‘Google Glass for Your Windshield’ Keeps Your Eyes on the Road – BY KARISSA BELLAUG

 

While connected car systems like Apple‘s CarPlay aim to be an extension of your smartphone’s display on your car’s dashboard, a new startup is taking an approach that is much more like Google Glass than systems that use touchscreens and buttons.

Navdy aims to bring drivers the same notifications and information as connected car systems like Android Auto and CarPlay, without requiring users to take their eyes off the road.

SEE ALSO: Sensor-Powered Seatbelt Could Save the Lives of Sleepy Drivers

Driving with Navdy is a lot like using Google Glass. Similar to aheads-up display, the device projects a transparent display on your windshield to show maps, notifications and music apps. The display is designed so the content is focused out six feet in front of you so drivers can easily view the display.

Navdy CTO and cofounder Karl Guttag said he doesn’t believe existing in-car solutions really provide a safer solution.

“It’s obvious that touchscreens and nobs and buttons all force you to take your eyes off the road,” he told Mashable. “Theres a lot of opportunity to improve that whole experience and make the whole experience safer and more natural and intuitive.”

Although other systems, including CarPlay, include some voice control, they are primarily based on conventional dashboard input.

Navdy focuses six feet in front of you so you can view the display without taking your eyes off the road,

 

Guttag said the company also focused a lot improving the experience of switching between apps, so phone calls and other notifications won’t interrupt navigation.

Navdy relies completely on voice and gesture-based controls; drivers can also fine-tune the types of notifications they receive. They can elect to only receive SMS and social media notifications while the car is stopped, for example, or turn off those types of notifications completely.

At launch, it will be compatible with Google Maps, music apps and communication apps like messaging, phone and social media apps. While you won’t be able to browse Facebook while you drive, Navdy will be able to orate text messages and notifications from social media apps, if those notifications are enabled.

On the navigation side, it will ship with support for Google Maps, but the company says it will be adding support for other map apps like Waze or Apple Maps in the future.

Guttag and cofounder Doug Simpson acknowledge that laws around using smartphones in the car vary in different states and countries, emphasizing that it’s up to drivers to follow their local laws. But they say using Navdy is safer than glancing at a smartphone or in-dash screen because drivers can always see what’s in front of them.

 

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Find the full story here – http://mashable.com/2014/08/05/navdy-windshield-google-glass/

A right-hand drive Mustang for SA? Believe it!

• New Mustang headed for 120 countries

 • Available in right-hand-drive
 • Iconic Mustang headed for SA in 2015

PRETORIA, South Africa – For the first time in Ford’s iconic muscle car’s history, a right-hand drive Mustang will roll off the assembly line.

The RHD Mustang will see the classic  pony car exported to more than 25 right-hand-drive markets around the world, including South Africa in 2015.

Earlier in 2014, Ford engineers finished construction of the first right-hand-drive sixth-generation Mustang. The prototype will be used to conduct various development tests ahead of car’s global launch.

9.2-MILLION SOLD SINCE 1964

The United States remains the largest market for the Mustang, with more than 9.2-million sales since the car’s debut in 1964. Ford reports that 161 000 Mustangs have been sold outside of the US.

In 2012, more than 4000 were sold in 35 countries outside of the USA, including the United Arab Emirates, Chile and the Philippines.

IMAGE GALLERY: Ford Mustang at 2014 Chicago auto show

The sixth generation Mustang is available in 2.3-litre four-cylinder turbo, 3.7-litre V6 and 5-litre V8 derivatives.

50 YEARS OF MUSTANG

The sixth-generation Mustang is the latest member of a very exclusive club – vehicles in continuous production for 50 years.

The car has a worldwide base of fans, including more than 7.6-million on Facebook – the most, according to Ford, of “any vehicle nameplate”.

Ford said: “From the beginning, Mustang’s unique combination of style, performance and affordability established an entirely new class of sporty cars, and it has led the segment since.”

The sixth-generation Mustang will make its way to South Africa in 2015. Ford South Africa announced that it will open pre-orders for the all-new Mustang in January 2015. Details will be released closer to launch date.

http://www.wheels24.co.za/News/Ford-tests-RHD-Mustang-for-South-Africa-20140818

Enjoy The Silence! (Warning: Very, Very Technical!)

A silencer is a device for reducing the amount of noise emitted by the exhaust of an internal combustion engine.

Silencers are installed within the exhaust system of most internal combustion engines, although the silencer is not designed to serve any primary exhaust function. The silencer is engineered as an acoustic soundproofing device designed to reduce the loudness of the sound pressure created by the engine by way of acoustic quieting. The majority of the sound pressure produced by the engine is emanated out of the vehicle using the same piping used by the silent exhaust gases absorbed by a series of passages and chambers lined with roving fiberglass insulation and/or resonating chambers harmonically tuned to cause destructive interference wherein opposite sound waves cancel each other out. An unavoidable side effect of silencer use is an increase of back pressure which decreases engine efficiency. This is because the engine exhaust must share the same complex exit pathway built inside the silencer as the sound pressure that the silencer is designed to mitigate.

 

Some vehicle owners remove or install an aftermarket silencer when engine tuning in order to increase power output or reduce fuel consumption because of economic or environmental concerns, recreational pursuits such as motorsport and hypermiling and/or for personal aesthetic acoustical preferences.

 

Trade-off between power increase and noise reduction:

When the flow of exhaust gases from the engine to the atmosphere is obstructed to any degree, back pressure arises and the engine’s efficiency, and therefore power, is reduced. Performance-oriented silencers and exhaust systems thus strive to minimize back pressure by employing numerous technologies and methods to attenuate the sound. For the majority of such systems, however, the general rule of “more power, more noise” applies.