By 2020, Jaguar Land Rover wants to be monitoring the wellbeing and state of alertness of drivers of its vehicles, as well as letting them get out of the car and manoeuvre it remotely using a smartphone or tablet.
The new prototype systems were unveiled yesterday at the JLR Technology Conference in Gaydon. Wolfgang Epple, director of research and technology for the company, also outlined a shift in focus from cleaner, greener system solutions to intelligent driving. "We must increase the confidence in automated driving to gain trust," said Epple. "People trust Parking Distance Control and Adaptive Cruise Control systems in cars, and think nothing about using them. This is now happening with automated driving, but there is a lot of development still needed."
But Epple, perhaps referring to Google's driverless car project in development, stated that "there will be no driverless car [from JLR]. The driver is always the focus. We don't want to deliver a robot to get you from A to B. Ultimately it will always be the driver that makes the decisions."
An example of this ethos is the Remote Control Range Rover Sport, which WIRED got to try out first hand at the company's UK HQ. An iPhone app that pairs to the car via Bluetooth -- though a final version will likely use in-car Wi-Fi -- allows the operator to leave the car and drive the vehicle remotely from a short distance away (up to ten metres).
The app lets users control the steering, accelerator and brakes, as well as change from high and low range gearing. The idea is that, at a maximum speed of 4mph, you can manoeuvre your car over difficult terrain in full view of rocks and obstacles rather than being in the cabin with limited visibility. But this system will work just as well for parking in tight spaces at the supermarket, of course.
WIRED found the app to be exceedingly easy to use, and resembled a toy car or plane smartphone application in operation. Safety features include that low control speed and "dead man's handle" controls, meaning that if your fingers lift off the screen completely then the car performs an emergent stop.
No hardware, apart from the Bluetooth unit, has been added to make this prototype possible -- and as soon as Wi-Fi is standard in JLR vehicles then this will not be needed. A tablet control version is also in development that would have the added benefit of offering live video feed from each wheel and then bumpers -- meaning the precise control would be theoretically possible.
JLR also demoed its pothole detection tech, which apart from using on-board sensors and forward-facing stereo digital cameras to identify oncoming potholes in the road and then adjusting the suspension in milliseconds to improve the ride accordingly, will share this data via the cloud to warn other vehicles on the same route. Another advantage of this cloud-based data is that JLR intends to allow local authorities access so they can note trouble spots on highways and, if they see fit, enact repairs.
Other automotive tricks were shown off, such as a hands-free automated multipoint turn system, which effectively takes self-parking systems and pimps them to allow the car to do a three-point turn for you. A "ghost car" satnav was mooted, so instead of following instructions on a screen you tail a virtual car in front of you -- but WIRED was more diverted by the Mind Sense prototypes that assessed driver alertness.
Using sensors on the steering wheel, JLR is looking into systems that monitor brainwave activity, allowing the car to determine if you are paying enough attention to the road. High levels of Theta brainwaves can indicate that the driver is daydreaming, or at least not concentrating, despite having their eyes on the road, whereas high levels of Beta brainwaves show focus from the person behind the wheel. The car can then adjust the cabin environment to "wake up" the driver -- by playing music, lowering temperature or adjusting lighting, for example.
JLR is not stopping with brainwave monitoring, however. It is also trailing sensors in the seats of these new prototypes that through vibration monitor breathing rates and heartbeat data. Supposedly the car will be looking for increased stress levels of the driver and react by once again altering the in-cabin environment. In the future, this technology could also be used to alert emergency services to the health of passengers in the event of an accident.
One final system that particularly impressed WIRED was a gesture control set-up called "mid-air touch" that JLR is developing with Bristol University. This uses a grid of high-frequency ultrasonic sensors placed behind infotainment screens that create a touch sensation in mid-air without the skin needing to be in contact with any surface. To WIRED, it felt like a fan blowing air across your skin, but it is in fact high-frequency ultrasound directed towards a focal point above. Where these beams of ultrasound collide with something it causes vibrations in the air, which gives the illusion of air flow. The advantage of this system is that unlike blown air the beams do not degrade in strength at all as you move up to 40cm away.
Sensations created by this system could include a tap on your finger, tingling on your fingertips or even a virtual button to push. What's more this system could be adapted to control any of the car's functions invisibly, and without the need for the driver to take their eyes off the road.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
