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Back in 2003, former Ford executive William Santana Li and former police officer Stacey Dean founded Carbon Motors, a company that designed a purpose-built diesel police car that recently filed for bankruptcy. But they're at it again, this time with a new company and a new invention that looks eerily similar to R2D2: a robotic security guard.

Their new Sunnyvale, California-based company is called Knightscope. Its product: the K5 Autonomous Data Machine. It's the fruit of the company's development of "technology that will predict and prevent crime with an innovative combination of hardware, software and social engagement," according to its website. K5 will be equipped with infrared-capable video cameras, microphones, radar, lidar (laser-based "radar") and thermal, air-quality and ultrasonic sensors. The data collected from all that equipment is then processed by the company's predictive analytics engine with help from "business, government and crowdsourced data sets." In a nutshell, K5 was designed to predict and prevent crime.

According to a report by The New York Times, Li says, "We founded Knightscope after what happened at Sandy Hook... You are never going to have an armed officer in every school." K5 can patrol school hallways as well as Silicon Valley businesses, and there are countless other potential applications for the robot. While there are positives to a robot like the K5, its invasive nature and sensing capabilities have already spurred privacy advocates to speak out against it.

Marc Rotenburg, director of the Electronic Privacy and Information Center, likened it to "R2D2's evil twin," according to The Times. "There is a big difference between having a device like this on your private property and in a public space," he said, adding, "Once you enter public space and collect images and sound recordings, you have entered another realm."

Head below to watch a promotional video on the K5, which is being unveiled at this week's Plug and Play Winter Expo in Sunnyvale.

Here at Autoblog, we've officially stamped December 5, 2013, as Ford Mustang Day. Sure, the sixth-generation Pony Car started leaking out onto the web days ago, but all of the official, non-embargoed hotness has come out today. And man, there's been a lot.

In terms of new car debuts, this is a really big one – not unlike all of the Corvette madness that kicked off the 2013 automotive season. So to make sure you haven't missed anything, here's a wrap-up of everything you need to know about the 2015 Ford Mustang.

• Deep Dive: 2015 Ford Mustang
  The most comprehensive, all-encompassing post with every last detail surrounding the new 'Stang. Ford is still keeping many of its specs – namely, performance – under wraps, but this Deep Dive covers all of the car's vital information that's presently available.
• 2015 Ford Mustang Convertible shown on Twitter
  We attended the reveal events in Dearborn, MI and Los Angeles, CA today, and sadly, neither one of them involved a look at the droptop version of the 2015 Mustang. But it's out there, and here's a closer look at the wind-in-your-hair model.
• Ford dissects the heart of the 2015 Mustang, its engine range
  As we said, official performance data for the new Mustang still hasn't been released, but that hasn't stopped Ford from giving us a closer look at the car's mechanicals. Here, you can check out cutaways of the 5.0-liter Coyote V8 and turbocharged, 2.3-liter EcoBoost inline-four. Expansive details about the Mustang's new independent rear suspension can be found here, too.
• J Mays on the 2015 Ford Mustang
  During the reveal event at Ford's headquarters in Dearborn today, we spoke to J Mays, the company's head of design, who not only gave us some insight into the styling of the new coupe, but gave us his thoughts on how the car should fare on a global scale, as well.

Of course, photos and text are only half of the story. Thankfully, we've scoured the depths of YouTube to bring you the latest and greatest videos of the 2015 Ford Mustang, including what appears to be the car's very first commercial. Here's a summary of all the videos we've embedded for you. Scroll down to watch all 12 of them.

• Introducing the all-new Ford Mustang via FordMustang
• Live reveal in Dearborn, MI via AutoGuide
• Live reveal in Sydney, Australia via Ford Australia
• Live reveal in Barcelona, Spain via CarParkru
• Ford Mustang: Seen for the first time via Ford Europe
• Ford Mustang revealed by Sienna Miller (plus behind the scenes) via Ford Europe
• 2015 Ford Mustang sneak preview via Automobile
• 2015 Ford Mustang first look via Motor Trend
• Original reveal video via Ford
• Mustang exterior design video via Ford
• Mustang interior design video via Ford
• Mustang colors and materials video via Ford

Of course, we want to know what you think of the 2015 Ford Mustang, so be sure to sound off in Comments, and vote in our poll below.

What is it about slow-motion video that makes everything so much cooler? Whether it's as simple as slapshot during a hockey game or as complex as a hypercar, filming in slow motion adds a new sense of depth, technicality and beauty to the subject. That's especially true when the video in question includes a rare Ferrari F50 and the team from Tax The Rich.

