bmw

BMW will be supplying the engines for Fisker's next car.

Fisker Automotive announced today that it's contracted with BMW to supply engines, and a few other components, for its "Project Nina" vehicle.

BMW has committed to build "up to 100,000" turbocharged four-cylinder engines for the car per year.

The yet-to-be-officially-named model is expected to begin selling in the U.S. in 2013, going into production at a former GM plant in Delaware in 2012.

"Project Nina" is the follow-up plug-in hybrid sedan to the company's Fisker Karma four-door plug-in hybrid … Read more

Most BMW owners consider it a sacrilege to let someone else drive their cars, let alone take the driver out of the equation entirely. After all, the reason you buy a BMW in the first place is because you like to drive. But BMW is testing an autonomous 5-series that doesn't need a human pilot for anything except to start the car.

Researchers on BMW's Highly Automated Driving project have clocked more than 2,700 miles in a self-driving BMW 5-series sedan in Germany. The vehicle is equipped with advanced decision-making software, GPS, maps, cameras, and sensors that … Read more

Ford and Toyota team on car tech, Audi announces plug ins & hybrids, In-car internet radio explodes, and we take you - but just one of you - for a ride in the Scion iQ.

• Ford and Toyota team on hybrids for trucks, SUVs

• GM teams with LG to develop electric vehicles

• Audi plug-in hybrid rumored to be coming in 2014

• BMW to integrate MOG app

• Cadillac drops the cloth and top on new Ciel concept

BMW announced that it plans to integrate the MOG on-demand streaming music app in its vehicles. When integrated, occupants will be able to control the MOG app on their iPhone using the vehicle's iDrive controls. Stations, playlists, artist and song information, and search tools will be visible and accessible on the vehicle's in-dash display.

The latest app integration will be beta-tested during the upcoming launch of the 6 Series BMW Coupe. BMW already integrates Pandora, TuneIn Web radio, Twitter, and Facebook in the vehicle using its Connected app. Mog is already integrated with Mini vehicles.

The benefit of … Read more

There are all sorts of cool things that you can do with the wide array of cabin technologies available in cars today. You can make calls, search for destinations, and even remotely control certain aspects of your vehicle via a smartphone, but could you use your car's cabin technology to rip off a jewelry store?

BMW seems to think that you can and goes as far as to put together a video detailing how to do it in just 10 easy steps using its ConnectedDrive suite of conceptual cabin tech. The video also features the automaker's Vison ConnectedDrive … Read more

We've mentioned earlier that BMW would have a role in updating the Bay Area Rapid Transit (or BART, as it's known locally), the commuter rail system that serves the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, we have a preview video that gives us an idea of what that refresh will look like.

On the outside, the trains don't look radically different from what you'd expect to see from a commuter train. They're all basically metal boxes that hold people. New external LCDs show the train's destination and the doors get yellow illuminated trim that serves … Read more

BMW announced a few months ago that it was developing technology to make left turns safer. Recently, the auto manufacturer released a video demonstrating this technology in action, along with several other videos that show other uses for its next-generation Car-to-X Communication technology, including working with traffic infrastructure and sending information between vehicles.

Left-Turn Assistant By using vehicle-mounted cameras and GPS, the Car-to-X technology can determine if a driver is about to make a left turn and activate a system of warning lights.

Intersection Assistant The intersection assistant notifies the driver using visual warnings on a heads-up display to notify … Read more

Ford EV's will run on solar...sort of. Harman Kardon blends home tech and car tech. Andy Rooney could live without all of it. And we drive the Mini Cooper Clubman and its connected app.

• CNET checks the tech in the Mini Cooper Clubman JCW

• Ford offers solar panels to go with its EVs

• Google self-driving car crashes--it wasn't driving.

• BMWs will now read Facebook and Twitter updates to you

• CNET's LOLCars gallery!

Your navigation app may show you the fastest or most fuel-efficient way to get where you are going, but does it show you the most fun route?

BMW's Ultimate Drive app for Android and iPhone lets users search for, create, and share their favorite drive routes. The navigation app is less about how to get where you're going, and more like a travel guide for Sunday drives.

Using the free app, you can search for routes by location or sort them by length, newness, and user rating. As of today, there are a handful of submitted drive stretches for each location I searched. That may be because the app is only a day old, but it could also be because it's a little difficult to enter routes.

The app lets users create their own drives using Google Maps, but at least in the iPhone app, it doesn't have the benefit of letting users manually enter addresses or drag around route guides. You have to visually place the starting point, waypoints, and end point.

If you need to enter granular driving directions, which many secret stashes require, the app could get tedious. But once a stretch has been submitted, you can add comments, share the route via e-mail or Facebook, or send it to your GPS device. In the app, other users are free to add their comments and rate the route on traffic, scenic quality, fun, and amount of twisties. … Read more