This video roundup post is your weekly landing spot for all things Autoblog video. This week we went to Scottsdale for an epic Barrett-Jackson auction that was headlined by the new C8 Corvette. There are also experiential videos of the 2020 Volvo V60 and 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S to check out, and a new episode of the Autoblog Podcast.
Monday - The first saleable C8 mid-engine Corvette sold for $3 million at the Barrett-Jackson auction:
Tuesday - First, we had to check out the exhaust note of the 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S:
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And in gaming news, Erik was out sick, so Amr presided over the Autoblog Twitch stream and played some Need For Speed: Heat. Check out the rerun here:
Wednesday - We took out the 2020 Volvo V60 Cross Country T5. Your first-person point-of-view experience of that drive can be found here:
Thursday - The 2020 Autoblog Technology of the Year winner was announced. Check out the winner and other nominees for the award in this year's video:
Also, we finally got NASCAR Heat 4, enough said:
Friday - Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore, Green Editor John Snyder and Senior Editor Alex Kierstein discuss the announcement of an electric Hummer and Superb Owl car ads in Autoblog Podcast #612:
The video roundup post is your weekly landing spot for all things Autoblog video.
Monday - A slight change in programming had us publish a POV drive this Monday, this one featuring the 2020 BMW X6 M50i:
Tuesday- The first sellable 2020 C8 Chevrolet Corvette crossed the auction block at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale sale. It sold for $3 million to NASCAR team owner and noted car collector Rick Hendrick. All proceeds benefit the Detroit Childrens' Fund charity. You can check out our first video from the event here with more to come next week:
We also uploaded some gaming footage from the Autoblog Twitch stream to our YouTube channel. Tuesday's rerun featured Dirt Rally 2.0:
Wednesday - We said hello to the 2021 GMC Yukon Denali and Yukon AT4 in the latest episode of Behind The Wheel. Senior Producer Chris McGraw gave us this first video from the reveal in Vail, Colorado:
Thursday - The day's rerun from our Twitch stream features Erik Maier and John Beltz Snyder playing some Supermarket Shriek. It's a much-needed respite from losing Battle Royale races in Forza Horizon 4:
Friday - Autoblog Podcast #611 features Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore and Editors Joel Stocksdale and James Riswick chatting about what they love (and don't) about the Toyota 4Runner, the new Ford Super Duty and the 992-generation Porsche 911 Carrera 4S:
The video roundup post is your weekly landing spot for all things Autoblog video. This week we travel to Las Vegas for CES 2020, play some Forza Horizon 4 Battle Royale Mode, check out the 2020 Tundra TRD Pro CrewMax, and have a new episode of the Autoblog Podcast to check out.
Monday's episode of Behind The Wheel was focused on CES 2020. Associate Producer Alex Malburg and Assistant Editor Zac Palmer were there to show us automotive tech from Mercedes, Nissan, Sony and more:
Our Twitch stream is live every Tuesday and Thursday where we play racing and other driving-based games. We then upload reruns of that content to YouTube. This Tuesday host Erik Maier played Rocket League with some viewers. Producer Amr Sayour also joined in on the stream:
Check out Producer Amr Sayour's POV drive of the 2020 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro CrewMax from Wednesday:
The Twitch rerun posted to YouTube on Thursday Erik Maier and Zac Plamer try and *spoiler* fail to get a win in Forza Horizon 4 Battle Royale Mode:
On Friday Autoblog Podcast #610 dropped. Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Assistant Editor Zac Palmer and consumer editor Jeremy Korzeniewski while they recap CES 2020. talk Broncos, Yukons, and Hummers, and of course help a listener with a car buying decision in the "Spend My Money" segment.
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.
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.
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!
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Common driver-assist technologies like adaptive cruise control and lane-keep assist are meant to keep vehicle occupants safe, but a new study finds that they also make distracted driving more likely — especially with drivers who are more familiar with the technology.
The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reports that drivers who use both safety technologies were more likely to be distracted — by their mobile phones, adjusting the car stereo or other controls, or simply taking their eyes off the road — when they were accustomed to the advanced driver-assistance systems than those who were using them for the first time. The study authors say the disparity could reflect “a lack of trust in the automated systems.”
