Subject: [NEXTEL-1] 10 Techno-Cool Cars

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 03:50:04 -0500

10 Techno-Cool Cars
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/publicfeature/feb03/tcar.html

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10
Techno-Cool Cars

Spectrum
picks the 10 most technically sophisticated cars for 2003

By
Philip Ross

The auto
industry is quick to entertain new ideas but slower to implement
them. Although Robert Bosch perfected diesel fuel injection
in the 1920s, it was decades before the technology made it
into the mass market for gasoline engines. Mostly, the auto
industry waited for technology to prove itself elsewhere.
Antilock brakes were first used in aircraft landing gear;
GPS navigation in military and nautical applications; seat
belts and noise abatement in aircraft; and build-to-order
sales in PC manufacturing. Car companies, for the most part,
contented themselves with the niceties of design—artfully
molded sheet steel, glowering grilles, white walls, and cup
holders.

In defense
of Detroit, there were sound reasons for this technological
wariness. A fuel-saving gizmo costing more than the fuel it
saved would make no sense. Safety features that were godsends
to sailors and aviators mattered less in cars, least of all
to the drivers who had to pay for them. Neat inventions that
made engineers salivate often left dollar-wise buyers cold.

For some
time, though, this picture has been changing. Pressure came
first from auto manufacturers outside the United States, where
drivers often cared deeply about what went under the hood
or behind the dashboard. Thanks to the technological expertise
they acquired, those auto companies could often turn on a
dime when governments, oil cartels, or some other deus ex
machina suddenly put the screws on fuel economy, emissions
control, oil supply, or plain old safety. The technological
rivalry was quickened in recent years as microchips and other
electronic wizardry got about as cheap to toss around as confetti.

Many
of these technologies are hatched in specialty companies such
as Robert Bosch GmbH (Gerlingen, Germany) and Delphi Corp.
(Troy, Mich.) and tend to seep into the entire industry all
at once, making it hard to single out one or another car for
special praise. Therefore, in IEEE Spectrum's list of top
technocars, we preferred ideas expressed in a unique exemplar,
preferably a vehicle from the current or the upcoming model
year. We looked for significant jumps in performance, convenience,
or comfort, rather than the incremental improvements that,
chained together, account for most automotive progress over
the long haul. We favored bold technologies, knowing full
well that some might not trickle down to the family sedan
for many years, if ever. Also, we wanted the stuff to be cool.
Engineers, after all, are entitled to salivate once in a while.

Volvo
Safety Concept Car

Showcasing
safety beyond the box

Based
on the S60 sedan, this two-door sport wagon has, since 2000,
been showcasing futuristic safety technologies, which are
even proving practical in some cases. Surely production cars
will inherit at least a few of this Volvo's many tricks for
conveying relevant visual information to the driver, including
night vision and see-through A-pillars [see photo];
controls that automatically adjust seat, pedals, and even
the floor when the driver, for which it has been preprogrammed,
sits down; warning systems that cover blind spots and use
sound and light alarms; and rotating headlights that follow
the lead of the front wheels as they turn.

Then
there is a fingerprint access system that locks out thieves
and a heartbeat detector that sniffs out left-behind infants
and pets. In the worst case—when a sensor detects a hostile
life form, Star-Trek style, hiding in the car—the driver
can hit a button that alerts the police. The truly paranoid,
with access to a freewheeling aftermarket, might prefer to
fit the button to an ejection seat.

Saab
9-3

Bluetooth
connects it all together

As
the first car equipped with Bluetooth
wireless technology, the 9-3 links all the car's wireless
devices that obey the driver's voice—cellphones, PDAs,
computers—through a voice-control system. If you're wearing
a headset, you can make a telephone call from up to 10 meters
away. The car, which lists for US $26 000 to $39 000, can
access the Internet as well as satellite navigation, including
a guidance system that helps avoid traffic jams.

Other
gadgetry includes a range of a driver's own custom-set preferences
for features ranging from the temperature controls to the
rain-tolerance of the windshield wipers and whether or not
the burglar alarm is armed. Safety features, always a Saab
specialty, include head restraints that move closer to your
head during a crash, plus air bags all over the place. Oh,
yes, it also has an engine: a 2.0-L, turbocharged version
of the four-cylinder Ecotec, made by Saab's owner, General
Motors.

