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Ecclestone wants to bring the noise

FORMULA ONE supremo Bernie Ecclestone has vowed to address growing concerns surrounding the sport's lack of an appealing noise. Following Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Ron Walker, chairman of the organising company that stages the race, complained to close friend Ecclestone about the lack of sound. The piercing scream of the old V8 engine has gone, and in its place we now have a huskier tone, complete with whistles and whirrs from the 1.6-litre V6 turbo as F1 tries to become greener.

This could be your first autonomous vehicle

While Google's autonomous fleet of robot cars prowls Silicon Valley and gets all the press, the first, or one of the first, truly autonomous vehicles you may ride in could be something like this: The humble, people-moving Navia. Developed by a French company called Induct, the Navia is ringed with laser beams (not frickin' laser beams. Ed.) that help it navigate through city streets or college campuses without the aid of a track in the ground, a rail or even GPS (GPS is not accurate enough, Induct says).

Guzzler program still operating; White House searches for funds

The federal cash-for-guzzlers program continues to operate this morning despite dealer reports that it was to be suspended at midnight last night because it was approaching its $1 billion limit. "It is not suspended," a White House spokeswoman, who asked not to be named, said in an interview today. "We continue to assess the program and its budget." National Automobile Dealers Association spokesman Bailey Wood said Thursday that the group had been told by Transportation Department officials of plans to suspend the program after just six days.