One Autoblog staffer called it "mesmerizing" the first time he watched it, and we're certainly inclined to agree. The F50 has never been a very pretty car, but in this setting, it's somehow incredibly compelling, as it drifts around a corner and does donuts at an agonizingly slow pace. Scroll down for the entire video, and let us know what you think in Comments.

A San Diego woman who was ticketed in October by the California Highway Patrol for wearing Google Glass while driving pleaded not guilty and will fight the citation in court, Yahoo reports. The woman, Cecilia Abadie, was pulled over for driving 80 miles per hour in a 65-mph zone.

After Abadie was pulled over for speeding, her attorney reportedly claims that the Google Glass switched on when she looked up at the CHP officer, who was standing by her window. The device was designed to respond to a head tilt by turning on.

Abadie's ticket is believed to be the first citation issued for wearing Google Glass while driving, but California has no laws specifically banning the use of the device while behind the wheel. There are places that are considering legislation to ban wearing Google Glass while driving, such as West Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey and in the UK.

To use Google Glass, one must look up into a screen slightly above the right eye. Users can read texts, search the Internet, make calls and more with the hands-free device, and it can even be used for GPS navigation.

American consumers will remember the Land Rover Defender as a utilitarian SUV that was sold in the US for a short time. What many may not realize, though, is that in its home market the Defender is arguably one of the most versatile vehicles around, available in a number of different body styles ranging from a three-door hardtop to a chassis cab. Naturally, there's a pickup variant.

As Land Rover continues to wrestle about what to do with the next Defender, it throws into question the future of Land Rover's hauler. Now, a report from What Car? is claiming that we'll see a new Defender-based pickup in 2017, and that it will rival Volkswagen's Amarok.

What Car? spoke with Gerry McGovern, Land Rover's design boss, who indicated that a pickup will join the Defender's replacement, but only after more conventional five- and seven-passenger SUVs are launched. Unlike the current Defender pickup, this new model would follow more of a luxury theme as well, although just how luxurious Land Rover could go without alienating the rough-and-tumble bunch that value the Defender's spartan nature remains unclear.

Even if a new Defender Pickup is launched, much like the Amarok, we shouldn't count on it making a trek across the pond (although there's still hope for the standard model), according to Motor Trend. Blame America's Chicken Tax for that.

Whether the board of the Morgan Motor Company was justified or not in ousting its former chief executive from its ranks, you could understand that Charles Morgan might take a defiant stand. He is, after all, the grandson of the company's founder, and before the board stepped in, it was his show to run. But don't expect Charles to be starting up a rival outfit any time soon.

Rumors of Charles' possible intentions emerged after he reportedly indicated that he wanted to "stay involved in the car industry". But when contacted by Autocar for comment, Charles kiboshed the idea of establishing a rival operation. For one thing, Charles remains a major shareholder in the company he used to run. For another, he says there's just not enough room in the industry to support two Morgans.

He may be right, particularly with niche automakers across the UK and Europe going belly-up. Just don't tell that to the people behind Castle Three, which aims to take on Morgan in the retro three-wheeler business.

The Grand Theft Auto videogame series is loved and loathed by many, and, as it turns out, Lindsay Lohan can be added to the latter group - unless GTA's publisher, Rockstar Games, cuts her a check. More specifically, TMZ reports, the troubled actress and her lawyers are drafting a lawsuit against the publisher demanding money for using what she says is her likeness in Grand Theft Auto V without permission.

The character in question includes a cover image of a blonde woman holding a cellphone. In the game, there are two missions involving characters that are claimed to resemble Lohan. One mission features a female character (named Lacey Jonas) who asks for help avoiding paparazzi and to be driven home, and the other has players visiting a location resembling Los Angeles' Chateau Marmont hotel - a known Lohan hangout and her previous residence - to take pictures of a female character having sex.

Take a look at the woman in the cover image (pictured) and feel free to head below to watch a TMZ video report of the situation with in-game footage of the "Lacey Jonas" mission. What do you think: is Lindsay Lohan in GTA V?

Wolfgang Egger, Audi's chief designer, is leaving the company according to a Automotive News Europe, which cites a report from Germany's Automobilwoche. Egger won't be going far, though, remaining within the Volkswagen family and taking up head design position Italdesign Giugiaro, a VW subsidiary as of 2010.

Egger took over the position at Audi from Walter de Silva, and has been responsible most recently for the Audi A6 and A3, as well as the 2010 Quattro Concept and the E-Tron Concept. He previously was head of design at Lancia and then at Alfa Romeo, where he was responsible for the achingly gorgeous 8C Competizione.

If Egger does move to Italdesign, his successor is likely to be Marc Lichte, the Volkswagen designer behind the current Golf. Of course, these personnel changes haven't been officially confirmed, and Audi is thus far refusing to comment on either Egger or Lichte's possible career shifts. We'll stay with this one, so sit tight.

