Lancia Scorpion Front Insert Shock on 2040-parts.com

Toyota to launch its own version of OnStar

Toyota Motor Sales said today that it is launching a telematics system similar to General Motors' OnStar that will be available on some Lexus and Toyota vehicles in late summer. At the Consumer Electrics Show today in Las Vegas, Toyota detailed its plans for the system, which has different features for each brand. On Toyota vehicles, the system will be called Safety Connect; on Lexus models it will be called Enform.

Volvo’s ‘Drive Me’ is the world’s first large-scale autonomous driving pilot project

Yes, you’ll be able to chat on the phone when the Volvo does the driving for you Like it or not, we’re rapidly moving to the point where autonomous cars will be the norm, with the driver only being involved in the act of driving by choice. Volvo – unsurprisingly with their stated goal of making sure no one dies in a Volvo in future – is at the forefront of the move to autonomous driving, and have teamed up with the Swedish Transportation Administration, the Swedish Transport Agency, Lindholmen Science Park and the City of Gothenburg in a project called ‘Drive Me - Self-driving cars for sustainable mobility’. The project kicks off next year with customer research and the development of the necessary technology and Volvo aims to have 100 autonomous cars on the roads of Gothenburg by 2017, where they’ll be driving round approximately 50 kms of selected roads, including commuter roads, motorways and regular queues.

Alfa Romeo/IED Gloria [w/gallery]

The European Institute of Design (IED) in Turin will unveil its new Gloria concept, developed in collaboration with Alfa Romeo Style Center, at next month's Geneva motor show. These renders of the sports sedan concept, which is 4,200mm long, 1,920mm wide, 1,320mm high sitting on a wheelbase of 2,900mm, show a traditional Alfa grille that feeds into the hood's prominent V-shaped character lines. Two leather hood straps in front of the windshield are a nod to the brand's older models.