rover

This week, our Frankfurt auto show preview. Volkswagen finds the only direction is up, Land Rover ends tea time to update a 25 year old model, and Yo-Auto redesigns the car door.

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• Land Rover concept heralds Defender update

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In 2015, the Defender will be 25 years old, so Land Rover designers are putting down their tea and getting to work on an update. The company will show a concept for a new Defender model at the 2011 Frankfurt auto show. With only four years until the production version is due, the blokes at Land Rover will barely have time for a biscuit.

The DC100 concept appears as a two-door, with rounded edges and grille that lose the welded sheet-metal hard edges of the current model. The wheels chosen for the concept look designed to appeal to first-world consumers rather than military buyers from countries created last week.

But Land Rover's long timeline for the Defender update shows a very careful approach. If the public derides this one, there is still plenty of space on the drawing board. And Land Rover says it will pay close attention to customer input as it finalizes the design. … Read more

The Land Rover Defender has been a mainstay for African safaris, but concern over the carbon dioxide emissions from their 2.4-liter diesel engines spawned the development of the first electrically powered Defender. Battery producer Axeon fitted a Defender with an electric drive unit and will show the concept at a tourism convention in South Africa.

The 28.8 kilowatt-hour battery pack gives the Defender a range of about 60 miles, three times further than a typical game drive. Axeon touts the reduction in emissions, going from the diesel Defender's 295 grams per kilometer to zero, and the electric Defender's quiet operation, allowing it to get closer to animals in game parks.

The battery pack has been placed in the engine compartment, maintaining the Defender's ground clearance and fording depth.

The next step: electric vehicle charging stations in safari camps. … Read more

RealVNC announced at the BlackBerry World Conference this week that it will be supplying Jaguar and Land Rover with a smartphone-integrated infotainment system.

RealVNC demonstrated the Connect and View system using a BlackBerry smartphone connected to a RealVNC Connect and View infotainment system connected to a BlackBerry smartphone in a Jaguar XJ head unit. When linked with a BlackBerry device, Connect and View uses Terminal Mode to replicate music and navigation applications on the car's in-dash screen.

A few automotive manufacturers such as GM, Toyota, and BMW are using similar technology in their vehicles. So far, some manufacturers have … Read more

It is easy to look at the 2011 Land Rover LR4 and see a big dumb SUV. Its boxy form and imposing presence drew sneers and rolled eyes as we made our way around the streets of San Francisco, where the Prius reigns supreme. However, unlike most gas-guzzling poseur utility vehicles, the Rover is actually a very capable SUV with an advanced Terrain Management system that allowed the massive SUV to climb loose dirt hills like a mountain goat and pull itself through slick mud holes like it was fitted with treads. All the while, the LR4 isolates its driver … Read more

The Spirit rover, currently out of commission on the surface of Mars, could be awakened in the coming weeks.

Speaking to Space.com, John Callas, NASA's head of the Mars rover program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said that the "increasing" sunlight on the Mars surface is giving him and his team some hope that it can put the solar-powered Spirit rover back on the job.

"As long as [sunlight is increasing], we will do all we can to increase the chances of hearing from the rover again," Callas told the publication.

However, Callas acknowledged … Read more

When I was in Los Angeles last month covering the LA Auto show, I heard whispers about something the hit band OK Go was doing with GPS and a large crowd of people.

Of course, since I was busy working the auto show, I didn't have time to investigate. But since I am a big fan of OK Go's artistic endeavors--its music videos with treadmills, Rube Goldberg machines, dogs, and more are some of the best and most imaginative of all time--I was just a little annoyed not to be able to hunt down what was happening.

Today, … Read more

A few months ago we saw the debut of the Land Rover Evoque at the Paris Motor Show. This vehicle offered the luxury and off-road capability we've come to expect from Land Rover, but its two door-styling seemed too small for the U.S.

Land Rover knows its business, bringing out a slightly larger version of the Evoque at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Where getting into the rear seat of the two-door Evoque looked like a challenge, this new Evoque offers much more access with four doors and a hatchback.

Both versions of the Evoque get a new … Read more

Who says the NASA Spirit doesn't live on?

Those who mourned the Mars rover's failure to communicate with its earthbound operators will be heartened to know data from the plucky explorer continues to produce important findings--even as the rover itself remains stuck in a sand trap and out of contact. In fact, NASA says that trap has turned out to be a jackpot, announcing today that Spirit has detected evidence of water under the ground's surface.

Layers of soil with different compositions in the area where the rover became stuck more than a year ago led the … Read more