Category: @autoblog

VW sends off the Beetle with ‘The Last Mile’ short film tribute

In case you'd forgotten — and it would be difficult to, since Volkswagen has seemed determined to remind us every few months — 2019 was the final year of production for the VW Beetle. As a final send-off, VW put together an animated short film commemorating the nameplate's contributions to pop culture over the past eight (!) decades. 

This 90-second tribute, dubbed "The Last Mile," can be forgiven for lacking depth, but it will probably still manage to tug on your enthusiast heartstrings. It features cameos from Ren McCormack, Kevin Bacon, Andy Warhol, and Andy Cohen, and is set to a cover of The Beatles' “Let it Be” performed by the Pro Musica Youth Chorus of Oak Park, Illinois. 

"The Beetle is easily one of the most recognizable cars in the history of automobiles," said VW marketing VP Saad Chehab. "Honoring it properly required a medium with just as much versatility and universal appeal as the car itself."

While the film focuses on the original Bug's place in history (and our hearts), fans of the reincarnated generations of VW's iconic coupe can take heart; they're not being left out of the celebration. 

"While we chose the classic Beetle as the star of the animation, additional campaign components in Times Square honor the latter two generations of cars and their place and presence in American culture," Chebab said. "We are proud of our past but our eye is on the future – hence our choice of New Year’s Eve to hint at our upcoming long-range EV and the 2020 Atlas Cross Sport.”

"The Last Mile" will be featured alongside other VW memorabilia and hints about the brand's future in Times Square Tuesday night as part of the company's sponsorship of "Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve" on ABC.

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Video captures semi truck careening into first responders at freeway pileup

Two people were hurt, including a Texas state trooper, after a horrific incident caught on video that shows an 18-wheel semi truck barreling off the freeway behind a pileup in heavy fog, sending emergency responders and others fleeing before jackknifing, sweeping aside at least two other vehicles and crushing a pickup truck with the driver still inside.

NBC affiliate KCBD-TVcaught video of the incident, which took place Friday on Highway 84 southeast of Lubbock. The state trooper who was struck while trying to escape the onrushing semi was reportedly released from the hospital later that night with a sprained ankle, a cut to the back of his head and some bruising. The driver of the pickup, who was extracted by firefighters, was reportedly held at the hospital and was being monitored for internal injuries. He was said to be in stable conditions with few substantial injuries.

Police were there responding to a two-vehicle crash that had blocked the westbound lanes when a semi traveling eastbound (not shown in the video) jackknifed and came to a rest in the center median, with several other vehicles crashing into it, KCBD reports. Then on camera, another eastbound semi traveling at speed appears out of the fog, colliding with a red SUV that was attempting to pull over in front of it, causing the semi to jackknife, careen off the pavement and roll over, striking several vehicles in the process.

KCBD reports there were a total of five crashes involving four semi tractor-trailers and four passenger vehicles. The area was under a dense fog advisory at the time, with visibility limited to a quarter mile or less.

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Our favorite Autoblog videos of 2019 | Behind the Wheel S01 // EP09

Behind the Wheel is a new video series that shows you a bit of what it’s like to work at Autoblog. The Editors and Video Producers will show you the cars we have in our fleet, and you’ll get a behind the scenes look at some of the personalities that help make the site run. 

In episode 09 the Autoblog crew looks back at some of our favorite videos from 2019 and reflects on the moments that meant so much to us.

Do you have a favorite video you’d love to share? We’d love to hear from you, so please comment below!

Gear we used to make this video: 

Panasonic GH5s

Panasonic Lumix 12-35mm F2.8

Rode VidMic Pro

JOBY GorillaPod 3K Stand

Tiffen 58mm Variable ND Filter

GoPro Hero 7 Black

Adobe Premiere

Autoblog is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. These deals are available through our affiliate partnership with Amazon.com. Deals are subject to Amazon's schedule and availability.

Sherp The Ark is the dream we weren’t brave enough to have

Sometimes what hurts most is realizing your dreams weren't big enough. Here we've been lusting after #VanLife, when we should have been imagining the possibilities for an overlanding Sherp. The Ukrainian go-anywhere 4x4 began trundling over and through everything on 63-inch tubeless tires in 2016, the compact four-seater good for perhaps a few days in the back of beyond. Now its makers have revealed their get-off-the-grid version called Sherp The Ark. This puts an upgraded Sherp on tractor duty, pulling a 15.75-foot trailer that rides on six driven wheels, creating a 10x10 that almost makes us wish for a less-than-total Apocalypse.

