2014 Cadillac XTS: What's Changed

• Most significant changes: All-new twin-turbo V-6, automatic parking assist and Intellibeam automatic high-beam control system
• Price change: TBA
• On sale: Summer 2013
• Which should you buy, 2013 or 2014? Price will weigh heavily, but the twin-turbo engine is tempting

When the 2014 Cadillac XTS goes on sale later this summer, the large sedan will be what the automaker calls "one of the most technologically advanced production cars in the brand's history." Topping the list of upgrades is a new twin-turbo V-6 engine that's borrowed from the 2014 CTS sedan.

Cadillac said the optional twin-turbo 3.6-liter V-6 is good for 410 horsepower and 369 pounds-feet of torque; that’s compared with the standard naturally aspirated 3.6-liter V-6's 304 hp and 264 pounds-feet of torque. The twin-turbo engine comes only with all-wheel drive while the standard V-6 comes with front-wheel drive or optional all-wheel drive. Both engines are mated to a six-speed automatic transmission. The twin-turbo requires premium gas; fuel-economy figures have not yet been announced.

Safety Services Standard on All New Hyundai Vehicles

Hyundai announced today that all its new vehicles equipped with the automaker's Blue Link communication system will come with three years of free protective services.

The Assurance Connected Care service package, announced in March at the 2013 New York International Auto Show, is similar to GM's OnStar safety system. Hyundai's offers a full lineup of safety and car-care features, including automatic collision notification, emergency and roadside assistance, monthly vehicle diagnostics reports and maintenance alerts.

The service is fully transferable to subsequent owners within three years of the vehicle's first date of use, Hyundai said. Owners with the Assurance Connected Care package will have the option to upgrade at a reduced price, adding features such as remote start, stolen vehicle recovery and turn-by-turn navigation. The automaker said it would release pricing info later.

Study: Most Americans Would Exchange Personal Info for Personalized Cars

A new study suggests the majority of Americans would be willing to divulge personal information, including their own fingerprints, if it personalized their car — and nearly two in three would ride in a self-driving car.

San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco Systems polled 1,514 consumers and 405 auto-manufacturing professionals age 18 and older across the U.S. and nine other countries, from underdeveloped India to first-world France. The firm found three-fourths of U.S. shoppers would share driving habits — as some insurance companies already facilitate — in exchange for insurance discounts. That tracks with Cisco's 10-country average. In the land of the autobahn, by contrast, only about half of all Germans are somewhat or very willing to have such devices installed — but more than 90% of all Indians and Brazilians are amenable to them.

What about other personal information? Reveal away, Americans say. Sixty-five percent would be willing to share personal information like height, weight and entertainment preferences to automakers, not just their car, if that returned a more customized driving experience. And around 55% would be somewhat or very comfortable providing biometric information, like fingerprints or DNA samples, if it made for personalized vehicle security. This is the sort of information "that would allow [the] vehicle to identify you as the rightful driver," said Andreas Mai, who directs product management for Cisco's connected-vehicles division. "Interestingly enough, we found that consumers are willing to trade personal data if they can get benefits from that." (If you think it's too Big Brother, consider that many laptops already ask for such information.)

Chrysler Really Connects With 8.4-inch Touch-Screen

Chrysler's massive 8.4-inch touch-screen available in Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler, Ram and SRT models is one of the few multimedia systems to integrate dozens of tasks without overwhelming users. Tasks including smartphone integration, navigation, Satellite radio and more pair with climate control functions in one easy-to-use 8.4-inch command center versus an unwieldy combination of knobs, buttons and touch-screen complexity.

Testing Chrysler's latest Uconnect 8.4 system in the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee reminded us how seamless Uconnect works and why it's one of our favorites. Below are five aspects of the Uconnect 8.4 system that give it an advantage over not only direct competitors of Chrysler products, but in the grand scheme of all automotive multimedia offerings.

SaferCar App Helps With Child Safety Seats Too

If you've had a child within the last two decades, you're probably about as frustrated as we are with the complexity of installing child safety seats. Latch or seatbelt? Automatic locking retractor or emergency locking retractor? Belt locking clip or twisted belt stalk? According to Safe Kids USA, properly installed child safety seats reduce risk of injury by 71% for infants and 54% for toddlers in passenger cars.

