Autoblog Off The Clock is an inside look at the automotive industry and the people who make it happen. Each episode we sit down with industry movers and shakers. We pour a couple of beers and let the stories fly. How did they get into the biz? What makes them tick? We discuss it all in a casual happy hour setting.
In our premiere episode, we introduce you to our editors with the longest and shortest stints at Autoblog: veteran Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski who has been writing for the site since 2006, and rookie Assistant Editor Zac Palmer who joined the staff just last year. They sit down with our host, Autoblog Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore at Griffin Claw Brewing Company in Birmingham, Mich., to share how they wound up as automotive journalists, relive some of their favorite (and least favorite) press trip moments, and sip a couple of cold beers.
Grab a seat and have yourself a drink. This is Autoblog Off the Clock.
My father rented a Hyundai Kona this morning for a road trip along the Oregon Coast. It's a base SE model in Surf Blue that typically starts at $21,085. As my parents were leaving, I explained that the Kona comes standard with Apple CarPlay, and then showed my dad how he can use Google Maps through the car's standard touchscreen and USB port. Just plug in your phone, press the Apple CarPlay button prominently displayed on the home screen, and voila! Yes, you have to "unlock" your iPhone the first time, but never again thereafter.
OK, now let's contrast this experience with the $102,895 2020 BMW 740i I've been driving the past week. To use Apple CarPlay, I had to …
Connect my phone to the car's Bluetooth system, which means interacting with both the phone and finding the appropriate menu with BMW's iDrive interface.
Make sure I'm allowing for Apple CarPlay to be used with that Bluetooth connection and not just interacting with iDrive.
Confirm the Bluetooth PIN is correct on my phone and the BMW, and then agree to some other things.
Assuming your phone and car are now paired (an iffy assumption as you'll soon see), you must now find Apple CarPlay in iDrive.
To do so, press the Media menu button on the center console, twirl the iDrive knob down the various media types: Presets, Sirius XM, FM, AM, some other stuff, and then Apple CarPlay.
Great, press that icon. Congratulations, you can now use Apple CarPlay.
So, that is quite obviously a pain in the ass, but it does allow you, in theory, to use Apple CarPlay without plugging in your phone. You can therefore leave said phone in your purse, for instance, or keep it charged on the standard wireless charging pad, freeing the cabin from the unsightly iPhone wire that gets in the way of the cupholders.
That's all excellent, plus you'd only have to do that Bluetooth song and dance once, right?
Wrong. I had to do it constantly, both in the BMW 740i as well as the BMW M850i and BMW X7 that have recently passed through my garage. Sometimes it would just take an interminably long time to re-establish the Bluetooth connection. Sometimes it would never re-establish it at all. My phone would indicate it's connected to the car, but the car wouldn't respond in kind. In the 740i, I would connect it once as described above, it would work as it should, then it would essentially forget the next time I drove the car. It's a Groundhog Day of annoyance.
Now, the car would remember my phone if I initially set it to pair with Bluetooth only, no CarPlay. I could still play things through the car, but would have to control my phone with my phone. So at least there's that.
As an added bonus, all of these BMWs claimed that my "USB device (was) not supported" when using the non-Apple lightning wire I use successfully in every other manufacturer's car. The white Apple wire, by contrast, worked fine to successfully charge my phone.
Now, I did not attempt any of this using a different iPhone other than my 6s, so this is a less-than-scientific inquiry. However, my phone is fully updated and I never have these problems with the cars of any other brand that require a hardwire for CarPlay connection. Furthermore, Senior Editor Alex Kierstein reports having similar BMW-CarPlay connectivity issues in an X2 and 3 Series, with inconsistent behavior and an inability to connect his iPhone 6 without deleting and re-connecting via Bluetooth. The 330i also froze his wife's iPhone, forcing a hard restart. According to BMW, the system requirements for Apple CarPlay to function are "an iPhone 5 or newer running iOS 9.3 or higher." That would include both of our phones.
However, there's a kicker to all this: BMW offers Apple CarPlay as a subscription. Oh sure, it's standard on the 7 Series and other high-dollar models for a year like Sirius XM is, but after that trial period, you're paying for it constantly. Once again, CarPlay is standard on a $21,000 Hyundai Kona and cars even cheaper than that. At the very least on other cars, it can be a one-time option charge or included in a package or upper trim level. None of this subscription business. Just plug in a cable and go.