The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute combed through data from two previous studies. In one, researchers observed 30 people driving their own personal vehicles for the equivalent of one year's worth of data. In the other, they gave 120 participants a study vehicle and observed each of them driving for a month. All the vehicles featured adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping assistance systems. They were also equipped with video cameras and sensors to collect data about the driver and other information.
Drivers in the former group with their own cars were 50% more likely to engage in secondary tasks and 80% more likely to engage in visual or manual distractions when using the semi-autonomous systems, researchers found. They also took more frequent and longer glances at non-driving-related tasks and kept their eyes on the road less.
Participants in the other group were less likely to be distracted while adaptive cruise control and lane-keep assist systems were engaged than they were during manual driving. But these drivers, who received leased vehicles and some training on how to use the systems, were slightly more likely to speed when both systems were active than the drivers who used their own vehicles.
The researchers theorize that people may become over-reliant on automation features the more familiar they become with them. They also note that the group of drivers who operated their own vehicles did not receive the same training on the safety systems, despite ostensibly receiving some information about them before or after purchasing their vehicles.
The study adds new wrinkles to what we know about distracted driving, which accounted for 3,166 fatalities in 2017, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the emergence of semi-automated driving systems. Earlier this year, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety issued a study in which it found that, while usage of phones while behind the wheel dropped, more people were using them for texting or other messaging while driving.
The Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) made news in Summer 2019 when word got out the force was still occasionally using a 1993 Ford Mustang SSP, but that's not even the coolest car in its police family. The NSP also has a fudging cool 1950 Ford Mainline police cruiser. In the spirit of the holidays, some of the officers put the classic on camera and reeancted the flat tire scene from A Christmas Story. It's no 1937 Oldsmobile Six, but it does the job.
When we previously spoke to NSP about the Mustang, we also inquired about the Mainline that was seen in occasional social media posts. While the SSP was still in service, the Mainline was not, and we were told it was not running at that time. Whether or not somebody was able to get it going for this video is unclear, as the opening scene presents a fake driving scenario, but the next scene shows the car rolling to the sound of a fluttering engine. We couldn't get a hold of the NSP this time, but our guess is the movement was the result of a big push, and the sounds were part of the movie magic.
Running car or not, the two-minute clip is pretty cute, if not hilarious. Just like in the movie, four people are "riding" in the car when the tire blows. The father, played by the lieutenant colonel, gets into the pit stop mindset for the tire change. Son Ralphie, played by a trooper in the backseat, comes out to help, but the whole thing blows up when the lugnuts go flying. That's when Ralphie blurts out the infamous curse word. You (should) know how the rest goes.
Below the NSP video is the original clip for comparison. And for another look at the immaculate Mainline, check out State Trooper Plates, which which has a fantastic photo of the cruiser in its former glory.
Presenting: An NSP Christmas Story
If your Christmas Story includes an "Oh Fudge" moment, call *55 to reach the NSP Highway Helpline. Troopers are ready to help.
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.
The video roundup post is your weekly landing spot for all things video from Autoblog. This week we drive the bestselling non-pickup in the United States, try our hand at the newly released Battle Royale mode in Forza Horizon 4, and get a first-person look at the 2019 Porsche Cayenne E-hybrid.
Monday, Senior Producer Chris McGraw took us Behind The Wheel of two popular Nissan models, the Altima and the best-selling Rogue.
If you're a gamer you know that we stream live to our Twitch channel every Tuesday (and Thursday). This week host Erik Maier was joined by Alex Malburg as we attempt our first ever Forza Battle Royale match!
The Wednesday POV Drive featured the 2019 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid:
On Thursday'sTwitch Stream rerun, Erik was joined by Joel Stocksdale and John Snyder. They continued their quest to get a win in the new Forza Horizon Battle Royale mode, unsuccessfully.
Autoblog Podcast #608 went live Friday. In this week's episode Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore and Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder head to Bollinger HQ in Ferndale, Michigan, to chat with the CEO of Bollinger Motors, Robert Bollinger.
Our next video roundup post will be in 2020. Happy Holidays, and thanks for watching!
