bmw

Paving the way for the wave of electric vehicles poised to enter the market, Coulomb Technologies announced that it will be installing 150 ChargePoint stations in the Boston metropolitan area.

The planned installations are part of Coulomb's $37 million ChargePoint America project funded by the Department of Energy. The 150 networked EV charging stations will be installed primarily within the Route 495 Beltway, and available for use by any ChargePoint member. After they are built and go online, drivers can find the stations using the ChargePoint iPhone, BlackBerry, or Android apps. TomTom GPS users will also be able to … Read more

In this episode of Roadside Assistance, we help a listener find a BMW, we got no love for Lexus, help another listener with their Droid X mounting, and we find out that we were drunk.

• LOLcars (photos)

The next BMW you step into may not look anything like the sports cars the company is known for. And you might also be sharing the ride with hundreds of other people.

BMW's DesignworksUSA announced a contract to design future trains for Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), the commuter rail system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The contract calls for DesignworksUSA to design the exterior, interior, and train operator controls.

The current trains on the BART system, despite their streamlined look, are actually the oldest fleet of commuter rail cars in the country. The rail system uses a … Read more

When it comes to integrating mobile entertainment apps with vehicle infotainment systems, manufacturers have been slow to embrace Androids. Harman announced this week that it is the first big automotive technology partner to fully integrate Android devices, which will let users control mobile apps using the vehicle's head unit.

Some Harman infotainment platforms already integrate preapproved BlackBerry and iPhone apps, such as Pandora and Facebook. Newly added to the platform is support for Android's Open Accessory Protocol. Similar to Terminal Mode, this new feature means some apps on an Android device equipped with the protocol can be integrated … Read more

Pandora is leaving no car behind, but will the expansion of Spotify derail the momentum? Audi brings its RS line back to the U.S., in small form, while BMW expands use of carbon fiber. And we take a ride in an espresso cup.

• First Android Car Radio USB Connection on Way

• Spotify launch in US

• Pandora increases its auto offerings

• BMW opens online art-car gallery

• Mercedes-Benz restructuring Smart

You may have seen old vans or other beater cars festooned with plastic toys and wacky paint jobs trundling around the streets. These art cars became popular enough in the last couple of decades to spawn art-car shows. But BMW has been commissioning art cars since the mid-1970s, and now makes them available for viewing in a well-designed online exhibition.

The first BMW art car was a 3.0 CSL, used as a canvas by Alexander Calder in 1975. Since then, artists such as Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons have taken paintbrushes to BMW cars, covering models from the M1 to the Z1. … Read more

The M3 has always been a serious sports car, but in recent years it seems every BMW is getting loaded up with tech. No complaints from us--except when it comes to an M3. It should be lean, spare, and all about driving, which is exactly the kind of M3 that got dropped on our doorstep. You want nav? Unfold a map. As a result, the pure excellence of it as a driving machine shone through. Brian Cooley takes you for a drive to check the tech.

You can also read the full CNET review of the 2011 BMW M3 here. … Read more

Could you have predicted in 1965 that a $3,000 Mustang would be worth $50,000 today? Or in 1960 that a $5,000 Corvette could go for $100,000 in 50 years? There are certainly many cars from the past that are gone and forgotten, that will never attain anything like classic status. Trying to predict classic cars is harder than picking soybean futures.

Nevertheless, the editors of Car Tech decided to give it a try. Looking at cars from the last decade, we came up with 10 that seemed like they should stand the test of time. Most of the cars we picked had niche interest or a limited production run, ensuring some rarity in the future. A car like the first-generation Toyota Prius heralds the beginning of a new trend in the automotive world, while the Pontiac G8 marks the end of a brand. … Read more

Forgive a jaded car reviewer, but when the BMW M3 showed up on the schedule, I thought, meh. I had driven the current generation of M3 in coupe and convertible forms a couple of years ago, and all the cars I've reviewed since obviously left me jaded. (I know some of you are now thinking, if I kill you, do I get your job?)

But actually getting behind the wheel of the M3, hearing the growl of the engine as it fired up, feeling that thick steering wheel, erased all notion that this would be just another in a … Read more