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BTW: Subaru's SHARC won the 2012 Design Challenge

Part of the festivities that encompass the LA Auto Show is the annual LA Design Challenge. This year's winner was the Subaru Highway Automated Response Concept, or SHARC. It envisioned automated, zero-emission highway patrolling.
The 2012 edition of the challenge was to envision the future of highway patrol in the year 2025. The goal was to conceptualize a vehicle that would account for the needs of "dynamic urban environments." In addition to Subaru's participation in the contest BMW, General Motors, Honda and Mercedes-Benz, all took part in the challenge.
The SHARC is essentially a law enforcement land-drone. It is entirely automated and runs on renewable energy. Subaru envisioned a future where the Hawaiian Islands are connected to each other by a large highway system. Such an expansive area would require considerable manpower to patrol. The concept of an autonomous patrol vehicle would eliminate the need for a good number of full-time personnel.

A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.

A pair of Mitsubishis, the Mazda CX-30 and electric incentives | Autoblog Podcast #673

This week's Autoblog Podcast features Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore and Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski as they debate the merits of the redesigned Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86 coupes and whether or not they are distinctive and powerful enough to attract buyers. The duo spends some time discussing ongoing EV and infrastructure legislation before turning their attention to a trio of crossovers. Greg muses about the 2021 Mazda CX-30 before Jeremy talks about the refreshed 2022 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross and completely redesigned Outlander. We get nostalgic as we remember the dearly departed Pontiac GTO before wrapping the podcast up by making one more suggestion to a longtime listener who is shopping for a vehicle to replace her aging Honda Pilot. Autoblog Podcast #673 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars We're Driving 2021 Mazda CX-30 2022 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander News 2022 Subaru BRZ revealed with 228 horsepower New Toyota GR 86 breaks cover as the Subaru BRZ's friendly rival Toyota 86, Subaru BRZ stay the course ... thatÂ’s OK. Biden aims to juice EV sales with tax credits, rebates: Will it work? 2004-2006 Pontiac GTO | Used vehicle spotlight Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Autoblog is now live on your smart speakers and voice assistants with the audio Autoblog Daily Digest. Say “Hey Google, play the news from Autoblog” or "Alexa, open Autoblog" to get your favorite car website in audio form every day. A narrator will take you through the biggest stories or break down one of our comprehensive test drives. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.