The Toyota Prius first arrived in Australia 19 years ago but it has taken a while for regular hybrids to become popular. Some argue it is better to move to fully electric vehicles rather than holding on to petrol engines. But the auto industry seems to have a different view – focus on hybrids because that’s what customers want. Read More
Most of the world’s vehicle owners must get third party insurance or CTP, whatever it’s called in their country. Germans call it Haftpflicht and Danes call it ansvarsforsikring. However, our review of CTP in nine randomly selected countries reveals a few interesting quirks. Read More
Sales of electric vehicles have tripled in Australia to over 6,700 in the year to December 2019. It’s still a tiny percentage of all car sales. Observers say price, driving distances and charging continue to hinder sales. Another possibility is lack of social acceptance. Non-EV buyers could be too concerned about their status to buy something different from their neighbours. Early buyers of EVs may just be virtue signalling. Read More
Some people think of their car as a personal sanctuary where they can find some privacy. Yet, one of the biggest themes in the auto industry is connectivity. In the US, GM, Toyota, and Ford, sell only internet-connected cars and this trend will continue. However, always-on connectivity leaves them open to cyberattack and there could be more than privacy at stake. Read More
Did you know that in Australia, we have more household pets than people? The most popular pet is a dog and a quarter of all households own a dog or two. Many people like to take their dogs with them wherever they go – on holiday, to the shop or cafe. But do you how to travel safely – and legally – with your dog? Read More
Over half of Australian parents admit to breaking the law while their kids are in the car. Apparently, owners of high status cars are not much better and tend to flout traffic rules too. NRMA even found luxury sedan owners were 29% more likely than other drivers to be involved in collisions. So who are the worst drivers? Read More
Queensland now has the toughest penalties in Australia for people caught illegally using their mobiles while driving. According to the latest Budget Direct survey, most people think heavy fines ($1,000 or more) and demerit points will deter people from texting. Yet, more than a quarter say nothing will stop them! Read More
As we wrote last week, there are two huge problems for programming driverless cars. One is, they may be safer than human drivers in the long-term but until then, they are considerably more dangerous than humans. Second, we want to program them to make decisions just like a human – yet we don’t want them to drive just like a human! Read More
You would think from everything you read and hear that driverless cars are inevitable. Carmakers have already spent billions developing them. But lately their message about driverless cars is changing. It could be a decade or more before they can drive on the roads. Some believe a truly driverless car are a fantasy and may never even exist. Read More
Middle aged men now have more chance of dying on NSW roads than young people. Latest figures for 2019 show 13 more men aged 30-59 lost their lives in 2019, compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, there was a historic low of 14 deaths of young people 17-20. Why are men of all ages still the main casualties? Read More
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