Volkswagen at 2015 CES: MIB II Infotainment, Gesture Control, Park Assist & Inductive Charging
At the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show, Volkswagen has introduced some interesting innovations. Since their firm dedication to the development of the automotive technology can’t be questioned, the German automaker will bring some new attractive features with the upcoming cars. Volkswagen is working in several different directions in order to see the future of the automotive industry unfold.
They’ve introduced several interesting technologies at the 2015 CES, but the infotainment system which can be controlled by hand gestures is the most attractive, since it’s probably going to be utilized soon.
Some other systems they’re developing, such as the e-Golf Intelligent Charge, won’t be available very soon, but their plans won’t be realized in the distant future either — they will probably introduce the technology in the next several years.
Volkswagen MIB II Infotainment System
The next-gen infotainment system presented at the 2015 CES is called the MIB II. The acronym stands for modular infotainment platform. Since the name already reveals much about it, you can probably guess that the system’s key feature is its versatility. Having in mind the need to further improve car-smartphone connectivity, the MIB II infotainment system will offer a progressive interface management system.
In other words, the infotainment system will be equipped with Mirror Link, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. It’s possible to integrate tablets and smart watches with the infotainment system.
Regular Routes Feature
One of the most interesting features the MIB II has is the Regular Routes function. It automatically detects usual commuting routes and offers alternative routes if there are disruptions on the usual one.
There’s also the Parking Guide feature, a very advanced system which has some similarities with the Regular Routes, since it takes a liberty to tell you where are parking spaces which have higher probability to be free.
The technology will be available in the United States later this year.
Become a Smooth Conductor: Golf R Touch Gesture Control
One of the most technologically advanced systems presented at the 2015 CES and certainly the most important Volkswagen feature in terms of safety is the Golf R Touch gesture control. Hopefully, this technology will help decrease the number of traffic accidents, since it’s been developed in order to minimize distractions while driving.
The Volkswagen Golf R Touch concept vehicle has almost all the possible controls at its three large displays. Under the 12.8-inch high-res infotainment touchscreen they placed an 8.0-inch Control Center touchscreen with haptic feedback. There’s also a 12.3-inch Active Info Display screen.
Since having a lot of displays demands a lot of attention, Volkswagen placed a camera at the central display. That’s how it catches hand motions.
This way, you don’t have to actually use the touchscreens. It would be enough to wave in the air in front of the camera without looking at the center stack. The hand-motion commands are customizable as well as the touchscreen interfaces.
They said nothing about probable release of this technology.
Intelligent Charge and Park Assist
The German automaker also introduced the e-Golf Intelligent Charge inductive charging system which wirelessly charges the battery pack of the electric Golf. This system comes with the Park Assist feature which autonomously guides the car into a parking space. It can also drive the car out of a parallel parking space.
The Trained Parking feature uses a camera to learn about a usual parking path and then employs the sensors to semi-automatically park the car. The future will bring new exciting parking functions such as the semi-automatically park at the inductive charging station and a parking process remotely conducted via a smartphone.
Photos: Volkswagen