Honda
Civic GX

Refuel
it at home with an optional $1000 (natural) gas station

Relying
solely on natural gas, this Honda
has been languishing in fleets since its introduction four
years ago for lack of enough "true" gas stations. In the 2004
model year, Honda will break out of this niche by selling
the car for US $20 510 at retail along with a home refueling
station. The stations are to be made by FuelMaker Corp. (Toronto),
in which Honda has a 20 percent equity stake, and will feed
off a home's piped-in cooking gas to recharge the compressed-gas
tanks overnight.

Such
steps are necessary because the GX's 1.7-L, four-cylinder
engine was from the first optimized for natural gas, unlike
"flexifuel" designs that also burn gasoline. That means it
can take full advantage of the fuel's high octane level, providing
excellent performance and superlow emissions (and 20 percent
less greenhouse gas, too). Among the technical tricks used
to achieve all this is a continuously variable transmission.
A tankful will carry it more than 300 km in the city, 420
km on the highway.

Honda
FCX

Fuel-cell
powered, ultracapacitor equipped

The FCX
is the first car for the U.S. market that is powered purely
by fuel cells. It meets zero-emissions standards by exhaling
water vapor—no noxious fumes and no greenhouse gases.
In the coming year, Honda will lease about 30 of the four-seaters
in California and Tokyo, areas where it plans to set up fueling
stations selling compressed hydrogen gas [see photo].

The proton-exchange
membrane (PEM) fuel cells, provided by Ballard Power (Burnaby,
B.C., Canada), put out 78 kW. When supplemented by an ultracapacitor,
whose porous electrodes afford far more surface area per gram
than do the nonporous plates of conventional capacitors, the
car can accelerate about as well as Honda's Civic. The ultracapacitor
also stores energy recouped during braking, when the motor
runs backward to function as a generator. The 156-L fuel tank
goes under the floor, rather than in the trunk, so the driving
range is about 350 km, yet cargo capacity is normal. Honda
made two crucial technological decisions: to achieve zero
emissions, it opted for hydrogen rather than natural gas,
and to avoid a hybrid (gas-electric) design, it went with
the ultracapacitor rather than batteries.

Cadillac
XLR

Suspended
on electrorheological goo

This
all-new two-seater, descendant of the 1999 Evoq concept car,
uses several high-tech features to control the ample output
of its 4.6-L, V8 engine, in a rear-wheel drive configuration.
The most novel feature is a ride-damping device based on an
electrorheological fluid, whose viscosity changes from one
millisecond to the next as an imposed magnetic field affects
a suspension of magnetic particles. It fits into Delphi's
suspension-management StabiliTrak system, which is also used
in other Cadillacs, to sense changes in the road surface electronically
and manage damping and roll control accordingly. These controls,
and the chassis itself, are to be shared with an upcoming
Corvette, which presumably will be tuned more for tight control
(and less for smooth ride) than the Caddy. A third feature
is the radar-enhanced automatic cruise control, which maintains
a constant speed until the car gets too close to a vehicle
in front of it, at which point it slows down enough to maintain
a constant distance. The XLR, estimated to sell for US $75
000, is the first U.S. marque to carry keyless
entry and ignition (pioneered in 1999 by Mercedes-Benz),
in which a card in the driver's wallet opens the car and lets
him start it up by simply pushing a button.

Audi
A8

Computer
controls galore

The most
wide-ranging computer-coordinated electronic systems are to
be found in this US $73 160 Audi, whose Multi-Media
Interface controls a mobile telephone, satellite navigation
system, tautness of the air suspension system, as well as
audio, heating, air conditioning, and assorted goodies, all
with a dial and some buttons. Other standout features include
its aluminum-rich construction, making for a light package,
even given the extra machinery needed for its four-wheel drive.
Also nifty are an override that lets the driver take direct,
temporary, manual command of the automatic transmission's
gearbox and shift, plus a radar-enabled cruise control that
maintains a constant distance from the car in front (a feature
available in several other high-end cars this year). Like
the Cadillac XLR, the A8 allows for keyless ignition, but
goes it one better by offering a fingerprint-sensing pad,
not only to thwart impostors but also to set up a particular
person's desired seat configuration, radio channels, and other
favorites.

