2020 Land Rover Defender 110 S Awd on 2040-cars

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Driving the 2020 Lotus Evora GT, and Defenders at a trickle | Autoblog Podcast #631

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Producer Christopher McGraw and Road Test Editor Zac Palmer. First, they talk about driving the 2020 Lotus Evora GT. Then they take some time to update any new happenings and opinions on our long-term Subaru Forester and Volvo S60 T8 plug-in hybrid. In the news this week, the new Land Rover Defender is in short supply, and Tesla is rumored to be creating a 12-passenger shuttle for use in The Boring Company tunnels. Finally, we reach into the mailbag to help a listener replace a Mazda3 hatch with something to better match their lifestyle. Autoblog Podcast #631 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: 2020 Lotus Evora GT 2019 Subaru Forester long-term update 2020 Volvo S60 T8 long-term update The 2020 Land Rover Defender is in short supply Tesla may be working on 12-passenger shuttle for The Boring Co. Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Jaguar Land Rover exploring 3D HUD and infotainment projections

With its most recent technology research, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is exploring the use of 3D projections for a world before and/or after autonomous vehicles come to fruition. In collaboration with the United Kingdom's University of Cambridge, JLR has developed concepts for a 3D head-up display that shows information on the road ahead and a system that projects personalized 3D infotainment for vehicle passengers.  As of right now, hundreds of production vehicles are equipped with two-dimensional head-up displays, some color, others black and white. Using various techniques and different technologies, manufacturers display information in a flat image in front of a driver. Some might find it distracting or unhelpful to have this in the driver's line of sight, and JLR might have found a solution. Rather than wedge the information in between the person and the view ahead, a 3D system that uses augmented reality could display the info onto the road in front of the driver. JLR thinks the system could project navigation directions, safety alerts such as lane departure, hazard detection or other bits typically found in a car's infotainment or instrument cluster. Some might find this to be even more distracting that 2D head-up displays, but to each his or her own. While the 3D head-up display is something that could be used right now, if it were released and passed legal, part two of JLR's 3D technology research is imagined for a life where truly autonomous vehicles are skating across the country. Using head- and eye-tracking technology, the system could lock into the position of numerous people in a vehicle and give each of them a personalized 3D projection "screen." This could be used to track a trip, look up points of interest, or even watch movies. JLR points out this could be used during ride-sharing without bothering others in the vehicle. The work with the Center for Advanced Photonics and Electronics at Cambridge is still in development for now, but it's only a matter of time before 3D tech makes it into cars in some degree.

Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations could build standalone models

Jaguar Land Rover may be set to turn its Special Vehicle Operations division into something much bigger than a mere in-house tuner. Bloomberg spoke to the head of JLR's high-performance, customization outfit, John Edwards, who hinted that his team may move beyond simply modifying F-Types, Range Rovers and the like. "We're certainly looking at that, and we've got the capability to do that," Edwards told AN. "Is there an opportunity for us to do a completely standalone car? Maybe." Such a move into full-scale, standalone models would be a big step, particularly for a division that's still kind of in its infancy. Bloomberg references the success of Mercedes-AMG, but the German division has had the benefit of decades of growth. AMG spent years and years building high-performance versions of all manner of mainstream Mercedes vehicles, before moving onto cars like the SLS AMG and AMG GT, which have no mainstream analog. In other words, AMG had a long time to develop a reputation building high-performance vehicles that people know and recognize before it moved into building vehicles of its own. We aren't entirely convinced that SpecOps wouldn't benefit from taking a similar approach, delivering additional SVR vehicles, like the rumored XE SVR, before striking out on its own. We'd like to know what you think, though. Is it already time for Special Vehicle Operations to build standalone models, or should it learn to walk before it runs by modifying more of Jaguar Land Rover's existing product. Have your say in Comments. Related Video: