to select passengers in San Francisco, the company announced on Tuesday. Starting later today, residents can sign up to become "Trusted Testers." With an invite to the program, you can use the Waymo One app to take rides in the fleet of Jaguar I-Pace vehicles Waymo will have stationed in the city.  Waymo describes the Trusted Tester program as a "research-focused" effort designed to help it collect feedback on its ride experience, with an emphasis on gathering information related to accessibility.    "We kicked off this program last week with a select few and are now expanding the program to all interested San Franciscans," the company said. "We’ll begin with an initial group and welcome more riders in the weeks to come." Much like it did in Arizona, Waymo won't let the cars drive without supervision right off the back. The company will have employees in the cars to ensure its fifth-generation Waymo Driver technology doesn't get lost on San Francisco's tricky one-way streets and hills. The company also told Bloomberg passengers will ride for free.   The expansion comes after Waymo recently announced CEO John Krafcik was leaving the company to pursue other projects. Some saw Krafcik as being too slow to push the company toward commercialization.  This article by I. Bonifacic originally appeared on Engadget. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Jaguar solution to keyless start could save lives

UPDATED: An earlier version of this story indicated the Jaguar keyless start function was meant as a safety feature, when in fact, it is meant as a convenience one and will not work as described if automatic stop/start is not engaged. Today, The New York Times published an article about more than two dozen deaths related to drivers accidentally leaving their cars running, closing their garages and later succumbing to carbon monoxide that flooded their homes. The reason has been identified as "keyless start" features, or proximity entry and push-button start, where owners don't need to physically handle a key or fob to gain entry into the vehicle or start it. It is the latest, and deadliest, issue raised with this system after those related to security and simple inconvenience (for instance, leaving the car at a valet or car wash with the fob in your pocket). From my personal perspective, The New York Times had a rather harsh "evil carmakers" tone throughout the article. This is not a matter of a known faulty component, as with the GM ignition switch recall. This has as much to do with user error where people leave their car without pressing the "off" button and without noticing the engine is still running. About half of the cars in question are produced by Toyota and Lexus, brands that have offered keyless start longer than most. They are also brands with high rates of elderly owners, who seemingly made up a majority of reported deaths and injuries. One fire department in Florida even started a campaign alerting those in the area of the dangers of leaving your car running when it noticed a correlation between an increase in cars equipped with keyless start and calls related to carbon monoxide poisoning. I see several contributing issues at play, most of which go well beyond this particular issue. First is insufficient training of owners by dealers and/or owners not paying close enough attention during this training. Cars are complicated, but you should at least know how basic functions work. Second, woefully inadequate driver training in this country. Third, and with apologies to the AARP, insufficient testing of elderly drivers and/or insufficiently low standards for elderly drivers. If you don't know you have to shut the car off or cannot hear that an engine is running, perhaps you shouldn't be driving. Fourth, re-examining keyless start systems.

2024 Jaguar F-Pace makes more style standard equipment

Jaguar has overhauled its F-Pace offer for global markets, moving the rest of the world to the 2024 model year before the end of 2022. For countries that get the F-Pace P400e PHEV, the good news is the lithium-ion battery's been given an extra cell module to increase capacity to 19.2 kWh. That takes pure electric range from 33 miles to 40 miles on the WLTP cycle. Jaguar says this trim accounts for more than 10% of F-Pace sales globally, a healthy tally considering North America accounts for perhaps a third of global sales and Jaguar doesn't offer its flagship PHEV here yet. In countries that favor electrified vehicles like the Netherlands, Jaguar says uptake can reach 98%. The rest of the F-Pace range has been reworked so that every model gets the R-Dynamic trim package, eliminating the base F-Pace and F-Pace S. In full-featured markets, the trim step from bottom to top goes, R-Dynamic S on 19-inch wheels, R-Dynamic SE on 20-inch wheels, R-Dynamic HSE on 21-inch wheels, 400 SPORT and SVR both on 22-inch wheels, plus a choice of six engines. If this change is applied to our market, we'll be left with the F-Pace R-Dynamic S and F-Pace SVR, and two engines. New standard equipment means better spec for some versions, a TFT digital gauge cluster and the Pivi Pro infotainment system part of the purchase price. The infotainment comes with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, what3words navigation and Alexa integration. The R-Dynamic SE comes with wireless charging, the R-Dynamic HSE now comes with an Ebony Suedecloth headliner standard. If opting for the Black Pack on models that don't come with it, more external bits are drenched in the dark gloss: grille and grille surround, side mirror caps, fender vents, window surrounds, rear valance and rear badges. Detail changes include wheel center caps going monochrome black and silver instead of red and silver, and the R-Dynamic badge going monochrome black and gray instead of red and green. The 2024 F-Pace can be ordered now outside of North America. Jaguar should let us know soon what goodness we'll be getting. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. 2022 Jaguar F-Pace SVR Design Walk-Around | Autoblog Short Cuts