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Consumer electronics giant Best Buy may have the answer for many of the recent electric vehicle startups — a way to distribute their products. The Minneapolis-based chain is hoping to segue into the EV sales market in the long-term.

Selling electric vehicles would not be completely new territory for Best Buy, as they are already selling the Brammo electric motorcycle and will be the customer’s point of contact for 240-volt home chargers for the 2012 Mitsubishi i EV and 2013 Ford Focus Electric.

While speaking with Automotive News, Best Buy’s senior director for efforts in mobility and transportation Chad Bell pointed out that many Best Buy stores “get more traffic in a weekend than some dealers do in a month.” For a startup automaker to distribute through Best Buy would mean an instant dealer network of 1101 stores all across the country.

The consumer electronics chain is also speaking with major manufacturers about being the outreach place for customers to learn more about new in-car technology and tutorials, and hopes that it could be a place dealers outsourced such customer trainings to. Best Buys sees the market of EVs and their new technologies to be a place that it can expand its services.

Would you buy an electric car from Best Buy, or would you prefer to buy one at a traditional car dealership? Let us know in the comments section below.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription required), http://rumors.automobilemag.com/

Three years after merging together, SiriusXM is now overhauling its channel lineup, finally forcing both Sirius and XM subscribers to dial into identical channel numbers.

The reorganization primarily allows the satellite radio giant to organize its channels by content. All channels within the same genre will be grouped together, and related genres will be located near to one another in the lineup. It will also be adding more local traffic channels, as well as a dedicated “pop-up” channels, which only play for a limited amount of time. Similar channels that were previously only available to either Sirius subscribers or XM subscribers will also be combined into a single station (much like how Sirius XMU absorbed XM’s Left of Center channel, for instance), and more channels will be available by means of the company’s streaming online radio service.

When subscribers turn on their radios this Wednesday, May 4, they will find the new channel lineup already in play, although SiriusXM says that they will not need to reset any radio presets — the new channel numbers should transfer over for most subscribers’ radios along (although some customers will need to refresh their receivers).

The stations will now be sorted starting with the pop stations, followed by rock, hip-hop, dance, country, and so on. The satellite radio service provides over 135 channels of music, news, and entertainment to more than 20.2 million subscribers nationwide. SiriusXM is available on almost every make and model in the U.S. from Acura to Volkswagen (and also Harley-Davidson motorcycles!). Make sure to check out the full channel list at on SiriusXM’s site, and don’t forget to reset your dials on Wednesday.

Source: SiriusXM, http://rumors.automobilemag.com/siriusxm-rearrange-channel-listings-make-sense-starts-wednesday-44499.html

The latest in vehicle technology will allow drivers 1000 miles per fill up….wow, for lack of better words!

2011 Chevrolet Volt owners are doing just as General Motors hoped: they are plugging in their cars every night. Thanks to this, Volt drivers are seeing “1000 miles before they fill up the gas tank,” Volt vehicle line director Tony Posawatz told Automotive News in an interview.

That number may sound incongruous with GM’s own information — the company says the Chevrolet Volt can travel up to 35 miles on electricity alone, and a further 344 miles using an onboard gasoline engine. Chevrolet Volt spokesman Rob Peterson explains that because the majority of owners charge their vehicle every night and drive fewer than 35 miles each day, they can go for days without using a drop of gasoline, and in some cases, up to 1000 miles before refilling the Volt’s 9.3-gallon fuel tank.

Peterson said that testimonials from buyers of the $41,000 (including destination) Volt reveal they have a strong interest in driving on electricity as much as possible. They charge the vehicle regularly and typically have short daily commutes.

“Customers are buying this vehicle and fitting it into their lifestyle,” Peterson said. “They’re using [the Volt] as we intended.” GM has been happy with Volt owners’ experiences, but are you surprised by the findings? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Sources: Automotive News, Chevrolet

Excellent Sources for AVIC installation: www.avic411.com , www.the12volt.com

Pioneers new flagship AVIC-Z120BT integrates sophisticated navigation capabilities as well as new groundbreaking features, including a revolutionary 3D touch slide interface, Pioneer MusicSphere and ECO Graph.

