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You may have missed it (I first did), but the IEEE recently issued its 2008 list of the top 10 high tech cars.
Notable are the inclusion of only two concept vehicles. Among the production cars are the high performance Chevy Corvette (which racing legend Mario Andretti told Automotive DesignLine packs more bang-for-the-buck than his Lamborghini) and the Nissan GT-R, along with the Lincoln MKS—an auto show stunner with Ford and Microsoft's co-developed Sync infotainment system and a direct injection, turbo charged V6 with performance of the company's standard V8.
Perhaps more noteworthy production cars on the list include the BMW X6, which uses the FlexRay data bus for communications between the transmission, active steering, and suspension (beyond the company's X5 featuring FlexRay in chassis and suspension applications). Also noted is the Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion diesel (not available in the U.S.) with 62 mpg economy—better than a Prius hybrid and with sub-Prius CO2 emissions.
Finally, in the pair of concepts on the list is the Mercedes F700. This car has a homogeneous charge-compression ignition (HCCI) engine that the company dubbed the DiesOtto for the combination of diesel and otto cycles—with compression approaching that of diesels without the NOx emissions. This convergence of power train technologies was part of the buzz at this year's SAE Congress last month in Detroit.
Bad joke alert: The wags at IEEE also said perhaps DiesOtto sounded too much like DeSoto (a Chrysler badge which died 50 years ago), and that since Mercedes recently sold Chrysler, the name should be changed. (Hey, if you remember DeSoto, your biggest concern could be retirement.) So following on a theme (bad joke alert: part 2), if the Italians developed a combination Rankin and diesel cycle, might the engine be called the risotto?
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