2013 Infiniti JX35: Getting Us One Step Closer To A Driverless Car

[danwat1234]

Why is it that brand new cars with navigation systems that store map data on a hard drive, as well as user music, so small?
I don't think I've ever heard of a car, even a luxury $100,000 car have a hard drive over 40GB in size.
I know, there is little use except for music lovers that want everything that's in there 160GB iPod in their car. But, why not? Maybe to save a few bucks?
Where do the car manufactures get such small hard drives? It's hard to believe they are still manufactured at such small capacities, even 1.8" form factor. I don't know if it 1.8" or 2.5" car manufactures generally use.

My thoughts!

 

[tuanies]

Why is it that brand new cars with navigation systems that store map data on a hard drive, as well as user music, so small?
I don't think I've ever heard of a car, even a luxury $100,000 car have a hard drive over 40GB in size.
I know, there is little use except for music lovers that want everything that's in there 160GB iPod in their car. But, why not? Maybe to save a few bucks?
Where do the car manufactures get such small hard drives? It's hard to believe they are still manufactured at such small capacities, even 1.8" form factor. I don't know if it 1.8" or 2.5" car manufactures generally use.

My thoughts!

I'd imagine it has to do with validation. Getting items certified for extreme conditions takes longer and the products are typically behind current consumer products. If there's no desire for a higher capacity hard drive, the hard drive companies probably don't find it necessary to validate higher capacity products. The automotive-grade hard drives have to survive extreme cold and heat due to varying climate conditions. There's also the problem with copying music to the hard drive, some systems enable copying from flash drives, some only rip CDs. Imagine filling up the entire hard drive if it can only copy music from a CD, it'd be a very tedious process. Nowadays, just copying a bunch of music on a flash drive for on-the-go is a lot easier. Now if more cars would have dual USB ports, bringing portable hard drives would be a lot easier!

 

[matt_b]

I'll leave this tech for those that view driving as a means to get from point A to point B and nothing more. To me, driving is an experience and something that I enjoy whether it's on two or four wheels. I have a hard enough time finding the vehicles I want with a manual transmission option; so no, "autopilot" isn't something I'll look in to.

 

[wip99gt]

Your first fail is jacking up your vehicle..... The second fail is claiming it gets "good fuel economy" (yes I know your comparing to the vehicle pictured).

My lift kit is a 2" leveling kit which I made. I need it for ground clearance for where I go so it was not a mistake. I have 32" tires on it which does lift it a bit more but again I need it for where I go. I also installed thicker skid plates, a rock rail, an extra battery, and a small air compressor as with deep snow and mud you want to drop the tire pressures down for a larger foot print.I have been building/modify vehicles and off roading for over 15 years and am journeyman heavy duty and automotive. I know vehicles and am not some idiot who does a 10" lift because it looks cool. Some day if you ever do some real off roading you'll understand.
My jeep with those mods does get 31mpg and that is very good fuel economy for a full size suv but the exhaust, intake, intake manifold port and polish, and ecm reprogramming is a large reason for it. So I don't really know what the fail is here as it gets better fuel economy that my old CTS did.

 

[jlwtech]

Why is Toms Hardware writing thinly veiled advertisments for vehicles and other non-PC-related products?

I understand that vehicles are having more and more awesome tech stuffed into them each year, but just because a car has a computer in it doesn't mean that the car itself should be reviewed alongside Intel's new SSD DC S3700.
Just because my microwave, alarm clock, and calculator all have tiny computers in them doesn't mean they should be reviewed by Toms Hardware.

Instead of wasting time reviewing a car, that time could have been spent reviewing all the new closed-loop liquid cooling solutions, or some of the new deskop cases, or the new HD7870 LE (might be called the HD7930), or a roundup of fast USB3.0 flash drives, or maybe a comparison of surround sound headsets. There are soo many things, that could be reviewed, that are way more interesting and relevant to the people that frequent Toms Hardware.

 

[jonathan1683]

nothing new mercedes has done this for a while now. Probably leasing the tech from them.

 

[Mikey_bug]

Most of this tech is becoming the norm in europe now (VW's, Audi's, Peugoet's to name a few) and not just the luxury models. Where are the infrared camera's that the newer merc's have? where are the Magnetorheological dampers? where is the fully automated reverse parking?

Volvo are launching a fully automated car range in 2014 (upto speeds of 31mph) which makes this look a bit old really.

 

[tuanies]

Most of this tech is becoming the norm in europe now (VW's, Audi's, Peugoet's to name a few) and not just the luxury models. Where are the infrared camera's that the newer merc's have? where are the Magnetorheological dampers? where is the fully automated reverse parking?

Volvo are launching a fully automated car range in 2014 (upto speeds of 31mph) which makes this look a bit old really.

We'll have that covered in due time

 

[defox]

@tuanies can you elaborate on how does the Intelligent Brake Assist with Forward Collision Warnin gets enabled / reenabled (if it gets turned off like the intelligent CC does) ? i've done a test drive and not sure when it would even kick in as regular driving in traffic never warned me with sounds / visuals even if after i enabled "shield". does the cruise control must be enabled and on for this to work (which to me seems like it defeats the purpose)?

 

[tuanies]

@tuanies can you elaborate on how does the Intelligent Brake Assist with Forward Collision Warnin gets enabled / reenabled (if it gets turned off like the intelligent CC does) ? i've done a test drive and not sure when it would even kick in as regular driving in traffic never warned me with sounds / visuals even if after i enabled "shield". does the cruise control must be enabled and on for this to work (which to me seems like it defeats the purpose)?

It's been a while but this is what I remember. IBA works independently from the adaptive cruise control. It works with the forward collision warning system to either slow the car down when you're getting too close with cruise control on, or if you're driving and get too close to set off the FCW, it starts to prime the brakes so you can press it and have the same effect as slamming your foot straight down with just a press. The active systems have to be enabled every time if I recall, but the gauge cluster LCD should show which technologies are on, if it shows Brake Assist, then I think it should be enabled. But again, its been over a year since I've driven the thing.