Gadgetory

VW's had some pretty ghastly cabin tech over the years but they're trying to fix that now here's a giant mock-up of what's in that the VW Golf R Touch notice at the top is about a twelve point eight inch master screen with most of your information display below it would be about an 8 inch touch panel we're mostly virtual controls we'll go this is not unlike what Honda and Acura are doing with two screens one larger one smaller but a very different flavor and this lower panel by the way is indicative of how VW is trying to move to get rid of all switches and rotary knobs in the car those physical tactile controls from the old days if you will it's debatable whether an all touch interface is better worse just a lateral perhaps from the traditional knobs and switches also here and related to this we're looking for who's going to install carplay Android auto and mirror link mirror links more of a dark horse but Volkswagen here talking about moving forward with mirror link which not a lot of other car makers are doing that addition to all those touchscreen innovations that VW is showing is also a new idea of controlling interface not by touch but by gesture this has been tried in the auto industry a couple times we've seen it here at CES before it keeps getting better and we're getting to the point where it seems to be nuanced enough look how this works there's a sensor here right behind the gearshift that will pick up my hand the home position to go into gesture mode is to hold your hand there open and it'll recognize open fingers and then you've just got five simple gestures not a lot of complicated things you're not going to do typing of text in the air or anything you have a left a right you can push down you can select with your finger like you might imagine clicking on a mouse now this is not replacing all the gestures in a car it's primarily for the more coarse ones and the ones that are very commonly used volume change climate change zoom in and out of a map or go back and forth in a menu to select something on his own now this is not set for production any time soon but we're starting to see how Volkswagen is starting to really think differently about how they do their interface you may recall that when GM first brought up built-in 4G through OnStar I was kind of disappointed it was mostly a hot spot in your car service but I don't find that interesting now it's getting more interesting unique custom built-in services in the car powered by 4G in this case here's one called OnStar at your service based on where you are or where you're programmed to go in the nav rig they're going to come up with offers that supposedly are going to be smart based on where you're going and also based on your interests they're playing my tune they're showing a demo here of Dunkin Donuts coupons popping up I'm in they would also work with RetailMeNot the big online coupon discount site to bring those offers in based on where you are and where you're going you can also book a hotel at the last minute while you're driving along through Priceline so in that case you do get an operator involved now the Devils in the details of course how well this is elegantly executed how well it's customized to what I'm really doing and not just nagging me we'll see when this hits the market how well they've worked those nuances let me also show you how they want to use 4G to make you a better driver this one's called smart driver assessment what this does is utilize the 4G connection in the car to harvest all kinds of data points about how you drive and do so for a long time 90 days is the snapshot they take that's not even a snapshot that's a big look that is cloud service processed by OnStar and after 90 full days of you allowing the service to see how you drive then they send you a report they email it to you as well as giving you tips along the way through the vehicles interface how you could drive better it could be braking steering accelerator behavior the way you travel at a certain speed in certain zone that's one part then if you agree to and only your permission they can upload that to at this point one insurance company to qualify you for insurance discount now this is getting into the area of pay as you drive or usage based insurance you don't need a 4G connection for that a lot of the insurance companies will give you a little wireless dongle that goes into your obd2 port but this is making it more integrated into the vehicle and using the 4g to a cloud service to really crunch a lot of data about how you drive not just some nuggets consumers were wary of pay as you drive a few years ago but the trends have been getting pretty healthy a lot of folks say you know what fine get a meaningful discount I'm willing to let it happen now let's talk about something interesting on carplay and android auto now here at Hyundai they're doing something a little different as they roll out toward getting it in showrooms with most car makers you buy a car that already has nabbed an elaborate media and all of that and then you add car player Android Auto to it and you've got some duplication you feel like maybe you're paying for more than you need Hyundai's got an interesting strategy they've announced here starting in their 16 model year cars they're going to have this fairly basic display audio system here they're trying to thin it down and bring the cost down if you don't have a phone plugged in it's pretty basic AM FM Bluetooth streaming and calling and that's really the all the bells and whistles but then when you plug in your smartphone Android or iOS it pulls up car player Android auto and brings in all that incredible richness you didn't buy it two or three times those functions are only coming from your phone so you're really leveraging the services and connections of your phone in a less duplicate of way and not redundant with what the car maker has in there as well it's kind of very efficient and elegant this allows them to move it to a lower price point they think is going to apply this 60 plus percent of their sales volume in the 16 model year we got to wait a little while for this one in the meantime by mid 2015 Hyundai will roll out carplay and android auto but stacked on top of head units that already have their nav and apps now here at CES Tim Stevens and I just hosted a really good next big thing panel on virtual and augmented reality and one of the areas where I'm most excited about AR augmented reality is coming up in cars especially in these head-up displays that are getting very popular this one doesn't just show you information statically on the windshield or through the windshield it puts it in context on the road let me tell you what I'm seeing here there's a warning about a car that just crossed my path and the warning follow of the car as I go along now I'm getting indication about lane drift and it's putting a colored line right on the lane where I'm drifting there's a traffic signal right in front of me perhaps I didn't look up and see the traffic signal it's put it right in front of me so I don't miss the red lights and here comes a car cutting me off rat-bastard and the vehicle showed me the corner of the car to really emphasize that's where the impact point might be coming here is a navigation prompt showing me what exit to take and it's kind of like that fidelity advertisement it's putting in this case a blue line on the road then none of this is coming to production tomorrow this is pretty elaborate stuff in terms of projection technology and of course making sure the data is right so it's not giving you any false cues that matters when you're on the road but I'm glad to see a are coming to cars I can barely think of a place where it matters more BMW's showed new ways to use laser headlights aside from reaching 1800 feet they can elaborately beam shape so you can stay on high beam while making cutouts in the projection to avoid oncoming drivers these lights can work with the nav system to spill light out where the car is going next even before the wheel turns they can work with the driver assist cameras to call out pedestrians and animals on the side of the road by lighting them and BMW show tail lights that use OLED technology for extreme flexibility of the light itself but also flexibility in the pattern by which it illuminates even if this tech were ready today though u.s. regulations lagged far behind it in terms of approval