When the Chevrolet Volt concept was revealed at last year’s NAIAS it not only made headlines in the major automotive publications and websites, but throughout the gadget and technology blogging community as well. Normally you have to stick a 32-inch LCD TV in the trunk of a car for it to be considered ‘gadget-fare’ but the Volt stood on its own as a great piece of technological innovation. And while there’s no doubt we’ll all be driving electric cars like the Volt some day, there are still some big hurdles to overcome before that’s a reality.

As much as I’d like to walk into a dealership right now and buy myself a Volt, it hasn’t officially been announced as a production vehicle just yet. While at the show I had an opportunity to speak to Tony Posawatz, the Volt’s Vehicle Line Director and Denise Gray who’s the Director of Hybrid Energy Storage Systems at GM. They both admitted that the biggest hurdle for the Volt to overcome was the current state of lithium ion batteries. A 20-hour battery life for an MP3 player might be totally acceptable, but if a larger version of that battery can only power a car for 3 miles, consumers just won’t buy it. And besides performance, there’s a long list of other issues that have to be dealt with on a battery designed to power something as large as a car. But GM has apparently been working hard with a handful of other companies to overcome these problems, and they’re confident they’ll be able to bring an affordable production version of the Volt to the masses in just a couple of years. (And by affordable I mean in comparison to expensive high-performance electric cars like the Tesla or Karma.)

But while the Volt and other hybrid vehicles will no doubt be a big step towards reducing our dependency on fossil fuels, there are still millions of vehicles on the road that exclusively rely on gasoline. It would be great if everyone was willing to just trade in their cars for a hybrid or electric model right now, but that’s simply not going to happen. So dealing with those legacy vehicles is probably the biggest obstacle when it comes to weaning the world off of gasoline.

The most popular and plausible solution to the problem seems to be the use of E85 as an alternative fuel. E85 is basically just a way to refer to fuel that is composed of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline, and converting a traditional car to run on E85 is far easier than converting one to run on electricity. But since ethanol has been traditionally produced using products like corn, many people have feared that increased production of the fuel will in turn affect the food supply in the US.

So at the beginning of this year’s NAIAS, GM announced an interesting partnership with a company called Coskata who have developed a new process for creating ethanol from a wide range of waste products including plastic, wood, tires and other organic sources. The patented process uses just 1 gallon of water to produce 1 gallon of ethanol (compared to using 3 or 4 gallons for corn or plant based ethanol) and the production itself emits 84% less greenhouse gases than the production of gasoline. It could also result in ethanol fuel prices that are considerably cheaper than what we’re paying at the pump right now.

And while GM has invested in Coskata as a sign of good faith, they have no intentions of taking over the company or selling the fuel in the future. However they do realize that in order for E85 vehicles to catch on, there has to be a greater infrastructure throughout the country (and the world) to not only produce the fuel, but also distribute it to gas stations. Drivers will be more accepting of E85 if it’s as widely available to them as gasoline is now. Coskata claims they’ll have their first commercial-scale plant making 50 to 100 million gallons of ethanol by 2011 and while their claims are nothing more than great PR right now, both companies seem very excited and determined to make it work.

Admittedly, it would be great if all these innovations could be running and available as of tomorrow, but the auto industry has long since been dependent on fossil fuels, and moving away from this dependency will unfortunately take some time.

But what about right now? I have to admit it was a bit odd sitting at the press conference for the Coskata announcement in a huge booth, surrounded by massive TV screens and a lighting grid that would rival any broadway production. While the announcements from all the companies about their eco-friendly initiatives were great, the elaborate booths and over the top stunts made you wonder if they were really gung-ho about the whole ‘going green’ idea.

