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Tomorrow's world: Jaguar and Land Rover showcase intelligent car tech

By John Mahoney Motor Industry 11 July 2014 17:21 CAR has been given a sneak preview of some of the weird, wonderful and slightly creepy new technology that’s coming to Jaguar and Land Rovers in the not too distant future. The new tech - including gesture control, next-gen voice control and intelligent windscreens - was shown at an event in Whiteley, where Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) also announced details of its new four-cylinder engines.  So what should we expect from Jags and Landies of the future? Gesture control is the next big thing for Land Rovers and Jaguars say its engineers.

GM names Stracke to succeed Reilly as CEO of Opel/Vauxhall

General Motors on Thursday named global engineering chief Karl-Friedrich Stracke to replace Nick Reilly as CEO of its money-losing Opel/Vauxhall unit, effective April 1. Stracke will report to Reilly, 61, who continues as the head of GM's European operations and will be nominated to chair the Opel supervisory board. Stracke, a German native, has led GM's global vehicle engineering operations for the past 15 months.

Volkswagen creates driving style-linked music app

VOLKSWAGEN has created a new smartphone that improvises its own music based on how the car is being driven. Working with British electronic musicians Underworld, Volkswagen has built the experimental ‘Play the Road’ app to help celebrate the launch of the seventh generation Golf GTI. It works by connecting to the car and using its own in-built accelerometer to analyse speed, engine revs, steering, throttle and braking inputs and the urgency of each to create a unique, ever-changing music that ranges from serene background chillout vibes to fast-paced electronica.