Lamborghini's world largest showroom has been inaugurated at Dubai. The Dubai arm of the Italian supercar manufacturer has said that it has moved to a new showroom on Sheikh Zayed Road. A grand opening has been reserved for a later time in 2016.

This new showroom has a variety of car displayed, some old and some new one. Showroom also has facility of service center that would help in hassle-free after sales support to the customers in and around Dubai.

The facility has a couple of private display areas that would explain the history of Lamborghini, and will also motivate buyers to buy it by making buyers understand the importance of owning a Lamborghini.

Showroom stretches over area of 30,000 square ft., it has three levels of construction. It featured a unique external glass façade suspended by steel cables. 

It is said that many infrastructural bodies are planned in the city and the presence of the world’s largest Lamborghini showroom will only elevate the province’s appeal.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed this morning that the company has received almost 400,000 preorders for its new Model 3 sedan. Musk unveiled the Model 3 earlier this month to much interest, and 325,000 preorders after just a week. "We are now almost at 400,000 orders for the Model 3," Musk told a Norwegian conference this morning, according to Reuters. Interest in the Model 3 has been impressive, and "surprised even us" said Musk.

Hundreds of Tesla fans lined up outside dealerships before the car was even officially unveiled, and Tesla received more than twice the Model 3 preorders it expected. Tesla's Model 3 is set for release in 2017, priced starting at $35,000 with at least 215 miles of range. The huge amount of preorders could cause availability issues next year, and Musk also expects the Model 3 to reach 500,000 preorders before more details about the car are revealed later this year.

Buying a car is an expensive endeavor. Maintenance, upkeep, fuel and repairs (if you’re a terrible driver or are unlucky enough to come across one) add to the cost of owning any vehicle. But what if you could offset some of those costs through no effort of your own? That’s the premise of Ticket Kataao, a Pakistani startup  that makes of your car a billboard and pays you for it.

There are three factors that decide how much you can make per month with Ticket Kataao.

 

While the startup has kept things simple, Talha Zaheer ( Pakistani), the founder of Ticket Kataao, says that they will consider moving to a more granular level of calculating payouts if the market demands it. Once you’ve decided on branding your car, you start using the company’s app while driving around till you get matched with an advertiser.


For branding the car with high quality vinyl, all costs are covered by Ticket Kataao and a locally manufactured tracker is added to the car (which can also double as an emergency tracker). Each advertising campaign lasts around 3 months.

As you’d expect, location and routes matter since advertisers value high traffic and busy commercial areas. Naturally, there’s variability introduced due to that. However, Talha tells us that:

As with any startup that gathers customer information, there are privacy issues. In this case, the tracker technology. To alleviate any concerns, Ticket Kataao provides heat maps instead of track lines to advertisers. ”Big data analysis is our sole concern”, adds Talha.

For monthly payments, Ticket Kataao relies on checks until they automate the system through direct bank transfers.
 

Concluding Thoughts
While the idea behind the startup is smart, there are a few possible hiccups. Firstly, it’s going to be an uphill battle to convince owners of high end cars to put ads on their cars. Usually if you’re buying a car worth PKR 2.5 million, you don’t need the extra cash. Furthermore, for some people it might reduce the premium feel of the vehicle.

Secondly, Ticket Kataao’s success is going to be entirely dependent on the strength of their marketing efforts. Initial numbers (the startup has around 500 signups already) have been encouraging and I’m of the belief that commercial partnerships are going be the rarer commodity rather than the number of people willing to put ads on their cars.


This also provides a potential solution to my earlier point. If Ticket Kataao can provide a wide selection of vinyls from advertisers across multiple industries to customers, they could actually bill it as the cool way to show the world what you’re passionate about. So rather than a sterile sticker about Panadol, it could be your favorite football club or your preferred brand of clothing. Now who wouldn’t want that?

Basic model can go from 0 to 100kph in under 6 seconds, with 300km-plus range on one charge; but it won't go on sale until late 2017 and more than 180,000 reservations made in first 24 hours

Tesla Motors gave a sneak preview Thursday of its Model 3 sedan, saying more than 130,000 people had ordered the car, even though it is more than a year away from production.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk unveiled a prototype of the Model 3 in Hawthorne, California outside Los Angeles to hundreds of Tesla owners and the media, saying the vehicle will go into production in 2017 at a starting price of $35,000.

The Model 3 is critical to the Silicon Valley automaker's growth plans and to sustaining its lofty stock price. Tesla shares have jumped in recent days in anticipation of the Model 3 launch.

The Model 3 will enter a crowded field of luxury and electric cars that includes gasoline-fueled models such as the Audi A4 and BMW 3-Series, and electric models such as the forthcoming Chevrolet Bolt EV from General Motors Co.

"Do you want to see the car?" teased Musk, to screams from the audience in the hangar-sized facility inside a Tesla design center. "We don't have it for you tonight -- just kidding!"

Three Model 3s were driven onstage. The compact sleek four-door car with no grille features a roof that is a panoramic pane of glass from front to back.

Musk said that 115,000 pre-orders had already been taken on Thursday alone for the car. Within a half hour, that number reached 137,600 in a rolling scroll projected onto a screen.