Quite simply, this is unacceptable. If I spent my own money on any of these BMWs, I would be furious. Actually, I didn't spend my own money, and as an X7 full of friends can I attest, I was still furious. Even when I actually could maintain a connection to Apple CarPlay, the interaction between the system and iDrive is still suboptimal relative other car companies. While there are obvious functional benefits of connecting to Apple CarPlay through Bluetooth, that connection clearly doesn't work well enough. That BMW charges you extra for it is absurd. It should be standard, and it should work. Or you should at least be able to bypass the Bluetooth-CarPlay dance entirely with a cable connection.
Then again, it could be worse: Several of our editors have Android phones. Android Auto isn't available on any BMW. On the $21,085 rented Hyundai? Standard.
Automatic license-plate readers (ALRPs) are among the most prolific yet least-talked-about technologies fast eroding Americans’ diminishing right to privacy. The camera-based systems, mounted on police cars or in static locations, automatically photograph license plates and feed information about their location into government and other data bases. Now, privacy advocates can fight back, simply by getting dressed in the morning. As reported in MIT Technology Review, a new clothing company, Adversarial Fashions, is selling a line of men’s and women’s wearables with license-plate patterns that are designed to trigger ALPR cameras and feed the systems useless data and obfuscate actual plates.
Three different patterns are offered. One depicts black-and-white plates with miscellaneous letter-number combinations or license plates, another has the same thing mixed with circuit imagery, and a third puts into license-plate form the text of the fourth Amendment (the one against unreasonable searches and seizures). The collection includes T-shirts, hoodies, crop tops, skirts, jackets, and dresses. The company suggests shoppers might consider buying a size larger than normal, since the patterns are most easily read when the garments hang straight. And this is one instance where you want the readers to get a good, clear look.
In two areas of the country, from two completely separate sources, school bus-themed music videos have surfaced on the internet this summer. One, from the official Michigan City Area Schools account, takes a light-hearted approach to the serious topic of stopping for school bus drops and pickups. The other, from a Florida driver named Mr. Jay, remixes "Old Town Road" into a jokey song about life behind the wheel of a school bus.
A remix of a Lil Nas X remix, "Washboard Road" is titled after a particularly bumpy route in East Pasco County, Florida, that Jay Heilman drives on a regular basis. Heilman says he heard his students singing "Old Town Road," and he freestyled the chorus off the cuff: "I’m gonna take my bus down the washboard road, I’m gonna drive until my mirrors fall off."
Heilman was poking fun at the road, but he says his mirror actually did fall off on two separate occasions. The rest of the song has lyrics about the kids' constant complaining and pedestrian drivers not stopping when his stop sign is out. The full lyrics are written in the description of the video on YouTube.
The second video, which has equally high levels of production value, is all about safety. "Stop Arm," a reference to the collapsible stop sign on school buses, starts with a statistic: "On just one day, April 23, 2019, Michigan City Area Schools bus drivers recorded 38 motorists ignoring their extended stop arms. Please STOP, before you hurt a child. (It's the law)." The sad and frustrating message then goes black and the video transitions into a group of drivers who start singing, "STOP! when the arrrrrrmmmm is ouuuuutttttt" to the tune of the hit song from The Supremes, "Stop in the Name of Love."
The video pays special emphasis to the part of the law that states both sides of traffic, including oncoming traffic, must stop when a school bus has its stop sign out. We've written about these rules time and time again, but with the school year starting back up, it's never a bad idea to remind the masses. Watch both videos above and below, and please be careful driving around school buses this season.
In this "Top Gear" clip, host Chris Harris and "TG" magazine deputy editor Jack Rix share their thoughts about the new Toyota Supra. Jack Rix puts Harris on the defensive right away by asking him to explain a line he wrote in a previous review of the car: "This is one of the strangest cars I've ever driven." Harris initially seems to admit that his perspective may be unique to someone who tests cars so frequently, then explains that what he meant is that he's very used to individual brands and expects certain things from them. "... When I get into an Audi, there's a smell to an Audi, there's a feeling to the seats, there's a feeling to the steering wheel." But when he got behind the wheel of a Supra, it just didn't feel like a Toyota. The two discuss the history of Japanese sports cars and what Harris thinks of the Supra's segment overall. To get the full scoop, you'll have to watch the clip above and don't forget that "Top Gear" airs on BBC America Sundays at 8 p.m. ET.
