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Vehicle manufacturers have been active at CES 2015, with the focus on the connected car greater than ever, and the push to development of the fully autonomous vehicle also a clear trend.Computing is moving to the car at a rapid pace, with the technology on display at CES indicative of the connected future.
Nvidia has launched its Tegra X1 “mobile super chip”, containing over one teraflops of processing power, and which will feature in its newly announced Drive car computers, Drive PX and Drive CX, and, as noted by Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia CEO and co-founder, mobile supercomputing is set to be “central to tomorrow’s car”.
“With vast arrays of cameras and displays, cars of the future will see and increasingly understand their surroundings,” Huang observed.
Among the manufacturers attending CES, Audi has been demonstrating its entertainment, connect, control and display concepts.
“Digitalisation and networking in all areas are the mega-trends of the present,” Prof. Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, Audi board member for technical development, noted of the focus for manufacturers.
“The car is becoming a mobile device on four wheels. Connectivity is the key to the future and a crucial area of our development work.”
Among the Audi tech on display has been the Audi tablet, expressly designed for use in-car, debuting in the new Audi Q7.
The tablet, designed to provide mobile rear-seat entertainment, features a 10.1″ display, and connects itself to the on-board infotainment and navigation system via WLAN.
Ford has also been active at CES, showcasing its recently released Sync 3 in-dash communications and entertainment system, launched late last year.
Featuring
a new touchscreen, Sync 3 has been designed to deliver an experience
similar to a smartphone or tablet, while fine-tuned voice-activation
technology means the number of steps needed to carry out a voice command
has been reduced.
“Sync 3 is another step forward in delivering
connectivity features customers most want, and they tell us this kind of
technology is an important part of their decision to buy our vehicles,”
Raj Nair, Ford chief technical officer and group vice president, Global
Product Development, noted of customers’ desire for connectivity.
Both Audi and Ford are also working towards the development of autonomous vehicles.
Audi has used CES to demonstrate its Audi A7 piloted driving concept, utilising various production-ready sensors as well as sensors integrated into production vehicles today to detect the vehicle’s surroundings.
Ford, meanwhile, states its fully autonomous Ford Fusion Hybrid research vehicle is undergoing road testing, employing the same semi-autonomous technology used in Ford vehicles today, while adding four LiDAR sensors to generate a real-time 3D map of the surrounding environment.
The vehicle senses objects around it using the LiDAR sensors, using advanced algorithms to help it learn to predict where vehicles and pedestrians might move.
Mercedes, also, has been demonstrating its research into autonomous vehicles, in the form of the F 015 Luxury in Motion.
Mercedes states a key aspect of the research vehicle is the continuous exchange of information between vehicle, passengers and the outside world, facilitated by six display screens integrated into the instrument panel and the rear and side panels, turning the F 015’s interior into a “digital arena”.
Passengers can interact intuitively with the connected vehicle through gestures, eye-tracking, or by touching the high-resolution screens, while, by employing laser projection and LED displays, the F 015 establishes contact with the outside world.