Vehicular technology is improving at very high pace, here is some of new advancement in it.

 

1. Automatic high-beam control
Some of the new redesigned cars offers a system that automatically illuminates and dims the high-beam headlights with respect to the approaching traffic. A camera on the rear view mirror detects when the vehicle is closing in on oncoming traffic, as well as vehicles ahead traveling in the same direction, and disengages the high beams. Adaptive High beam Assist is one step ahead it does not switch only between low and high beams, but reacts by gradually increasing or lowering the light distribution based on the distance of approaching traffic.
 

2. Cameras
Multiple cameras are provided in cars to enlarged fields of view when parking the car or when car is in reverse. Valeo-multicamera system employs three to five cameras, depending on the model of car, to display a panoramic view when parking. Precise distances are indicated by lines on the image. It also sounds an alarm when the vehicle closes in on an unseen object. These cameras provides 360-degree view used for parking purposes.
 

3. Night vision with pedestrian detection
Night vision in vehicles is a old technology offered by Cadillac in 2000. The updated version is called Night View Assist Plus.This system pinpoints pedestrians, highlighting them on a dashboard display. BMW has a similar system with a pedestrian identifier that also shows the direction the pedestrian is moving. As the distance closes between pedestrian and vehicle, a warning appears on the night vision monitor as well as the head-up display on the windshield if so equipped. BMW offers this system on the 2009 7 Series.
 

4. Rear-mounted radar
Rear-pointing radar has been around for a few years alerting drivers to unseen objects immediately behind them.The new radar technology searches for approaching cross traffic. When it "sees" traffic approaching while you're backing up, it sounds an alarm. It includes visual indicators in the outboard mirrors. Ford's system is called Cross Traffic Alert. Offered in the just-released 2010 Fusion and Mercury Milan, it also has outboard mirror alarm indicators.
 

5. Parental control
Parents who are afraid their teen driver might speed or be distracted by playing the vehicle's audio system at an excessive volume can use Ford's new MyKey system to limit speed and volume. When programmed, MyKey limits the speed to 80 miles per hour. It can also be programmed to limit the audio volume and to sound a continuous alarm if seat belts are left unfastened.
 

6.GPS vehicle tracking
Parents who wants to keep track of their child can purchase the LiveViewGPS Live Trac PT-10. Retailing for $550 with a $40 per month subscription fee, it is a GPS tracking system that updates a vehicle's position every 10 seconds. It only requires Internet access. Small and portable, the tracking device can be moved easily. It can also alert parents through their cell phone if the vehicle's preset speed threshold is exceeded or if the vehicle enters/exits certain areas.It is useful product for businesses that need to track their fleet vehicles.

7. Driver capability
This technology measures the driver's fitness and issues warnings when a driver is judged overly tired or impaired. It remembers a driver's normal behavior behind the wheel and establishes it as the driver's baseline profile. Continually measuring factors such as speed, lateral acceleration, steering wheel angle, pedal use and so forth, the system determines if there is any deviation from the baseline. If so, it alerts the driver visually and audibly that it's break time. Even external influences such as crosswind and road surface are factored in.

8. In-car Internet
The first system to turn your vehicle into a Wi-Fi hotspot is Autonet Mobile. Using a portable router mounted in the trunk or other out-of-the-way location, this system uses a 3G or 4G network to supply an uninterrupted signal regardless of cell tower blind spots, tunnels and so forth. In addition to the $399 router, there is a monthly subscription fee of either $29 or $59 based on estimated usage.

A research revealed that cars can be remotely unlocked and started using a simple hack. The hack allows malicious actors to unlock and drive away 24 different car models from 19 manufacturers using a cheap and easily constructed radio amplifier. Called the "amplifier attack", the hack involves altering the radio frequency in the cars to trick the keyless sensor technology into thinking that the vehicle's owner is nearby with the key.

The cars affected include European popular models such as the Ford's Galaxy, Audi's A3, Toyota's Rav4, Volkswagen's Golf GTD and Nissan's Leaf. This isn't an untested threat either, the researchers claim the method has already been used in car thefts, and is evidenced in real surveillance footage. 

The researchers believe dozens more models that use keyless technology could be vulnerable, but they are yet to prove it. Currently, 95 per cent of European car brands use keyless entry.

The only car that resisted the researchers couldn't unlock was BMW's i3. But they were able to start its ignition. And the BMW 730d was hackable, meaning that the German carmaker's models aren't immune to the vulnerability.

How it works

For years, owners of cars that use keyless technology have reported seeing their cars being effortlessly stolen by people walking up to them and driving away. Researchers at the German car club ADAC have now tested what is called the "amplification attack" on dozens of car models and found 24 of them vulnerable.

The hack involves tricking the car's radio equipment into thinking that the owner is near the vehicle with the keyless sensor. It involves boosting the signal in the key fob by making a couple of simple changes to the frequency in the car's radio equipment with an amplification device.

"The radio connection between keys and car can easily be extended over several hundred metres, regardles of whether the original key is, for example, at home or in the pocket of the owner," said the ADAC researchers.