Transcript: A pet robot spider. HEXA is a programmable 6-legged bot that follows simple commands. It’s designed to navigate terrain that is difficult for humans to explore. HEXA is programmable and uses a SDK program that’s considered simple for programmers and consumers. The user can input custom commands for HEXA to follow. Commands like write, bull fight, climb obstacles, dance, and more. The user can also control HEXA’s movement via smartphone app. The app lets users see what HEXA can see. Learn more at Vincross’s YouTube page and you can purchase the little bot here.
Transcript: Pothole patching vehicle. This mini truck can fill and flatten a pothole in less than 2 minutes. The Python 5000 Pothole Patcher is a unique vehicle. It only needs a single user to operate it eliminating the cost for a 2 or 3 person team. The operator uses a joystick to complete the patching process. First, a blast of air is released to remove any debris in the damaged area. Then asphalt is deployed. The asphalt is then leveled by a rake and patted down with a compaction roller until it is smooth. All this can be done while the operator remains in the cabin. The Python 5000 can carry up to 5 tons of asphalt and uses its own engine exhaust to heat it up.
Transcript: Autonomous parking bot. RAY is a self-driving robot that can easily park your vehicle. Created by Serva to save space. RAY detects the vehicle and adjusts itself to fit the size of the car or truck. The bot then slides under the vehicle and raises it off the ground. RAY is battery operated, can carry 6,000 lbs, and needs minimal room to maneuver.
A new IIHS study found that a scary amount of people are confused about the driver assistance systems found in cars today. Furthermore, the study found that folks were especially confused about Tesla's Autopilot.
One portion of the study involved the IIHS surveying participants about certain unsafe behaviors behind the wheel, given only the name of the driver assistance system. People weren't given the name of the brand for this section, and were instead told to answer the questions about Autopilot (Tesla), Traffic Jam Assist (Audi and Acura), Super Cruise (Cadillac), Driving Assistant Plus (BMW) and ProPilot Assist (Nissan). The results show that folks misunderstand Tesla's Autopilot far worse than any other driver assistance system on the market. A chart of the results is pasted below.
A huge 48 percent of respondents thought it OK to take your hands off the wheel while using Autopilot. Additionally, 6 percent thought it safe to take a nap with Autopilot active. This level of distracted driving is something we've seen time and time again on public roads. Interestingly, only 27 percent of people surveyed think it's alright to take your hands off the wheel using Cadillac's Super Cruise, and that's a hands-free system.
We should be concerned about the numbers for the other driver assistance systems, too. Drivers are confused about the capabilities of current systems, and what a manufacturer calls it appears to be contributing to the confusion.
The IIHS study went further to learn about how people are interpreting instrument cluster data as it pertains to these systems. This portion of the study used a 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class. It found a couple different bits of information eluded most of the study's participants. Most people "struggled to understand what was happening when the system didn't detect a vehicle ahead because it was initially beyond the range of detection." Also, many were unable to identify when lane centering was inactive. The IIHS suggested that audible alerts and more obvious visual signals could help improve the understanding of these systems.
Results from another IIHS study were also released today, and this one has to do with where people are using these systems. This study monitored people driving a Range Rover Evoque and Volvo S90 to see where and how often they use adaptive cruise control or the Level 2 Pilot Assist system in the Volvo. These systems are meant to be used on the highway, and are often detailed as such in a vehicle's owner's manual. The study found only a small percentage of driving off the highway was done using these systems, just 7 percent for the Evoque and 11 percent for the S90. Those numbers both rose considerably in highway use, with the Evoque's systems being used 40 percent of the time and the S90's for 28 percent of the time. You can check out the study here for more details if you're interested.
I'm holding a Hot Wheels Lamborghini Miura in the palm of my hand, and the cool-to-the-touch metal toy feels identical to the Matchbox cars I spent endless hours playing with as a wee lad. But this time, the scaled-down conveyance packs tech I couldn't have dreamed of back in the day: an embedded NFC chip that acts as a digital VIN number, recording a lifetime scorecard of laps speeds, top scale speed, challenges won and distance traveled. This is not your father's Hot Wheels toy (and it certainly wasn't mine), but this techy Hot Wheels 'id' toy that debuted at Apple Stores today just might redefine the way children play with toy vehicles in the future.
"Kids are now learning to swipe before they wipe," Mattel Director of Product Management and Global Marketing Ron Friedman tells me in the "War Room" of the company's Southern California headquarters. More specifically, Friedman is referring to the so-called Alpha generation — children born after 2010, the year the iPad was launched. This particular subset of tykes slot after millennials, and are considered the first truly digitally native generation, born and raised in a fully saturated environment of tablets, smartphones and screens. In an attempt to understand how Alphas interact with this landscape, Mattel dove deep into research, conducting ethnographic studies on their play habits and leisure behavior. "Three years after the launch of the iPad, 21 percent of kids had access to a tablet. Fast forward five years from there and the number has climbed to 93 percent," Friedman says. This is the new playground, and they're spending more time on digital than off. This is the new normal."
