By Jerry Maldonado - VP of Automation, Customer Lifecycle Solutions
From the Ramblings of an Automation Mad Man (A Blog Series), the Connected Car Catch-up is a miniseries that focuses on the advancement of cars and technology.
Have you heard the entire buzz lately about connected cars?
It’s not all about just the car being connected to the internet. It is also about the new technology being added to the car.
Technology that currently may have passive usages, but in the future can be leveraged to become the data farm of the future.
Let’s take a look for a moment at the evolution of in-car data analytics. For the majority of us, this is the car’s dashboard. This is where all the information about the car’s vitals, health, and overall operating conditions is displayed. This is the place where a blinking red light could mean everything from impending doom of the motor or that you’re about to run out of gas.The way information is sent to the driver and how it appears on the dashboard has changed a lot in the last 40 years. From simple gauges to idiot lights - you know, the light that would turn on and yell, “check engine you idiot, you forgot to put oil in me” to advances in TFT panels. TFT panels are a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (LCD), which is a variant of a liquid-crystal display . These improvements have been seen in addressability, contrast, and to heads up display (HUD). The whole purpose of the dashboard is to give you a quick visual representation of the car while in operation and at rest.
Let’s take a look at TFT displays in particular. Today’s display shows more than the gauges of the past. In all but the most demanding sports car, dashboards reveals the basic pulse of the car - Speed ( in mph or km/h depending on location) , RPM of the engine , fuel gauge, temp gauge, charging gauge, and the oil pressure gauge. In most cars, the last two were replaced with lights. But for the most accurate and safest way of car operation we will need more data. For example, outside temperature or direction might be useful to predict potential rough driving conditions. Maybe things like tire pressure or distance until empty might help on those long trips. With the advent of TFT technology, a display is now available to be customized and to accommodate the myriad of data that can aide in the everyday operation of the vehicle and driver.
TFT panels allows a personalized experience with a press of a button. While this is still in the infancy stages, today’s displays can be setup to show customized items on either panels. For example, the left panel can show entertainment information such as station, song, track, as well as general direction of GPS next turn info. On the left hand side maybe information like drift sensors telling you that you are between the lines, fuel gauge, tire pressure, fuel consumption and DTE (distance to empty) information can appear. In the middle, standard information like speed, rpm, oil pressure, engine temp, charging system, etc can be housed. All information can now be easily visible to the driver and updated in real time without the delay.
But you want the displays to be different.
Today’s systems allow for some customization, usually in the form of themes. Themes move the same data around and display it in different ways. For example, charging and or average fuel economy might be displayed as bar graphs, rpm in numbers only. Things like that. But what if in the future you could simply plug in your smart phone and it gives you the choices to customize your dashboard. Rumor has it that this is in the works. And if it’s not, it should be. Imagine being like Tony Stark telling Jarvis to take his preferences for his cars and adding it to his display system in iron man. . . .
Well why not your car then?
Speaking of iron man, do we think he is looking at a TFT panel? Nope, it’s actually a HUD that he’s looking at. Heads up display (HUD) was introduced in cars almost 20 years ago and frequently used by fighter pilots. Back then the display quality, light issues, cost and folks complaining that the display was in their way limited the acceptance of this technology. But HUD is making a comeback. From the 2013 Ford Fusion and it collision avoidance system that displays a red line on the windshield if a car is sense moving in its corners , to GM’s system for display speed on the dashboard and who knows what else is next . I for one want GPS information along with the basics on the HUD display. Leave the Dashboard for all other monitoring duties.And wouldn’t it be nice if for the first time I can go from car to car and have it know exactly where all my data is (now if they could figure out a way for the buttons to be in the same place then life would be great for us road warriors who have the pleasure of driving one different car after another). With my system my preferences are on my phone , get in the car connect , and all my preferences , hands free and music are at my fingertips .. Happy motoring indeed.But what if we can take the Iron man approach one step further, to virtual reality. Yep or glasses are already making a splash in the auto industry from a virtual test drive perspective. Audi and others have worked on allowing the potential customer to get immersed in a car and configure the car the way they like and take it out on a test drive. While this in itself is a real nice way to see and experience the car of your dreams but Mini and others are going even further.
Mini’s virtual reality goggles let you see through your car and receive iron man type notifications and information. Without turning your head you can see left and right side mirror data. With a quick glance in your peripheral vison you can see if you parked to close to a car or if there might be something in your blind spot.
The concept of the VR goggle opens up the possibilities of increased notification and driver information be relayed to the driver all while the driver’s eye never leave the road in front of them. Imagine leveraging new improved lidar and imaging systems, the car can provide quick information of items moving to or away from the car. Think of the aforementioned Ford Fusion avoidance detection system, now amped up and displayed in the goggle. Think about the potential for all vehicle safety, the same system could be deployed in motorcycle systems, scooters, trains, etc. Think about it a single goggle set for any vehicle or even everyday use. Information at your ready anytime and anywhere
But, in my opinion this is only a scratch of the surface, think of satellite feed, aiding in gps representation of the area, couple that with something like google street view and drivers can see around corners for potential blind spots. Not necessarily while they are driving. Ever come up to a corner where there is a bush or sign on the corner, now a simulation can occur that allows the cars sensor s to help you look around the corner before you get there, easing you out into the intersection without the near collisions you would encounter if you had to stick your nose out far enough for you to turn your head and see.
See while the connected car may not need to be connected to get better and safer, the new applications available when it is become almost limitless. And I have not even begun to talk about the potential for capturing this data in real time. That I will save for another time.
Follow the Ramblings from an Automation Mad Man every other Wednesday. Did you miss last week’s post? Read it here: Connected Car Catch-up (A Mini Series): Mobile data center