Hyundai Equus Buyers No Longer Get iPad Manual

Hyundai will stop including an iPad owner’s manual with its Equus luxury car, according to a report from USA Today. The free iPad won’t come with the Equus starting with the 2012 model year, which goes on sale next month.

The tablet will be replaced with a tried-and-true paperback manual, Hyundai spokesman Jim Trainor told USA Today. Trainor said the iPads were only meant to be a one-year promotion to help with the Equus’ U.S. launch.

The iPad owner’s manual is innovative, and if you’re already an owner of an iPad or other tablet, the application will still be available for download.

Exclusive: No more free iPads for Hyundai Equus(USA Today)

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Sprint App Blocks Cell Phone Use While Driving

If you worry about your teen texting and driving or even talking on their cell phone and driving, Sprint has an application for you. Its Drive First app automatically locks out most smartphone functions while driving.

The app kicks in at speeds over 10 mph, as determined by GPS coordinates and cell tower triangulation. Once in lockdown mode, Drive First disables phone functions and email and text alerts. All incoming calls are sent to voicemail, and if you get a text message while on the road, the app automatically replies to notify the sender that you’re currently driving. (The auto-reply can be customized.) You won’t regain access to your phone until the car has completely stopped moving for a few minutes, to account for stop-and-go traffic.

If you really want access to your phone while driving, there is an exit button as well as a 911 button that overrides the app.

If you are a concerned parent, the app can notify you about any override of the app.

The service isn’t free, though. It costs Sprint subscribers $2 extra per month per phone. For now, Drive First works only with Sprint smartphones running the Android operation system, though BlackBerry devices will get the service in the future.

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Car Talk Looks at Self-Driving Cars

Will cars drive themselves in the near future? The folks at Car Talk think so, but it’s still likely at least a decade off before it’s available. While the technology is progressing quickly — Google has logged 140,000 miles of autonomous driving in its prototype — the legal framework to make these driving robots a reality is moving much more slowly.

Self-Driving Cars: Look, Ma, No Hands May be Around the Corner

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