Future Movers: $1500 For Tesla Model 3 Orders, Aussie Taxi Booking App Approved By ACCC

Tired of walking? Future Movers is our roundup of the week’s biggest news in powered transport. Whether it’s a car, a bike, a plane or something in between, you’ll find the Aussie angle on it right here.

Meet The Man Behind James Bond’s Crazy Car Stunts

No, Daniel Craig did not do all his stunts. On Spectre, a professional car stunt team choreographed every corner and drift and jump. British-born ex-rally driver Mark Higgins drove the Aston Martin DB10 in Spectre‘s night-time chase scenes in the heart of Rome, which end in a massive jump into the Tiber river.

To celebrate the launch of the latest Bond movie on Blu-ray, we sat down to talk with Mark about his career, how he got into movie stunt work, and how involved he is in both the setup of the stunt cars and the filming process itself.

Fewer Accidents, Fewer Cars, Faster Speeds: The Future Of Self-Driving Vehicles On Australian Roads

What are Australian roads going to look like in 10 years? 20 years? Whatever they do look like, they’re going to have more autonomous cars on them — whether that’s a Tesla or a Holden or a Ford — and there will be more car-to-car communication than an occasional angry yell. We’ll still be responsible for the actions of our vehicles, but we won’t necessarily have our hands on the steering wheel or even own them.

We talked to Simon Wilson, the national Automotive Contact Centre manager at Allianz Global Assistance, about what Australian roads might look like a few years into a future where self-driving cars are the norm, and where Aussies are driven by robots rather than driving themselves.

Taxi Booking App ihail Gets The Green Light By ACCC

After twice knocking it back, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has finally authorised a collaboration between taxi networks and Cabcharge to launch and operate a new smartphone taxi booking app, called ihail.

“The app will provide an additional platform for passengers to book taxis from a large pool of taxi networks and drivers. The ACCC accepts this is likely to reduce waiting times, particularly in peak periods, which is a benefit to the public,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.

Tesla Opens Its New Port Macquarie Supercharger Today

With Superchargers already lined up to provide a free route between Sydney and Melbourne, Tesla Motors has now turned its gaze to the north, opening its first Supercharger north of Sydney. The Port Macquarie station is the first step in a planned series of Superchargers that will link Sydney to Brisbane, providing Tesla owners with a free trip up one of Australia’s most popular interstate routes.

The new Supercharger will be opened today in a ribbon cutting ceremony at 11:30am. It’s located just off the Pacific Highway at Cassegrain Winery, which has a restaurant and amenities for Tesla owners to access while charging their Model S. The Port Macquarie location is the first part of Tesla’s planned northern network, which will be extended up to Brisbane this year. The station will be able to charge up to six Tesla Model S at the same time.

McLaren’s New 570GT Is Its ‘Most Luxurious’ Car Yet

McLaren is known for its all-out performance cars — namely the P1, 675LT and the classic world-beating F1 — but the company chose the Melbourne Formula 1 Grand Prix to introduce its newest and most practical car to Australia. The brand new McLaren 570GT is the company’s most comfortable and road-biased car ever, but it’ll still set you back a cool $438,000 in Australia.

The new McLaren 570GT may be luxurious, but it’s still a McLaren sports car through and through. 0-100km/h is dispatched in 3.4 seconds, 0-200 in 9.8 seconds, and it’ll run a quarter mile in 11.1 seconds all the way on to a top speed of 328km/h. That McLaren signature 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 develops 420kW (562bhp, 470PS) at 7500rpm and 600Nm at 5000-6500rpm, all running through a sequential dual-clutch seven speed ‘box. McLaren says it’ll still return a combined fuel figure of only 10.7 litres per 100km, though, which is crazy given its performance credentials.

Aston Martin And Red Bull Racing Are Teaming Up To Build A Hypercar

Aston Martin and front-running F1 team Red Bull Racing are coming together and sharing their expertise to build a hypercar, using F1 technology in the same way that Ferrari does in its flagship road cars. RBR chief technical officer Adrian Newey is joining Aston Martin’s Marek Reichman to build a brand new road-going vehicle code-named AM-RB 001.

Adrian Newey is widely considered to be one of the most successful and accomplished Formula 1 designers of all time, being responsible for the design of Formula 1 cars from March, Williams and Red Bull. His cars won the constructors and drivers championships consecutively from 2010 to 2013 with Sebastian Vettel at the wheel.

How (And When) To Order A Tesla Model 3 In Australia

Australia will be the first country in the world to take pre-orders for Tesla Motors’ upcoming Model 3 electric car. When stores open in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane on March 31, you’ll be able to put down your cash and secure your place in line for Tesla’s mass-market EV — so here’s how much it’ll cost.

In Australia, you’ll pay $1500 in Aussie dollars to secure your Model 3 pre-order — and to do so, you’ll have go to any Tesla location in Australia and put down your cash or make an EFTPOS or credit transaction. That’ll get you your place in line. If you don’t want to order in person, you can also do so online at 2:30PM on that day, once the Model 3 unveiling live-stream begins.

Also on Gizmodo:

Watch Internode’s Simon Hackett Talk About His Fleet Of Teslas
We Have The First Video Of Domino’s Self-Driving Pizza Delivery Robot
F1’s Future ‘Halo’ Cockpits Are The Sport’s Biggest Change In Years


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