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Selasa, 24 Juli 2012
Jumat, 20 Juli 2012
Swedish Magazine: "Jeep Grand Cherokee Unsafe"
Swedish Car magazine Teknikens Varld has posted more video on the shocking tip-up of the Jeep Grand Cherokee on their "moose test", which is similar (though not identical to) the Consumers Union lane change test.
After Chrysler's engineers checked out the vehicle, and re-loaded it according to their measure of GVW (which was 200+ lbs lighter than Teknikens Varld's weight), the vehicle no longer tipped up. However, if you watch the video, you'lll see that it is roll-hopping substantially, with the front wheel in the air much of the time. And in multiple runs, the Jeep suffered a tire de-bead.
A de-bead is when lateral forces on a tire push it so far that it loses its bead seal, and allows air to escape. This results in a nearly flat tire on the de-beaded wheel, and is dangerous because if there is a rim hit, that wheel could dig in and increases the risk of a rollover.
You can watch the video for yourself here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaYFLb8WMGM&feature=plcp (and I highly suggest you do)
Teknikens Varld conclusion is that the Jeep Grand Cherokee is not safe. I don't entirely agree, as this is a very demanding maneuver, and the vehicle is loaded to maximum capacity. For most people, who will be driving the vehicle at a lighter loading, there is probably ample safety margin. However, it is significant that competitors such as the Volvo XC90 pass the same test.
I think Chrysler has some more ESC tuning work to do on this product.
Rabu, 11 Juli 2012
Jeep Moose Test Failure
The reason that the Grand Cherokee failed the Swedish Moose Test run by Teknikens V�rld is that they unintentionally overloaded the vehicle. Apparently, Chrysler filed the wrong curb weight with the Swedish government.
Since the behaviour of the Jeep Grand Cherokee was both dangerous and potentially lethal, we suspected that the car was actually packed with too much weight. We immediately proceeded to weigh the car on a scale and got our answer. The Jeep Grand Cherokee does not have a curb weight of 2 347 kilos (5 174 lbs) that the Swedish certificate of registration indicates (see the attached image below), a figure that Jeep/Chrysler has provided to Transportstyrelsen. In fact, the car actually has a curb weight of 2 505 kilos (5 523 lbs) with a driver in the car. That is a full 158 kilos (348 lbs) more than what Jeep/Chrysler claims the car to weigh in the official documentation provided to Swedish authorities.
Add the 602 kilos (1 327 lbs) that Jeep/Chrysler claims the car being capable to load and the total gross weight is now at 3 107 kilos (6 850 lbs). This can be compared to the claimed total gross weight in the vehicle's registration papers � 2 949 kilos (6 501 lbs). This, again, is a number that Jeep/Chrysler have provided. In other words � if one packs a Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland 3.0 CRD V6 with the maximum allowed capacity, one overshoots the total gross weight of the car by 158 kilos (348 lbs). Worth mentioning is that we only overshot the total net weight by 58 kilos (128 lbs) since we unloaded 100 kilos (220 lbs) out of the car when we performed the test as can be seen in the video clip. The car still went up on two wheels.
Senin, 09 Juli 2012
Coda: EV Penalty Box
A very unflattering review of the Coda sedan has been published in the NYT, written by Brad Berman.
In addition to a long list of missing basic equipment (no cruise control, no one-touch windows, etc.), Coda adds to its sins a stiff ride and poor NVH.
Perhaps Coda will find a large base of customers willing to sacrifice ride quality and amenities in exchange for a dependable range of 100 miles. I'm not in that group; in the production version I drove, the high-pitched whine was just the beginning of the Coda cacophony.
When starting out, the electric motor groans in low deep spasms as speed builds. At higher speeds, wind noise and buzzing intrude. The ride is harsh, giving passengers intimate knowledge of every imperfection in the road.
The question for Coda is, will enough private buyers overlook creature comforts, and buy a $35,000 car based only on its range, or will they trade down in range to buy a more up-to-date EV like the Leaf for Focus?
Rabu, 27 Juni 2012
Android @ I/O: the playground is open
Last year at Google I/O, we talked about momentum, mobile and more. This year, we�re picking up right where we left off. More than 400 million Android devices have now been activated�up from 100 million last June. And twelve new Android devices are activated every every second�that�s more than 1 million a day. Today, we�re rolling out a new version of Android called Jelly Bean, adding more entertainment to Google Play, and introducing two powerful�yet distinctly different Nexus devices to bring you the best of Google.
