Continental

High-dollar cars tend to lean on the technology pretty hard -- and tend to do it pretty badly. The cabin tech in an Aston Martin or Maserati typically doesn't equal what's in a Camry. But the big boys make up for it with exotic technology in their power trains, audio output, and sybaritic creature comforts like champagne coolers.

I was rather pleasantly surprised to find the 2012 Bentley Conti GT doesn't go too far over the top in high-tech gimmickry. Its W12 engine is exotic, yes, but has been knocking around the Volkswagen group for almost a decade. … Read more

With a cabin that abounds in leather and metal, the Bentley Continental GT shows true luxury coachwork. Double-paned windows and excellent engineering insulate passengers from the outside world, making the cabin of this tourer a cozy room on wheels.

All this luxury makes this coupe weigh over 5,000 pounds, but the twin-turbocharged W-12 engine does not strain even when running uphill. A six-speed automatic runs smoothly, making for effortless driving. However, put the car in sport mode, and it suddenly changes from meandering bison to swift-footed cheetah. It seems almost miraculous how this car deals with winding roads, given … Read more

Will automotive insurance companies charge you one rate if you're manually driving the vehicle, and another when your car drives itself? That's what Google wants to find out, and is meeting with automotive insurances companies to speed the process for legalizing self-driving cars.

Anthony Levandowski, Google automotive product manager, gave the keynote address at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit last week, and disclosed that the company has been meeting with an unnamed insurance company, according to a Detroit Free Press article. Complex regulatory and liability issues could stall the technology that is fast approaching … Read more

The Alaska Air Group is joining the commercial aviation biofuel movement.

The airline launched two flights yesterday running on a blend consisting of 20 percent biofuel and 80 percent petroleum-based fuel. The sustainable biofuel used for the blend was made from cooking oil.

One flight was via a Boeing 737-800 plane from Seattle to Washington, D.C., and the other a Bombardier Q400 plane headed from Seattle to Portland, Ore. Both planes were flown as part of a program to fly more than 75 flights on a cooking oil-based biofuel blend within the coming weeks on Alaska Air's Alaskan … Read more

The era of American commercial airliners flying on biofuels is here.

A Continental Airlines Boeing 737-800 from Houston yesterday became the first U.S. plane to fly passengers while using an algae-based biofuel. According to an article originally published in the Houston Chronicle, the Continental flight carried 154 customers while using the fuel blend, which was developed by South San Francisco, Calif.-based Solazyme.

"United Continental Holdings, the airline's parent company, estimated that the biofuel blend on the Chicago-bound flight reduced carbon dioxide emissions by an amount equal to what would come from the exhaust of a car … Read more

United Airlines today announced its cockpits will go paperless by swapping out printed flight manuals in favor of Apple's iPad.

As part of the swap, the carrier is giving 11,000 iPads to all United and Continental pilots. The iPads are loaded with Jeppesen Mobile FliteDeck, an app that contains navigational charts and local airport information.

United estimates that the change from paper will save it 326,000 gallons of jet fuel a year, based on the paper the iPads are replacing.

"Each iPad, which weighs less than 1.5 pounds, will replace approximately 38 pounds of paper operating manuals, navigation charts, reference handbooks, flight checklists, logbooks and weather information in a pilot's flight bag," the company said in a statement. "A conventional flight bag full of paper materials contains an average of 12,000 sheets of paper per pilot."

United says it began doling out iPads to pilots a few weeks ago and that all its pilots will have them by the end of the year.

Both Delta Airlines and Alaska Airlines began testing iPads for navigational purposes earlier this year as part of a trial program. Executive Jet Management, a unit of NetJets, announced in February that it had gained approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to use Jeppesen's app as well. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Automotive supplier Continental brought a car to CES sporting a new head unit with an Android operating system. Continental used the Volkswagen CC to demonstrate some of the possible apps that drivers would find useful. Continental calls the system AutoLinq.

During a demonstration, a Continental representative showed a teen driver app with a number of features parents would appreciate. The car's navigation system contains speed limit data, so the teen driver app initially flashes a yellow warning screen if the current road's speed limit is exceeded. If the car continues to speed, the app flashes a red … Read more

commentary Plenty of Web sites this holiday season are offering tips about how to shop online without getting burned by dishonest merchants or con men.

Here's my advice: if in doubt shop at Amazon.

Amazon isn't perfect. I don't know any perfect stores online or off. But after 15 years of providing consumers with a safe shopping experience on the Web, the e-tailing pioneer deserves some applause. Don't believe me? Just read the testimonial given by Vitaly Borker, the man who operates what is now likely the most notorious retail store on the Internet.

On Friday, … Read more

Turbochargers are rapidly emerging as the choice for automakers that need moderately priced, off-the-shelf technology to meet corporate average fuel economy targets.

By 2015, as many as 25 percent of all light vehicles sold in the United States will be turbocharged, up from 8 percent this year, predicts J.D. Power and Associates.

Turbochargers "will be used by nearly all major carmakers," says Mike Omotoso, J.D. Power's senior manager of global power trains. "The technology has been around for a long time, and it's relatively cheap compared with hybrids" and electric vehicles.

Ford Motor Co. says it will offer EcoBoost turbocharged engines on 90 percent of its North American models within a couple of years. Other automakers are stepping up, too. J.D. Power predicts General Motors Co., Chrysler Group, Volkswagen AG, and BMW AG will rely heavily on turbochargers.

"We see turbochargers being adopted across the board," in big pickups, small cars and everything in between, says Omotoso.

Pushed by CAFE Automakers are adopting turbochargers to meet CAFE standards that will rise to 35.5 mpg by 2016. By pairing turbos with smaller engines, automakers can reduce fuel use without impairing performance.

Turbochargers are auxiliary air pumps powered by the force of exhaust gases. They can improve the efficiency of engines by as much as 20 percent. Because turbos are powered by otherwise useless gases, engineers think of turbos as delivering free power--power that can replace that lost by going, say, from a V-8 to a V-6.

Take the 2011 Ford F-150. Alongside the recently introduced, naturally aspirated 5.0- and 6.2-liter V-8 engines, Ford is offering its first turbocharged engine for a light truck. The F-150's turbo, which is based on the 3.5-liter, twin-turbo V-6 found in the Ford Taurus SHO sedan, is enhanced significantly to meet truck durability requirements. … Read more