Connectivity, electrification, self-driving vehicles, and innovative ride-sharing applications are transforming our modern experience of driving. These market transformations also impact the driver at an individual level, and are pushing the development of a more safe, seamless, and comfortable interior. To meet these new expectations, Hyundai Motor Group previously an all-new autonomous driving concept cockpit at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2019, using the front windshield as a display. The display screen interacted with people through gestures, voice, etc. To continue to lead the future of mobility, the car manufacturer recently has partnered with the French haptics startup Actronika to design the smart cockpit of tomorrow by improving the sensory feedback through interfaces and thus offering more natural and multi-sensory human-machine interactions.
The two partners HMETC and Actronika have been working on different solutions to enhance the in-vehicle experience.
They have integrated high-definition haptics into the display screens allowing for various customizable tactile feedbacks that further increase convenience, but also safety by reducing visual distractions attracting attention through the use of touch only. They have also developed an exclusive innovation: the multi-contact haptics. Patented by Actronika, this is the first technology that allows multiple users to feel different tactile sensations simultaneously on the same surface. For example, the driver and passengers can interact on a control panel and only experience the tactile feedback associated with their interactions without any spurious interference due to another user’s actions.
HMETC and Actronika also designed an optimized cockpit garnish that can be operated by touch and provides sensory feedback, further improving the comfort, simplicity and intuitiveness of the user experience.
The last project is oriented towards the subject of smart surfaces. Indeed, the two companies have collaborated on a touch rear seat armrest with a smart surface that can control various parameters in the vehicle: temperature, volume, multimedia settings, etc. It provides personalized haptic feedback according to the different interactions of the user.
With HMETC and Actronika, the cockpit of the future is at hand!
“Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Center GmbH, HMETC is the European R&D center of Hyundai Motor Group. HMETC is a world class Automotive R&D which continuously monitors innovative technologies and creates original concepts that may ultimately find their way into production cars. Website: https://www.hmetc.com & https://www.hyundaimotorgroup.com
Actronika is a Parisian startup founded in 2016 by Gilles Meyer, Rafal Pijewski and Vincent Hayward, member of the French Academy of Sciences for his pioneering work in haptics. Based on more than 30 years of research of Vincent, Actronika has developed a touch-enabled technology that can be seamlessly integrated in any human-machine interfaces to communicate more intuitively and effectively with their users: automotive displays, VR accessories, cinema seats, etc. In a digital era, Actronika's mission is to reintroduce the sense of touch and revolutionize human- machine interactions to give users natural, multi-sensory experiences. Website: https://www.actronika.com/