In addition to built-in navigation capabilities, the new double-DIN AVIC-Z120BT features a large motorized 7-inch WVGA hi-resolution touch screen display, a 3D graphics accelerator, DVD playback, built-in Bluetooth¹ for hands-free calling and music streaming, USB connectivity² for iPod/iPhone connectivity, micro SD card slot, back-up camera input and is SIRIUS XM³ satellite and HD Radio⁴ ready.

Audio User Interface Revolution with 3D
Redesigned from the ground up with the needs of today’s consumers in mind, this new user interface features dynamic shortcuts for all built-in or connected media sources, more prominent display of album art (when applicable), and improved display of audio track data. The intuitive touch slide control is utilized for audio/video source selection and for searching through new media such as iPod/iPhone content with a new, improved ABC Search and dual-speed scroll for List Searches. 3D animation makes the user interface a completely new, easy to use and intuitive in-car experience. The AVIC-Z120BT also adopts the customizable home menu allowing users to drag and drop up to 15 function icons into the home page display for easy one-touch access.

MusicSphere
Pioneer’s new proprietary MusicSphere technology allows users to enjoy their music in a new way by creating unique mood-based playlists via iTunes for their iPod, iPod Touch, or iPhone device. When installed on a user’s computer, the MusicSphere iTunes plug-in software⁵ will analyze the entire music library and create specialized playlists based on various musical attributes such as feeling (bright, energetic, gloomy, relaxing calm), rhythm pattern, Beats Per Minute (BPM), year of the song and/or date added to the device.

Additionally, through the MusicSphere plug-in, users can select preferred parameters of their music to create a “DJ Playlist”. This function will create a non-stop mix of up to 100 tracks of the selected music types with the further ability to set the transition effects for blending between songs.

Once an iPod, iPhone or iPod Touch device has been synced with the MusicSphere playlists and is connected to the AVIC-Z120BT, users can access up to 40 specialized playlists through an animated 3D sphere interface. Each playlist can be accessed from a section of the sphere which can be rotated up, down, left and right with a slight touch of the screen. This unique interface provides a quick, easy and highly visual method of selecting MusicSphere generated playlists.

Navigation at Its Best
The AVIC-Z120BT offers a comprehensive map database from TeleAtlas® covering the entire United States, Canada, Alaska and Hawaii, enabling users to route to millions of destinations including more than 12 million points of interest (POIs). Additionally, the unit features enhanced voice recognition including the capability to input destination addresses by voice.

For eco-friendly consumers, the system also features the second generation ECO Driving function with new features that provide driving status reports and the driver’s impact on the environment with visual images on-screen. Through Pioneer’s proprietary AVIC FEEDS®⁶ PC software⁷, the unit can estimate the fuel cost of trip routes as well as the vehicle’s CO2 emissions through detailed Drive Reports. Through a proprietary fuel consumption algorithm, AVIC FEEDS can also log and archive driving data and analyze driving habits to generate various reports with suggestions to improve fuel efficiency.

New to this generation of eco-conscious features, the ECO Graph feature provides a view in addition to 2D and 3D, which divides the map view screen with a new graph to provide drivers with a visual representation of their environmental impact. Additionally, when a route is set, the unit will calculate a Drive Score based on driving efficiency which factors abrupt stops and accelerations and idle time.

What else does this model have to offer?

• AVIC FEEDS for iPhone compatible
• Bluetooth Hands-Free
• Bluetooth Audio Streaming (A2DP and AVRCP)
• Navigation destination entry by Voice Control (Address Search, POI selection by category or brand name)
• USB Direct Control for iPod/iPhone and USB Devices (Optional Cable
  Required for iPod/iPhone)
• Advanced Sound Retriever to restore your compressed media to near CD quality
• XM and Sirius Radio Ready
• 3 Hi-Volt (4V) RCA preouts for adding on external amplifiers
• Two-Way Crossover with separate High and Low Pass settings.
• Built-in MOSFET 50 W x 4 amplifier for excellent sound quality, minimal distortion and efficient power handling.
• DVD/CD Player
• Supertuner® IIID advanced analog and digital processing assure superior imaging, less distortion and noise, and stronger, smoother broadcast signal reception.
• AUX input to easier plug in your portable media devices
• Back-Up Camera Ready

Source: http://www.pioneerelectronics.com

CarShowz Editor:  This article is dated August 2010, report from abcnews.com

It sounds like a Hollywood movie: cybercriminals in a van use a laptop to hack wirelessly into the computer-controlled systems of the car on the road ahead. In seconds the target car’s engine, brakes, and door locks are under their nefarious control.

