Car makers working on "magic" control functions

By Thomas Geiger Sep 21, 2011, 3:07 GMT

Stuttgart - Cumbersome levers, knobs and buttons could soon be a thing of the past in the car with manufacturers working on innovative new control systems that offer much more than a smartphone or a tablet computer.

'We are experimenting with many new operating systems that offer additional and elegant functions,' says Bharat Balasubramanian, who heads the product innovation division at Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart.

'Many a car maker would rather today than tomorrow switch to functions like those in an iPad, but you cannot just transfer such technology into the car,' says Balasubramanian.

The biggest obstacle, according to Balasubramanian, is that the driver has to concentrate on traffic ahead and cannot turn his attention to a touchscreen for a second or two.

But the war on an innumerable quantity of knobs and control functions in the dashboard has begun with several car makers such as Audi, BMW or Mercedes already offering functions in standard models that can be operated with language commands including not only words but entire sentences.

Touch-sensitive monitors are meanwhile standard on GPS and Infotainment systems. Audi even offers a unit that can read handwriting. Positioned in the central dashboard of the Audi A8 is a touch-sensitive screen where a GPS destination can be written letter by letter with a finger.

'This reduces distraction to a minimum as it works almost for the blind,' says Audi developer Werner Hamberger.

But switches and buttons are not only becoming obsolete for classic communication functions but also for conventional functions. The glove compartment of the Jaguar XF for instance is fitted with a sensor where you need only stroke your hand over it for the lid to open.

More and more such sensors will replace traditional switches, knobs and handles. Car parts supplier Continental has developed a switch that can be printed onto surfaces and includes an infra-red sensor. This saves space in the cockpit and can be used on all glass and metal surfaces, according to press spokesman Enno Pflug.

Continental is even working on a system where it merely takes a hand movement to transfer a map from the monitor to the display behind the steering wheel. 'Should you wish to see something else a second movement is enough to remove the map,' Pflug explains.

Mercedes is working on a similar system with Balasubramanian seeing a future world where it would take just a gesture to switch on the light or the stroking of the window to open it. 'It sounds easy but is more complicated to implement it,' he says. 'The system needs to recognise a specific gesture to carry out a task,' he adds, pointing out that it could take some years before the technology is advanced enough for production cars.

Researchers at the Atonomos laboratory of the Free University of Berlin have the vision of a car finding its own way through traffic and are working on new ways man and machine can interact. 'After all, the car needs to get a command of where it has to go,' says researcher Henrik Matzke.