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Volvo picks up Red Dot Design Award for new connectivity system

Volvo's Sensus Connected Touch connectivity system with the world's first voice-activated integrated Spotify connection has been awarded a 2013 Red Dot Design Award. The Sensus Connected Touch accessory turns the integrated 7-inch display into an infrared, beam-scanned touch screen that can be used even when wearing gloves. The system can be controlled using the touchscreen, the steering wheel or the center stack, while you can also voice-activate all music sources. Alain Visser, senior vice president of marketing, sales and customer service at Volvo, says, "The Red Dot Design Award confirms that this approach to an intuitive, human-centric user experience fulfils modern car owners' desire to remain constantly connected also when driving." The WiFi connection can be made using either a car-mounted 3G/4G-dongle or the driver's mobile phone, and the data is transferred by the WiFi between the phone and the Sensus Connected Touch.

Passengers are the biggest distraction

THE BIGGEST DISTRACTION for drivers is other people in the car. Adult passengers are the most distracting, with 18% of drivers saying they have had a near miss or crashed because of their attention being drawn away by someone else in the car. A survey by the AA found adjusting the radio was the second biggest distraction, with 16% of drivers admitting they had narrowly avoided a collision or been in a crash while fiddling with the radio.

McLaren lock out front row in Australian F1 Grand Prix qualifying

Lewis Hamilton is on pole with Jenson Button alongside for the 2012 Australian F1 Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton is on pole with Jenson Button alongside for the 2012 Australian F1 Grand Prix after qualifying in Melbourne. Most of the pit lane thought McLaren had got it wrong with their new nose – a sleek nose instead of the stepped one almost all the rest of the field have this year – but as far as the opening qualifying of the 2012 F1 circus they seem to have got it just right. Hamilton set a stunning lap to open final qualifying, with Jenson Button managing to almost match his team mate with a lap just 0.152 seconds behind to make the front row a McLaren lock-out.