Mercedes-Benz
SL500

Braking
by wire

The SL500's
by-wire braking system, the first in a mass-produced car,
equips the driver with a more sensitive, computer-assisted
response to crises. The usual hydraulically controlled brakes
are no longer prime; the brake pedal you push is like a mouse
click to a computer. This, in turn, controls the hydraulic
pressure applied individually to the discs on each wheel's
brakes, according to algorithms that account for g forces,
wheel speed, steering angle, and engine output, as well as
the driver's responses. If, for example, the driver's foot
suddenly shifts from the accelerator to the brake pedal, the
system goes straight into crisis mode.

To address
the worry about software bugs and electrical snafus, first
voiced when by-wire controls appeared in aircraft many years
ago, Mercedes also includes a hydraulic backup system for
the front wheels, forgoing any savings in weight or cumbersome
connections that the system might have provided. The braking
system [see illustration] links
seamlessly to a stability control system and an active suspension
system, which helps keep all parts of the car on the ground
when taking a corner. That ride-smoothing savvy comes with
a powerful 5-L V8, which is to be followed in about a year
by a juiced-up model equipped with a 5.5-L, turbocharged version
of the engine. Mercedes says the new engine in its US $98
000 automobile will be half again as powerful, at around 450
hp (335 kW).

Fiat
Stilo

A
smokeless diesel

Diesels,
until recently famous for fuel frugality but infamous for
smoke, are being tamed all over Europe. Fiat's Stilo 1.9JTD
is one of the best-mannered of them all. Available in Europe
for ¤15 360, it incorporates both a new diesel engine,
produced in conjunction with parent company General Motors
Corp., and a particulate filter.

The 1.2-L,
four-cylinder engine begins with the known trick of pre-injecting
fuel in order to increase temperature and pressure, then takes
it further, splitting the injection into a series of closely
spaced, smaller injections. The carefully timed dribble of
fuel burns ever so smoothly, eliminating irregularities of
combustion and thus heightening performance while reducing
noise and emissions. Further cleanup comes in the particulate
filter, a silicon carbide structure coated with catalysts
that trap 90 percent of diesel particulates, enough to eliminate
all smoke. When the filter feels it's full up—after about
every 700 km—it heats itself enough to oxidize the trapped
particles into carbon dioxide and water.

Chevrolet
Trailblazer

Four
or eight cylinders on-the-fly

A
new engine technology that switches half the cylinders on
or off, depending on load, will debut later this year in the
2004 models in a range of General Motors' large and medium-sized
SUVs. The SUVs will use the powerful Vortec V8 engine, and
although GM hasn't named just which models will get it first,
the Chevrolet Trailblazer is a logical choice. GM recently
loaded it up with more pulling power than ever before, and
it would be nice not to waste all that muscle when idling
at a red light.

GM's
"displacement on demand" technology
uses a solenoid to switch a valve that shuts off half the
cylinders. The process is managed by computer, unbeknownst
to the driver, so as to keep the engine near its optimal load
and its subsidiary systems coordinated—the throttle,
transmission, and emissions controls, for instance. The company
claims a fuel savings of 8-25 percent, depending on driving
conditions.

Toyota
Prius

Hybrid
lists for a mid-range $20 480, with delivery

Five
years after its introduction in Japan, Toyota's five-passenger
Prius remains the most family-friendly
hybrid on the market. Capturing the hearts of drivers as diverse
as vehicular engineering consultant Victor Wouk and Hollywood
bombshell Cameron Diaz, it squeezes more growl from the liter
than the rest, while cutting emissions—this fall it won
a tax deduction for clean operation, the first such concession
in the United States. The green trick is accomplished by using
an electric motor to top off the output of a small (1.5-L)
engine. When more power is needed, the gearbox draws on nickel
metal-hydride batteries to drive an electric motor, and when
more than enough power's on tap, the excess goes to charge
the batteries. A power-splitting gearbox yokes engine, generator,
and motor either in parallel or in series, depending on circumstances.

In parallel,
the engine, the motor, or both drive the wheels; in series,
the engine drives the generator, which in turn drives the
motor. This flexible arrangement keeps the engine running
at optimal load. Further efficiencies stem from using the
motors as generators to recover braking energy and from sculpting
curves on the undercarriage, even in out-of-sight areas, to
reduce aerodynamic drag. Mileage, estimated by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency at 5 L/100 km (45 mpg), on the highway,
actually reaches 4.7 L/100 km (50 mpg) in city traffic; some
users report more than 3 L/100 km (75 mpg) in particularly
snarled traffic.

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