Gadgetory

gesturing it's your car even when it's not broken down I'm Brian Cooley from CNET in search of the next big thing one of the most interesting trends I've seen lately at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and the North American International Auto Show in Detroit is a wholesale move to at least trying gesture control in cars take BMW for example they're looking at a technology would mount up in the headliner or by the sunroof and look down at your hand being able to figure out where it is and what course gesture it's taking like a rotating motion for example that could simulate or replace turning a volume knob or a fan control Volkswagens technology flips that idea on its head puts the sensor down in the console behind the shifter looking up and it can tell which way your hands moving and whether it's flat or bladed as well as picking up push gestures that would indicate a selection more futuristically mercedes fo one five concept car sees a world where the immersive infotainment system for the passengers would be gesture controlled and Audi even a couple of years ago was showing us the technology where they would turn the entire windshield into a three zone head-up display and use gesture control to kick and slide panels back and forth between driver and passenger now notice all these gesture control technologies are going after a fairly coarse set of movements and controls I don't see anyone out there yet thinking you're going to write out a complicated navigation address in midair with gesture that seems to still be best left to hopefully improve voice command touch pads or of the good old fashioned touchscreen but what I want to see is gesture control prove that it is a better way of controlling things not just different so here's the three part litmus test gesture control has to be positive in other words it has to work the first time not require two or three attempts like voice command often does it has to be affirmative that means I don't need to glance away all the time to see if it got what it thinks I gestured for and third it has to be context sensitive smart enough to ignore my emotions when I'm just talking to a friend or reaching for coffee and then monitor my emotions that interpret them when it does matter and I am trying to communicate something now what's next at cnet.com / I'm Brian Cooley you