Although there can be no doubt that tomorrow’s drivers will be better informed, there remains some concern about information over-load. Matthew Beecham reports on some innovations to help keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.
While touch screens offer space-saving possibilities, designers are faced with the problem of distracting the driver’s attention too much. A continuing focus of R&D is therefore on more intuitive, safer and simple control options for motorists, including the integration of haptic feedback into touch-sensitive surfaces. By this means, the driver is able to sense directly whether he or she has actually activated a “touch element” after touching it.
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An R&D team at Continental is in the process of working on intelligent infrared technology for future control designs in affordable cars. Used in ever-more electronic entertainment devices, multi-touch controls will also be enhancing modern display and control systems in the especially price-sensitive car segment. With ‘infrared curtains,’ Continental developers are opting for an economical alternative to touch sensitive, so called capacitive displays. The supplier’s infrared curtain is built from an array of infrared light sources on the sides of the display. While a single row of LEDs was sufficient for one-finger operation, multi-touch gestures require two rows of infrared lights connected together. If a multi-touch gesture is performed in front of the display, the electronics of the human machine interface (HMI) recognise the finger’s positions from the blocked light. Continental says the technology will be ready for series production in 2017.
Meanwhile, voice recognition is seen by some as the answer to eliminate many controls that have traditionally been manually operated. Voice can play an important part of a multimodal HMI solution for inputting information or for cutting through layers on the menus by requesting a function directly. Traditional voice control was centred on a set of fixed commands with catatonic responses which required some level of driver training before the system was effective. With the advent of the new low power, high performance micro processors, there is now the ability to use smarter voice command engines linked into the HMI logic. Even natural language and grammatical analysis are becoming more achievable.
The popularity of reconfigurable displays continues to grow in the automotive industry as they enable the information presented to be structured and managed so that the driver gets precisely the data that he or she requires in all driving conditions. Visteon has researched the use of reconfigurable clusters since 2005 and found that consumers appreciate the flexible nature of the reconfigurable cluster but consider a traditional style graphics approach to be the most suitable for the control interface of the vehicle. The focus on reconfigurability has therefore moved more towards enhancing legibility by reconfiguring the flow of information to support varying vehicle modes such as night mode, cruise control mode.
There is a clear trend toward high-resolution and bigger displays, too. On the positive side, we see true colour information representation, dynamics, and highly sophisticated graphics. Display size also matters with respect to a more appropriate size of the displayed information. On the negative side, manufacturers are challenged by display packaging, power consumption and heat development.
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By GlobalDataHead-up displays (HUDs) are gradually becoming popular. As the number of factors that are argued to contribute to driver distraction increase, the HUD offers a location for driver information that minimises the time their eyes are off the road. The HUD also offers a location to display safety systems where driver response time is critical. With increasing driver acceptance of the HUD, we see it moving from a curiosity to an integral part of the driving experience.
According to Harman, the next generation of sat-nav software will be far more user-friendly and safer and use a HUD. The conventional screen will be replaced by technology known as ‘augmented reality’, which projects a computerised image on to the base of the car windscreen in front of the driver, and which can react in real time to the road outside. Also, the traditional voice commands given by today’s sat-nav software will be replaced by a coloured arrow which points exactly where the driver needs to go. It seamlessly snakes around as the car gets closer to a junction or exit. The system will also feature collision warning technology, says Harman. As you approach a slower vehicle from behind, the display will highlight it digitally to alert you to the danger.
Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) engineers are in the process of developing novel ways in which to give drivers higher quality, life-like graphics and information that will offer an enhanced ‘virtual’ view of the road or race track. For example, the Jaguar Virtual Windscreen concept uses the entire windscreen as a display so the driver’s eyes need never leave the road. High quality hazard, speed and navigation icons could all be projected onto the screen together.
In setting out its vision of tomorrow’s cockpits, Panasonic Automotive recently recently revealed its so-called eCockpit concept, marking the company’s first full integration of infotainment, vision, driver assist and comfort features in a user-friendly interface designed to help reduce driver distraction. Panasonic claims that the eCockpit gives automakers design flexibility to customise the system for their brands. Panasonic Automotive has developed reconfigurable knobs, allowing designers to fit physical rotary knobs anywhere on the centre stack display.
Another glimpse of what tomorrow’s cockpit might feature comes from Visteon in the form of its so-called Horizon cockpit concept. The supplier has been demonstrating the concept to global vehicle manufacturers. It blends three emerging technologies to transform the way a driver controls features such as interior temperature, audio and navigation.
- Gesture control – An advanced camera system maps the user’s hand to replicate a virtual hand on the centre stack. Horizon drivers can then operate certain vehicle controls simply by moving their hand or just a finger, without making contact with the instrument cluster. For example, radio volume can be adjusted by making a turning motion with one’s hand.
- Virtual touch screen – By integrating a pressure-sensitive touch pad, drivers can operate centre stack controls without having to physically reach for them. The touch pad recognises the amount of pressure applied for improved responses. The touch pad can be implemented with any soft material, such as leather or cloth, allowing flexibility for its location.
- Dual-layered display – High-resolution graphics present information on two separate planes, bringing only those controls with which the driver is interacting to the forefront. The driver can virtually push through the graphics on the first pane to access the second.
