11 automotive highlights from CES 2019
No, we are not in Las Vegas. But yes, we are excited about consumer electronics. We observed the web, watched press releases and paid attention to social media channels. Here are our CES 2019 remote highlights. Last year we had the focus on HMI systems. In 2019 we open up but stay in the automotive field.
#01 Audi Immersive In-Car Entertainment
Low Rider revival with Audi's Immersive In-Car Entertainment. “Take the 48-Volt electrical system and adaptive shock absorbers and surprise us.”
May this have been the briefing for the rollercoaster in the Audi A8? Your question about the use-case? Imagine you are in a traffic jam and want to enjoy a movie in the passenger seat, but with more than two senses.
I think Mercedes found better usage of the “E-Active Body Control”. But, I can't wait to see black limousines wiggling in front of my windshield.
#02 Byton infotainment update and Faurecia
Our second highlight is Byton and the infotainment update of the M-Byte. The electric vehicle has one massive “coast-to-coast” screen that takes up the entire dashboard and two touchpads in front. One for the driver and another that’s accessible to the driver and front seat passenger. The supplier “Faurecia” behind the screens reveals their own interpretation of the “cockpit of the future” as well. Here you can read the details about it.
#03 Holoride
Audi is also showing up with Holoride, VR entertainment in the backseat of the new Audi e-tron. Renault introduced a similar experience in 2017. The German OEM is playing in the present, while the autonomous Renault Symbioz was shown with a virtual ride experience to fill the gained time for a former driver behind the wheel.
#04 Social Mobility App
Here Mobility rolls out “SoMo” Social Mobility ride-sharing, a carpooling app that combines maps and navigation with social ride-hailing to helps users find and share rides with friends, family and co-workers. We like the user interface approach. It reminds a lot of “Waze”. We will check it out.
#05 Invisible to visible by Nissan
Nissan unveiled the “Invisible-to-Visible technology” concept at CES 2019. A future vision for a vehicle that helps drivers “see the invisible” by merging both real and virtual worlds. This could increase safety during rainy nights and other stressful situations. Let's see where this concept goes.
#06 Hey Chris, Alexa and Google
Awesome to see Berlin Startups in Vegas. Chris is a digital assistant for drivers and should reduce distraction. The German Autolabs team brought their Kickstarter product to Vegas. Luckily, we are already testing the device in the streets of Berlin.
Next, to the Startups, we have the giants. “Echo Auto” was shown at the Amazon's booth. The “Roav Bolt” by Anker (picture on the right) is featuring the Google Assistant. You plug this device into a 12-volt power port and “once connected to the in-vehicle system through Bluetooth or a 3.5mm cable, the product will let drivers play audio, enable navigation, read a text, make calls and more.”
#07 Harmann
Samsung and Harman present the Digital Cockpit platform that brings innovative IoT solutions to your vehicle. You can check your fridge content, active the light setting at home or get notification if the driver is distracted from the IVI. In the rear seat, you have entertainment and synchronized accounts for seamless off- and onboard experience.
#08 Bose RNC
We are big fans of noise canceling headphones. Imagine this quiet experience, we know from open offices or long-distance flights, in a daily ride in our car. Bose introduced this comfortable technology to cars or trucks. They call it QuietComfort Road Noise Control (RNC). Bose, take our money.
#09 Magnetti Marelli
Here is an example for celebrating tech. Magneti Marelli Tech is part of the digital transition; from a traditional hardware supplier (back in the days) to a tech company. At the CES we saw smaller lidar and radar sensors integrated into existing components like headlights. And as you can see, cars become way more communicative via new OLED or LED panels.
#10 BMW iNext
Here we have one more time a VR set up. BMW's presentation is a mixed-reality setup. The physical concept car is extended with a VR headset to imaging the future in an autonomous vehicle. We from Goodpatch are curious about approaches like this because our in-house prototyping tool “Athena” is developed to test and evaluate similar scenarios.
#11 Autonomous vehicle sensor visualization
One last thing we discovered via Youtube. The Russian company “Yandex” converted a regular Toyota into an autonomous vehicle. It is still impressive to see this technology coming to life. Sure, it's a pre-captured map in Las Vegas. But this car has really no driver in the seat. We also paid attention to the visualisation what the car is detecting. We want to compare it with Waymo more in depth in a different post.
And yes, we saw the new CLA from Mercedes. But we are much more interested in seeing the Rivian SUV in action. Fully charged is impressed, so are we.
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