Posts by: Scott Webb

A KITT in Every Garage: The Future of Self-Driving Vehicles

“I’ve called science fiction ‘reality ahead of schedule.’" -Syd Mead, sci-fi visual-effects artist Last week, the Japanese periodical Nikkei reported on Toyota’s plans to slash 90% of its line of CO2 emitting vehicles by 2050. While 35 years may seem like a long time from now, it represents a light-year jump in progress relative to the glacial pace of the automotive industry. For those who want t

Celebrate Back to the Future Day with a Toyota Mirai!

As we noted when Toyota announced its involvement with Back to the Future Day, there were many things that the Back to the Future films got right about life in 2015. Of course, we don’t have flying cars or hoverboards just yet—although we’re getting closer to the latter—and it looks like that Cubs World Series prediction won’t come to pass either. Still, the big day has finally arrived: today, Oc

The Force is With the Star Wars Inspired Dodge Charger

In the Star Wars films, the Imperial Stormtroopers were the nameless, faceless soldiers who fought Luke Skywalker and his rebel forces. Despite serving mostly as cannon fodder, the Stormtroopers at least looked cool in their black and white battle armor. Their look was iconic enough to inspire thousands of fans to dress up like them at conventions, so why not develop a Dodge Charger that looks sim

Back to the Future Stars Reunited in New Toyota Mirai Campaign

Great Scott! Believe it or not, this year marked the 30th anniversary of the original Back to the Future, whose theatrical release was on July 3, 1985. There’s another significant in Back to the Future lore: October 21, 2015, which fans may recall as the date Marty McFly and Emmett “Doc” Brown travelled to in Back to the Future Part II. So what does all of this have to do with the Toyota Mirai?

Volvo Accepts Responsibility for Self-Driving Vehicles

Volvo Cars CEO Hakan Samuelsson warned a Washington, D.C audience that the U.S. “risks losing its leading position” as a producer of self-driving vehicles unless it institutes a framework for regulating and testing them. Speaking before a seminar at the Embassy of Sweden, Samuelsson praised the U.S. for its progressiveness on self-driving vehicle technology but cautioned that the country is in da

Leonardo DiCaprio: The Wolf of Volkswagen Street?

Recently we compared the scandal at Volkswagen to a Martin Scorsese film in that both stories involved a great rise and an even greater fall. In that comparison, we also remarked on the parallel paths of now-deposed VW CEO Martin Winterkorn and Jordan Belfort—little did we realize that the actor who portrayed Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street may do the same for Winterkorn on the big screen as we

Volkswagen CEO Michael Horn Blows Sad Song to Congress (UPDATED)

UPDATE: In his oral testimony to the U.S House Oversight and Investigations subcommittee, Volkswagen America CEO Michael Horn apologized for his company’s actions while pinning the blame on unnamed “individuals” for cheating emissions tests and deceiving U.S. regulators. "This was a couple of software engineers who put this in for whatever reason," Horn said on Thursday with regard to the defeat

Volkswagen Recall on Horizon in Europe—Whither the U.S.?

Vehicle recalls, congressional hearings, state prosecutions and pollution-related deaths—or as it’s otherwise known, just another day at scandal-plagued Volkswagen. Here are today’s lowlights for the German automaker. Decision Day for Volkswagen Yesterday we discussed the deadline Volkswagen faced in coming up with a solution to its diesel emissions problem. Today we are one step closer to a fix

Scandal at Volkswagen: The Cost of Doing (Bad) Business

The aftershocks of the scandal at Volkswagen continue to reverberate, which is why Auto Publishers is here to provide you with the latest with everyone’s favorite emissions test cheating German automaker: Paying the Piper It doesn’t take a genius to conclude that Volkswagen will pay a hefty price for its diesel-emissions cheating and that expenditures will be slashed almost as severely as the ph

Scandal at Volkswagen: Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi and More

Time for a quick recap on recent developments involving everyone’s favorite scandal-plagued German automaker: Five Million Not Served Approximately five million Volkswagen Passenger Cars were outfitted with the defeat devices used to cheat emissions tests, according to a statement released by Volkswagen on Friday. Earlier in the week, VW revealed that 11 million of its diesel-powered vehicles, s