Posts by: Eddie Mejia

Learning to Drive... Poorly

There are quite a few vested interests, learning how to teach computers to drive. It is not just automakers and Google either; there are countless start-ups in various countries attacking our lack of computerized chauffeurs. Unfortunately, with all this focus on algorithms, people have forgotten to teach humans how to drive properly. Common commuters are the worst. They are egotistical, aggressive

Simple RFID Infrastructure

We have to make our automotive infrastructure smarter. That can be accomplished via a litany of different avenues, but one of the simplest and fastest (in terms of application) is a basic Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) infrastructure. If traffic signals were equipped with simple RFID scanners with an antenna nearby, and cars were equipped with corresponding tags, intersection could be made

Formula One Is Safer Than People Think

The cinematized versions of Niki Lauda and James Hunt effectively described the ubiquitous appeal of motorsport, in Ron Howard’s Rush. It is a rather embarrassingly barbaric allure, but unfortunately, it is one we; as a society; have not, and likely will never outgrow. People just love how close motorsport gets to death. The propensity they have of dying is often exaggerated In the movie, Lauda c

Motorsport as a Job Creator

Once upon a time, motorsport (namely Formula One) was a stupendous source of both marketing and revenue. F1 was such a driver of innovation, that many companies started in Formula One before breaking that barrier. For example, McLaren started in motorsport, but is now renowned for making one of three hypercars in existence. The reason they were able to make the jump from racing team to automaker,

Driving Is not What it Used to Be

Before there were large stretches of tarmac covering the earth; there was dirt. During the period in which that was true, people gladly drove atop it. Today, most people would be utterly appalled by the very notion that they could be so insultingly inconvenienced by having to drive on anything but pristinely smooth cement. Back then, people were still in the midst of a wave of awe to even have su

Tesla Terrifies Petrol Powered Automakers

Tesla Motors was not really challenged the way other innovative ideas have been in the past, however it was repeatedly dismissed. Before the Roadster came out people put the idea of a practical electric auto into the boondoggle category. After it came out detractors denounced it as a niche market car. Belittled Tesla Motors by implying they had only succeeded in editing a Lotus Elise into an elect

What is a Super Car

The Lamborghini Miura is often mistakenly charged of being a supercar. An argument can be made, that today, a 40 year old model is super-, but that would only be true assuming it exists in the contemporary alone. However, that is not the case, each Lamborghini Miura that exists now has been alive for over 40 years. This is a testament to the Modena manufacturing magic it was made with. Despite th

What Is a Supercar?

What makes art special, is the fact that it can instantly elicit an emotion. Creating a supercar is an art that makes everyone involved happy, however, like art they are not necessarily made to be practical. As mentioned when introducing the Lamborghini Miura, the super- prefix (as in supercar) intrinsically implies impracticality. But, people love supercars, because they are wildly impractical,

The Original not Supercar

For the first supercar Sunday, I will start with the first ever ‘supercar,’ the Lamborghini Miura. With that in mind, I respectfully reject the title of ‘supercar’ thrust upon the Miura. This is not because the car is not spectacular, but because the super- prefix has an unintended consequence of implying a debilitating weakness. The Lamborghini Miura is more Clark Kent than Superman. Before cont

The Problem With Our Infrastructure

Eventually, another Dwight D Eisenhower like federal push will be necessary to modernize our ailing automotive infrastructure. Otherwise, the horrendous service we have today will keep us in a perpetual state of just below outrage. The problem, this time around, will be aesthetics. In 1956, the Federal-Aid Act yielded essentially immediate ostensible results; you could see workers actually making