Overdrive

In our panel discussion with Brian Smith we take a light-hearted look at stories including:

1. The NSW Government releases some old road safety films. What do we learn from these about road safety and the values at the time.

2. Mercedes-Benz Concept X-Class

3. Ford wants your new car to pick a song – or tell a joke

4. New Formula one cars

The Federal Government has invested $151.5 million in four new Cooperative Research Centres.

They represent very diverse areas. One is for High Performance Soils, one is for Honey Bee Products and one is for Food Agility.

But over a third of the money will go to a new iMove CRC which will explore digital and evolving vehicle technologies to help traffic to flow more smoothly.

The iMove Centre has already assembled 46 commercial, research and government partners prepared to contribute a further $178 million in cash and in-kind contributions over the grant period of 10 years.

The CRC will develop systems that harness the growing amount of real-time information available from cars, trucks, public transport vehicles and even personal smartphones with the aim of smoothing traffic flows, prioritising commercial freight operations and making the best use of the country’s multi-billion-dollar road infrastructure.

Ian Christensen CEO excelerate Australia, lead of the bid from the iMove CRC joins us on the line to tell us all about it.

Overdrive’s David Brown went to the launch of the Audi SQ7: a seven seater, large SUV.

Errol suggested that as the Audi had an ‘S’ in its name that suggested that it is a performance vehicle and the launch drive was probably more of a fang. Perhaps a bit harsh but it was certainly through some of the lovely mountain country side in Australia and the three turbo, diesel engine and the extremely sophisticated suspension meant that this 2.2 tonne SUV had reached sedan like levels of performance.

David and Errol discuss the vehicle at length.

Originally aired on 17 December 2016. For past programs and individual segments visit www.drivenmedia.com.au

Overdrive went to the launch of the new Subaru Impreza. The very strong push from their marketing department was that the demographic they were aiming for is the younger generation and the female generation.

Now Matthew is in the young demographic but while he isn’t female he notes that the female demographic is strongly represented on the board of household management that has to come to a decision on the type of car they want to buy.

Matthew did note that the Subaru Impreza was the go to car when he was at school but now it has dropped off the radar quite a bit.

We spoke to him about where he sees this vehicle now.

Originally aired on 24 December 2016. For past programs and individual segments visit www.drivenmedia.com.au

And in this program, we look at news stories including:

1. Peugeot Maker PSA Agrees to Buy GM’s European Brands in $2.3 Billion Deal

2. World's Best Cars Announced by World Car Awards At Geneva Motor Show

3. Most Americans Don't Trust Car Companies to Make Self-Driving Cars

4. Regrettable Rides: New Cars Owners Dump Most Often Within the First Year

5. Just short of 265 kph - Guinness world record eluded by wind, rain and time

We discuss the recent ministerial change in the roads portfolio in NSW. Will we now have a minister who doesn’t but heads?

We have a chat with Overdrive’s David Saxberg and his friend Hailey about what it is like to travel on public transport when you are blind.

And in our panel discussion with Brian Smith and Errol Smith we take a light-hearted look at stories including:

1. What If Transit Announcements Appealed to Your Emotions?

2. Big Reveal for a Little Rolls

3. Holden Glams Up for Mardi Gras

Have a question or comment? Send it to [email protected]

Originally aired on 11 March 2017. For past programs and individual segments visit http://drivenmedia.com.au/wp/

Government Road ministers and their road departments have to work out how much they are defenders of their particular mode of transport their turf and how much they are players in a wider field.

New South Wales has just changed its minister of roads from the elderly Duncan Gay who took every opportunity to enhance car travel to a younger Melinda Pavey, a member of the National Party, someone who at least has been a bicycle rider. What are the positive directions the new minister should take?

Ken Dobinson’s career centred on the New South Wales road authority. He rose to the level of Director and since retiring from the department he has been in high demand as a consultant. He joins us on the line now.

Originally aired on 11 March 2017. For past programs and individual segments visit www.drivenmedia.com.au

We did a story in our quirky news feature about the company in America that is using artificial intelligence to help generate more empathetic train announcements on the New York subway. But there is also a serious side to this.

Getting helpful information and feeling that you have been properly informed in a manner that meets your needs is obviously an important service to customers.