Now don’t think I’m specifically picking on VW here, this is just one of the photos I took that had a good view of the overhead lighting in the booth. And as someone who’s worked on TV and stage productions, I know this type of lighting isn’t exactly energy efficient. Another thing I unfortunately didn’t notice until I got home (and Joel Williams from Life Goggles mentioned it on his blog ) was the complete lack of recycling bins at Cobo Hall. With all the pop cans and water bottles that were given out during the press days, you’d think there would have been more of an effort made to recycle the empty containers.

So while I’m not saying that the auto manufacturers should forgo the fancy lighting and eye-catching booths, I just think it would go a long way in the eyes of environmentally conscious consumers if the exhibitors did things like switch to LED lights, built their displays out of recycled materials or even put out easy to find recycling bins. In fact if they went out of their way to publicize a green booth I think it would generate just as much good PR as the green vehicles themselves.

One last thing I want to briefly touch on concerning the NAIAS is the whole bloggers vs. journalists debate. At trade shows like CES or the once great E3, bloggers are treated just like any other members of the press. (Give or take.) But from my own experience the NAIAS in Detroit hasn’t quite accepted the blogging community just yet. Now I don’t know the exact reasons behind this, I’m sure a lot of it comes from pressure from the automakers who are exhibiting, but besides the social media group invited by GM, I saw very few other bloggers during the press-only days.

Needless to say any bloggers who did make it in weren’t exactly at the top of the list when it came to scoring interviews with industry executives. So I’d like to thank GM again for giving all of us in attendance the opportunity to speak with so many people at the company. In fact the highlight of this year’s show for me was the private Q&A sessions GM arranged for us with both Bob Lutz (General Motors Vice Chairman) and Rick Wagoner (General Motors Chairman and CEO.)

Bob Lutz (General Motors Vice Chairman)

Rick Wagoner (General Motors Chairman and CEO)

As bloggers, these sessions were definitely a rare opportunity, and I think the group represented itself well with the types of questions that were asked. Basically none of that “What kind of car do you drive?” crap. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not blind to the fact that these interviews also provided General Motors with some great publicity in the blogging community, but the bottom line is that they went out of their way to give us access to a lot of people we normally wouldn’t have had a chance to talk to. No other car company at the show was as accommodating. (Well, Lamborghini did go out of their way to prevent Paul Stamatiou from sitting in the Murcielago LP 640 Coupe they had on display.)

In the gadget and gizmo community, a lot of people consider Joel Johnson’s interview with Bill Gates back in 2005 to be the point when technology bloggers (or really bloggers in general) started to be recognized as valid journalists. And while Rick Wagoner might not be as recognizable as Bill Gates is, I couldn’t help but feel that our Q&A with him was another step towards bloggers being taken more seriously in the corporate world. If you’d like to watch the bloggers interviews with Bob Lutz or Rick Wagoner I recommend checking out the videos of both events graciously provided and hosted by Matt Kelly at NextGear.

Disclaimer: In case you missed my original post, GM has requested that I disclose the fact they covered my airfare and accommodations for the show.

At the top of my list of things to see at the NAIAS this year was Ford’s new SYNC system. The company has been heavily marketing it as of late, and I’m sure any of you who are addicted to TV as much as me have seen the clever ‘Michael Bolton’ ad they’ve been running. At its core, SYNC is a voice recognition system that ties together your car’s stereo with your cellphone and MP3 player. A USB jack hidden in a compartment between the front seats allows you to connect any iPod (except the shuffle) or a Zune (given the SYNC software was developed by Microsoft) which then gives you access to your MP3 collection through the car stereo. Any time you want to initiate a voice command there’s a button on the steering wheel you need to press, but otherwise searching through your music and playing a particular genre or artist is pretty much hands-free.

And besides the slick voice recognition stuff, I think people will particularly like the SYNC’s ability to communicate with your cellphone via bluetooth. Now bbviously your phone has to have bluetooth capabilities in order for this to work, but based on this compatibility list on the SYNC website, it looks like a good majority of current phones on the market will work just fine. Once connected you’re not only able to make and receive calls via voice recognition, but you also have access to everything on your phone from your contact list, to MP3s, to even ringtones. The system is even able to hand-off or receive phone calls from your cellphone if you’re in the middle of a conversation while exiting or entering the vehicle.

