The latest Toyota RAV4 may be sold across the world, but it still found success with local judges in the 2019 – 2020 Car of the Year Japan contest. 

Competition for the top prize had been predicted to be close this year, with the new Mazda 3 hatchback and BMW 3 Series expected to challenge the Toyota.

Instead, the 60 Japanese jurors – representing 40 different automotive publications – made the RAV4 a clear winner. A score of 436 points gave it a commanding victory over the Mazda 3, which collected 326 points.

BMW 3 Series is the top imported car

According to the judging panel, key to the success of the RAV4 was the ability of it to respond to “all needs at a high level as an SUV of the new era”. The three drivetrain options, including the recently announced plug-in hybrid option also impressed, along with the luggage space that is “wide and easy to use”.

The RAV4’s success marks the first win for Toyota in the contest since the Prius collected the top prize for the 2009 – 2010 edition. It means Toyota has now won the Car of the Year Japan award nine times in total. Honda still leads the way with 11 victories in the 40-year history of the contest.

BMW collected the Japan Import Car of the Year trophy for the latest 3 Series. Judges praised the German four-door in how it has evolved to meet modern demands, yet still retains the feeling of a “sports sedan”. Autonomous driving technology was also praised. 

Jeep Wrangler wins on an emotional level

The judging panel also singled out the new Jeep Wrangler for special praise, with it receiving the Emotional Award for 2019 – 2020. The redesigned Wrangler impressed the newly added on-road ability, whilst still maintaining its off-road prowess. 

Nissan received the Innovation Award for the new Skyline, which features the ProPilot 2.0 system. Allowing ‘hands-off’ semi-autonomous driving, ProPilot 2.0 builds on the existing setup featured in multiple Nissan models.

The Small Mobility trophy was given to the latest fourth-generation Mitsubishi eK Cross (also sold as the Nissan Dayz) kei car.  

2019 – 2020 Car of the Year Japan Top Ten

Troopers from the Connecticut State Police had a lucky escape, following a collision with a Tesla Model 3 on Saturday December 7th.

The Tesla struck one of two police cruisers responding to a disabled vehicle on Interstate 95 near Bridgeport, along with the car belonging to a member of the public.

After being stopped by the police, the driver claimed that the Tesla was operating with the Autopilot convenience function enabled. The driver also stated that, at the time of the collision, they were checking on their dog in the rear of the Tesla. 

A statement on the Facebook page for the Connecticut State Police noted that two police cruisers had responded to the stopped car on the interstate. Both police vehicles had their emergency lights on, with additional warning flares placed in the road to alert drivers. 

Whilst waiting for the broken-down vehicle to be recovered, the Tesla Model 3 struck one of the police cruisers, along with the vehicle the police were attending to.

The Tesla continued to slowly travel along Interstate 95, before finally being stopped by the second trooper on scene. 

The Connecticut State Police also confirmed that neither the troopers responding to the initial incident, or the members of the public involved, were seriously injured. 

However, the driver of the Tesla Model 3 was issued with a misdemeanor summons for both Reckless Driving and Reckless Endangerment. Both offences carry the potential for fines or jail time, according to the Connecticut Penal Code. 

The police also noted that despite the technology fitted to Teslas and other cars, when “operating a vehicle your full attention is required at all times to ensure safe driving.”

In describing the Autopilot function, Tesla states that it requires “active driver supervision” whilst being used, and does not “make the vehicle autonomous”.

Using a combination of cameras and sensors, Autopilot allows the Tesla “to steer, accelerate and brake automatically within its lane”. Tesla also fits the Model 3 with standard Front Collision Warning and Automatic Emergency Braking functions.  

Inappropriate Autopilot use has been cited as a factor in a number of fatal accidents, including a 2016 collision between a Tesla Model S and a semi-trailer truck in Williston, Florida.

Volkswagen has made the first real-time demonstration of advanced quantum computing at the Web Summit conference in Lisbon, Portugal.

Equipping nine buses with tablets connected to the Quantum Routing system, Volkswagen was able to direct each one to take the most effective route to avoid traffic. 

This represents a major leap forward for quantum computing, which is regarded as offering the potential to quickly solve major mathematical challenges. 

A real quantum leap

Quantum computing makes use of quantum physics to rapidly analyze options and probabilities of them occurring. This can mean problems are solved in fractions of a second, that would otherwise take classical computers thousands of years. 

For Volkswagen, the opportunity comes in making navigation systems more effective at avoiding traffic and delays. Whilst modern satellite navigation can react to congestion, the result often means sending all cars down a single alternate route, creating more traffic. 

The power of quantum computing would allow connected navigation systems to send different cars on different routes to avoid traffic. Drivers would avoid the main congestion, but not become part of new bottlenecks.

All aboard the Quantum Shuttle!

The sheer volume of traffic in major cities means that traditional computers are unable to cope with the number of decisions to be made rapidly. Abdallah Shanti, Global CIO Volkswagen Brand and CIO Region Americas, explained that this is why “we’ve tried to solve this problem with D-Wave’s quantum computers.”

During the Lisbon Web Summit, the nine ‘Quantum Shuttle’ buses took guests from the airport to the conference venue, each making 26 stops. The quantum algorithm was able to plot and update a route for each bus, avoiding traffic jams before they even happened. 

According to Florian Neukart, Volkswagen Director for Advanced Technologies in San Francisco, the small-scale demonstration in Lisbon is proof that “the dynamics of traffic and quick changes, requires us to solve this problem in the shortest possible time”.

Route to success

Due to the success of the Lisbon test, Volkswagen intends to continue more demonstrations of Quantum Routing in cities around the world. 

Marketing the technology to fleet and public transit companies will be the first priority for Volkswagen, once it reaches commercial viability.

However, the new eighth-generation 2020 Volkswagen Golf includes a Car2X wi-fi function, allowing it to communicate with other Golfs about hazards. This could be adapted to share traffic data, allowing a quantum computer-based navigation system to make and share decisions on the best route to take.

An survey of more than 2,000 UK drivers has revealed how consumers buy cars. Far from the PCP and finance monopoly that many might assume, nearly two thirds say they bought outright, some even with cash.

How age correlates with buying methods comes as less of a surprise. Over 55s are the most likely to buy a car with cash, according to the survey by Opinium for InsuretheGap. Fully 72 percent of motorists in this demographic paid upfront.

For comparison, 54 percent of 35-54 year-olds said they bought outright, along with 42 percent of 18-34 year-olds.

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Regionally, the East of England is the capital for outright car purchases. Seven in 10 pay in full, rather than on the tick. The North East, meanwhile, has the least, with 51 percent going all-in.

How long are we keeping our cars?

Once bought, how long drivers keep their cars varies, too. Just 18 percent said they keep a car until it ‘dies’, while 28 percent swap every two to four years.

Just four percent change every two years on the nose, and one percent go for a yearly car swap.

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“This survey shows that many UK car buyers save up and buy a car outright rather than using finance, making it one of the most expensive cash purchases most people will ever make,” commented Ben Wooltorton, COO of InsuretheGap.com.

It is worth remembering, however, that not all car purchases are new or, in other words, a five-figure-plus commitment.