2008 - Mitsubishi Lancer on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Next-gen Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV gets more power all over

Looks like it's official — the U.S. will finally get the upgraded Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV that's been on sale in Europe and Japan since late 2018. AutoGuide perused documents Mitsubishi filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for 2021 product lineup. The paperwork shows a 2.4-liter engine with 126 horsepower replacing the 2.0-liter with 117 hp in the current U.S.-market Outlander plug-in hybrid. We've expected the engine change for a while, but we didn't have a horsepower rating before. The version on sale in Europe gets 133 hp from the 2.4-liter Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder, while promising "higher torque, smoother operation, and overall higher efficiency." We'll get the 13.8-kWh battery, up from the 12-kWh unit currently installed, and the rear electric motor gets bumped up to 93 hp, same as overseas. The e-motor on the front axle holds steady at 80 hp. Unless Mitsubishi has model-year shenanigans in mind, the documents describe the next-gen Outlander that's been promised for debut later this year. It will ride on a Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance platform, expected to be the same architecture shared with the next-gen 2021 Nissan Rogue. The current Outlander and Rogue are just 0.3 inches apart, and both are expected to grow in size. The new Outlander's exterior will glean cues from the Engelberg Tourer concept (shown below) like vertically-oriented headlights, a reshaped greenhouse, and a larger rear roof spoiler. If Mitsubishi carries over the rest of the upgrades afforded the international Outlander PHEV versions, we're in for a more powerful generator, and new Sport and Snow modes. The suspension and 4WD Lock were also bolstered on the current crossover, but with an all-new generation, we'd expect thorough overhauls in hardware and software. The real prize will be finding out how much EV range the next plug-in hybrid Outlander promises beyond the 22 miles available on the current model. On Japan's testing cycle, the new powertrain extended all-electric driving from 37.8 miles to 40.4 miles. Mitsubishi Engelberg Tourer Concept View 10 Photos Related Video:    

Elon Musk: Teslas will already know where we’re going

In the future, cars will drive us. And probably not surprisingly, they'll often know where to go without us even needing to tell them. That's the theme of a short back-and-forth conversation on Twitter recently between Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk and a user who tagged him in a comment suggesting that "it would be cool" to be able to tell a car where to go. Responding to user James Harvey, Musk replied, "It won't even need to ask you most of the time." Later, after Harvey asked how the car would know where he wants to go, another user suggested that the car would know what time you go to work. "Yeah, don't exactly need to be Sherlock Holmes," Musk tweeted. It won't even need to ask you most of the time — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 21, 2017 Yeah, don't exactly need to be Sherlock Holmes. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 21, 2017 That the ability to know where we're going will be part of our future driving experience shouldn't be surprising. After all, the smartphones we carry around already possess the ability to predict what we want — think Google's cleverness in tailoring search results or providing traffic information just before your commute, Facebook's highly customized News Feed content or even auto-fill technology, which can predict the words you're typing. And plenty of automakers have been touting their own work in developing in-car artificial intelligence systems. Like Audi's Elaine concept, which will be able to learn, think and even empathize with drivers. Or Mitsubishi's e-Evolution concept, which can not only assist your driving, but also assess your skills and teach you how to improve them. Tesla's vehicles, of course, are being outfitted with all the latest autonomous driver-assist technology, with the automaker eager to one day reach full Level 5 self-driving capability. According to Inc., Teslas will be able to listen and respond to directional commands, and they'll even have access to your calendar to comb for information about where you need to go. Tesla has also said it's developing an update to its Autopilot hardware and remains on track to achieve full Level 5 autonomous driving by the end of this year, which strikes a lot of people as wildly unrealistic. At any rate, the promise of cars knowing what time we're sneaking out to get donuts or picking up the kids is interesting, coming from the man who has warned that AI presents "a fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization."Related Video:

NuTonomy shows that people quickly relax in autonomous cars

For six weeks, nuTonomy has had a fleet of self-driving taxis on the streets of Singapore, and it seems the experiment is already yielding useful information based on rider surveys. CEO Dr. Karl Iagnemma revealed at UPSHIFT 2016 that despite most first-time riders initially being nervous about stepping into a self-driving vehicle, the anxiety quickly fades. In fact, after a minute or two in the car, riders will relax into near boredom. Customers who ride along in either a fully autonomous Renault Zoe or a Mitsuibshi i-MiEV have been providing valuable feedback to engineers pre- and post-ride. The research and data obtained from their self-driving taxi service and the riders who use it is already being integrated into their future, Level 4 autonomous products. The Cambridge, MA, based company has also found that riders are attributing human-like characteristics to the vehicles. It seems that riders prefer when the machines don't behave like machines but more like people. NuTonomoy is tailoring their future vehicles to be less trolly-like. Iagnemma revealed that the company is in talks with other global cities to bring their autonomous products to the roads. Related Video: Image Credit: Adam Whittaker Green Mitsubishi Renault Autonomous Vehicles Electric renault zoe nutonomy