CES 2011: The Future of the Digital Car
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Mike Smith
Once dominated by computer and TV makers, CES is increasingly a mash-up of technologies from every corner of industry, especially the automotive sector. It might have been hard to image ten years ago, but some of the biggest news coming out of CES in 2011 was delivered by companies named Audi and Ford.
Photo courtesy of Tesla
At this year’s CES, two of the better keynote addresses were delivered not by cell phone manufactures or traditional consumer technology powers, but rather by automotive firms. Computers have been embedded in cars since the 80′s, controlling many systems behind the scenes. However, we’ve now entered a new era. High-tech features are starting to sell cars all by themselves. And these features aren’t just sound and video entertainment systems for back seat passengers, these systems are increasingly responsible for core vehicle controls like braking, accelerating, and steering.
At the show, Rupert Stadler, the Chairman of the Board of Management at Audi, talked about the company’s partnership with Stanford University on a research vehicle that raced itself up Pikes Peak this year. Some of the same technology is already included in a few of their current cars to scan for traffic and obstacles ahead, and as a last resort, brake the car without the input of the driver to avoid a collision.
Other manufactures like Lexus have sophisticated radar enabled cruise controls that enable a car to automatically speed up or brake to maintain traffic spacing. And many manufactures have introduced automatic parallel parking in their vehicles. This trajectory of development paints an exciting but quaint Jetsons-esque future of the car in which lounge-like vehicles whisk commuters down the road automatically.
These high concept features intrigue customers, but miss the real opportunity. The real potential for the digital car is to augment the natural abilities of drivers, not replace them. By pairing inexpensive sensors and processing systems that enable cars to sense their environment with technologies to convey this information to the driver we can make everyone safer. And that should be the immediate goal.
Mr. Stadler explains that Audi attempts to do just this by selectively delivering data to the driver in a non-distracting manner. The goal is to help the driver make better decisions without forcing them to ignore the very act of driving. Audi uses in-seat vibrations to make drivers aware of dangerous situations ahead, and uses heads-up displays to show vital information like speed. More so than other manufactures, Audi seems to understand that the future of the digital car is augmented drivers, not autonomous vehicles.
But keep in mind, we’re just getting started. The debate between augmented and autonomous driving is still a hot one, and manufactures will soon need to pick sides.
For more from the CES 2011 series, click here.
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