Visteon Corporation and 3M, the the two Fortune 500 companies showcased a jointly developed project called the X-Wave Concept featuring more than 50 innovative technologies designed to enhance the driving experience of upcoming and future vehicles. They used the BMW X5 as the host vehicle to showcase this new concept.The vehicle features Visteon’s Integrated Center Panel, which shows how climate, audio and multimedia controls can be stylishly packaged for easy user interaction. This ultra-thin, twisted helix-shaped touch panel uses field-effect switches to enable a clean, “dead-front” look in situations when the center panel buttons do not need to be visible. When a user’s hand nears the panel, the vehiclesenses it and the buttons automatically illuminate to show an extremely user-friendly human-machine interface (HMI). When a user pushes one of the buttons to select a function, the switch is actuated and gives haptic feedback – a tactile vibration like a pulse – to lend a more natural button feel and let the user know his or her command is being processed
Other in-car innovations from Visteon include dual-access console lid, environmental friendly air-conditioning system and dual-access console lid.
Among the highlights presented by 3M are innovations to enhance the visualisation of information using a 3D driver information cluster, 3D virtual imaging and transmissive film.
This tech is still a few years away from production, but it signals a fundamental shift in the basic architecture of car interiors. Switchgear could be collated and then hidden on surfaces where it wouldn’t normally be possible to group controls – killing clutter in the process.
Source: just-auto
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