Another clever feature is SYNC’s ability to read back text messages you get while driving. It’s even smart enough to recognize smiley faces, or LOL shortcuts, though I have to admit hearing a computer voice read back ‘laugh out loud’ takes away some of the dramatic effect. At the moment you’re limited to responding to text messages with one of 15 preset messages, but I was told that the ability to dictate a custom response should eventually be included. While it would be nice if everyone just stopped using a cellphone while driving, it’s just not going to happen. So providing a system like this that at least keeps the drivers hands on the steering wheel is a big improvement.

Admittedly, after having the chance to demo the system I walked away with some mixed feelings. Overall I think Ford is on the right track, but when it comes to bells and whistles and polish, I still think the entertainment/navigation system offered on the Cadillac CTS runs circles around SYNC. For the most part they’re matched feature for feature, but the CTS system pulls ahead with the 40GB hard drive and OnStar navigation system. However, the biggest advantage that Ford has with SYNC is that they’re offering it on a wide range of vehicles they sell. This includes everything from their high-end luxury cars, to the ‘college-friendly’ type vehicle they were actually demoing the system in. While the demo car had a very basic stereo system, with a particular low-tech display, the SYNC system functioned exactly as it would have in a higher-end vehicle. And since I see this system appealing mostly to younger drivers, that’s definitely the type of vehicle a system like this needs to be available in.

And speaking of OnStar, when I first read about SYNC I immediately thought it was Ford’s answer to GM’s own popular navigation/emergency response system. While the current multimedia capabilities of SYNC don’t necessarily put it in the same category as OnStar, some of the features that are expected to be available in the fall of this year do. For starters they plan to introduce a ’911 Assist’ feature that will automatically dial 911 in the event your vehicle’s airbags are deployed. You can then talk to a 911 operator hands-free, or opt to play a pre-recorded message if you can’t reach your phone. SYNC should also be getting the ability to asses the ‘health’ of your vehicle, and provide this info to you via a ‘Vehicle Health Report’ available on the SYNC website. Since both of these features have already been available with OnStar for some time now, I’m pretty sure this is Ford’s attempt to play catch up in that regard.

Even though it’s just the first version, I think Ford and Microsoft have done a pretty good job with the SYNC system. They’re marketing it towards the right people, and the $395 price tag on vehicles where it’s not standard is relatively reasonable given its capabilities. While it might not be as feature rich as the systems available from other companies, it seems like a good starting point for where Ford and Microsoft intend to eventually take it.

[ Ford SYNC ]

When I was younger I thought the Ferrari and Lamborghini represented the ultimate in cars, but these days I’m not quite as infatuated. Now don’t get me wrong, if either one handed me a set of keys and told me to go crazy, I would probably burn through a tank or two of gas. Both companies have ridiculously well-engineered and assembled supercars, but given the choice of what to buy if money were no option, these wouldn’t be at the top of my list.

Of course based on the number of photographers swirling around both booths every time I walked by, it’s clear I’m in the minority. Also I’m sure it didn’t hurt that both Ferrari and Lamborghini were the only booths with models on hand during the press-only days.

You can find quite a few more pics of what Ferrari and Lamborghini brought to the show after the jump, and if anyone wants larger versions of any photo, just let me know in the comments.

It was also interesting to see this F430 Spider Biofuel version at the Ferrari booth. At a show where ‘green’ was a major theme, this particular Ferrari didn’t make much of an impact, but it’s nice to see them making the effort. To quote a paraphrase on EcoGeek, “it’s still a fuel-intense Ferrari that’s not really green, and for all the 4 or 5 times it’s used in a year, from cradle to cradle it’s still a net loss for the environment.”

