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Volkswagen creates driving style-linked music app

VOLKSWAGEN has created a new smartphone that improvises its own music based on how the car is being driven. Working with British electronic musicians Underworld, Volkswagen has built the experimental ‘Play the Road’ app to help celebrate the launch of the seventh generation Golf GTI. It works by connecting to the car and using its own in-built accelerometer to analyse speed, engine revs, steering, throttle and braking inputs and the urgency of each to create a unique, ever-changing music that ranges from serene background chillout vibes to fast-paced electronica.

Rolls-Royce RR4 preview

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars today revealed the first design sketches of its next new model. Known internally as the RR4, the car is due to be launched in 2010 and will sit alongside the Phantom in the model line-up. The RR4 will be smaller than the Phantom and powered by a new engine, unique to Rolls-Royce.

GM to recall 1.5 million vehicles for fire risk

General Motors Co. said it is recalling 1.5 million vehicles with heated washer-fluid systems following engine fires that occurred even after a 2008 fix on many of the same cars for similar problems. The recalls, to begin by June 14, will affect 18 models of 2006-2009 Buicks, Cadillacs, Chevrolets, GMCs, Hummers and Saturns, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on its Web site today.