Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/527016
II Motoring maltatoday, SUNDAY, 14 JUNE 2015 Motoring :fek`e\ekXc:XijCk[#K\jkX]\iiXkXJki\\k#KXËOY`\osJXc\j1)*+.-*+'&*-'sDfY`c\100/*/-(,#.00'--))s<$DX`c1Xl[`7ZZc%d`qq`%Zfd%dks8l[`$DXckXs D`qq`DfkfijJ_fniffd#DŵXiiIfX[#>_Xaej`\c\dsJXc\j1)(,,-0+)sDfY`c\100./)'''s<$DX`c1aZXjjXi7d`qq`dfkfij%Zfd%dksnnn%Xl[`%Zfd%dks ,P\XiNXiiXekpGXikjCXYfli% ()P\Xi9f[pNXiiXekp% I\X[p%J\k% J_fn% K_\e\n8l[`8(% E\n[\j`^e#jXd\gi`Z\% 9\kk\imXcl\Xe[^i\Xk\iXgg\Xc% >\idXe\e^`e\\i\[% China's Baidu could beat Google to self-driving car with BMW Baidu – the search engine and technology company often called China's Google –plans to release a self-driving car with BMW by the end of the year. The Chinese firm has been working on autonomous vehicles for the past couple of years, re- cently partnering with carmakers including BMW. The two companies announced a self-driving research project in April 2014, driving test cars around the complex highways of Beijing and Shanghai. Wang Jin, Baidu's senior vice president, told the China cloud computing services summit that the company would launch a new self-driving car with BMW in China before the year is out. The prototype car will be used to test road-readiness of Baidu's technology, which will involve the car driving itself but still have hu- man controls. Google recently unveiled a new series of prototype vehicles built from the ground up to be self- driving cars, having previously modified Lexus sport utility ve- hicles and Toyota hybrid cars for testing purposes. Its new car aims to completely replace human control with arti- ficial intelligence, reducing con- trols to a destination selector and a start/stop button. A version with a human driver will be tested on public roads in the near future. Baidu is taking a more tradition- al route to the self-driving car. Its head of deep learning, Kai Yu, said last year that the technology it was developing was designed to assist drivers rather than replace them. The Chinese firm has its own data-mapping service, which is a prerequisite to any automotive robotics project, and invested $10million in a Finnish mapping startup IndoorAtlas in September last year. It also has undertaken extensive artificial intelligence research, in- cluding machine learning and the technologies needed for computer vision for cars and other robotics, rivalling those of Google. Iconic 'Grease' convertible car up for auction A convertible driven by John Tra- volta's love rival in the iconic fi- nal scene of the film "Grease" is to be auctioned in Beverly Hills later this month. Jet black and emblazoned with f lames, the customised 1949 Mercury Series 9CM – nick- named "Hell's Chariot" – is ex- pected to fetch up to $600,000. The 1978 cult classic musical culminates with a drag race be- tween John Travolta's character, Danny, and leader of the rival gang the Scorpions – Craterface – for the affections of Sandy. Despite dirty tricks from Cra- terface – including shunting Danny's car in the rear – Hell's Chariot eventually loses. The car up for auction features the origi- nal bent front bumper from that shunt. Darren Julien, president of Ju- lien's Auctions, said: "This is one of the most historic film cars to ever come up for auction. It is be- ing sold for the first time as it was a car thought to have been lost." "It was actually stored away in a garage for decades after the film was produced and only recently discovered." The Mercury is covered with stickers from the rival "Scor- pions" gang, complete with recreated licence plates VIN 9CM256273. The car also comes with the razor hubcaps used to scratch Danny's vehicle in the film. The Mercury was originally built and customised by Eddie Paul at Eddie Paul of Customs, who created all 42 cars seen in the film. Two versions of Hell's Chariot were created by Paul – a stunt version that no longer ex- ists and this one. This vehicle is distinguish- able by its square-top wing win- dows – the stunt version having rounded-top – and was used for every scene in the film except the stunt shots during the final race scene. The car was additionally used in the films "Streets of Fire" and "Used Cars". It has a lower price of more than $200,000 when it is sold at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills on June 26. Cars could soon prevent drink-driving thanks to alcohol detection system SMART cars of the near future could refuse to start if the driver exceeds the drink-drive limit. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), working with a con- sortium of carmakers including Ford, GM and Volkswagen has developed an alcohol detection system for vehicles that will pre- vent those over the limit from driving. The NHTSA unveiled a proto- type car fitted with its new Driv- er Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) technology. The technology includes a steering wheel-mounted breathalyser and an engine start button that detects blood alcohol level via an infrared light. Both will operate as passive systems, detecting alcohol level as the driver breathes normally, presses a button or holds the wheel. If the system detects the driver is over the limit it will refuse to start the car. Transportation Secretary An- thony Foxx said: "Education, awareness and enforcement have succeeded in dramatically re- ducing drunk driving fatalities, but the advanced technology of DADSS brings enormous poten- tial to save even more lives." The US is not pushing for the technology to be made compul- sory, but the agency expects the technology to be an option for new cars in the next five years. The system will first be tested within prototype government vehicles. Mark Rosekind, an NHTSA spokesman, said: "Driver Alco- hol Detection System for Safety has enormous potential to pre- vent drunk driving in specific populations such as teen driv- ers and commercial f leets, and making it an option available to vehicle owners would provide a powerful new tool in the battle against drunk driving deaths." Traffic collisions involving al- cohol account for 10,000 deaths on US roads a year. However, the figures for the UK are much low- er, with an estimated 230 people killed by drink driving incidents in 2012, according to the De- partment for Transport. Technology that could be built into the driving experience, such as an alcohol-detecting engine start button, could quickly be- come standard within commer- cial vehicles aided by safety and insurance incentives. Bringing such technology to private vehicles is likely to take much longer, although carmak- ers including Toyota have been working on their own systems for about a decade.