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You know you are starting to morph into your dad when you are told about new technology and you start asking why rather than when. I recall the introduction of power steering and my dad saying, ‘Why?’ Followed by his reasoning, ‘You can’t feel your way round bends, it’s dangerous and will lead to accidents.’

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Next came electric windows, again my dad’s response was, ‘Why?’ ‘Just something else to drain the battery and go wrong, it’s the beginning of the end – mark my words!’ Not sure what it was going to be the end of but here I am reading about the latest technology that will be used to control your entertainment system.

No not touchscreen, that is so yesterday’s technology, we are talking eye technology that by 2017 will be used to control your stereo system. Australian manufacturer Seeing Machines is developing the new technology based around a smart camera on the dashboard focused on the driver.

It can monitor the driver’s head movements and how open their eyes are. It can also track what they are looking at so instead of having to reach over to the touchscreen to say switch on the radio you simply have to look at it! Why?? Ken Kroeger, CEO of Seeing Machines said that the camera was accurate to one degree over 1.5 metres.

The article then bangs on about reconfiguring instruments so icons would be closer to the straight ahead eye level position, even embedded into the windscreen but I’m going to stop here because I’m now bored because I cannot for the life of me think why this could be of any help whatsoever.

I drive down the motorway in my Mercedes and after 10 minutes of driving I often hear a ping and a small picture of a coffee cup appears on my dashboard because apparently I’m suffering from fatigue and am in urgent need of a stop and a cup of coffee. Sod off! I know when I’m feeling tired and it isn’t 10 minutes after getting behind the wheel after 8 hours sleep.

Is this a joint venture between Mercedes and Costa? For goodness sake – as my dad would say, and I agree with him, Why? By Graham Hill

My first ever automatic was a big old Jaguar. It worked perfectly with just 3 forward gears, 1^st, 2^nd and Drive. Having just 3 gears wasn’t a problem, after all it was an automatic so after a while you didn’t even realise the car was changing gear.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

Move on the lifetime of my children and my latest car, an E Class Mercedes has a silky smooth 7G,  7 speed automatic gearbox with paddle changes on the steering wheel for those that like to play at F1 racing drivers – in an E Class Mercedes – I know, I should grow up!

So I was surprised to read that the next E Class will come with a 9G, 9 gear automatic gearbox. The box will be launched in Europe later this year and in the UK next year. Mercedes say there is method in their madness as the new gearbox will reduce CO2 output and improve MPG but changing gear 8 times simply to get out of your garage seems a tad over the top to me – but what do I know?

If it means I contribute to the well being of Sussex and save money on fuel who am I to argue?

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Car manufacturers love to confuse us poor customers. Just as we had firmly fixed in our minds the colour green as being representative of  anything that was environmentally friendly, not only in the UK but around the world, they decided that blue would be the new green (was this a careful ploy on the part of the Conservative party I ask myself). Read more »

My gadget of the week is a mouse. No, not a squeaky furry thing with a long tail but a computer mouse. What’s so special about it? It’s in the shape of a car. Now whilst this may sound a bit dopey the cars are scale models of well known cars such as the Mercedes SL Gullwing, Mini Cooper, Range Rover Evoque and even a Maserati Gran Turismo. Read more »

My gadget of the week is called Anti Sleep Pilot. It attaches magnetically to a 3M pad on your dashboard and consists of a small disc shaped device with light and audio monitors built in. The unit is powered by a single AAA battery and powers on automatically when attached to the dashboard. Mercedes now have an Attention Assist system built into Read more »

Banks are lending less to leasing companies making life even more difficult for small businesses to secure funding. As of 31^st March 2011 lending to the leasing companies was down by 16% from £28.4 billions the previous year to £23.8 billions. Leasing is seen by many small businesses as an alternative way to fund their vehicles and equipment as Read more »

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It just goes to show how people differ in views when it comes to surveys. BMW was upset when they fared poorly in the 2010 Driver Power Survey, assessing the dealerships on many levels. BMW dropped from 12^th to 17^th only to be replaced by Mercedes at the number 12 spot. Now this I really can’t understand as my last car was a BMW and the dealer was superb. The car before and my current cars are both Mercedes and the service I receive from the Mercedes dealership is incredible. And Read more »

There are now 3 EU research projects under way to trial ‘talking’ cars, which can communicate with each other and road infrastructure such as traffic signs, lights and congestion management centres. Vehicles will receive information about hazards ahead such as congestion, accidents, oil spills, potholes, debris etc. Drivers will then be alerted by dashboard communications. Developed into prototypes by three Read more »

My Mercedes is being a bit of a pain. Since I got it a year ago the dealer has had two tries at sorting out two warning lights that came on unexpectedly, one related to the tyre pressures and the other the ESP system. I asked if I could drive the car safely and they pointed out that as the warning lights were orange and not red, as long as I checked my tyre pressures all should be ok till I could get the car in for repair a Read more »

Auto Trader Compare, the insurance comparison site set up by Autotrader, the UK’s largest motoring website, carried out a survey to find out which drivers are considered to be the worst amongst motorists. The worst drivers, as voted by a massive 59% of respondents, are BMW drivers. They are accused of  various bad driving habits including – driving too fast (68%), overtaking in dangerous situations (66%), Read more »