For decades, the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has given us a preview of the kinds of technology that we're about to adopt inside our homes. However, in the last few years, the latest TVs, audio systems and domestic products have been augmented at the show by the likes of smartphones and wearable tech.
And now car companies are also getting in on the act, showcasing the technology that’s becoming crucial to their new models. Recent research by BI Intelligence suggests that technology is now more important than performance to car buyers.
The number of major manufacturers at the show has been rising steadily in recent years, and this year included BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volkswagen, Ford, General Motors, Kia and Hyundai, while Volvo and Bentley were also represented.
Despite the diversity of companies, there were a few identifiable trends that will translate into features that we’ll see appearing in new cars as soon as the end of the decade.
The Internet of Things
The Internet of Things is one of the biggest, err, things in the world of technology at the moment. The phrase describes the network of appliances, devices and anything else that can be connected, to collect and exchange data with other devices.
As an increasing number of vehicles become connected, it means that our cars will soon join the list of IoT devices integral to our lives.
The Volkswagen Budd-e concept – the German carmaker’s all-electric, four-wheel-drive reboot of its famous camper van – was one of the big automotive stories at CES this year. It has numerous forward-thinking features, not least of which was the ability of the driver to access and control devices in a connected home, such as the front door and security system – even the fridge. So a householder/Budd-e owner could answer their connected, camera-fitted front door, and open it to allow access to a friend or relative while they’re away. And if you’re in your car on the way to the shops, you could view the contents of a connected fridge, then use that knowledge to draw up a shopping list.
Other possibilities of this connectivity include putting the whole house into an energy-saving sleep mode while still in the vehicle, and automatically turning on lights around the house as the vehicle approaches.
BMW also embraced the IoT with a display of a Smart Home and i3 networking with each other, so information about one is available in the other. In the house, the focus was a “mobility mirror”, which can display the charge status of the i3 alongside your appointments for the day, combined with real-time traffic information, to offer the householder/driver options about departure times and how to integrating errands into their daily schedule.
Ford is also exploring the IoT, linking smart devices such as Amazon Echo (a wireless speaker and voice-command device) and Wink (a smart home platform that incorporates a number of connected lighting, heating and security equipment) to its Sync-equipped vehicles.
Ford currently has 15 million vehicles on the road around the world using Sync (estimated to increase to 43 million by the end of the decade). It wants to use that technology to link vehicles with Alexa, Amazon’s cloud-based voice service. This would allow owners to access the vehicle from inside their home, enabling them to do things such as lock or unlock the vehicle, check the fuel level or locate the vehicle if it’s being driven by someone else (your children, perhaps). At the same time, Alexa can link the car to smart devices, such as lights, home security systems and automatic garage doors. A driver can access Alexa through the steering wheel-mounted voice-recognition button, and open a garage door as they turn into their street.
Gesture control
With the proliferation of smartphones, tablets and wearable tech, the use of gestures is becoming second nature to users of technology. Carmakers are also developing uses for gesture control in and outside of cars.
The Budd-e concept, for example, showed how the use of infrared sensors can identify people approaching the vehicle, and if they’re allowed access, enable them to use a hand gesture to open the sliding door. The hand-waving continues inside, with the Budd-e and the e-Golf Touch – which was also on the Volkswagen stand – both featuring the company’s new Gesture Control 2.0. Claimed to be more intuitive than previously, the maximum distance from which you can make a gesture has increased, with cameras registering if a passenger in the rear compartment wants to open the Budd-e’s sliding door, for instance.
Interactive displays and projections can also help the driver and passengers make changes while on the move.
VW’s sister brand, Audi, is also developing gesture-control technology, with a system that recognises the kinds of touch gestures drivers and passengers already use on tablets and other consumer electronics when not in a car. The system – called Audi MMI Touch Response – also provides feedback to the driver, when scrolling through lists or changing air-conditioning settings, for example.
BMW isn’t likely to be left behind in the gesticulation stakes, either, thanks to its new Air Touch system. The i Vision Concept that was the centrepiece of the company’s stand at CES uses sensors in the dashboard to allow the driver to operate the 21-inch panorama display as a touchscreen, but without having to actually touch it. Icons on the screen can also be highlighted and activated with hand movements.
Large displays
There’s something of a touchscreen race going on at the moment, which in some ways follows the trend for larger screens in tablets (the iPad Pro, for example).
In addition to BMW’s 21-inch screen in the i Vision Concept, the Rinspeed Etos concept car features two curved 21.5-inch HD widescreen monitors on the dashboard, which are also individually adjustable.
But proving that size isn’t everything, Audi took a different approach with its curved OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) screen in the driver’s direct field of vision, where the instrument panel is traditionally fitted. Possibly even better is the use of AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diodes) technology, which can adapt to whatever shape fits into the design of the dashboard and centre console. In a few years’ time, rectangular screens might be thought of in the same way that Walkmans are now.
Drones
The popularity of drones at the moment is such that having a drone-equipped car was inevitable. The Rinspeed Etos wasn’t such a surprise, then, with the heavily modified BMW i8 featuring a rear deck that a drone could take off from and land on.
Why do our cars need drones? Perhaps to pick up a bunch of flowers to take home to our other halves or to fly alongside the car and take pictures of the driver and passengers from outside. And the modern ubiquity of selfies means that this is a trend that might well catch on.
motoring@thenational.ae