So we're well aware that the kiddos have gone full digital, but what does that mean for how they play with cars? Recognizing the benefits of physical play and its link to cognitive and motor skill development (as opposed to vegging in front of a screen), Mattel integrated a digital element into their 50 year-old Hot Wheels platform while maintaining the same basic elements of their die-cast cars — dimensions, rolling wheels and the ability to play vroom vroom and pretend that miniature car is somehow full-sized. The digital fingerprint originates from the tiny chip in the car, but transforms gameplay by communicating with an app that's first being launched on iOS; hence, the 30-day Apple Store exclusive. Android, inevitably, will follow. You can pretend play with an id car all you want, roll it on countertops and drive your parents crazy the good old-fashioned way. But to accumulate mileage, tricks, and top speed specs– all of which are tracked with the id app–you'll need to play on a new Hot Wheels id Smart Track ($179), which uses a Race Portal ($39.99 if purchased separately) that's equipped with an NFC reader and 2 IR sensors which recognize each vehicle's unique digital signature and calculate its scale speed. The track comes with two unique vehicles and 16 interlocking track sections that link digital data via USB connectors. The resulting combinations can create up to 50 different configurations, each of which are detected by the app and can be mirrored in the digital environment. The app also acts as a digital garage that echoes the selection of cars at play in the real world. Future track components will become available in 2020, priced between $9.99 and $29.99 individually, and offering further variations on loops, jumps and straightaway sections.
I spent some time fiddling with the Hot Wheels id system and found it to be a near 50/50 mashup of old school play style and new school gamer elements. There's a strong sense memory association for traditionalists like myself — the feel of the car in your hand, the freewheel spin of the axle, the metallic flake paint and the whimsical designs. Hot Wheels intends to offer 51 id vehicles this year and kicks off with eight, each priced at $6.99: relatable supercar/racecars including the Corvette C7R, SRT Viper GTS-R, Mercedes AMG-GT and Aston Martin One-77, as well as fictitious creations like Howlin Heat, Motosaurus, Shark Hammer 2.0, and Arachnorod.
But there's also a highly polished digital element that incorporates fast moving graphics, multilayered animations and engaging effects — many of the elements found in the latest tablet apps, though a tad less slick than big budget XBox, Playstation or Nintendo Switch games. Not surprisingly, the interface and graphics skew a bit young, though I will also admit to having a bit of fun while playing with the system. The software I tried with was still in Beta form, and had a couple glitches I was told would be resolved before the system went to market. That said, some of the more engaging aspects included a launch function, which measures top speed at the end of the track. The booster hardware, which accelerates cars using gear-driven wheels that are activated by pressing down on a button, is Hot Wheels' most powerful yet. It links to the app which displays its rpms. You can mindlessly propel and track up to six cars on the track by pumping the button, or engage in a challenge that dictates an rpm for you to match. Incidentally, the system relies entirely on the Race Portal for data to be tracked. That section of track runs on a 500 mA lithium polymer battery and can record up to eight hours of playtime until it needs to connect to the phone or tablet-based app in order to transfer the data. Nothing is stored locally in each vehicle — after all, what would you expect for seven bucks a car? — but the app uploads each vehicle's stats and history, and uploads it to the cloud where a permanent record is stored for each vehicle's unique VIN number.
By adding a semi-structured format to gameplay, the id system encourages more involvement and greater stakes for kids who, like so many of us who became lifelong car fanatics, got into the hobby at an early age. Though some traditionalists (like myself) might be initially disappointed to learn that the cars only accumulate their stats when played with on an appropriate id track, the system makes sense within this ecosystem of affordable, collectable cars. And while the $179 price of the track will undoubtedly be a deterrent to some, the buy-in could also be considered fair game for parents seeking to foster the next level of enthusiasm for their car-crazy kids. On top of that, prices can only fall after the gaming system has been on the market for some time.
When asked about the idea of messing with Hot Wheels' analog success, Friedman suggests the new system is simply capitalizing on the brand's car toys of yore without losing the basic principles behind the gameplay. "The idea here is that play patterns have worked for 50 years," he says. "We're just making it more modern for the 21stcentury."