Earlier, I mentioned that the Corvette ZR-1 was 1 of 2 vehicles I would gladly leave the show with this year. Well here’s the other one. The Audi R8 V12 TDI concept is the first 12-cylinder diesel engine to find its way into a high-performance roadgoing sports car. Until now diesel engines have offered a poor ratio when it comes to power output vs. weight, so while they’re ideal for a massive ocean-going freighter, they’re not so great for a high-performance supercar.

Not surprisingly the V12 TDI engine in the R8 is closely related to the engine used in the company’s Le Mans winning R10, with a few modifications made to improve the center-of-gravity, as well as making it fit into the narrower engine compartment of the roadgoing R8. What you end up with is a 0 to 60 time of 4.2 seconds, a top speed of about 186mph and 738 lb-ft of torque.

You’ll find some more pics of the Audi R8 V12 TDI after the jump, including a shot of the V12 engine itself.

Another anticipated reveal at this year’s NAIAS was Fisker Automotive’s range extended electric vehicle (or REEV) called the Karma. Like the Chevrolet Volt, the Karma can operate on pure electric power for a limited range (about 50 miles) before a traditional combustion engine takes over. But since most people don’t drive 50 miles every day, there’s a good chance you won’t need to use the traditional engine that often, which also means far less trips to the gas station.

But while the Karma is expected to launch in the forth quarter of 2009, don’t expect to see one in every driveway right away. For starters the car has two separate drivetrains, one for the electric motor and one for the combustion engine, and it also has an expensive set of solar panels on the roof resulting in a price tag of about $80,000. While the company admits the Karma is being marketed as a high performance sports car, the track record of the Tesla has probably made people a bit cautious about the success of an electric vehicle coming from a small manufacturer.

More shots of the Fisker Automotive Karma are available after the jump.

I’ve been attending the NAIAS for many, many years now, and one trend I’ve recently noticed is the tendency for concept vehicles to be considerably less outrageous in design than in years gone by. At one time concepts were a look into the far-off future of the automobile, but these days it seems they’re designed with the possibility of being put into production in only a couple of years. I think the trend started with VW’s ‘Beetle’ concept a few years back, which we all know went into production a few years later. But it’s since continued with cars like the PT Cruiser and more recently the Dodge Challenger and the Chevrolet Camaro. And for the record, you’ll hear no complaints from me.

According to Inside Line as reported by Autoblog, it looks like the Cadillac CTS Coupe concept, which was introduced at this years NAIAS will actually go into production in mid-2009 as a 2010 model. There will be some slight changes made to the concept to make it production-friendly, but the final design should closely mirror the concept rolled out this year.

You can find more pics of the Cadillac CTS Coupe concept after the jump.

CNET recently awarded the 2008 Cadillac CTS as the ‘Tech Car of the Year’ in its 2007 Car Tech Awards. And if you had told me this before I attended the NAIAS this year, I would have thought it to be an odd choice. Even though the CTS looks nothing like the Cadillac of yesteryear, I still wouldn’t have considered the brand to be a leader when it came to the in-car technologies that interest me most.

But I’m happy to admit I was wrong. While at the show I was able to get a private demo of the Cadillac CTS‘ stereo and navigation system from Randy Schwarz who’s the Vehicle Line Executive of Global Luxury RWD at GM. When you get into the car one of the dominating features is the center stack where all of the ‘goodies’ are laid out. At the top is a small LCD display that actually rises to reveal a larger, touch screen version which is easily the best way to navigate the stereo or GPS system.

The stand-out feature of the CTS is the included 40GB hard drive. Using a built in USB jack you can copy MP3s from a flash drive onto the drive, allowing you to port your MP3 collection (or at least a small chunk of it) to the vehicle. Alternately you can simply insert an audio CD and let the stereo automatically rip it to the drive. Track information is then provided by Gracenote (formerly CDDB) saving you the hassle of having to enter it by hand. Of course hard drive based stereo systems are nothing new, but the CTS’ ability to record up to 60 minutes of XM or live radio is. Basically it works like a TIVO for radio, allowing you to pause or record any station and play it back later. While this feature probably isn’t that useful for building a music collection, it’s ideal if you’re a sports fan or talk radio junkie.

