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10 articles in Automobiles

Ultrasonic parking sensor sending a sound pulse toward a wall and measuring the returning echo to calculate distance

AutomobilesExplainer

How Do Parking Sensors Know How Close an Object Is?

Learn how ultrasonic parking sensors send sound pulses, time their echoes and calculate how close a wall, car or other obstacle is.

26 Sept 202615 min read

Adaptive cruise control using front radar and camera to measure the distance and relative speed of a vehicle ahead

AutomobilesExplainer

How Does Adaptive Cruise Control Follow the Car Ahead?

Learn how adaptive cruise control uses radar, cameras and automatic braking to measure traffic ahead and maintain a selected following gap.

24 Sept 202616 min read

Modern car surrounded by useful everyday features including emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, parking camera, headlights and TPMS

AutomobilesGuide

Which Car Features Are Actually Worth Having for Everyday Driving?

From AEB and parking cameras to ventilated seats and ADAS, learn which car features genuinely improve everyday safety, comfort and convenience.

22 Sept 202616 min read

Same car in stop-and-go city traffic and steady highway driving showing different patterns of fuel use

AutomobilesExplainer

Why Does Your Car Get Different Mileage in the City and on the Highway?

Learn why cars usually use more fuel in city traffic, why highways can be more efficient, and why very high speeds can reduce mileage again.

18 Sept 202615 min read

Four wide-angle cameras around a car combining their views to create a virtual top-down 360-degree parking image

AutomobilesExplainer

How Does a 360-Degree Car Camera Create a Top-Down View?

Learn how four wide-angle car cameras are corrected, reprojected and stitched together to create the bird’s-eye 360-degree view used while parking.

15 Sept 202615 min read

Car crash sensors sending acceleration and pressure data to an airbag control unit that selects which restraints to deploy

AutomobilesExplainer

How Does Your Car Decide When to Deploy the Airbags?

Learn how crash sensors, accelerometers, pressure sensors and an airbag control unit decide within milliseconds whether—and which—airbags should deploy.

12 Sept 202614 min read

Petrol, hybrid and electric cars shown with their different engine, motor and battery systems

AutomobilesExplainer

EV vs Hybrid vs Petrol Cars: Understanding the Difference

Understand how electric, hybrid and petrol cars work, how they differ in efficiency, running costs, maintenance, range and everyday use.

10 Sept 202615 min read

Key fob inside a driver's pocket communicating wirelessly with antennas around a car for passive keyless entry

AutomobilesExplainer

How Does Your Car Know the Key Is in Your Pocket?

Learn how keyless entry uses antennas, radio signals and encrypted authentication to detect a key fob, unlock the car and verify the key is inside.

9 Sept 202616 min read

Large naturally aspirated engine and smaller turbocharged engine feeding into vehicle performance factors including power, weight and gearing

AutomobilesExplainer

Why Doesn't a Bigger Engine Always Mean a Faster Car?

Engine size is only one part of performance. Learn how turbocharging, horsepower, weight, gearing, traction and aerodynamics determine how fast a car is.

6 Sept 202613 min read

Modern car braking with wheel-speed sensors and ABS hydraulic control system highlighted

AutomobilesExplainer

How ABS Works in Modern Cars

Learn how ABS prevents wheel lock during hard braking, how wheel-speed sensors and hydraulic valves work, and why ABS helps you steer while braking.

18 Aug 202614 min read