It was 1998 when Subaru made some crucial changes to its World Rally Championship Impreza, such as increasing the displacement of the turbocharged flat-four-cylinder engine from 2.0 to 2.2 liters and fitting wide fender flares. Subaru won the WRC manufacturer championship with the car that year, and it also was the year of the automaker's 40th anniversary. To celebrate the milestone, the company came out with this limited-edition, road-going Impreza, the hallowed 22B STI, which looked nearly identical to the rally car.

Only 424 22Bs were built, and most of them stayed in Japan. But Dominick Infante, national manager of product communications at Subaru of America, was able to secure a drive in one of the only two 22Bs in the US. He details the car's history and some of the design and engineering cues that made the Impreza STI so popular both in motorsport and on the street, but we were caught up listening to the exhaust and admiring the timeless blue-and-gold paint. You should too, so head below to watch the video.

The cost of a gallon of fuel may go up if a Democratic representative from Oregon gets his way. Earl Blumenauer has reportedly proposed a bill in the House of Representatives to raise the federal gas tax 15 cents per gallon in a bid to cover a shortfall in transportation funding (we told you so?). The current federal tax is 33.4 cents per gallon on gas and 42.8 cents per gallon of diesel.

"Every credible independent report indicates that we are not meeting the demands of our stressed and decaying infrastructure system – roads, bridges and transit," Blumenauer said in a press conference cited by The Washington Post. The Post reports that the federal tax hasn't been increased since 1993.

"The average motorist is paying about half as much per mile as they did in 1993"

"With inflation and increased fuel efficiency, especially for some types of vehicles, there is no longer a good relationship between what road users pay and how much they benefit. The average motorist is paying about half as much per mile as they did in 1993," Blumenauer said.

While we can understand anger over increased gas prices, Blumenauer has assembled an impressive coalition to support the tax hike. AAA's vice president of public affairs, Kathleen Bower, notes, "The country desperately needs additional funding for infrastructure and, for the moment, there is no better means than the fuel tax. The proposed increase is well overdue and in line with what most experts suggest would be appropriate." In addition, Blumenauer pointed out other supporters "including the US Chamber of Commerce, national AFL-CIO, the construction and trucking ­industry, cyclists, professional groups, numerous associations of small and medium businesses, local governments, and transit agencies."

As we've shown as recently as last year, there's support among American motorists for a tax hike. Of course, you know where we're going with this. Let us know what you think about a potential hike in the gas tax by having your say in Comments and in our poll below.

Several months typically pass between when the FIA releases the provisional calendar for the next year's Formula One World Championship and when it releases the final version. The gap is usually bridged by a fair share of back-and-forth speculation over which races will make the cut, but this year's has looked even more feverish than usual from where we sit, principally for one reason: namely, that the provisional calendar included a new race in New Jersey.

After much speculation, the FIA has released the final calendar for the 2014 Formula One World Championship (along with a number of other series it sanctions). While the provisional calendar had a whopping 22 races on it, the final version has been whittled down to 19. And as you might have guessed, Jersey didn't make the cut.

New races in Austria and Russia are included, but the proposed expansion race in Mexico joins Jersey's fate, along with the Korean Grand Prix, which has been held at Yeongam for the past four years but won't be held next year. F1 fans in North America needn't worry, though: those who might have enjoyed the Mexican Grand Prix won't have far to go to enjoy the United States Grand Prix (which is still on the calendar for November 2, 2014, in Austin, Texas) and those in the northeast can head up to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix on June 8.

You can view the full release below from the last meeting of the FIA's World Motor Sport Council this year to see the final calendar for F1 as well as the world championships for touring cars, endurance racing, rallycross, Formula E and Formula 3. But for North American racing fans, the parts you need to know about are the F1 races in Montreal and Austin, the 6 Hours of the Circuit of the Americas (also in Austin), the WTCC race in Sonoma, the new rallycross event in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, and the Formula E races to take place in LA and Miami.

Tesla's strategy to sell cars, such as the Model S, through manufacturer-owned retail stores has rubbed traditional franchise auto dealerships the wrong way. The battle between Tesla and the Ohio Auto Dealers Association heated up quickly over the past week because a proposed amendment to an Ohio road-maintenance worker safety bill (Senate Bill 137) threatened to ban Tesla stores in Ohio. The automaker asked for help from its supporters to fight the amendment, and on Tuesday all 12 members of the Ohio senate passed the bill without it, Transport Evolved reports.

