Author Archives: Shane McGlaun

Over the last several years, there has been a significant push in the automotive industry to prevent distractions that force drivers to look away from the road to operate their vehicle's systems. This drive has ushered in a number of features in modern cars, such as voice control systems for infotainment and other car functions. Increasingly common are head-up displays, that project information like speed and other data in an area of the windshield that the driver can see, without taking their eyes off what's directly ahead.

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Scientists have confirmed that asteroids have impacted Earth in the past. Most of those impacts left craters of various sizes and caused no real harm to the planet, but there have been some catastrophic impacts in the distant past. One of the biggest impacts ever to take place on the planet is the Chicxulub Impactor, estimated to have been six miles wide. That massive impact left a crater 90 miles wide on the Mexico Yucatán Peninsula and killed most life on the planet.

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When Ford returned the Ranger to the US several years ago, the truck was new to our market, but it wasn't entirely new, having been available in other countries before. The Ranger proved popular and helped broaden the competition in the mid-size truck market dominated by Toyota. Ford has now revealed the next-generation Ranger, and the mid-size pickup is packed with features and promises improved capability compared to the current model. Ford says it collaborated with truck customers around the world to develop a more versatile and desirable truck.

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We say the name Rolls-Royce, we usually think of incredibly luxurious cars that cost more than many homes. However, Rolls-Royce isn't only in the automotive business. The company has a very long and rich history of building engines for aircraft. Rolls-Royce engines were key to the war effort during World War II and beyond.

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NASA has announced that it is continuing to work to bring the Hubble Space Telescope completely online and back to normal science operations. The agency confirmed the Wide Field Camera 3 instrument was successfully recovered on Sunday, November 21. NASA plans to conduct the first science observations using the recovered Wide Field Camera 3 today, November 23.

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In June, Ford announced a critically important vehicle for the brand. That vehicle was the 2022 Ford Maverick. The 2022 Maverick is a small pick-up that promises excellent fuel economy to the tune of 40 MPG in the city for the hybrid trim. The Maverick is exactly the sort of vehicle Ford promised when it discontinued all of its cars in the US, except the iconic Mustang.

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One of the biggest problems with electric vehicles today in an accident is a puncture of the battery cells. When battery cells are punctured, flammable materials used in the construction of modern lithium-ion batteries can overheat and catch fire. It's very difficult to put out a battery fire, and we've seen fire departments take some extreme actions in the past. In some instances, the entire car has been placed into a large tank of water.

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Ferrari has revealed a new limited-edition sports car that has a removable roof panel making it a targa. The car is the Ferrari Daytona SP3, and the limited-edition car is inspired by legendary Ferrari racing cars from the 60s. Ferrari says that on February 6, 1967, it took the top three places that the 24 Hours of Daytona, with the Ferrari 330 P3/4 taking first, a 330 P4 in second, and a 412 P taking third.

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Parts shortages are hitting virtually all automakers, forcing them to be unable to produce some vehicles or to produce some vehicles missing critical components. One of the products that Chevrolet was forced to stop offering during the shortage was its 3.0-liter in-line-six turbodiesel Duramax engine. That engine is found under the hood of both its Silverado 1500 and the GMC Sierra 1500 trucks.

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Volvo has revealed a new concept car called the Concept Recharge. The automaker says the vehicle is more than a showcase for its future design language and product strategy. It says the car is a manifesto for its future as a company. Volvo is showing steps that can be taken to develop an electric car to reduce the overall carbon footprint of the vehicle.

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SpaceX is the company that will put the NASA DART mission into space. DART is NASA's ambitious mission to test our ability to redirect an asteroid away from Earth using the impact of a spacecraft. The goal is to determine if the planet is ever threatened by an asteroid that could cause death and destruction, can humanity deflect the asteroid preventing the impact. Yesterday, SpaceX successfully static fired the Falcon 9 rocket that will put DART into orbit.

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Auto Guangzhou 2021 is underway in southern China, and at the show, numerous automotive manufacturers have revealed new green vehicles. Of course, some of these vehicles may never make it to the US, but it's interesting to see what some of our domestic automakers are looking at for the future of electrified vehicles. One of the automotive brands on hand is Buick, and at the show, it revealed two concept vehicles, including the Smart Pod and GL8 Flagship.

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