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Design Essay: Are smart roads just around the corner?

In order to remain relevant, the car must constantly evolve. But while almost all attention focuses on four wheels, the roads that facilitate an automobile's progress have remained relatively unaltered since Eisenhower formed the National Highway system in the 1950s. With environmental concerns getting ever higher on the agenda, there is an opportunity to think outside the (metal) box and rethink the road, making it as smart as the vehicles and devices that travel upon it.

Movie Review: 'Need for Speed'

Even in death, Carroll Shelby still touches us from the heavens above, where we mortals pay tribute in celluloid. The first half of "Need for Speed" (which opens March 14) concerns a Ford Mustang that was "the one Carroll Shelby was building when he died," the characters gush and stumble, barely expressing their praise quickly or coherently enough. "The chariot of the gods," someone says; it's worth "two million, minimum," says someone else.

Ferrari LaFerrari lands in China: Shanghai Motor Show

Ferrari’s hybrid supercar was as eagerly received as it was in Geneva, with a sea of photographers, press and visitors thronging to get a glimpse of what is undeniably an impressive ‘F70′ from Ferrari. But looking good is perhaps the second ‘must have’ for a supercar – especially one that replaces the Enzo – and LaFerrari looks to deliver on the number one priority for most supercar buyers - performance. With 798bhp from its naturally aspirated V12 and an extra 161bhp from its electric motor, LaFerrari promises a dose of green credentials – important, to a degree, on China’s polluted roads – to go with its performance and handling, performance that can see the car it get to 62mph in under 3 seconds and on to a 186mph in an even more impressive 15.5 seconds.