Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series on 2040-parts.com

Update: Google self-driving car is really just a transportation pod

Google will launch its own fleet of autonomous vehicle prototypes – with no steering wheels and no gas or brake pedals – as the technology giant begins a new phase of its self-driving car project. Google designed the car and plans to have about 100 test vehicles that are fully autonomous with extra safety features, company co-founder Sergey Brin said during a conference Tuesday hosted by technology blog Re/code in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. > See how Google's autonomous car navigates city streets here The New York Times reported Tuesday night that a Detroit-area manufacturer is building the cars for Google, which declined to name the manufacturer, according to the Times' story.

Halloween: Best rides for trick-or-treaters

So, how do you think all those ghosts, goblins, witches and super heroes get to your neighborhood on Halloween night, anyway? Television and the big screen have used all sorts of contraptions that could fit into just about any Halloween theme. From Herman Munster's Munster Koach to the Batmobile to the rarely seen Super Car from Darrin Stevens' garage in "Bewitched," there have been plenty of scary-looking vehicles used in TV and movies that were hardly (in most cases) darlings of car showrooms.

Old is new again: Will a floor-hinged throttle pedal be in your future?

If you think that every little nut, bolt, switch, gear or widget in your new car wasn't scrutinized by a team of highly educated, overworked car geeks (read: engineers), think again. A couple of recent conversations with automotive engineers confirmed that virtually nothing that goes into a car today is taken for granted. During the recent Pebble Beach weekend, I had the pleasure of spending time with an engineer for Jaguar, and the subject turned to materials used for various switches in the cabin.