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Old distractions as bad as new tech

DRIVERS are as much distracted by "old technology" as by new gadgets, according to a survey. Adult passengers, twiddling with the radio and children in the car were the main distractions causing either a near-miss or an accident, the poll of more than 18,000 motorists found. These three distractions came ahead of operating the sat-nav and talking on a mobile phone as the biggest reasons for lack of driver attention.

Volvo to launch large-scale autonomous driving project

It's going to happen sooner than we though -- the machines are going to take over. No need to jump in your car and drive to your uncle's fallout shelter where he's been stockpiling expired cans of tomato soup, though, at least not just yet. The machines in question are Volvos (pretty benign, right?), and the place they'll be taking over is Volvo's home town of Gothenburg, Sweden.

GM disbands unit that creates high-performance vehicles

General Motors, focusing on mainstream products in a battle to survive, has scrapped a unit that produced high-performance vehicles. GM on Wednesday disbanded High Performance Vehicle Operations, which is based at the company's suburban Detroit technical center, and redeployed its engineers, spokesman Vince Muniga said. "All high-performance projects are on indefinite hold," Muniga said.