Diesel Fuel Could Soon Come From Bacteria

    Company trying to create renewable diesel from bio sources.

    Bio-diesel is nothing new, but using bacteria to grow diesel fuel on demand is. One team of researchers, with help from Shell, is working on using a special strain of E. coli bacteria to produce diesel whenever it's needed. The researchers at University of Exeter say this brand of bio-diesel does not need to be blended with petroleum, as is often the case with plant-derived bio-diesel,

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    Volkswagen, Apple team up on iBeetle

    This is as close to an Apple iCar as we'll see for now.

    Apple continues to take steps to further integrate iPhones into cars. It started with iPod and iPhone docking systems, continued with Bluetooth integration, and recently Apple's Siri voice-recognition system has found its way into cars. Now comes the iBeetle, which uses a docking station and an app called the "Volkswagen Car Net the Beetle" (was something lost in the German-to-English translation?) to integrate smartphones further into cars.

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    The Internet Is Coming to Your GM Car

    In-Car 4G LTE promises more apps, and more distraction.

    Have you ever been tooling down the highway and thought, “If only I could download apps directly into my car while I drive?” Of course you haven’t, no one has. But you may have thought something along the lines of “I wish my kids could watch Netflix on their Wi-Fi-only tablets on this road trip.” Even if you’ve never entertained either of those thoughts, GM is set to introduce 4G LTE into most of its cars beginning next year, which will make both of those dreams a reality.

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    New Technology is Posing Distractions for Drivers

    Watch TV on a GPS, or turn your steering wheel into a drum set

    There are certain things that just don't seem like a good idea to be doing while driving a vehicle - reading, texting, or trying to do your nails come to mind. Right up there, though, would be watching TV. I'm not talking about backseat TVs for entertaining kids on long car trips, but TVs right on the dash for drivers to watch. This seems to be a new phenomenon in Japan, where people are watching TV on their GPS devices. Apparently Japanese citizens are so busy that their commute is the only time they have to catch up on current events, or find out which Real Housewife is having the latest meltdown. All kidding aside, there are obvious dangers with this, and they're starting to manifest in rising accident numbers.

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    Mercedes-Benz SLS Electric Supercar to Debut in Europe

    We chat with Mercedes about the future of ultra-high-end electrics.

    Mercedes-Benz is unleashing an electric version of its SLS AMG supercar on Europe. While there are no current plans to sell the car, which will retail for around €416,000 (about $533,104 dollars in today's exchange rates), in the U.S., the all-electric supercar with gullwing doors has been confirmed for production in Europe. The timing may seem odd, since Audi killed production hopes for its R8 E-Tron (which would have been a direct competitor), but Mercedes-Benz is green-lighting the car.

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    Are Self-Driving Cars In Our Future?

    There are many roadblocks to cars that drive you.

    In the future, cars will be part of a massive communications network. Cars will not only communicate with each other, but with traffic lights, road signs, and satellites. Accidents will be a thing of the past, traffic congestion will disappear, and there will be no one in the driver’s seat. In fact, there will be no driver’s seat, since the car of the future will drive itself. At least, that’s what the prognosticators tell us, but how realistic is this vision?

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