If one thing the Electric Vehicle (EV) revolution has done, it has opened up avenues never imagined before. As we ride the EV trend, from large built-in touch screens to smart temperature control and virtual assistants, vehicle interfaces are being re-imagined like never before.
For instance, instead of using the car as the operating system, Honda is integrating the car with a suite of apps controlled by the passenger’s phone. Called “Honda Dream Drive: Passenger,” this app offers games, movies, music, original comics, travel applications and remote control of the vehicle’s radio — all from the passenger’s mobile device.
As per a report in the i3 magazine, Mercedes-Benz is examining methods to eliminate touch control in its cars. The interior assistant detects in-air hand motions as a hand approaches the touch screen in the dashboard or the touchpad on the centre console and controls the vehicle functions shown on the in-dash display screen of the automobile in accordance with the active menu.
The interior assistant on Mercedes-Benz can also distinguish between the hands of the driver and the front passenger to determine who needs specific features, like the massaging feature on the seat.
Similarly, Audi is experimenting with leveraging the car itself to make movies or TV shows more immersive as part of its efforts to enhance in-car entertainment. When the car is not moving, the Audi Immersive In-Car Entertainment concept can improve the entertainment experience with seat vibrations, sound and interior light animations, as well as suspension movements like raising, lowering, pitching, wavering and shaking that correspond to movie sequences.
Hyundai-owned Kia isn’t far behind either. The Korean automaker is trying to provide the optimal cabin environment by using artificial intelligence to sense a driver’s emotional state through facial expressions, heart rate and electrodermal activity. They’re calling the system R.E.A.D, or Real-time Emotion Adaptive Driving.
So, if you are planning on buying an EV, then get this, the future is not far away, in fact it is already here. And it won’t be long before the automakers bring these technologies into your cars for real. Because EV is not the future, it is the present.