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Middlecott Sketchbattle Experiment contest pits auto designers against Detroit talent

Local creative and design talent from outside and inside the car industry will go head-to-head in a multi-round competition for the title of Sketchmaster in the Middlecott Sketchbattle Experiment (MSBE). To be held at an underground afterparty for the Auto Show Charity Preview on 17 January at the Kunsthalle Museum in Detroit, the self-styled car design fight club will be attended by industry leaders, designers from Ford, GM, Chrysler, Toyota and Tier One suppliers. Car enthusiasts, artists and designers from around the globe will also be present.

Audi to build cars that can predict the future

Audi is hoping to make traffic jams, parking and city centre navigation much easier with a new suite of technology called Audi Urban Intelligent Assist (AUIA), while Audi traffic Light Online helps you avoid red traffic lights. Combining the work of its own Electronics Research Laboratory in Silicon Valley with four leading US research universities, the eventual aim is that this new technology will essentially be able to predict the future. On Bing: see pictures of Audi Urban Intelligent Assist On Bing: see pictures of Audi Traffic Light Assist The ideas is that with constant and continual traffic analysis in the world’s biggest cities, Audi Urban Intelligent Assist will learn to anticipate the optimum time for your journey, and then use the most lightly congested routes to get you there.

Ford touts electric range, speed of plug-in C-Max Energi hybrid

Ford's C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid wagon will be able to hit 85 mph on battery power alone, the automaker said Tuesday. The C-Max Energi can also travel 20 miles on electric power. The driver can put the powertrain into one of three modes, via a button on the center stack: -- EV Now, which runs the vehicle on the lithium-ion battery pack until it is depleted.