CES is an awesome place to witness the advancement in tech. It has advanced so much that we are seeing tons of changes in our upcoming products. Speaking of which, touchscreen, handwriting recognition and gesture controls are taking over the conventional buttons we all are familiar of. As much as we love the navigation panel on our car’s dashboard, it still isn’t safe. Especially when you interact with it while you’re on the move.

Bosch, a company that we are no stranger to showcased something at CES 2018. They showcased the smart cockpit technology which let’s the passenger interact even while their eyes are on the road. The President of Bosch Car Multimedia said, ” We are uncluttering the cockpit. The more complex the technology in modern vehicles, the simpler and more intuitive control systems need to be”.

Artificial Intelligence also helps transform the Human Machine Interface (HMI) into a command that thinks ahead. Bern also said, “Initial functionalities with artificial intelligence feed valuable information into the HMI about the driver, the vehicle, and the surroundings. That enables proactive adjustment of displays and controls to any given driving situation”. Bosch also connected to something that took my attention, it’s the development of automated driving. Let’s take a closer look.

Operating HMI, without getting distracted

According to Allianz Center for Technology, 63% of drivers in Germany interact with their Nav Systems while on the move whereas 61% switch radio stations and 43% go through the complicated menus that these on-board Nav board has. The whole point of having these Navigation system is to make it easier to handle. But it’s actually doing more harm than good. In fact, they think it’s one of the cause of accident.

Bosch’s goal is to make these HMI, a reliable companion. At the core of HMI is a voice-controlled assistant which basically let’s you interact with your Nav System by talking. Not just that, it actually responds to natural speech and even understand dialects. With the help of Natural Language Understanding (short for NLU), it makes things a lot different. Casey, the assistant is basically your passenger. That makes the whole thing 10 times better than usual voice controlled assistant.

Casey (nice name by the way) can also think ahead. With the help of AI, she will be able to think and predict the possible destination, know driver’s preferences and many more. Even things like listening to your favorite radios and sorts. Pretty cool.

Digital Display is actually making Driving Safer

One of the prime senses we use when it comes to driving is our eye. To take a complete advantage of our eye sight, Digital Displays are taking over. We not only see the usual meters on our console but also see content that’s catered to us.

For instance, if there’s a slippery road ahead, drivers will get a warning signal directly at their field of vision. This is done to prioritize the drivers and passengers safety. Interacting the infotainment, air conditioning and radios have a huge draw back according to Bosch. Which is Drivers have to look at it to interact.

At a speed of 50 kph, the car will travel 30 meters while the driver’s eyes are taken off the road for two seconds; at 120 kph on the freeway, the distance increases to more than 60 meters – driving blind.

Bern said, “Car displays with haptic feedback are going to catch on. They allow easier operation of all manner of functionalities – for example radio and phone functions – faster, simpler, and, most importantly, safer.” So, the keys on the touchscreen will feel like real button. Just like the current generation of iPhone or Samsung’s invisible button under their flagship devices. When there’s the haptic display, users feel as if they are adjusting the volume knob with a real slide control. This will let the driver to have their eyes on road for longer period.

Central Cockpit computer controlling the HMI

As promising as all these sounds, it comes with a huge consequence. The increased demand in processing power, wiring and architecture of on-board network. Currently, it takes 5-15 electronic control units to run the displays and electronic devices.

Now what Bosch is planning to do here is to run the entire HMI through the cockpit computer, which will integrate more function in a single central processor. What this does is that it gives convergence and synchronization of the infotainment system, the instrument cluster and other displays. This allows the the information to be orchestrated, managed and displayed anywhere in the vehicle and any time.

Bern added, “It gives car drivers and passengers virtually unlimited possibilities for adjusting the air conditioning, controlling the navigation system, or changing radio stations, from anywhere in the vehicle,”. When the number of control unit is reduced, it saves up valuable installation space, brings down the weight and also reduces the time needed for the development of new vehicles.

To make it work really well, OTA (over the air) updates will keep the system in check, just like how smartphone receives updates.

It sure is an amazing idea and I can’t wait to see this in person. Let’s discuss about it in the comments down below because we’d love to hear your opinion. 🙂