Jelly Bean: simple, beautiful and beyond smart
Jelly Bean builds on top of Ice Cream Sandwich. It makes everything smoother, faster and more fluid. For example, notifications are now more dynamic: if you�re late for a meeting or missed a call, you can email or call directly from notifications. The keyboard is smarter and more accurate, and can predict your next word. And voice typing is faster, working even when you don�t have a data connection.
We�ve redesigned search from the ground up in Jelly Bean, with a new user interface and faster, more natural Voice Search. You can type your query or simply ask Google a question. Google can speak back to you, delivering a precise answer, powered by the Knowledge Graph, if it knows one, in addition to a list of search results.
Today�s smart devices still rely on you to do pretty much everything�that is, until now. Google Now is a new feature that gets you just the right information at just the right time. It tells you today�s weather before you start your day, how much traffic to expect before you leave for work, or your favorite team's score as they�re playing. There�s no digging required: cards appear at the moment you need them most.
Starting in mid-July, we�ll start rolling out over-the-air updates to Galaxy Nexus, Motorola Xoom and Nexus S, and we�ll also release Jelly Bean to open source.
Google Play: more entertainment
Google Play is your digital entertainment destination, with more than 600,000 apps and games plus music, movies and books. It�s entirely cloud-based, which means all of your content is always available across all of your devices. Today our store is expanding to include magazines. We�ve been working with leading publishers Cond� Nast, Hearst, Meredith and more to offer magazines like House Beautiful, Men�s Health, Shape and WIRED.
Now, you can also purchase movies in addition to renting them. And we�re adding television shows on Google Play�in fact, we�re adding thousands of episodes of broadcast and cable TV shows, like "Revenge," "Parks & Recreation" and "Breaking Bad," from some of the top studios, like ABC Studios, NBCUniversal and Sony Pictures. You can play back movies and TV shows on all your Android devices, through Google Play on the web, and on YouTube, and soon we�ll bring the experience to Google TV devices.
Movie purchases, TV shows and magazines are available today on play.google.com, and will roll out to Google Play on devices over the coming days.
Nexus 7: powerful, portable and designed for Google Play
All of this great Google Play content comes to life on Nexus 7, a powerful new tablet with a vibrant, 7� 1280x800 HD display. The Tegra-3 chipset, with a quad-core CPU and 12-core GPU, makes everything, including games, extremely fast. And best of all, it�s only 340 grams, lighter than most tablets out there. Nexus 7 was built to bring you the best of Google in the palm of your hand. Hang out with up to 10 friends on Google+ using the front-facing camera, browse the web blazingly fast with Chrome and, of course, crank through your emails with Gmail.
Nexus 7 comes preloaded with some great entertainment, including the movie "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," the book �The Bourne Dominion,� magazines like Cond� Nast Traveler and Popular Science, and songs from bands like Coldplay and the Rolling Stones. We�ve also included a $25 credit to purchase your favorite movies, books and more from Google Play, for a limited time. Nexus 7 is available for preorder today from Google Play in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia, and starts at $199 in the U.S. It will start shipping mid-July.
Nexus Q: It�s a sphere!
It's great to be able to take your entertainment with you wherever you go, but sometimes you want to ditch the headphones and enjoy music with friends and family. So we�re introducing Nexus Q, which combines the power of Android and Google Play to easily stream music and video in your home�all controlled by an Android phone or tablet. Designed and engineered by Google, Nexus Q is a small sphere that plugs into the best speakers and TV in your house. It�s the first-ever social streaming device�like a cloud-connected jukebox where everyone brings their own music to the party. Available first in the U.S., you can preorder Nexus Q today from Google Play for $299, and it will ship mid-July.
If you own one of the 400 million Android devices out there, you already know that it�s much more than simply a phone or tablet. It�s your connection to the best of Google�all of your stuff and entertainment, everywhere you go. Now you have a new version of Android, more entertainment and a growing portfolio of Nexus devices to choose from�all available in Google Play. The playground is open.
Jelly Bean: simple, beautiful and beyond smart
Jelly Bean builds on top of Ice Cream Sandwich. It makes everything smoother, faster and more fluid. For example, notifications are now more dynamic: if you�re late for a meeting or missed a call, you can email or call directly from notifications. The keyboard is smarter and more accurate, and can predict your next word. And voice typing is faster, working even when you don�t have a data connection.
We�ve redesigned search from the ground up in Jelly Bean, with a new user interface and faster, more natural Voice Search. You can type your query or simply ask Google a question. Google can speak back to you, delivering a precise answer, powered by the Knowledge Graph, if it knows one, in addition to a list of search results.