Note, this isn't a Sherp simply hooked up to a trailer at will – Sherp The Ark is a complete unit. Whereas the Sherp uses skid steering to turn, like a tank, Sherp The Ark gets three-axis steering like an airplane. That means turning the steering yoke can lift the tractor's front end, and raise and lower the tractor's rear end independently. The technique helps the minidozer climb over five-foot-high obstacles, traverse 6.5-foot-wide ground openings, and up and down 40-degree inclines. That grade angle is five degrees more than can be climbed and descended with the standard Sherp Truck and Sherp Pro. Switches in the cabin permit the driver to disconnect any of the driven wheels on the trailer individually, and to disconnect the four wheels on the tractor so the trailer becomes a push vehicle.

The standard, 8.26-foot-long Sherp is powered by a Kubota 1.5-liter, four-cylinder diesel with 44.3 horsepower and 88 pound-feet of torque, charged with moving 2,866 pounds up to 25 miles per hour on land, 3.7 mph in the water. The 31.6-foot-long Sherp The Ark, with a dry weight of 10,500 pounds, gets a Doosan 2.4-liter four-cylinder diesel with 74 hp and 206 lb-ft, and can run up to 18.6 mph on land and 3.7 mph in the water. The Sherp can hold 76.2 gallons of fuel in five tanks, Sherp The Ark hauls 213 gallons in one tank and ten auxiliary canisters, good for around 82 hours of running. 

There are three trailer units available – a flat load platform, a liquid tanker, and an enclosed box – all with 6,600-pound load capacity. The box unit can be turned into a personnel carrier with up to 21 seats. We are naturally more interested in the Dwelling Module for "long expedition projects in hard-to-reach areas" that is "properly isolated with energy-saving materials." For an example of what looks like, check out this video from last year, which we'll guess was a prototype run for The Ark. Glorious. With two of these in convoy, there'd be no such thing as the end of the Earth. About the only thing that can stop the non-street-legal Sherp The Ark is a paved road.

Sherp hasn't released a price yet, but the $119,999 price for the Sherp Pro gives one a good floor to start looking upward.

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Autoblog video week in review | Dec. 8-14

The video roundup post is your weekly landing spot for all things Autoblog video. This week we discuss the pros and cons of the Limited trim of the Jeep Cherokee, show you the first-person POV of the all-wheel-drive Dodge Challenger GT, rant about how Epic games is ruining Rocket League, and we've got a new episode of the Autoblog Podcast featuring the Civic Type R and Hyundai Veloster N. 

On Monday the new Behind The Wheel episode went live. In it, Senior Producer Christopher McGraw takes a Jeep Cherokee Limited to Rocky Mountain National Park.

Host, Erik Maier was joined by Producer Amr Sayour for the Tuesday Twitch stream for some heated Rocket League competition. Erik also has a nice rant about some recent money-grubbing tactics perpetrated by Epic Games in Rocket League.

On Wednesday we took the 2019 Dodge Challenger GT out for a spin. You can experience the outing too by watching the latest POV Drive:

The Thursday Twitch stream features Erik and Associate Editor Joel Stocksdale playing Need For Speed: Heat. Watch Erik and Joel complete two in-game "day challenges, 2 Star A Drift Zone and Reach 4x Drift Multiplier.

On Friday Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore sat down with Associate Editor Joel Stocksdale for the Autoblog Podcast. In episode #607 they discuss the Honda Civic Type R and Hyundai Veloster N.  

This poop-scooping bot is like a Roomba for your yard

Transcript:  Roomba pooper scooper. This robot automatically detects dog waste in your yard and scoops it up. Beetl Robotics created this poop-scooping bot to help people around the house. It works by taking multiple photos of the yard and uploading them to the cloud. The cloud system identifies the dog feces and sends info back to Beetl to pick it up. Beetl navigates to the location and uses a pick and lift mechanism. The waste is dropped into an in-ground composter. No word yet on when this handy robot will go on sale.

