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Honda invests $470 million for new transmission plant in Mexico

Honda has announced that it has made an initial investment of $470 million to build a brand new transmission plant in Ceyala, Mexico. For those keeping track, this is the same city that will also house Honda's new automobile manufacturing facility, which will begin production of the Fit compact beginning in the spring of 2014.
This new transmission plant is expected to come online in the second half of 2015, with an annual production capacity of 350,000 units, though that number is expected to double in the years following the plant's opening. With a 700,000-unit production capacity, Honda says a full 1,500 new associates will be hired at the Mexican plant.
Honda will specifically use this new transmission plant for the production of CVTs for automobiles built in Mexico, as well as for cars produced in facilities around the world. It stands to reason, then, that since the next-generation Honda Fit will be built right around the corner from these new CVTs, the small hatchback - which is expected to grow into a full family of vehicles - could be fitted with continuously variable units in the future.

Honda next to open museum to Google Street View

Had your fill of tooling around the Lamborghini Museum on Google Street View? Maybe Italian supercars aren't your thing? Then we've got good news, because The House That Ferruccio Built isn't the only automotive museum in cyberspace: now the Honda Collection Hall has opened its doors to the crew from Mountain View, too.
The Honda Collection Hall, for those who haven't made it out to Japan's Tochigi Prefecture, is a grand three-story museum dedicated to all things Honda. It's located at the Twin Ring Motegi, and has been open since 1998. Inside visitors will find everything from robots and scooters to SUVs and racing cars. But if you can't make it there in person, you can check out all three levels of floorspace on Street View right from the comfort of your home. Check out the images above and the interactive map below.

Google's new Android Autos OS unveiled, will be in cars this year [w/video]

Connected cars are coming en-masse. We know this much. How, though, remains something of an open question, especially as two of the world's largest tech companies are preparing to battle for control of your car's dashboard. On the one hand, we have Apple and its CarPlay system. And now, we know what Google has been working on with Auto Link.
Its new name is Android Auto, and yes, it's based off the Android architecture that is the primary challenger to Apple's iOS mobile operating system. Announced at Google's I/O conference today, Android Auto functions similarly to CarPlay - owners will need to plug their smartphones into their cars to access the full breadth of capability.
In Android Auto's case, that means a wealth of voice controls to limit distracted driving. Google's marquee apps will be available when the interface arrives in production models later this year, including Google Play Music, Google Maps and voice-activated texting and text playback. Meanwhile, developers will be able to begin designing custom apps for the new system via an upcoming software development kit.