Car News

A global semiconductor shortage – caused by the coronavirus crisis – is threatening to slam the brakes on vehicle assembly lines around the world. For now, the impact on new-car deliveries in Australia is unclear, but the shortage has already paused vehicle production in Japan and the UK. The silicon electrical circuits are used in a wide range of vehicle systems, including cell phone integration, heads-up displays, autonomous driving aids, and infotainment.

A Queensland driver has been caught on camera eating breakfast cereal and scrolling through a mobile phone while behind the wheel of a moving car. However, incredibly, the offending driver will likely avoid a $1000 fine because Queensland was only testing the technology at the time. The alarming image shows a driver balancing a breakfast cereal bowl on what appears to be a cushion, while scrolling through a mobile phone with one hand.

California-based autonomous tech developer Zoox is preparing to unveil its first driverless car next week, however it appears the cat is already out of the bag. The all-electric vehicle – which CarAdvice understands will use LiDAR technology to navigate obstacles and be capable of bi-directional travel thanks to its symmetrical design – was snapped outside the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco over the weekend.

Charlie Bullis • Hyundai and Kia have joined the list of car companies to introduce over-the-air updates on future vehicles, among the list of new features its next-generation infotainment system – developed in partnership with computing giant Nvidia – will offer. The Korean car giant is yet to outline the capabilities of the new tech and it’s expected to focus on infotainment initially, but could eventually be adapted to engine management computer software upgrades.

Students at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands have built Luca – an electric car made almost entirely from recycled waste. Matthijs Van Wijk, who worked on the project as a media representative, told CarAdvice the year-and-a-half manufacturing process represented a significant feat of engineering.