The future of personal mobility looks more and more “connected” as the two economic forces, technology and automobiles, are colliding at a far greater velocity.  This paves way for a landscape that is expected to feature unprecedented levels of connectivity (i.e, tethered vehicles). Here is a neat infograph from Statista that shows the landscape of connected cars and what’s ahead.

That said, one big question that looms large in my mind is this – how are going to manage all that troves of data from these connected cars? How are we going to parse/analyze and make sense out the digital mess that is ready to flood our roads? Only time will tell (or the app developers?).

Image Courtesy: Statista via Forbes

GM ready to let Opel go for free?…GM, Earnings/Financials, OpelGeneral Motors wants out of Opel, and according to new reports, it is willing to let the German automaker go without receiving any money for it. The only requirement is that the buyer must inject €500 million (around $652M USD) into Opel for operations. While GM CEO Fritz Henderson has said there are six serious inve…

 GM To Cut 190,000 Units, Shut 13 Plants, Some Permanently [Carpocalypse]

(Source:  Associated Press via Forbes)

(Source: Forbes)

Smaller cars are coming, lots of them, but it’s far from clear that buyers want them.

Smaller cars are coming–we all know that. Domestic and foreign manufacturers are about to start a wave, pushed by expected higher fuel economy requirements. These smaller autos will crowd out new versions of the larger cars we have been buying. Automakers don’t have the wherewithall to build everything.

If your main concern is global warming or oil imports, this is good news. But here’s the problem: Americans have not had a love affair with smaller cars. As a rule they are less comfortable, less safe and less useful–carrying fewer passengers and a smaller load.

The danger here is that our auto sales could stay smaller for another decade if owners hang on to their old SUVs and Big Boy V8s, if they don’t like what the greens and government people say they should be buying.

The not-so-easy trick in small cars is making money off them. There are two ways. One is to make them expensive, like $30,000. But Americans think small cars mean cheap cars. Audi has a new small A1 for Europe but isn’t bringing it here, because at current exchange rates it would cost $25,000. Dealers say it’s too much: Small still means cheap.

Click here to read the entire commentary from Jerry Flint @ Forbes.

(Source: Forbes)

Although still bad in these spots, traffic congestion in the U.S. has lessened as the economy has slowed.

  

In Depth: Bottlenecks in the 50 Largest U.S. Cities

The Cross Bronx Expressway, that fume-choked expanse of concrete and steel that slices through New York City’s mainland borough, occupies a uniquely tragic place in the history of urban planning.

It displaced more than 60,000 middle-class residents during its construction between 1948 and 1963, and it cost $250 million–more than any highway project before it. The apartment buildings that line its growling trench have been home to generations of asthmatic children who struggle to breathe in the acrid clouds of exhaust that fill the air. Its presence has so thoroughly eviscerated its surroundings that many blocks adjacent to it are occupied entirely by families living below the poverty level.

Worst Intersections of the United States

Click here to read the entire article and to watch the video.