1999 Honda Accord Ex Sedan 4-door 2.3l on 2040-cars

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Fernando Alonso expects to retire after McLaren-Honda

When Fernando Alonso was three years old, his father gave him a model of a McLaren-Honda grand prix car. That's where his path to Formula One started, and it's where he wants his career to end as well. Speaking with Autosport, the two-time world champion indicated that he intends to retire after he's done at McLaren, rather than switch to another team. Of course, he didn't indicate just when that would be, but as far as he's concerned, the road ends in Woking. The highly rated and immensely successful Spanish driver has been on the grid for fourteen years now. He started out with Minardi (precursor to Toro Rosso) in 2001, then spent four seasons with Renault, where he scored back-to-back world titles. He then switched to McLaren for one year, where he won four races, then back to Renault for another three where he and the team fell off their form. Fernando subsequently switched to Ferrari where he spent the last five seasons, thrice finishing second in the world championship but never quite managing to clinch an elusive third title. This year he's back at McLaren but has had a bumpy start. After crashing during a pre-season test session, he sat out the season opener, and failed to finish the second round in Malaysia. He's now in Shanghai preparing for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix. Like this writer, he'll be turning 34 in July, making him the fourth oldest driver on the grid this year. So he's still got a good few years in him, and will likely want to see the troubled rekindling of the McLaren-Honda partnership through to winning form. But while nobody can tell what the future will bring, it looks like any other team that hopes to lure the champ away could end up disappointed.

Inside Honda's ghost town for testing autonomous cars

On the edge of the San Francisco suburb of Concord, California sits a ghost town. Dilapidated buildings and cracked roads are framed by overgrowth and slightly askew street signs. The decommissioned five acre portion of the Concord Naval Weapons Station that once housed military personnel and their families is now home to squirrels, jack rabbits, wild turkeys and Honda's mysterious testing lab for autonomous vehicles. This former town within a Naval base – now dubbed "GoMentum Station" – is the perfect testing ground for Honda's self-driving cars. An almost turn-key solution to the problem of finding somewhere to experiment with autonomous vehicle inside an urban area. Thanks to the GoMentum Station, the automaker has access to 20 miles of various road types, intersections and infrastructure exactly like those found in the real world. Just, you know, without all the people getting in the way. While the faded lane markers and cracked asphalt might initially make it difficult for the car to figure out what's going on around it, that's exactly what you want when training a self-driving system. Many roads in the real world are also in dire need of upkeep. Just because autonomous vehicles are hitting the streets doesn't mean the funding needed to fix all the potholes and faded lane markers will magically appear. The real world doesn't work that way and the robot cars that will eventually make our commutes less of a headache will need to be aware of that. Plus, it's tougher to train a car to drive downtown than to barrel down the highway at 80 miles per hour. A company is going to want to get as much practice as possible. While semi-autonomous driving on the everyone-going-the-same-way-at-a-constant-speed freeway is already a reality, navigating in an urban environment is far more complex. If you've driven on the streets of Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago or Seattle you know that driving downtown takes far more concentration than cruising down the interstate. With all that in mind, Honda's tricked out Acura RLX did a good job during an (admittedly very controlled) hands-free demo. It didn't hit either of the pedestrians walking across its path. It stopped at stop signs and even maneuvered around a mannequin situated in the middle of the road. The reality is, watching a car drive around the block and safely avoid stuff is boring. Not to metion, Google has been doing this for a while in the real world.

HyFive hydrogen infrastructure gets $51M boost across Europe

"High five!" was one of the catch-phrases of Sacha Baron Cohen's Kazakh comedic alter ego Borat. A real-world HyFive is being announced by a power broker named Boris. And this is serious business. London Mayor Boris Johnson has announced a program called HyFive, which will see automakers and other entities invest 31 million British pounds ($51 million US) in a demonstration project for hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. By next year, London will have three hydrogen refueling stations, while there will be one each in the Danish cities of Aarhus and Odense and one in Innsbruck, Austria. Leaders of the program are planning for other stations in Sweden, Germany and Italy. The five participating automakers are BMW, Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler, Honda, Hyundai and Toyota, while other companies involved include Copenhagen Hydrogen Network, ITM Power and Linde. Those OEMs will make 110 fuel-cell vehicles available for deployment in Bolzano, Copenhagen, Innsbruck, London, Munich and Stuttgart. The program represents an effort to address the "chicken or egg?" challenge inherent to establishing a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle market. While the powertrain technology provides benefits by combining fossil-fuel-like refueling times with long driving ranges and zero emissions, establishing a refueling network and building fuel-cell vehicles is prohibitively expensive, especially in low volumes. The London mayor is no stranger to green transportation technology. Late last year, Johnson made himself available for a photo opportunity with Ecotive and Frazer-Nash, which had developed a six-passenger extended-range plug-in taxicab. The mayor got a test drive in the cabs this week. You can check out the HyFive press release below. Global leaders sign up to GBP31m plan to demonstrate viability of hydrogen vehicles International project HyFive pioneers hydrogen fuel cell technology A pioneering GBP31 million deal will be struck today (3 April) to make hydrogen vehicles a viable and environmentally friendly choice for motorists across Europe. Leading motor manufacturers, hydrogen fuel suppliers, the Mayor of London's Office and energy consultancies from around the globe are signing up to the HyFive project, the largest of its kind in Europe, at City Hall in London today.