The attack has been around for at least four years - Swiss researchers detailed a similar version of the hack back in 2011. But carmakers have not released a fix for the problem, and now German researchers have come up with an even cheaper and easier way to exploit it.

The ADAC researchers devised a system that can unlock and start the cars for just £160, where the Swiss researchers had spent thousands of pounds on their software.

They created two radio devices - an amplifier that must be positioned near the victim's key, and a receiver that should be placed near the car. The radio near the car impersonates the key and triggers the car to unlock.

The device can work from as far away as 90 metres.
The radios are simple to make, and the components cheap, according to the researchers. They have not released how exactly they made the devices, as they do not want to encourage potential thieves.
How to protect your car

There is no simple fix for the hack, unfortunately. If you own a car that uses keyless technology - or one of the models below - you could try storing your key in a "faraday cage", designed to block radio signals, or a freezer, as one New York Times journalist did.  Really, it's down to car manufacturers to build defences into wireless key fobs.

While not fully self-driving, the software means the Model S and new Model X can "automatically steer down the highway, change lanes, and adjust speed in response to traffic".

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said the autopilot mode was designed to increase driver confidence on the road.However, Mr Musk said users adopting the software - available in North America from Thursday - should exercise caution while using it.

"It should not hit pedestrians, hopefully," he told the media. "It should handle them well."

He added that if the car is involved in a collision, the driver is still liable.

"The driver cannot abdicate responsibility. That will come at some point in the future."

Other regions of the world would be updated in the next couple of weeks pending regulatory approval.The software uses a combination of cameras, radar, ultrasonic sensors and mapping data to determine its position and navigate.When the car has arrived at its destination, it is able to scan for an available space and park i

tself.

Unlike Google, which is aiming for a fully-autonomous vehicle, Tesla's approach is to gradually introduce features which take away the need for drivers to carry out certain functions.Currently there are limitations to the software which would improve over time, Mr Musk said.

"If there's heavy snow it's going to be harder for the system to work, so we'd advise caution.

"Essentially it's like a person - how well can a person figure out what route they should take. Over time it will be better than a person.

"Long term it will be way better than a person. It never gets tired, it's never had anything to drink, it's never arguing with someone in the car. It's not distracted."

Other car manufacturers such as BMW and Volvo are also developing, and implementing, autonomous features to their cars.Google's entirely self-driving car has clocked up well over one million miles on public roads, mostly in California.

New Tesla Autopilot self-driving capabilities arrive this week with version 7 of Tesla’s software. It enhances the Model S’s ability to help drive the car on highways and assist with parallel parking. The interface on Tesla’s 17-inch center stack LCD will also have a “new look,” Tesla chairman Elon Musk says.

The download becomes available Thursday and will take five days to roll out to the installed base of Tesla Model S sedans, Tesla says. It gives the Model S the same capabilities as the Tesla Model X SUV that began shipping Sept. 30 in very limited quantities. Not every autonomous driving feature is in the 7.0 release — for instance, valet mode car retrieval that parks and unparks your car in a garage with you outside the car.

With Autopilot, Tesla matches and possibly raises the offerings of the highest-end automakers. Along with some standard driver assist features, the Tesla Tech Package, it combines to provide full-range adaptive cruise control (Traffic Aware Cruise Control, TACC, in Tesla terminology) that is full range, down to 0 mph and back up to speed; blind spot detection; lane departure warning; automated lane change (initiated by the driver); and traffic sign recognition.

This week’s update is expected to included automated parallel and possibly head-in parking. The existing sensors give a Tesla the ability to pull into a narrow home garage, and back out, with the driver outside the car. A further extension might allow the ability to pull into a public parking garage and have it valet-parked on your behalf.

Musk has said a Tesla “will learn over time,” including adapting to the nature of how other cars are driven.

Since September 2014, Tesla embedded a forward-facing camera in the windshield mirror cluster, a radar in the front grille, and a dozen sonar sensors in the front and rear bumpers. If you aren’t sure you want the AutoPilot features, the hardware is still there and you make it work by paying the $2,500 Tech Package fee. That’s a huge advantage for Tesla over other automakers that today balk at spending $25-$50 to embed satellite radio in hopes some buyers will subscribe. It also means the Model S sedan and Model X crossover (image right) can be on equal footing for driver-assist features, as long as they have the same hardware sensors.

The Tesla auto-upgrade feature also requires an embedded cellular telematics modem, which is pretty much standard on high end cars from all automakers; even Ford’s Lincoln division is getting religion on that. Only General Motors’ OnStar drives onboard telematics down to to entry-level cars.

The auto-download-and-upgrade feature enables better technologies as they come available. That’s how a Tesla progresses from lane departure warning (when the car drifts over to lane marking) to lane keep assist (the car is steered back from the lane edge) to lane centering (the car stays within a few inches of the very center of the lane).

Some technologies would require additional sensors. Night vision offered on high-end German cars for about $2,000 requires a thermal imager. It’s now a useful tool because the ever-improving software can detect pedestrians, larger animals, and bicyclists; warn of their presence; and if US laws allowed it, turn and strobe (flash) the headlamps at the knees of pedestrians or animals close to the road