Learning Center – The Automotive Insider Blog

For the average car owner, getting a drive-thru oil change devolves into a cacophony of rapid-fire, confusing, purchase decisions. Air filter replacement? Coolant system flush? Wiper blade replacement? The uninformed driver is confronted by a biased seller, insufficient information and unstated ques...

A quarter of a century ago, the First Era of the Connected Vehicle was kicked-off by the former CEO of General Motors, Rick Wagoner, at the 1996 Chicago Auto Show. “Project Beacon” was eventually renamed to OnStar and was enabled by in-vehicle sensors, live advisors and multiple intelligent algorith...

Per Charles Dickens’ 1859 classic A Tale of Two Cities, our best-of-time-worst-of-times society seems to fit the second, less-famous ironic statement: “… it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness ….” And maybe in no better arena is that dichotomy obvious than with the technological wiz...

Nearly twenty-nine years ago, Ross Perot famously quipped in a U.S. Presidential debate that “… you make more [revenue] making computer chips than you do potato chips,” while talking about how government can enable or disable technological advances.

Largely controlled by computer modules, semiconductors and software, today’s vehicles are more akin to smartphones than the rolling containers of mechanical parts of the past. The increasing dependence on sophisticated electronics and sensors is vastly improving vehicle performance, safety and ameni...

Per LIFE Magazine (Nov, 1967), there were only two cars in the entire state of Ohio in 1895, and legend has it that they collided with each other. Regardless of whether this tale predated the era of “fake news”, its cautionary tale suggests we humans sometimes misjudge risk until facing the conseque...