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Jaguar Activity Key | 2017 Autoblog Technology of the Year Finalist

In principle, the Jaguar Activity Key is a good idea. It's simple, useful, and relatively inexpensive. Unfortunately, in our testing it was less than reliable. Here's how it's supposed to work: To lock the car, leave your keys and fobs inside the vehicle, and strap the band on your wrist. Then, within 30 seconds, place your banded wrist against the letter J of the Jaguar script on the back tailgate. When you come back, you can unlock the vehicle by pressing the tailgate opening button, then, again within 30 seconds, placing the Activity Key band against the J of the Jaguar script. We chose the Jaguar Activity Key as a finalist for our 2017 Tech of the Year award because it's an uncomplicated device with lots of potential customers. Jaguar says the wristband is "robust and fully waterproof." Swimmers, surfers, kayakers, hikers, and even couples out for a sunny-day picnic could use a feature like this wristband key. Plus, wearables are pretty new as a category in general, and even more so in the automotive space. We didn't go skydiving with it or anything (an activity Jaguar cites as a potential usage case), but we did dunk it in water with no ill effects. While it all sounds good in theory, actually getting the Activity Key to work effectively was unexpectedly difficult, especially when the cameras were rolling. We tried varying the timing between closing the door and using the wristband, as well as between using the tailgate button and the wristband. It worked about half the time, regardless of our process or who was wearing the wristband. Whether our issues with the wristband were due to interference, new-technology teething problems, or just electrical gremlins, the idea of purposely locking the keys inside an automobile without having a foolproof way to unlock it gives us reason to pause. The Activity Key is a $400 standalone option on the 2017 Jaguar F-Pace, but only on Prestige, R-Sport and S models. The least expensive F-Pace with Activity Key costs $51,095.

Jaguar Land Rover said to favor Europe rather than US for new plant

With its plants running at full tilt, Jaguar Land Rover is in desperate need of additional manufacturing capacity. That's led to reports that the Indian-owned British company was looking to join European, Japanese and Korean automakers in America's southern states, all while it opened new plants in the UK and China. The company even announced it would be building the Land Rover Discovery Sport in Brazil. Now, though, reports are suggesting that JLR is looking at Europe for a new facility, rather than the US, with Automotive News claiming the company's execs are eyeing the lower costs afforded by Austria and Turkey. The report cites the Birmingham Post (UK), the broadsheet that's closest to the company's headquarters. According to the original report, labor costs and wage disputes with unions are ruling out another factory in the UK, while those same disputes with labor outfits may also be souring the automaker on a US facility. "At this stage Europe seems more likely than America. The union pay dispute had a big effect," an unnamed source told the Post. "There is a feeling of alienation that has been left over from the way the pay talks were handled." JLR, meanwhile, offered a solid no comment to the Post, with a spokesperson saying, "No decision has been taken on future manufacturing locations. We will continue to evaluate opportunities to increase our manufacturing footprint in the future." Related Video:

Lapping Le Mans with 1956's version of a dash cam

Mike Hawthorne and Ivor Bueb won The 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1955 driving a Jaguar D-Type. The following year, a few days before the race, a British broadcaster put cameras on Hawthorne's car, hung a mic from a plate on his race suit and had him narrate a lap of the Circuit de la Sarthe.
It is compelling viewing. A new pit complex was built after the massive accident on the front straight in 1955, but this was still a time when crews prepped for the race on roads that were open to the public. Hawthorne's lap includes maneuvers to avoid bicyclists and cars, and gems like letting us know that doing 185 miles per hour down the Mulsanne Straight was where you could "relax a little, recover your energy." Watch him work it like the men of old in the video below.