Ten things we learned this week: 7 August 2015 edition

We’ll get the bad news out of the way first, given it’s Friday and you probably want to end on an uplifting note.
 
Above is Hitchbot. He wanted to travel the breadth of America by hitchhiking his way around – with a 16-point bucket list to tick off – as part of a Canadian study into human-robot interaction. His cheery little LED face reassured drivers that he only had friendly intentions.
 
Which is more than can be said for those drivers. He may have ticked Times Square off, but Hitchbot's journey got little further: in Philadelphia, the poor chap was beaten up and destroyed by someone TG now dislikes thoroughly.
 
“Hitchbot’s family is asking everyone to show their love by sharing circuit-warming stories about the hitchhiking robot,” reads his website. “Stay tuned about Hitchbot’s future plans.”
 
So post-surgery, he’ll be back. But he’ll return to a world darker and less welcoming than the one he first entered.

The bad news continues. This really quite heartbreaking video is further evidence of why drugs are bad, police seizing this SLS from a man sentenced to five years in jail for various drug-related offences.
 
Rather than garner themselves a nice new pursuit car, or auction the SLS off for a bit of fundraising, the police mercilessly bashed the innocent Merc into submission, all in front of a rolling video camera.
 
The aim? To make an example of those committing drugs offences to put us all off from following suit. Worthy as that is, we are sad.

…and many of his possessions have been stolen. Being rich and On Telly is a good advert for the shiny, lovely things you own, things that less salubrious people may wish to purloin from you. Usually, though, high security measures ward off such activity.
 
Thieves in France, however, are suspected to have used drastic measures as Jenson and his wife Jessica holidayed in Saint Tropez. By, erm, pumping gas through their villa’s air conditioning system to ensure they slept soundly through the burglary.
 
The gassing is unconfirmed, but perhaps not as far-fetched as it sounds: previous summers have yielded reports of similar robberies in France, particularly from holidaymakers in campervans. Hope you’re feeling okay now, both.

Yup, though hopefully not for long. After Mr Cent's infamous bankruptcy, the Japanese oddity is being sold off to fund his return to financial stability.
 
Chances are he owns it after his sort-of-appearance in this superbowl advert for the Kizashi.
 
We, though, like to think old Fiddy has a penchant for extraordinarily niche cars only available with four-wheel drive, a petrol engine and a CVT gearbox. And that his Subaru Levorg has escaped the attention of his accountant…
 
If you want to benefit from the rapper’s finely honed tastes, you apparently need just $11,973 to own the 50 Centified Kizashi. Or a smidge under eight English grands. Want it?

As we’ve previously reported, Nissan’s return to top-level Le Mans racing was not as glorious as hoped. Not even by half, to be honest.
 
It was not for want of trying or lack of innovation, though, the latter area perhaps too much of a burden on the wonderfully inventive GT-R LM Nismo.
 
Its hybrid system didn’t work as expected, and rather than rush back into the World Endurance Championship, Nissan has decided to temporarily withdraw the GT-R to continue its development, with plans to return at an unspecified time.
 
“We’ve said it before, but innovation hurts,” said Nismo spokesman Darren Cox. “We’ve built an LMP1 car that is very different to other racing cars as we continue to drive motorsport innovation.
 
“The beauty of this programme is that people have got behind us and they are willing us to succeed. This has shown us once again that people want something different in motorsport and that gives us increased motivation to make our LMP1 car competitive.”

We like the Red Bull Ring, a tricky, challenging, though downright fun track in Austria.
 
We’re partial to a bit of one-make series racing, too, the cut-and-thrust of two dozen drivers in identical cars generally proving unfailingly interesting to watch.
 
Combine the two, though, and it appears you have the perfect storm for carnage. Especially when it’s raining. Click here and see what happened at last weekend’s TT Cup, a support race for the DTM series. Thankfully, everyone was fine.

Releasing a beta version of a new piece of software or website is par for the course. It’s a good way to gauge public reaction and iron out major bugs and flaws with a small, understanding group of people as your audience.
 
A beta version of autonomous driving, though? Really? Tesla truly is brave and pioneering…
 
The pilot scheme begin with hands-free motorway driving, which could develop to incorporate lane-change manoeuvres. Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, has compared his system to autopilot setups on planes, with the driver still expected to be paying enough attention to take over.
 
Controversial taxi firm Uber will no doubt be listening, for it’s keen to snap up a fleet of self-driving Teslas to enhance its service further down the line, while no doubt further stirring debate. Would you get in a self-driven taxi?

If you’re of a similar age to most of us in the TG office, your memory of mobile phones will stretch to a time long before swiping right or involuntary owning music written by Bono. You’ll remember the zenith of mobile phone technology as a Nokia with detachable plastic covers and Snake II.
 
You’ll also, like us, relish the news that Nokia is still relevant: this week it has sold its mapping division ‘HERE’ to a group of German carmakers – Audi, BMW and Mercedes – for a somewhat staggering £2billion. Yes. Two billion.
 
It’s all to ensure absolute navigational accuracy when the autonomous cars come, and allows the manufacturers to keep pace with similar efforts by Apple and Google, companies who could have their own self-driving cars before long.
 
It’s all getting very real now, isn’t it?

If you know American cars, you’ll know the term Mopar. Originating in the 1920s, it has signified the parts and accessories department of Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth and Jeep for decades.
 
As a result, some extraordinary muscle cars have been associated quite intrinsically with the word.
 
No more, though. If you know your industry tie-ups, you’ll know Fiat and Chrysler are bedfellows nowadays. And that means Mopar has changed. It now means Fiat parts and accessories, too.
 
And that in turn means Fiat 500 crossovers that look like, well, the thing above…

If you live anywhere near London, you’re likely more than aware of the industrial strikes on its Underground system that threw an awful lot of commutes into chaos this week.
 
Chaos often brings out the good nature in people, though, or in this case, cars. The Renault Twizy – already a beacon of whimsical happiness in a very serious world – saved the day for numerous travellers.
 
Yes, this week London was treated to a Twizy shuttle service that could be flagged down like a black cab. Only without any charge. And happily for those ensconsed in its rather open-sided interior, the weather was rather glorious too.
 
Told you we’d end on good news.