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The Hella group has released details of a new system called the Intelligent Damage Detection System that is capable of detecting scratches and dents as they happen.

Depending on the specification, anything from two to 12 sensors are positioned through a car’s body panels. A central control panel is able to detect a pressure being applied to the panel and then decide whether it is rain or something far less innocuous like a scratch.

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Connected cars are on the rise, this much is certain, but how fast the market will grow in the future is an area that is still up for discussion and one company has its own take on where the industry is headed.

By the year 2020, Business Insider Intelligence estimates that the market’s value will be $2.2 trillion thanks to the 220 million connected cars due to be be on the road by then, although connected services will only be used by consumers in 88 million of...

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Mobile software management company Redbend continues its advance on the connected car industry with the launch of over-the-air software management platform Redbend 10.

Fresh from being acquired by Connecticut-headquartered Harman, Redbend has announced its latest package that lets manufacturers apply software and firmware updates using

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Internet access in the connected car will become a great deal more usable after Chinese telecommunications company Huawei and Orange, a French mobile network, announced a wi-fi product for cars in Spain.

Huawei’s Car Wi-Fi system can manage up to 10 different devices, including laptops, mobile phones and tablets. For the average car that seats a maximum of five people, each person would be able to use two different internet-connected devices which is more than...

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The driverless car, for a long time anticipated as an invention belonging to the future, seems to have arrived. Trials in four UK cities were announced just recently by the government.

For the driverless vehicle to be truly ‘connected,’ and to deliver benefits of safety, convenience and comfort, it must be one part of a whole communications infrastructure. Not just in the car but...

Federal standards that secure cars and protect drivers’ privacy have taken a step closer to reality, after new legislation was announced at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing.

Senators Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut want the legislation to direct National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to create these new federal standards.

The concerted push for legislation comes after Markey’s own office

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London has fallen victim to a new wave of tech-savvy criminals that have been breaking into cars through their keyless entry features.

To paint a picture of how commonplace this is, the Metropolitan Police Office reports that more than 6,000 cars and vans across the UK’s capital were stolen without the owners’ keys, which is an average of 17 vehicles each day. These figures represent 42% of all car and van thefts.

Thieves are said to be using a device that can...

A flaw discovered by Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club e.V. (ADAC) in BMW’s ConnectedDrive system has now been solved by the manufacturer.

More than 2.2 million vehicles were said to be affected by the vulnerability to ConnectedDrive, BMW’s in-car operating system. ADAC reported that a mobile was all that was required to access the platform.

By spoofing a phone network ADAC was able to break into ConnectedDrive. From here it was possible to control heating, ventilating, and air conditioning,...

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Google may have to skip the likes of Volkswagen, Daimler and Audi when looking for driverless partners if the German government has its way.

During a recent interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany’s transportation minister Alexander Dobrindt, spoke of a government initiative it was calling Digitales Testfeld Autobahn that would involve a stretch of smart highway in Bavaria.

Dobrindt, who may have concerns about the NSA tracking German citizens, revealed that...

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Over the next five years the number of connected cars on the road will rise significantly, making them a major player in the internet of things according to Gartner.

The research and advisory company has forecasted that one in five vehicles across the world will have a wireless network connection by the year 2020, which will equate to 250 million connected cars.

Connected cars are no longer available for the wealthy, with James F. Hines, research director at Gartner, commenting on...