Our Expert Automotive Service & Collision Repair Blog

The Denver metro area and front range was hit pretty hard this summer with hail. The hail was driven by strong winds causing even more damage than if it had fallen straight down.

Sitting here last week looking at 5 inches of snow and thinking about air conditioning seemed a little odd, but it Is May in Colorado and I guess we should expect anything.  Maybe this is the year I can water ski and snow ski on the same day...

Last month, on our auto repair shop blog, I wrote about how the development of driverless cars has spawned many crash avoidance systems that are now common in many mass produced cars on the road right now.  I also said it may be a long time before you can jump in the back seat of a car and have the vehicle take you somewhere.  Now I’m not so sure it will be such a long time.  Almost every week there is some new news about an auto manufacturer or Google or Apple getting closer to actually bringing a self driving car to market.

Recently a customer wrote, “Does your shop know if hail blankets protect your car in a hail storm?”  After all the hail we received in the Denver metro area this year I wasn’t surprised to get this question.  We specialize in auto hail damage repair.

You didn’t really believe that did you.  Well, here’s what really did happen.  

A group from the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford University developed a self driving modified-for-racing Audi TTS.  The Audi TTS beat track owner and race car driver, David Vodden’s fastest lap time by .4 seconds. 

The goal of the Stanford team was to develop a car that performed like the best human driver. The team studies the issues of control in extreme situations then develops software to keep a car in control in situations such as going around a curve on an icy road.