While the milk crate full of bungee cords or duct tape in the garage might look like a tempting alternative to struggling with installing a child seat, the better option is using the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's new, free SaferCar app for iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches to find a certified child passenger safety technician near you (NHTSA is working on an Android app). Those who don't have mobile Apple devices can search for a technician on the NHTSA website.

SaferCar App Delivers on Name

If you've ever visited the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website, you know that it's not organized in the most efficient manner (read: archaic and confusing). Searching for something as simple as crash test ratings can have you hunting for much longer than necessary. Just show me the stars, people!

NHTSA is growing with the times, though, and has released a free app for the iPhone — it is currently working on an Android version — that takes the best of what the agency offers online (safety ratings, recalls, complaint filing and more) and makes it all quick to access and super simple to use.

Here's a quick overview, but since it's free, we recommend you download it and try it out yourself.

Cadillac Takes Self-Driving Tech to the Streets

Cadillac has tested its semiautonomous technology, Super Cruise, on closed courses and driving simulators, and now it could be coming to an interstate near you. Not for public use, of course — the technology won't be that far along until at least later this decade — but to take testing to the next level on real-world roadways. The automaker said that by the time testing is complete, researchers will have accumulated hundreds of thousands of driving miles in varied environments, including day and night, and weather and traffic conditions.

Super Cruise is capable of semi-automated driving, including hands-off lane following, braking and speed control under certain driving conditions. It is designed to ease the driver's workload on freeways, in bumper-to-bumper traffic and on long road trips, but still requires the driver to respond to external factors when prompted. The system uses lane-centering technology that relies on forward-looking cameras to detect lane markings and other sensors to recognize curves and other road characteristics; it also incorporates a series of alerts to communicate with the driver.

Guidelines Aim to Decrease Distractions of Multimedia Systems

In a press briefing today, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood characterized his four-plus-year campaign against distracted driving as a "crusade." The latest weapon in the government's fight is a set of voluntary guidelines for automakers designed to limit the distraction risks of in-vehicle multimedia systems. First announced last year, the Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration finalized the guidelines today.

LaHood told reporters that it's not just cellphones that are distracting to drivers; in-vehicle multimedia systems and their ability to play videos, connect to the internet and send text messages pull focus away from the road. The guidelines announced today are designed to limit the systems' distraction risk by establishing recommended criteria for how long tasks should take drivers.

According to the DOT, drivers should only take their eyes off the road to operate a multimedia system for two seconds at a time and 12 seconds total for one task. They also shouldn't read more than 30 characters of text (not counting punctuation marks) during a single task. It also recommends that each device's active display be located as close as possible to the driver's forward line of sight.

The government's guidelines also call for disabling several operations unless the vehicle is stopped and in Park. They include: 

Handpresso Brings Espresso Making to Your Cupholder

The Fiat 500L's optional portable espresso machine may not come to the states, but come May 1 those with coffee-on-the-go on the mind will have a new option from French espresso maker Handpresso.

Like the Fiat's optional espresso machine developed by Lavazza, Handpresso's Auto is a self-contained espresso machine designed for cupholders. The Handpresso Auto sources power from a car's DC outlet and pressurizes a mix of water and an individual espresso packet. When the pressurization and heating is done, the Auto container is flipped over to dispense the heated espresso.

Self-Driving Cars Hit a Speed Bump

As recently as February, purveyors of self-driving cars, which would whisk you to the store while you did squat, predicted the cars would be here this decade. Google has had a fleet of them since 2010; Audi, GM, Toyota and others have developed their own too.

But self-driving cars won't come anytime soon. Like the arrival of Chinese automakers, the Spyker Peking-to-Paris SUV and Lotus' whole new lineup, the coming-out date remains elusive. Experts at the 2013 Society of Automotive Engineers 2013 World Congress said Tuesday that the mass market won't get them until 2025, the Detroit News reports.