by Megan Natt
posted on July 8, 2016
Self-driving cars are the buzzword du jour, Red Bull and Aston Martin have a need for speed, and Top Gear’s loss is the US’ gain.
The rocky race for autonomous dominance
Though last week’s fatal Florida crash involving a self-driving Tesla was tragic and rocked the once-resplendent monopoly Tesla held over the autonomous vehicle market, there is certainly a silver lining for other players in the game. The Tesla accident may have stolen BMW and Intel’s thunder, but it also knocks Tesla’s halo a bit askew (as did the company’s Sunday report that it missed its delivery target for Q2 2016), leveling the playing field in the great motor race, according the Wall Street Journal.
Red Bull + Aston Martin = crazy fast
Red Bull and Aston Martin announced this week a collaboration to take the supercar racing world by storm. In a move that brings Aston Martin closer to Red Bull’s go-fast, Formula One technologies and Red Bull from the racetrack to the city streets, the AM-RB 001 is rumored to rival the Porsche 919 Hybrid and leave LaFerrari and McLaren P1 in the dust.
The Grand Tour heads stateside
After leaving the famed (yet tumultuous) BBC series Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May will star in the upcoming Amazon Video series, The Grand Tour, which will have studio locations in the UK, Germany, South Africa, and, to the delight of many American gearheads who felt slighted by Top Gear‘s yankee neglect, the US.
Alibaba and SAIC launch an internet car
China is stepping up its internet of things game. Two of its best-known brand names, e-commerce giant Alibaba and SAIC Motors, have joined forces to create “the world’s first mass-produced car on the internet,” according to CNBC.
Under the hood of the world’s smallest car
The Peel P50 is not only an adorable, candy-coated nugget of a car, but it’s also manufactured in an adorably low-tech way. Check out the assembly of the Guinness World Record-holder of the world’s smallest production car.
Nuts and bolts
In other news, Wired‘s Alex Davies goes under the hood of some French pre-war classics, there are some benefits of Brexit for US classic car buffs, and the Verge’s Jason Harper reveals what kind of dream car you can get for $50,000.
Banner photo credit: Aston Martin