Perhaps our next two guests are well will suited to knowing how useful the audio information is David Saxberg one of the overdrive team who went blind when he was 7 years old and Hayley who has been blind since birth, have both use public transport in many cities. We chatted about what works and doesn’t work for them including what is the most helpful approach from other members of the public.

Originally aired on 11 March 2017. For past programs and individual segments visit www.drivenmedia.com.au

Hello this is Overdrive a program about trains, planes and automobiles, but mainly automobiles.

I'm DB

And in this program we look at news stories including:

1. GM confirms talks with PSA to sell Opel-Vauxhall to the French company

2. Barra's move to sell Opel signals deeper change at GM

3. Trump’s contempt for trade deals spurs anxiety

4. Electric Mercedes-Benz Urban e-Truck comes to market in 2017

5. Ford Invests in Argo AI, a New Artificial Intelligence Company, in Drive for Autonomous Vehicle Leadership

6. Dozen $4 million supercars recalled along with 5,900 Lamborghinis

This week I had the pleasure of driving a newly released four and a half tonne truck around a figure eight skid pan on full throttle. We will explain why this was an indication of safety technology.

We give first impressions about the new Audi Q2 compact SUV. If you can afford it, it is worth buying

And in our panel discussion with Brian Smith and Errol Smith we take a light-hearted look at stories including:

1. Peugeot Buys India's Iconic Ambassador Brand From Hindustan

2. WA driver’s speeding excuse “the wind was pushing me”

3. Pole blocking Adelaide garage 'cracking example' of poor development, councillor says

Have a question or comment? Send it to [email protected]

You can listen to longer segments of the each of the features by going to our web site at drivenmedia.com.au or podcast the whole program on iTunes or your favourite podcast service.

Originally aired on 25 February 2017. For past programs and individual segments visit http://drivenmedia.com.au/wp/

In our panel discussion with Brian Smith and Errol Smith we take a light-hearted look at stories including:

1. Peugeot Buys India's Iconic Ambassador Brand From Hindustan

2. WA driver’s speeding excuse “the wind was pushing me”

3. Pole blocking Adelaide garage 'cracking example' of poor development, councillor says

Have a question or comment? Send it to [email protected]

You can listen to longer segments of the each of the features by going to our web site at drivenmedia.com.au or podcast the whole program on iTunes or your favourite podcast service.

Originally aired on 25 February 2017. For past programs and individual segments visit www.drivenmedia.com.au

I had the pleasure of driving a four and a half tonne truck around a figure eight skid pan the other day on full throttle.

Hino were happy to let me have a fling in their new 500 series wide cab because it now had a range of new safety features. Foremost of these was electronic stability control across the entire 500 series range.

Hino noted that research by the US NHTSA estimates that approximately 2/3 of truck occupancy fatalities in US are a result of a roll over. Hino also said that in Queensland 20% of road fatalities involved a truck and of these 30% were due to loss of control or roll over.

Electronic stability control which can detect if the vehicle is in a skid or in this case about to topple over and can back off the throttle and apply breaks to individual wheels in order to help re-gain control. It would seem obvious that this technology should be made mandatory on trucks especially as the large variation in loads can significantly affect the handling of the vehicle.

The other feature that is now standard on the 500 series trucks is a reversing camera. I did a reverse parking exercise back up to a movable plastic barrier with an egg on top. If you hit the barrier and broke the egg you were deemed to. I didn’t break the egg but I could have been a bit straighter in my parking!

The camera seemed to focus very closely on the clearance to the rear of the truck and did not give the broader view that I am use to in passenger vehicles that can be used to see a wide field of vision especially to help identify the location of pedestrians. But it is a start. Again I think this technology should become standard on all trucks.

I have driven a number of cars recently with full 360 degree camera coverage That shows pedestrians, objects and lane markings around the vehicle which is excellent for parking vehicles. I much prefer this to automatic parking systems which, I suspect, are hardly ever used on vehicles that have this technology.

Hino said that freeway entry and exit ramps were the situations where roll over was a particular problem. This appears to be the type of example about the need for traffic management professions to be communicating with vehicle manufacturers.

Originally aired on 25 February 2017. For past programs and individual segments visit www.drivenmedia.com.au