Today�s smart devices still rely on you to do pretty much everything�that is, until now. Google Now is a new feature that gets you just the right information at just the right time. It tells you today�s weather before you start your day, how much traffic to expect before you leave for work, or your favorite team's score as they�re playing. There�s no digging required: cards appear at the moment you need them most.
Starting in mid-July, we�ll start rolling out over-the-air updates to Galaxy Nexus, Motorola Xoom and Nexus S, and we�ll also release Jelly Bean to open source.
Google Play: more entertainment
Google Play is your digital entertainment destination, with more than 600,000 apps and games plus music, movies and books. It�s entirely cloud-based, which means all of your content is always available across all of your devices. Today our store is expanding to include magazines. We�ve been working with leading publishers Cond� Nast, Hearst, Meredith and more to offer magazines like House Beautiful, Men�s Health, Shape and WIRED.
Now, you can also purchase movies in addition to renting them. And we�re adding television shows on Google Play�in fact, we�re adding thousands of episodes of broadcast and cable TV shows, like "Revenge," "Parks & Recreation" and "Breaking Bad," from some of the top studios, like ABC Studios, NBCUniversal and Sony Pictures. You can play back movies and TV shows on all your Android devices, through Google Play on the web, and on YouTube, and soon we�ll bring the experience to Google TV devices.
Movie purchases, TV shows and magazines are available today on play.google.com, and will roll out to Google Play on devices over the coming days.
Nexus 7: powerful, portable and designed for Google Play
All of this great Google Play content comes to life on Nexus 7, a powerful new tablet with a vibrant, 7� 1280x800 HD display. The Tegra-3 chipset, with a quad-core CPU and 12-core GPU, makes everything, including games, extremely fast. And best of all, it�s only 340 grams, lighter than most tablets out there. Nexus 7 was built to bring you the best of Google in the palm of your hand. Hang out with up to 10 friends on Google+ using the front-facing camera, browse the web blazingly fast with Chrome and, of course, crank through your emails with Gmail.
Nexus 7 comes preloaded with some great entertainment, including the movie "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," the book �The Bourne Dominion,� magazines like Cond� Nast Traveler and Popular Science, and songs from bands like Coldplay and the Rolling Stones. We�ve also included a $25 credit to purchase your favorite movies, books and more from Google Play, for a limited time. Nexus 7 is available for preorder today from Google Play in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia, and starts at $199 in the U.S. It will start shipping mid-July.
Nexus Q: It�s a sphere!
It's great to be able to take your entertainment with you wherever you go, but sometimes you want to ditch the headphones and enjoy music with friends and family. So we�re introducing Nexus Q, which combines the power of Android and Google Play to easily stream music and video in your home�all controlled by an Android phone or tablet. Designed and engineered by Google, Nexus Q is a small sphere that plugs into the best speakers and TV in your house. It�s the first-ever social streaming device�like a cloud-connected jukebox where everyone brings their own music to the party. Available first in the U.S., you can preorder Nexus Q today from Google Play for $299, and it will ship mid-July.
If you own one of the 400 million Android devices out there, you already know that it�s much more than simply a phone or tablet. It�s your connection to the best of Google�all of your stuff and entertainment, everywhere you go. Now you have a new version of Android, more entertainment and a growing portfolio of Nexus devices to choose from�all available in Google Play. The playground is open.
A new friend just moved into the neighborhood...
The statues on the front lawn of the Android building got a new friend this afternoon...
Also, you may have noticed we did a little redecorating. We�ve been asking you what content you wanted to see more of on the Google Mobile blog, and the answer was quite clear: more Android! This blog, in addition to the +Android page on Google+, will be your place to find all the latest news from the Android team.
See you tomorrow at I/O!
Posted by: Hugo Barra, Director of Product Management, Android
Senin, 25 Juni 2012
Wheego, Where Did It Go?
Remember Wheego? The BEV company selling a Chinese sourced ripoff of the Smart, upfitted with electric powertrain?
In this telling article, we learn that they have only sold "a few dozen" cars. And, better yet, new sales are on hold because they need a waiver to sell highway vehicles in 2012 that don't have stability control. Apparently, Wheego didn't have budget to develop stability control the first time out.
My only interaction with Wheego was sitting in a Whip demo car at a local ex-Chrysler dealer, which has since gone defunct. The ex-Chrysler dealer struggled mightily to sell Wheegos, but couldn't move a single one.
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