Treem Metal Magic 8 Oz on 2040-parts.com

Continental developing experimental semiautonomous vehicle

A vehicle that drives itself has been a fantasy for many drivers since they encountered their first traffic jam. While a fully autonomous car is not quite here, Continental—yes, the same company that makes tires—has an experimental semiautonomous vehicle that will eclipse the magical 10,000-miles-on-road mark this month. Its unassuming Volkswagen Passat is fitted with a plethora of safety and technology systems that the company has been developing and tweaking over the course of the project.

Next Volvo XC90 to ditch dashboard buttons

VOLVO is looking to the future of in-car technology in next year's new XC90 by doing away with almost all buttons and replacing them with a new combination of a touch-screen, a head-up display and steering wheel-mounted thumb wheels. The system is designed to make better use of the available interior space while reducing distractions for the driver, but it will mean that users will have to start from scratch to learn how to operate even the car's most basic interior functions. To make it worthwhile Volvo is integrating new features like remote 'Park and Pay' applications and the ability to use and mirror Apple iOS apps in the interface.

GM profits surge to $3.2 billion in first quarter

General Motors on Thursday posted net income of $3.2 billion for the first quarter, its fifth straight quarterly profit since emerging from bankruptcy. Stripping out one-time charges and gains, including $1.6 billion in income from the March sale of GM's ownership in Delphi Automotive, GM earned $2 billion before interest and taxes. GM's net income for the January-through-March period a year earlier was $865 million.