After the vote, Tesla sent out an e-mail to its supporters thanking them for their help, which you can read below:

Dear Tesla Advocate,

Earlier today, the Ohio House of Representatives Committee on Transportation, Public Safety and Homeland Security voted out Senate Bill 137 without the anti-Tesla amendment attached to it. We would like to thank all our customers and supporters who took the time to contact their local representatives and express their views on the matter. Your help was crucial to stopping this amendment! Tesla looks forward to continued investment in the state and serving our customers in Ohio, including at our new stores opening in Columbus and Cincinnati this month.

Thanks again for your support!

The amendment was added to SB 137 at the last minute, and the bill originally was to be voted on yesterday. But Tesla wrote e-mails to its advocates on Monday asking for help to fight the inclusion of the amendment, and the vote was quietly moved to Tuesday.

Both republicans and democrats expressed a desire to be careful with the issue of manufacturer-owned dealerships. Rep. Rex Damschroder (R-Fremont) says, "I've watched amendments go through at the last minute and making mistakes." He continues, "This issue is of such importance that it shouldn't be rushed," The Columbus Dispatch reports.

"Are we standing in the way of something that is innovative?" Rep. Robert F. Hagan (D-Youngstown) reportedly asked. "This is an up-and-coming, 6,000-employee group that should be given an opportunity to expand."

So for now, Tesla's business model is legal in Ohio, and its first store in the state is scheduled to open in Easton on Friday. A week later the automaker will open a second store in Cincinnati. Of course, there is another incentive for Ohio to not block Tesla's business model. As Damschroder puts it: "[Tesla] might have future potential in Ohio - they are looking for somewhere to build their pick-up trucks," The Columbus Dispatch reports.

As we've explained before, we have a soft spot for small, funky motorcycles. We've expressed our admiration for cafe racers and their culture, and while those modded bikes are extremely cool, we may have just discovered another niche of even more interesting two-wheeled contraptions, thanks to the team at Petrolicious.

On this week's video, there's a visit with Hugo Gallina, the owner of Vintage Italian Restoration in southern California. Gallina specializes not in the traditional Italian motorcycles - Ducati, Moto Guzzi or MV Agusta - but in the smaller, seriously vintage (think 1950s) single-cylinder bikes from little known or long forgotten brands like Benelli, Gilera, or even Maserati (yes, that Maserati). These tiny bikes are kind of like the Honda Grom of their day.

Really, if you're interested in a different era of motoring (or even motorcycling, as it were), this latest Petrolicious video is really worth a watch. Check it out by scrolling down.

J Mays, head of design at Ford, may be retiring from the company after 16 years, but not before showing the world his swan song: the 2015 Mustang. Ford officially revealed its new coupe and convertible to the public at events around the world on Thursday, including a live unveiling on ABC's Good Morning America, and Mays was in attendance at the automaker's home event in Dearborn, MI, which is where we caught up with him for a few words about his new baby.

"It's a joy" to design the Mustang, Mays told Autoblog, adding that this sixth-generation coupe is his "favorite design so far." Of course, the 2015 model takes cues from all of the generations that came before it, but Mays said it was important to edit down the specific elements from previous models, leaving just enough off to let the customer "participate and fill in the blanks."

"If it doesn't sell itself, you probably aren't a Mustang fan."

"We could have gone down and checked the list," Mays stated. "We did that a little bit in 2005." There aren't any fake scoops on this car, no added plastic bits, and the faux-gas cap look to the GT emblem on the rear has been axed. "That's walking away from something [that] doesn't need to be there," we were told. Overall, the final 2015 Mustang design needed to be a cohesive package that tells a story of confidence, power and aggression. And while Mays said there were plenty of designs that he and the team really liked ("at some point, those will surface"), the company strived to find essential elements that would make this car a proper Mustang, even though so much of the design work "ends up on the cutting room floor."

As we told you in our Deep Dive, the Mustang will be offered with three engines, including a new 2.3-liter EcoBoost inline four-cylinder, expected to produce more than 305 horsepower. But unlike other models in the Ford range, Mays confirmed that the Mustang will not have specific EcoBoost badging. There's also the Convertible variant, which was absent from the Dearborn reveal, and Mays notes that the droptop model was designed right alongside the hardtop, since it was important to create a profile that would work on both bodystyles.

For the first time, Ford will officially offer the Mustang in markets outside of North America, and Mays isn't worried about it failing to attract customers. Why? "It's drop-dead gorgeous" and there's "50 years of pent-up demand." The design boss said it was more important to get the design finalized first, and then offer it to the world. Sure, things like European pedestrian crash standards were baked into the car's design from the get-go, but being able to succeed on a global scale wasn't a major factor in creating the shape of the sixth-generation car. Besides, as Mays says, "If it doesn't sell itself, you probably aren't a Mustang fan."