cars 2

Smart car sharing expands to Portland and Washington

Residents of Portland and Washington, D.C. will have another option for getting around town without owning a car. Car2Go is expanding its fleet of rentable Smart cars this month and will set up shop in the East and West coast cities.

Car2Go, a subsidiary of Daimler, began its car-sharing service in Germany in 2008 and launched in the U.S. in 2009. It currently counts 70,000 members in nine international cities, and launched a fleet of 200 all-electric Smart cars in San Diego, Calif. at the end of last year.

With insurance, gasoline, and parking included in the … Read more

Car Tech Live 248: Back from CES (podcast)

The Consumer Electronics Show presented more car technology than ever this year. We recount what we saw from QNX, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Pioneer, and even take a drive in the Fisker Karma.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 248 SHOW NOTES

Mercedes wants you to share cars like a Communist

"Viva la revolucion!"

Mercedes-Benz may not seem like the kind of company that would promote the social use of its vehicles, but at CES today, it was doing just that.

During the company's CES press conference, Daimler's chairman of the board of management, Dieter Zetsche, laid out a vision for car sharing that may be intimately tied to Mercedes cars in the future.

That's because future Mercedes cars will have a telematics app called CarTogether that can help drivers find people with whom to share rides. This is not quite the same thing, of course, … Read more

QNX demos mobile app platform in cloud-connected Porsche

LAS VEGAS--It's the classic show formula: put your product in the hands of an attractive model and people will look twice. In the case of QNX's new mobile app platform, the attractive model is the Porsche Carrera sports car.

As the cars of tomorrow gain Internet connections and applications, they'll need infotainment software that allows them to be as flexible and easily updated as your average smartphone. RIM subsidiary QNX Software Systems Limited thinks that the solution to that problem lies in the HTML5 framework and is showcasing its new HTML5-based QNX CAR 2 application platform at … Read more

Membership opens for EV car-sharing service in San Diego

Car-sharing service Car2Go is open for business in San Diego. Starting today, prospective members can sign up to join the service and receive 30 minutes of free drive time in one of the electric Smart ForTwos in the fleet.

The Daimler-owned transportation startup is seeding San Diego with a fleet of all-electric two seaters that members can rent by the minute. Rates start at $0.35 per minute and are $12.99 per hour with a $65.99 maximum per day. Members can travel up to 150-miles per day in a rental. After that, it's 45 cents per mile. … Read more

How one app introduced AutoDesk to consumers (Inside Apps)

When Autodesk's SketchBook Mobile application launched two years ago, it garnered more than 1 million downloads within the first two months, propelling the company into a completely new business.

So it's surprising that Chief Executive Carl Bass didn't know about the application--which lets you make an array of sketches with your finger--until a week before the launch.

"We definitely didn't have the attention of the company," said Christopher Cheung, project manager in charge of SketchBook. "It was a small isolated project."

SketchBook's success was partly born of the extreme hands-off approach … Read more

Car2Go ups car-sharing ante by going all-electric

Daimler subsidiary Car2Go is expanding its car-sharing business to San Diego, but it's taking the green concept one step further by making its vehicle fleet all-electric.

Car2go currently operates in Austin, Texas with a fleet of 300 two-seater gas-powered Smart ForTwos, which are produced by parent company Daimler. Members can rent the vehicles by the day, hour, or minute, and unlike ZipCar, they don't have to specify a time by which they will return the vehicles. To rent a car, participants locate an available vehicle using the Web site or mobile app. When they're finished using the … Read more

The 404 848: Where Jeff's still walking down 5th Avenue (podcast)

In the words of Governor Andrew Cuomo, we're all proud to be New Yorkers, but we reached a new level of social justice this weekend with the vote to legalize same-sex marriage. Indeed, Jeff may still be celebrating on 5th Avenue today following yesterday's gay pride parade.

We invite our old friend and colleague Joseph Kaminski, aka Ozone, to fill in as we chat about LGBT rights, Pixar's "Cars 2," a Black Eyed Peas video game from Ubisoft, and a lightbulb that can also transmit wireless audio to any room in your house.

The 404 Digest for Episode 848

Comparing news headlines: New York Post vs. New York Daily News. Google shuts down Health and PowerMeter. Your TV set-top box might cost you more on your energy bills than your refrigerator. Put your DVR on an energy diet. Black Eyed Peas finally get their own video game. New lightbulb carries wireless audio.

Episode 848 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Classic wheels salute 'Cars 2' in Hollywood exhibit

HOLLYWOOD--To mark the opening of Pixar's animated "Cars 2," the Petersen Automotive Museum is showing off some rare and notable real-world vehicles in a special exhibit here.

"Cars 2" parks in theaters this weekend, pretty much guaranteeing that another fleet of Brinks trucks will pull up to Pixar when the movie likely makes another mint for the Oscar-machine animation studio.

Pixar and Disney are celebrating by buddying with Kodak, Goodyear, and other sponsors to build a temporary "Cars 2"-themed amusement park behind the historic El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, the movie's Los Angeles headquarters.

The El Capitan traditionally hosts Disney's biggest releases, and the theater often presents a live stage show before screening its animated features. Since you can't have cars thumping around the footlights, the "Cars 2" World Grand Prix Attraction will give families and car lovers a little extra mpg for their El Capitan ticket money.

The park sits on the grounds of Hollywood High School, immediately behind the movie palace. The attraction is open until the end of August.

Related links • New technology revs up Pixar's 'Cars 2' • Tech explodes in Pixar's 'Cars 2' (images) • With 'Cars 2' game, Pixar's DNA is abundant

While the kids are building Lego race cars or tooling around the park's pedal-power go-kart track, car-loving adults can steal away to the large, air-conditioned tent housing the Petersen Museum contributions. From the sublime to the ridiculous, visitors can enjoy an up-close look at elite period performance cars like the 140 mph 1968 Lamborghini Espada and perennial flops like the 1976 AMC Pacer.

See images from the special collection in our gallery.

… Read more