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ACROSS THE TRADES Spring 2019
CARS TO DRIVE HOMES
AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURERS ARE TURNING TO THE CONSUMER AV’S LARGEST TRADE SHOW TO DEMONSTRATE
THEIR LATEST AND GREATEST INFOTAINMENT TECHNOLOGIES.
TERRY MARTIN
INVESTIGATES.
T
he annual Consumer Electronics
Show (CES) in Las Vegas is fast
becoming a must-attend event
for motor vehicle manufacturers and
automotive suppliers that are using the
world’s biggest technology showcase to
present their latest and greatest – not
only cars, but in-car tech systems and,
let’s face it, some pretty wild ideas.
This not only demonstrates how
technology is rapidly changing the
experience in the car, but highlights
the increasingly strong connections
between home, office and personal
transport, as well as applications and
concepts that might start from the
vehicle before quickly expanding into
other areas.
The 2019 CES is a case in point,
from virtual reality (VR) and artificial
intelligence (AI) breakthroughs to new
noise-cancelling tech that dispenses
with headgear and applies to an entire
cabin.
So let’s take a deeper dive into some
of the highlights.
AUDI VR PLATFORM
As we’ve witnessed a stunning rise
in quality home cinematic systems,
the auto world has quickly turned
its attention to transforming – and
in Audi’s case, “redefining” – in-car
entertainment.
The days of seatback screens are well
and truly over before they really even
took off – among mainstream brands,
at least – with Audi taking to CES to
show how VR glasses can be used as
part of a fully immersive experience,
using technology that enables the
virtual content to respond to vehicle
movements in real time.
Partnering with Disney, Audi
demonstrated the system using a game,
Marvel’s Avengers: Rocket’s Rescue
Run,
which gives back seat passengers
a unique VR experience in that every
movement of the car is seamlessly
reflected in the experience. So if the
vehicle takes a sharp right-hand turn,
the spaceship in the experience does
too, curving around an oncoming
hazard. When the car accelerates
quickly, the ship in the experience does
the same.
That sounds to us like a sure bet
for travel sickness, but Audi insists
that the synchronisation between
the visual experience and the user’s
actual perception means the chances of
throwing up are “significantly reduced”.
While the technology has debuted
on a video game, and will easily
translate to movies, educational
formats and real-life immersive
experiences, the developers say
there are “almost no limits to what is
possible”. This is particularly relevant
as intelligent transport systems, such
as V2X (or, ‘vehicle to everything’)
communications, expand and enable
TECHNOLOGY