General Motors Co.'s OnStar telematics unit is bringing Google mobile navigation technology into the car.

Chevrolet Volt drivers whose smartphones use Google's Android operating system will be able to use their phones to pinpoint their vehicle's location on Google Maps, GM said in a statement released Tuesday. They can then request a destination by speaking it into the phone, and have the desired destination sent directly to the car.

OnStar would then guide the driver to the destination using turn-by-turn spoken directions.

OnStar will demonstrate the technology at an Android software developer's conference that starts Wednesday in San Francisco.

 

The Environmental Protection Agency has officially announced the fuel-economy figures for the 2011 Ford Fiesta, and the numbers are well above what the driving world has come to expect from small, nonhybrid cars.

 

According to the government agency, the new compact should return 29 mpg city/40 mpg highway when equipped with the new 6-speed dual-clutch transmission. Drivers who go for the 6-speed manual version of the car will likely see slightly lower mileage averages. For comparison’s sake, the Fiesta’s highway numbers are a full 5 mpg better than the Honda Fit and best the Toyota Yaris by 4 mpg.

 

General Motors has formed a partnership with Hawaiian power firm the Gas Company to test the state’s hydrogen infrastructure.

TGC is the major power provider for the Hawaiian islands. It produces and delivers hydrogen along with natural gas. TGC plans to separate the hydrogen from its pipeline and send it to filling stations for fuel-cell vehicles.

Hawaii is uniquely qualified for this project, announced last week, because it depends on imported fuel for 90 percent of its energy, and the state is committed to reducing its petroleum use by 70 percent in the coming years.

 

Here's how the media bubble expands: Gizmag reported a very cool idea for an infinitely variable transmission, and we relayed that to you.

Now, apparently, there have been more than a few responses to the magazine article regarding the viability of the product shown in the Gizmag video of Steve Durbin, presenting his D-Drive. (And, I should include, our own commenter CKTVT, who pointed out the limitations of the system quite early on -- good on you, CKTVT.)

First and foremost: The machine presented is not, in and of itself, an infinitely variable transmission. Rather, it has the chance to be a component of such a system, which would mean the main friction actors -- the absence of which we touted highly during the initial hoopla -- would remain, but simply as a factor of the system. 

My own college road trips were known for their -- well, never mind.

Let's concentrate instead on a team of University of Michigan students currently road-tripping in a Ford Fiesta to Makers Faire, the Silicon Valley do-it-yourself festival, to demonstrate the wacky, wonderful future of cloud-based computer applications in your car. Those include cars that can broadcast real-time traffic and weather data, keep tabs on lost or straggling vehicles in your convoy, play rally-style games or social-network with occupants of other cars. And while some vehicles can already communicate with dealerships to send diagnostic reports or receive messages, this small Ford can send out tweets on its “mood,” based on performance data being collected by its computers.

Ford, whose Sync system already reigns as one of the slicker telematics platforms, held a competition for six teams of Michigan students, who were asked to dream up potential apps on a new experimental connectivity platform. The winning team -- Joe Phillips, Sangmi Park, Collin Hockey and John Ciccone -- are cruising in one Ford Fiesta, with Ford engineers in a second car, tweeting from the road as @AJtheFiesta. Along the way, they’ll be stopping at Northwestern University, near Chicago, and other points to demo the system.

 

BMW wants you to buy a car the European way: The German automaker, which wants to pass Lexus as the leading luxury brand in the U.S. by 2012, is trying to convince its U.S. customers that they should order their BMWs with exactly the stuff they want on it, not settling for whatever is on the lot.

For example with its new X3, on sale here early next year, BMW wants its U.S. dealers on board to help promote options on built-to-order models.

 

It's Friday, and you know what that means: a video of a space shuttle coming down from space at 18,000 mph, slowing to (only) 700 mph as it coasts to the ground.

How is this car-related, you ask? We found the awesome video on Jalopnik, which is a car site. And we loved it, because it's really freaking cool. So that's that. (Also, the pilot's code name is "Taco" and we find that funny.)

The shuttle approaches the Earth backwards at Mach 2 to start, then turns nose-down (this happens around the 3:00 minute mark) and glides to a landing. Enjoy, after the jump. 

If you own a 2010 model of the Chrysler 300, Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger, Dodge Ram, Jeep Commander or Jeep Grand Cherokee, check to make sure your car is in "park" before you get out.

Apparently, those models have been experiencing problems with a defective ignition switch, which releases the key even if the vehicle's transmission isn't in park. Needless to say, this can cause vehicle movement when it certainly isn't desired (i.e., when you're not actually in the car, piloting it).