New technology doesn’t arrive fully formed, I remind myself as I strap on a pirate’s eye patch, then place a heavily modified bicycle helmet onto my head. It isn’t the most glamorous getup. But here, in a small office on an unassuming business park on the outskirts of Cambridge, England,Continue Reading
Automakers that nest key controls deep in touchscreen menus—forcing motorists to drive eyes-down rather than concentrate on the road ahead—may have their non-US safety ratings clipped next year. From January, Europe’s crash-testing organization EuroNCAP, or New Car Assessment Program, will incentivize automakers to fit physical, easy-to-use, and tactile controls toContinue Reading
So Lucid developed a proprietary “boost” technology—it declined to give WIRED precise details—to raise incoming 500-volt power to match the pack’s 926 volts. It says only that it uses the rear motor unit to do so, presumably through one of the windings acting as a DC-DC inverter. The boost functionContinue Reading
Denza was originally founded in 2010 as a joint venture between BYD and Mercedes-Benz, launching its first car into the Chinese market in 2014. Now wholly owned by BYD, it went through a significant rebrand in 2021, with Wolfgang Egger—who previously led design teams at Audi and Lamborghini—joining at theContinue Reading
After a keynote, Nissan led us into a courtyard to look at (but not photograph) a series of vehicles in various states of development. The most intriguing was a rugged electric SUV that oozed X-Terra vibes. The light-offroader will begin production in Nissan’s Canton, Mississippi, plant in 2027, deftly escapingContinue Reading
Let’s be upfront here: US cars haven’t been cheap for a long time. The average price of a new car in the US is close to $50,000, up some $5,000 from two decades ago, even adjusted for inflation. The reasons are manifold: Vehicles have gotten more complicated—and expensive—to manufacture, theContinue Reading
