Category: Technology

Modern Cars Are Making Us Forget How to Drive

Modern Cars Are Making Us Forget How to Drive
Cars increasingly watch, warn and intervene while we drive. The technology can make journeys safer and easier, but as our cars take over more of the work, are our own skills, judgement and independence beginning to disappear?

I have spent more than 35 years judging cars, yet increasingly it feels as though the car is judging me. That thought came to me while driving a brand-new modern EV equipped with the latest technology. The identity of the car is unimportant because it simply represents the direction in which almost the entire motor industry is travelling. Modern cars monitor where you are looking, tell you when they think you are tired, control your speed, maintain your distance, steer between the lines, brake for hazards, park themselves and issue a running commentary on almost everything you do.

Continue reading “Modern Cars Are Making Us Forget How to Drive” →
0

Viral Dangerous Driving Videos Could End Driving Freedom

Every reckless clip posted for likes risks lives, betrays car culture and hands regulators another argument for surveillance, automated intervention and a future in which responsible drivers are no longer trusted with their own cars

Let me start with something that should be so staggeringly obvious that having to write it feels rather like explaining to an adult that fire is hot, cliffs are high and attempting to headbutt a moving train is unlikely to improve your afternoon: if you drive dangerously on a public road, film yourself doing it and then upload the footage for likes, follows, shares, notoriety, validation or whatever tiny digital pat on the head you are desperately seeking, you are not proving that you are a petrolhead, a skilled driver, a rebel, a hero or the missing member of some bargain-basement Fast & Furious tribute act; you are proving that you are prepared to endanger your own life, the lives of complete strangers and, because the consequences never stop with the person holding the steering wheel, the future freedom of every responsible enthusiast who enjoys cars without treating the rest of the population as unwilling extras in a stunt video.

Continue reading “Viral Dangerous Driving Videos Could End Driving Freedom” →
0

Your Car Is Spying on You! What Your New Car Knows About You

Your next new car could know where you went last night, how quickly you accelerated, how hard you braked, which phone you paired with it and whether your eyes were actually on the road

Here is something rather important that is probably buried three menus deep in your next car. Actually, scrub that: it may already be buried three menus deep in your current car, somewhere between the ambient-lighting colour selector and the setting that makes the dashboard bong furiously because you dared to glance at the heater controls it forced onto a touchscreen in the first place.

Continue reading “Your Car Is Spying on You! What Your New Car Knows About You” →
1

Scrap Your Petrol Car for an EV? Does the Claim Actually Add Up?

A provocative new study says replacing even a nearly new petrol car with an EV can reduce carbon emissions. The maths is credible, but real cars, real owners and the global motor industry make the answer more complicated

Imagine you own a perfectly good petrol car. It works, it is reliable and it might be only a year or two old. According to a startling new scientific study, the environmentally responsible thing could be to scrap it and buy a brand-new electric car. Yes, really. New Scientist summed up the finding with the wonderfully provocative headline: “It’s good for the planet to scrap a new petrol car and buy electric.”

Continue reading “Scrap Your Petrol Car for an EV? Does the Claim Actually Add Up?” →
0

OOONO Co-Driver NO2 Review – Can This Gadget Really Help You Avoid Speed Cameras?

A tiny puck-shaped gadget promising to warn drivers about speed cameras and road hazards – I tested the OOONO Co-Driver NO2 to see if it really works

Modern cars are crammed with technology. Screens everywhere, navigation systems that want to talk to you constantly, lane-keeping assistants tugging at the wheel, and warning chimes that make you feel like you’re piloting a passenger jet rather than driving to Tesco. And yet, despite all that technology, there is still one thing many drivers worry about: speed cameras. Enter the OOONO Co-Driver NO2, a small Scandinavian gadget that promises to act like a silent passenger in your car – warning you about speed cameras, road hazards, and traffic issues ahead without distracting you with yet another screen. It’s an interesting idea. But does it actually work? Let’s give it a go!

Continue reading “OOONO Co-Driver NO2 Review – Can This Gadget Really Help You Avoid Speed Cameras?” →
0

AI Vs Authenticity and the True Cost of “Good Enough”

Progress brings efficiency, but it risks quietly erasing the value of craft unless we choose to defend it – and if we’re around long enough to do so

AI is not going to take your job. It already has.

This is not a rant against AI. Those of you who follow me know that I use the absolute heck out of it! It’s my illustrator, animator, assistant, researcher, sub-editor… hell, AI is my bitch. It helps boost my workflow and up my pace – it’s the VTEC that lets this one-man content engine rev harder, faster, longer.

Continue reading “AI Vs Authenticity and the True Cost of “Good Enough”” →
1

Porsche Bricked in Russia – And the Terrifying Truth About Remote Car Kill-Switches

Hundreds of Porsches in Russia suddenly stopped working, and the fallout reveals something far bigger than a simple glitch – modern cars can now be switched off remotely

Every now and then, the car world delivers a story that feels less like automotive news and more like the opening act of an apocalyptic techno-thriller. The latest example arrived courtesy of Porsche owners across Russia, who discovered one morning that their pride and joy had transformed into a glossy, German-made paperweight. No warning, no recall, not even the courtesy of a “Sorry, mate, I can’t come out today.” Just… click, whirr, nothing. A perfectly fine engine that refused to start because the car couldn’t “phone home”. We used to worry about flat batteries or water in the distributor. Now we worry about satellite outage. Progress, they call it.

Continue reading “Porsche Bricked in Russia – And the Terrifying Truth About Remote Car Kill-Switches” →
1

AI Told Me the Truth About the Future of Cars and Driving. Should Petrolheads Panic?

A calm AI voice told me driving would survive, but it felt oddly like being reassured by someone reading the instructions for a Temu lawnmower

So I’m driving along, in a plug-in hybrid test car, contemplating important matters like the fate of petrol stations, why people keep buying grey cars and what it would be like if we couldn’t drive anymore. This scenario would, of course, unfold at the advent of an AI era that removed the necessity to pedal and steer a vehicle, handing such duties to sensors, cameras, radars, lidars, a computer brain and, naturally, the all-seeing mysterious Cloud.

So I thought, you know what, let’s ask it. Let’s put to it the big, existential questions about cars, freedom, petrolheads and whether the steering wheel is about to join fax machines and Sony Walkmans in the museum of things we most miss.

Continue reading “AI Told Me the Truth About the Future of Cars and Driving. Should Petrolheads Panic?” →
1

Are YOU Ready to Give Up the Wheel? Driverless Cars Will Hit Our Roads in 2026!

The age of autonomous vehicles is almost here – but are we truly ready to surrender control and let go of the wheel? Here’s what you need to know.

When I started out in this game, being a motoring journalist was always about one thing: driving the cars. The thrill of the exhaust note, the response at the helm, the performance, the grip, the grip of the wheel, the subtle (unspoken) communication between machine and man – that’s where the magic was. That’s what we, as automotive content creators, have always aimed to convey to you – the audience, the readers, the viewers. What makes a car good, unique, special… or even downright dreadful?

But now… it seems that very role (our very reason for existence as petrolheads?) might be under threat.

Continue reading “Are YOU Ready to Give Up the Wheel? Driverless Cars Will Hit Our Roads in 2026!” →
0

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

Up ↑