Car displays at CES range from practical to whimsical
Are you ready for an ‘emotion engine’?
Carmakers have been coming to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, for a few years now, showcasing new technologies and fancy concepts intended to pique our curiosity about the future. But it’s not all about entire cars; novel new parts, systems and even just software aimed at making your drive easier are all over this five-location exhibition in Sin City. Here are a couple of the more practical offerings and one that seems a bit far in the future.
GENTEX MULTICAMERA SYSTEM
What is it? Gentex is a singularly focused company. Its bailiwick is automatically dimming rear-view mirrors. Therefore, to keep up with the digital Joneses, it’s only natural that the company moved into the almost ubiquitous rearview camera. The company’s multi- camera rear- vision system takes camera- based mirror technology to a whole new level.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Essentially, both side mirrors and the roof have a camera facing forward. Between the three of them, they offer a real time, rather than interpolated, view of what’s behind and beside your car. The trick to the new camera monitoring system ( CMS), says Gentex, is a seamless stitching together of the various inputs, offering the driver several composite views. Gentex says it’s the “industry’s first practical CMS solution,” with senior vice-president Steve Downing claiming “the system realizes the rearward field- of- view benefits afforded by cameras, while the downsized exterior mirrors provide generous weight and fuel-efficiency improvements.”
WHEN IS IT COMING?
With the speed of implementation of cameras into the exterior of automobiles, this CMS revolution can’t be far off. Should you buy it? Sign me up. The closest thing to Gentex’s CMS system currently is the digital rear-view mirror in the Cadillac CT6. Though it is only fed by a single trunk- mounted rear- facing camera, it displays the cars behind without interruption from the rear C- pillar and other visibility-impeding bodywork, rendering the CT6’s digital mirror quite a step forward from the analogue versions. The Gentex system should take that enhancement to the next level and, like the Caddy system, Gentex retains physical mirrors — albeit smaller — “should weather or system failure impede the digital view.”
HONDA NEUV “EMOTION ENGINE”
What is it? I’m not quite sure. I mean, I’ve seen it and I’ve touched it, but I’m still not sure what it is. For its part, Honda says its new NeuV has an “emotion engine.”
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Part of the Co- operative Mobility Ecosystem that Honda is unveiling at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, NeuV promises that the new technology behind its emotion engine can do everything “from reducing traffic congestion to creating new modes of in-car connectivity.” Honda says that by using artificial intelligence, its emotion engine can react to its driver’s conversations, creating a deeper connection between driver and car.
WHEN IS IT COMING?
Personal assistants — or, more accurately, roboticized personal assistants — are still in the fledgling stage, fourwheeled or not, so the CES introduction of the NeuV is more a direction of development than the promise of a specific technology. That said, if every iPhone can have a Siri, why can’t a car have, well, an emotion engine?
SHOULD YOU BUY IT?
My Lord, I have no clue. In fact, I don’t think Honda does, either. What the NeuV does illustrate, more than anything else, is that traditional automakers are not willing to cede the cutting edge of the man- machine interface to the giants of Silicon Valley. Personally, I find the world already too rife with human emotions, so I’ll keep my car resolutely Spocklike, thank you very much.
VOLKSWAGEN USER- ID APP
What is it? The digital world is nothing if not ephemeral, so when Volkswagen’s big announcement at this year’s show is an app that didn’t actually do anything other than portray the future Volkswagen manmachine interaction, nobody batted an eye. Of course, having to work an app that will show you how a future app will work may seem like a download too far, but, hey, the geeks just ate it up.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Volkswagen User- ID has some promising features, especially if the whole car-sharing thing takes off. Essentially what User-ID does is set up a profile — your favourite music, the way you like the touch screen to display its information, etc. — and personal settings, such as seat positioning, third-party apps, and download them into any Volkswagen ( owned, rented or shared) just by syncing the car and your phone. As Volkswagen says, every owner, at least those with a smartphone, can create a uniquely different user experience that they can take with them to any car … as long as it’s a Volkswagen.
WHEN IS IT COMING?
There’s no official timeline for the introduction of UserID, but this is most definitely the future of car customization, so expect it sooner rather than later in an upcoming Golf, Jetta or Passat.
SHOULD YOU BUY IT?
Unreservedly yes. This is the ultimate personalization of the driving experience. Now limited to various mobility and telematics functions, it won’t be long — many cars already have electrically operated steering and variable suspension — before you can customize the feel of your cars, not to mention tailor the interior lighting and music, from a simple app.
Everything else is seemingly controlled by your smartphone. Why should you car be left out?