If you’re interested, after the jump I also take a look at the navigation features of the CTS’ including the integrated traffic system.

While at the show I made a point of checking out as many of the included navigation systems as I could from all of the manufacturers, but given the choice I would probably opt for what the CTS had on-board. As I understand it the map info is provided by Alpine and they’re just starting to introduce actual 3D building architecture for about 20 major cities in the US. This includes Detroit as you can see in the shot above. While the scale of some of the buildings is way off, being able to see on-screen what you should be seeing out your windshield is a big help.

The nav system can also integrate real-time traffic data from XM NavTraffic, and allow you to plan routes that avoid any trouble spots. One of the easiest ways to ‘go green’ right now that many people overlook, is to simply avoid the amount of time your vehicle is running. A traffic-equipped navigation system is an easy way to ensure you’re not wasting time as you creep along in heavy traffic.

There’s also a huge list of other features that I didn’t get a chance to really play with including DVD playback, a full MP3 jukebox allowing you to sort and search your music by any category, as well as iPod integration giving you access to music and playlists on your portable device via the vehicle’s interface. There’s also voice recognition controls which are compatible with virtually every feature that the entertainment system offers, which oddly enough is something the Ford SYNC system seems to push pretty hard, where as I don’t see much mention of it in the Cadillac marketing.

Of course the biggest downside is that this system is only offered on Cadillac models that start around $40,000, and even then it’s an extra $3,000 option. I can guarantee that college students buying their first car would love a stereo system with a 40GB hard drive, so hopefully an option like this will eventually make its way onto every model in the GM lineup. While the Ford SYNC system might not be as elaborate as what the CTS has on-board, I have to give them credit for providing the core technology on almost every vehicle in their lineup, even if the stereo systems themselves are not as elaborate on lower-end vehicles.

Overall though, I have to agree with CNET when it comes to the CTS. To say I was pleasantly surprised when playing around with all its toys is an understatement. While the car isn’t quite on my shopping list just yet, my stereotypical take on Cadillac as being a brand only my Dad would be interested in has definitely changed.

As a technology writer walking the floor of the auto show, you spend as much time looking at the cars as you do at the booths themselves. And from all the trade shows I’ve ever been to or seen over the years, the NAIAS has some of the most impressive (and largest) booths of any show. Ford was reusing the same booth style it had last year, but there was one new addition that caught my eye. The VJ Hub Experience offered a unique way for visitors to interact with the booth’s giant displays, as well as provide valuable feedback to the company.

A set of 3 connected LCDs and a series of small camera-equipped kiosks allowed visitors to answer a series of questions or take photos of themselves that could later be included on the gigantic displays circling the booth. You could also upload photos or videos to the system with a bluetooth equipped phone. A behind-the-scenes ‘VJ’ was responsible for mixing the photos into the demo reel shown on the floor, as well as removing any NSFT (not safe for tradeshow) images.

You can find some more detailed photos of the setup after the jump, as well as some more descriptions of how the VJ Hub worked.

If you didn’t have a bluetooth equipped cellphone at the show, or didn’t feel like digging it out of your pocket you could simply use one of these small kiosks that were setup all around the 3 LCD displays. Each one had an easy to use touch screen, and would offer you the chance to take a photo of yourself and answer a relatively simple question like “What’s the strongest, quality product you own?” or “What makes something beautiful?” Basically simple questions that really only required simple answers.

Once your photo was taken (and approved by the VJ) it would first appear on one of the 3 LCDs. The newest photos would appear largest on the left hand side of the screen, while older ones would slowly shrink over time as they were pushed off to the right side.