Two sets of researchers have shown that cars’ onboard computers can be vulnerable to hackers. Cars remain safe, they say, but the studies show that flaws need to be addressed soon.
(Getty Images)It doesn’t take a great script writer to figure out what’s next – except that it’s not the movies anymore. It’s real – well, almost.

Hackers aren’t taking over our cars just yet, but without tighter computer security they be able to before too long, research conducted by scientists at four universities indicates.

For example, scientists hacked into a car’s computer system by commandeering the wireless tire-pressure monitoring signal of a target vehicle – all while driving at more than 60 miles per hour, according to a joint study released Thursday by Rutgers University and the University of South Carolina.

The new study, along with a similar one from May, suggests looming dangers: People within a vehicle could be tracked using the wireless signals, and they could potentially could be harmed if malevolent hackers learn to exploit or invade a vehicle’s control systems from a distance.

“Our research shows that there are multiple risks,” says Marco Gruteser, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rutgers University. “Privacy is a problem since every car has these unique fingerprints from tire pressure, and that makes it possible to track movements. But this vulnerability can lead to something more serious.”

Hacking a car’s wireless systems
The wireless hacking was done by taking advantage of the sensors inside each tire that broadcast a brief radio signal every 60 to 90 seconds. The signal tells one of the car’s computer systems the pressure of each. But researchers found that even those weak signals could be intercepted up to 120 feet away and hacked from a roadside location – or by a car in traffic.

Traveling in tandem with the target car, the researchers sent false low-air-pressure warnings to the car’s dashboard display and eventually wrecked the internal computer.

If sending a spurious “low pressure” messages doesn’t sound exactly like Mission Impossible, the work of other researchers yielded potentially more-serious vulnerabilities. In May, a team of researchers reported that they succeeded in hacking into the onboard computer networks that controlled the engine, brakes, and door locks, among other systems. This latter study was done physically – not wirelessly – by connecting into a vehicle’s computers.

Vehicle manufacturers and third-party systems are increasingly using wireless networks as a cheaper means for connecting to Electronic Control Units (ECUs) – the computer brains behind braking, engine, and locking mechanisms along with other systems. A typical luxury sedan today may use more than 100 megabytes of computer code spread across 50 to 70 ECUs, researchers say.

Audio systems, for instance, are often attached to internal computer networks along with other wireless devices like remote keyless entry systems and the tire-pressure monitors. Other “telematics systems” that can control a car’s ignition system and provide crash response or even turn off the fuel if a car is stolen are also wireless.

“Overall, these trends suggest that a wide range of vectors will be available by which an attacker might compromise a component and gain access to internal vehicular networks with unknown consequences,” University of Washington and University of San Diego scientists wrote in their May study.

CarShark
Using homemade hacking software they dubbed “CarShark,” the Washington-San Diego researchers in lab and road tests “demonstrate the ability to adversarially control a wide range of automotive functions and completely ignore driver input – including disabling the brakes, selectively braking individual wheels on demand, stopping the engine, and so on,” the researchers wrote.

Tire-pressure monitor systems like the ones exploited by the Rutgers-South Carolina team are destined to be the first widely deployed wireless system in US cars since the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration in 2008 mandated that all new cars sold or manufactured after 2008 be equipped with direct tire pressure monitoring systems.

But they won’t be the last. That’s what has Dr. Gruteser concerned. What’s needed, he and others say, is for tire-pressure monitoring and other networks to have good encryption on them – which they don’t right now – and much more robust security overall.

Hacking into a vehicle’s central computer wirelessly via the tire-pressure monitor system and taking control “is something we’re not able to do right now,” Gruteser says. “But we can’t rule out that it’s possible. Our goal is to raise awareness for consumers before this becomes an actual risk. Hopefully, they will then request from car companies more secure devices.”