Full-size Pierce Arrow Pikes Peak car built out of gingerbread

Fancy hotels love a big ol' fancy gingerbread sculpture this time of year. Forbes Travel lists a few of them, the exhibitions including a 10-foot-tall streetcar in at the Four Seasons New Orleans and an 18-foot-tall lighthouse at Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour. The Broadmoor, Colorado's luxury resort near Pikes Peak, has been in the gingerbread extravaganza game since 1964 and lately put together some stunning creations. In 2017, the hotel's pastry team built a 12-foot tall, 3.7-million-calorie gingerbread church, then followed that in 2018 with a 13.5-foot-tall replica of the original 1918 resort. This year the dimensions grow but in the horizontal, and the subject matter into our wheelhouse, with the resort's pastry team creating a 14-foot long replica of The Broadmoor Special, a 1918 Pierce Arrow Touring Car converted to race in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb eight times through the 1920s.

A gent named Spencer Penrose built the Pikes Peak highway to the mountain's summit, founded the hill climb race in 1916, and the resort that opened in 1918. To whip up interest in the ventures, he gave the The Broadmoor's master mechanic, Angelo Cimino, and his chauffeur, Harry McMillen, his Pace Arrow Touring Car and directions to turn the limousine into a racer. The car that became known as the Yellow Devil climbed the 14,433-foot mountain eight times from 1922 to 1932, finishing fourth in 1926 and 1930. The hotel submitted the Yellow Devil to a two-year restoration in time to run the race's 100-year anniversary in 2016. The car is now on display in the hotel's Penrose Heritage Museum.

The Broadmoor's done us all a favor by providing the recipe for the 14-foot Yellow Devil gingerbread replica. It took the 15-strong pastry crew two weeks to create, leaving any amateur chef plenty of time to get another one built before the holidays. Sourcing the recipe's 375 pounds of all-purpose flower, 482 pounds of sugar, 300 pounds of dark chocolate and 700 egg whites shouldn't be difficult. Locating the more arcane ingredients like "10 lbs of Joy" and "2 Magical Wood Workers" could prove a tad more challenging.

This aquatic robot can transform to sprout arms

Transcript: Transforming aquatic robot. Aquanaut is an all-electric underwater service robot. It does not need to be tethered to a home ship. Aquanaut is an AUV or autonomous underwater vehicle. As an AUV it can cover 124 miles. Performing tasks like seabed mapping and structure inspection. But it can also transform into a two-armed seabot. The hull separates to reveal additional thrusters and two arms. As a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Aquanaut can turn valves, use tools, and much more. The operator uses just a few mouse clicks to operate Aquanaut. Learn more at houstonmechatronics.com. 

Autoblog video week in review | Nov. 24-30

The video roundup post is your weekly landing spot for all things Autoblog video. This week you can join us behind the wheel of six figures worth of off-road machinery in the form of a Mercedes-Benz G550, and experience the first turbocharged Outback in over a decade.

Monday, of course, means it's time for the latest episode of Behind The Wheel, and in episode 4 Senior Producer Christopher McGraw tells us why he hates to love the Mercedes-Benz G550 SUV.

Our live Twitch stream Tuesday featured host Erik Maier playing some Rocket League. You can also now check out last Thursday's re-run on YouTube, where Erik and Green Editor John Snyder struggle through the absolute hell that was Garfield Kart: Furious Racing. It was a rough 2 hours.

Wednesday's  POV drive features the 2020 Subaru Outback XT. Senior Producer Chris McGraw takes the Outback for a spin along the snowy roads of Golden, Colorado. 

Thursday  and  Friday.  The Live Stream and Podcast are off for the holidays.

Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for watching!

The Mercedes-Benz G550 is unnecessary (and awesome) in every way | Behind the Wheel S01 // E04

Behind the Wheel is a new video series that shows you a bit of what it’s like to work at Autoblog. The editors and video producers will show you the cars passing through our fleet, and you’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at some of the personalities who help make the site run. 

Episode 4 features the 2019 Mercedes-Benz G550 and Autoblog Senior Producer Christopher McGraw. Even though most G-Wagen owners will never take their vehicle off the pavement, we take it to Gross Reservoir outside of Boulder, Colorado, for some light off-roading, and wind up dealing with warning lights lit up like a Christmas tree.

Do you like this video? Disagree with our take on the G-Wagen? What cars do you want to see in our fleet? We’d love to hear from you so please comment below.

Gear the Video team used to make this: 

Panasonic GH5

Panasonic Lumix 12-35mm F2.8

Rode VidMic Pro

Tiffen 58mm Variable ND Filter

GoPro Hero 7 Black

Adobe Premiere

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