If you were lucky enough, or took a clever enough photo there was the chance it would be cut into the demo reels showing on the large displays all around the Ford booth. Unfortunately neither my timing nor my camera’s exposure worked out. And I guess my artistic photo of a closeup of my own SLR camera lens wasn’t good enough to make the cut.

The responses to the questions asked by the kiosks would also appear on one of the 3 LCD displays, and like the photos they would slowly shrink in size over time as they were replaced by newer responses. Not surprisingly, this feedback was probably the most valuable part of the VJ Hub as far as Ford was concerned, and I’ll admit it was a clever way to get people to submit their thoughts on various topics.

The two guys I spoke to about the VJ Hub actually turned out to be locally hired actors, but they were more than happy to give me a demo of the system. The large LCD displays which only they had access to were also touch sensitive, but used a series of sensors around the perimeter. This allowed the demo guys to drag photos or text boxes around, or bring up a sort of video timeline showing how the user-submitted photos had been worked into the demo reel. They were even kind enough to let me play with it for a while, and I have to admit it was pretty cool.

The Ford VJ Hub Experience was originally developed by a UK company called Imagination for the company’s booth at the Geneva Autoshow in 2007, but became so popular it has since been touring the world at other shows. If you happen to make it out to the auto show in Detroit this year, I recommend checking it out.

A lot of times when you look at a concept vehicle you have to wonder what the designers were thinking. This is not one of those times. The Mazda Furai (which means ‘sound of the wind’ in Japanese) is a result of the company’s Nagare design language which apparently describes the flow of water, air, people or things moving in one direction. And when you look at the car, it’s impressive how the design cues get the idea of ‘flow’ across, even when it’s not moving.

Under the hood (in a manner of speaking) you’ll find a 450 hp three-rotor rotary engine that actually runs on 100% ethanol produced in partnership with British Petroleum. (BP) If you plan on visiting the show when it’s open to the public next week you might want to stop by the Mazda exhibit early, as this one will surely attract a big crowd.

More pics are available after the jump.

Besides weird foreign cars and ridiculous custom rides, the downstairs section of the Detroit Auto Show also includes a few exhibits showing off work done by university students. One of those universities that is usually always on hand is the University of Michigan and their Solar Car Team. Their latest effort called the Continuum was on display and while the team usually places very well in the World Solar Challenge, this year they unfortunately had a bit of a fender bender during the race as is evident on the front corner of the car in the above shot. Even with the accident though, they still managed to place 7th, which is pretty impressive given how much time they lost due to repairs.

What I find particularly interesting about the World Solar Challenge is how every year the race itself kind of evolves. Earlier versions of the Solar Car Team’s vehicle had the driver laying down, which improved aerodynamics and reduced drag. But speaking to one of the student representatives at the booth, the driver was actually required to be in a sitting position for this year’s race, which of course increases the challenge when it comes to designing the car. The race organizers also limited the size of the solar cell clusters on the cars this year. To compensate the U of M Solar Car Team developed a clever system where sunlight was concentrated on special high yield solar cells using parabolic mirrors, which you can see in the above shot. I was surprised to hear that even with these new limitations, the car can still achieve speeds upwards of 90mph!

While it’s not like we’ll all be driving solar powered cars anytime soon, it’s still interesting to see how this car has evolved and improved over the years.

[ University of Michigan Solar Car Team ]

There are a few more pics of the Continuum after the jump.

The parts needed to build an all solar car, as well as the development facilities don’t come cheap, so the Continuum has quite a collection of corporate sponsors including General Motors, Ford, Michelin and Motorola.

This miniature version of the Continuum is actually a scale mockup designed to be tested in wind tunnels. It doesn’t make sense to build a full size version and then stick it in a wind tunnel to see how it performs. So the smaller versions help ensure the full size car is already well streamlined before it’s ever even assembled.

GO BLUE!