Source: http://abcnews.go.com

The researchers were able to display their own message and a false speedometer reading on a car that was parked. (Credit: "Experimental Security Analysis of a Modern Automobile") Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20005047-245.html#ixzz1E8KFpDkd

CarShowz Editor: This is a great article about the potentials of hacking a car, a little dated (10 May 2010) but great info! With today’s technology and the amount of computers that control a vehicle, this is a sure sign that it is possible to hack a car. More articles like this to come…stay tuned to carshowsus.com for more info in the near future!

In the near future, you may be more worried about a hacker attack on your car than on your PC.

A group of researchers from two universities tested their hacking skills on two cars and found that they could remotely lock the brakes, the engine, and windows on a car; turn on the radio, heat, and windshield wipers; honk the horn; and change the speedometer display.

They were able to do all of that in tests on two cars of unnamed make and model by connecting a laptop to the electronic control system and controlling that computer wirelessly using a second laptop in a separate car.

The paper (PDF) will be presented by researchers at the University of Washington and the University of California at San Diego at the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday.

“Over a range of experiments, both in the lab and in road tests, we demonstrate the ability to adversarially control a wide range of automotive functions and completely ignore driver input,” the paper says.

In an interview with CNET on Friday, two of the researchers–Stefan Savage of UCSD and Tadayoshi Kohno of the University of Washington–talked about the tests and what their findings mean for drivers today.

Q: I’d like to know more about what you did for the research. Did you have to have physical access to the car, or is there a way this could be done remotely?
Savage: In the paper we didn’t focus on the different ways that one could do it. The paper focuses on the question of if someone were able to gain access to the car, how resilient would it be in our scenario? We connected our computer to the on-board diagnostics port–it’s standard and is located under the dashboard on the driver’s side.

Kohno: This paper is not focusing on the specific threats. We are focusing on understanding the evolution of cars in the hopes that the industry can protect against adverse things happening in the future.

Savage: If you look at PCs in the early 1990s, they had all kinds of latent software vulnerabilities. It didn’t matter so much because PCs were at home and not connected to everything else. Then they were connected to the Internet and the latent vulnerabilities were exposed to outside attack. We see cars moving in much the same direction. There is a strong trend to provide pervasive connectivity in cars going forward. It would be good to start working on hardening these systems and providing defenses before it becomes a real problem.

Can you give me a scenario where a car would be compromised?
Savage: You could have an adversarial mechanic or a jealous boyfriend or girlfriend who temporarily has access to the car. They could connect to this component, download onto the car, disconnect, and the code could do their bidding. I think at this point these attacks are much more fantastical than a real thing people need to be concerned about today.

Kohno: Today everyone is focusing on Web security and botnets. We want to make sure that in 5 or 10 years we don’t add cars to that list.

You have written a tool that enables this type of attack, called CarShark, right?
Kohno: The tool captures a lot of what we did. It’s a software tool we wrote. It runs on a computer that plugs into the OBD-II (On-Board Diagnostics II) port and it can sniff (and inject) packets on the network.

Couldn’t someone use that tool to compromise a car?
Savage: We’re not releasing it.

But there are ways to do this remotely, right?
Savage: We’re trying to find a balance in the research. We’re not interested in taking an alarmist tone. We purposely are not focusing on that aspect here. Can I imagine it’s doable? Yes. In the end it’s all software, and software on your car is not fundamentally different from software on your PC.

Do you think anyone is actually doing anything like this, other than for legitimate research purposes?
Kohno: We have no reason to believe this is an issue today. One of our goals is to stay ahead of the bad guys before the threats really do manifest.

Have you talked to the car manufacturers about this?
Savage: We talked with the appropriate parties, which we can’t name.

Did they take this seriously or dismiss it?
Savage: Everyone we’ve talked to has taken it seriously and been very positive.

Anything else you would like to add?
Kohno: It’s a changing world of technology. Often when people hear the word “computer” they associate it with the meaning of laptop or desktop. And one of the things we’ll see in the future is computer devices integrating themselves both literally and figuratively into our world. There will be computers integrated into cars, medical devices, homes, and the smart grid. And I think that we need to be proactively thinking about security issues, not just on the desktops with botnets and Web browsing, but think about where our computers will be in the future and what we can do today to protect them. This research on cars is part of that.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20005047-245.html