Filed under: Gadgets, Green, Tech, Supercars, Nissan


What are the best innovations that the global automotive industry debuted in 2008? Popular Science has just picked its favorites and revealed the Best of What's New awards for the year that just was; um, is. The grand prize goes to the Nissan GT-R for its technical brilliance, astonishing performance and relatively attractive pricing. No real complaints there, though we'd be remiss if we didn't at least mention that the new Corvette ZR1 in the same breathe, which PopSci fails to do.

Green technology holds down three of the 11 positions, with two coming from Ford for its capless fuel fillers and EcoBoost engine tech, though the latter won't arrive until 2009 and Ford can't be credited with pioneering the combination of turbocharging and direct-injection on small displacement engines. Honda takes up a slot with its largely unobtainable hydrogen fuel cell-powered FCX Clarity. Also winning awards from the techy Mag are BMW's Google Maps-infused MyInfo service and the speed recognition system from the Euro-spec 7 Series, the DARPA-winning Tartan Racing Boss, Audi's Dynamic Steering, the Wide-View cameras from Lexus, Infiniti's self-healing clearcoat and the Speedshift transmission from Merdedes-Benz. Click the source link to read about each honoree, and let us know in the comments if you think PopSci missed an automotive tech marvel from 2008.

[Source: Popular Science]Popular Science names Best of What's New in Auto Tech for 2008 originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.


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