1990 Volkswagen Cabriolet Base Convertible 2-door 1.8l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

When Android Automotive goes in the dash, Google wins — and automakers lose data

You've gotta hand it to Google for the way the Silicon Valley tech giant has made indelible inroads into the car on multiple fronts. The most obvious is with its pioneering self-driving car technology that's caused car companies to get their act together on autonomous vehicles — and also collaborate with Google. Google has more directly extended its influence and data-mining capabilities into the car with its Android Auto smartphone-projection platform that most major automakers have adopted along with Apple's CarPlay. And now it's preparing to dig even deeper into dashboards by deploying its open-source operating system, Android Automotive, beginning with Audi and Volvo. Volvo recently announced that its next-generation Sensus infotainment system will run Android Automotive as an OS and include Google's Play Store for cloud-based content, Maps for navigation and Google Assistant for voice recognition, which can even command a car's climate control. By embedding Google in the dash, Volvo says owners will get an improved connected experience. "Bringing Google services into Volvo cars will accelerate innovation in connectivity and boost our development in applications and connected services," Volvo senior vice president of R&D Henrik Green said in a statement. "Soon, Volvo drivers will have direct access to thousands of in-car apps that make daily life easier and the connected in-car experience more enjoyable." Having Android Automotive onboard could benefit drivers — and provide a big win for Google, since it opens a deep and lucrative new data-mining vein for the company. But it's a wave of a white flag for car companies when it comes to delivering their own cloud-based content and services. It also represents a massive data giveaway and, for Audi, a reversal of earlier reservations about letting Google get too much access to car data. Not long after Android Auto and Apple CarPlay were introduced in 2014 and most automakers eagerly embraced the technologies, several German automakers second-guessed their decision when they realized what was at stake: data. At a conference in Berlin in 2015, Audi CEO Rupert Stadler said car owners "want to be in control of their data, and not subject to monitoring." A few months earlier, Stadler stated that "the data that we collect is our data and not Google's.

Autoblog Podcast #416

Episode #416 of the Autoblog Podcast is here, and this week, Dan Roth, Steven Ewing, and Brandon Turkus talk about the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata, seeing the 2016 Nissan Maxima in the company's Super Bowl ad, and GMC's potential plans for a Jeep Wrangler fighter. Of course, the podcast starts with what's in the garage and finishes up with some of your questions, and for those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. Check out the rundown with times for topics, and you can follow along down below with our Q&A. Thanks for listening! Autoblog Podcast #416 Topics 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata first drive 2016 Nissan Maxima previewed in Super Bowl ad GMC mulling Jeep Wrangler fighter In The Autoblog Garage 2015 Hyundai Genesis 5.0L V8 2015 Honda CR-V Long-Term 2015 Volkswagen GTI Hosts: Dan Roth, Steven Ewing, Brandon Turkus Runtime: 01:36:43 Rundown Intro and Garage - 00:00 Maxima – 30:48 Miata – 41:46 GMC/Wrangler – 59:14 Q&A - 01:11:13 Get The Podcast UStream – Listen live on Mondays at 10 PM Eastern at UStream iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Feedback Email – Podcast at Autoblog dot com Review the show in iTunes Podcasts GMC Honda Hyundai Jeep Mazda Nissan Volkswagen vw gti nissan maxima

2015 Volkswagen Golf R [w/video]

Volkswagen hired a photographer to come shoot the handful of journalists that it brought to drive the 2015 Golf R at Buttonwillow Raceway north of Los Angeles. This fact, though unremarkable in and of itself, was something I hadn't noticed until I was well into my track time – probably ten laps deep on a day that would see me run twice that number. In any event, I noticed the intrepid shooter as he was sprinting from one side of the track to the other somewhere before Turn 2, while I was barreling down the main straightaway, still looking through Turn 1. In the roughly two-mile configuration of the track that I drove, Buttonwillow is a big, wide-open circuit, largely flat and with excellent overall visibility. On that layout, and just hours into my Golf R experience, I'd already become confident in endeavoring to push the limits of VW's latest blistering hatch. In fact, the easy nature of driving the thing quickly had me overestimating my pace. So when I saw the photog sprint across the tarmac I instinctively slowed way too much, way too early for Turn 1. Looking back at the incident after I'd pitted for the session, I laughed at myself, knowing I'd have had to be driving almost double my actual speed to put the camera guy in any real danger of being hit. But the experience crystallized what my full test of the R bore out: this is a car that makes you feel much faster than you otherwise would, at least in a competition setting. The 2015 Golf R is an uber hatch that will flatter those hyper-enthusiasts passionate enough to splash out on its steep price tag, but without threatening sales of core models like the GTI and its ilk. That's a good thing for the VW fanboys, to be sure, and, I'd argue, a great thing for the strength of the German brand overall. {C} The R felt both placid and comfortable while I clicked off highway miles in search of the racetrack. My test in California had at least two things in common with the First Drive feature that Steve Ewing brought us with the Golf R in Sweden. First, we both drove European specification cars (though mine didn't suffer from the same sticker abuse that Steve's did). Second, we were both somewhat limited in terms of driving the car in varied, real-world situations. My street route consisted almost entirely of tracking California's I-5 north out of Los Angeles; which any Angelino will tell you is a less-than-riveting mode of travel.