Smart Cars 2000 - Electronics

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SMART CARS 2000

ELECTRONICS - SCREEN WARS

There's no stopping the trend to put more electronic devices in cars. And why not? Electronics makes possible truly useful safety and convenience features. Their reliability far outstrips the electromechanical devices of the past. And electronics are getting cheaper every day.

If there's any downside, it's the challenge of sifting through the vast range of possibilities for tomorrow's cars. Which gadgets will consumers like best? Automotive marketers admit they don't really know.

Screen Wars
The surprising popularity of backseat entertainment centers is a case in point. Oldsmobile introduced one last year as part of its upscale Silhouette Premiere minivan. The system's flip-down, 5.5-inch video display lets the kids watch movies in back while you enjoy the radio or CDs up front.Oldsmobile figured 10% of Silhouette customers would opt for the package. In fact, three times as many are ordering it.

Ford's Visteon unit is selling an entertainment center with built-in Nintendo capability you can have installed in a wide variety of minivans and sport utility vehicles.

Ford's Visteon Automotive Systems unit offers a backseat entertainment system for minivans that includes a Nintendo 64 game system and wireless headphones. It's available on DaimlerChrysler minivans and can be retrofitted in models built within the past two years.

Visteon also introduces an overhead version of the system, designed for sport utility vehicles (SUVs), this fall. Initially available on Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury SUVs, it should be available by year-end for SUVs carrying the Dodge, Chevrolet, GMC, or Jeep brand.

Johnson Controls is debuting a similar system called AutoVision with a 7-inch screen, removable videocassette player, and the ability to play DVD movie disks.

Do-It-Yourself Design
Not entirely pleased with how the gauges look on your car's instrument panel? Why not rearrange them to suit your individual taste? The technology to do so is ready now.

Robert Bosch and Johnson Controls are among those showing off prototypes. The speedometer, tachometer, and other readouts appear on a large video screen. Since each gauge is really just a TV image, you can change to an entirely different layout at the push of a button.

Developers say such a system would allow an automaker to install the same screen in all its cars, then tailor the display to suit the specific design of each vehicle. It would be just as easy to load several display options and let the owner choose a favorite.


Developers are wooing automakers with video screen instrument panels whose display can be instantly redesigned electronically to create custom layouts.

Night Eyes
Driving at night is more than three times as likely to result in a fatality as when driving in daylight. One obvious reason is that drivers can't see as far down the road at night. They couldn't, that is, until now.

This fall Cadillac introduces the auto industry's first thermal imaging system. Available on its redesigned DeVille sedan, the technology lets you peer up to five times further down the road than your low-beam headlights can reach. The system can spot people, animals, or objects ahead in the dark, through fog, and beyond the glare of oncoming headlights.

Developed by Raytheon Systems Co. and Delphi-Delco Electronics, the system uses a sensor in the front grille to detect infrared radiation (heat). It uses a head-up display to project a ghostly white-on-black image that appears to float below the driver's line of vision at the front edge of the hood. The driver can turn the image on and off, vary its intensity, and reposition it vertically.

Cadillac Night Vision is a DeVille exclusive for 2000. But if the system proves popular, GM will extend offer it in other models.
Listen Up!
It's been several years since the auto industry experimented with cars that talked to their drivers. They soon discovered that most people don't want vehicles telling them "the door is ajar" or "the lights are on." Now automakers are hoping for success with cars that listen instead.

Manufacturers have played around with voice recognition technology for years. They've also gained experience using it in cellular phones that dial the number you speak to them. Developers say advanced software has greatly improved the ability of such systems to understand normal speech accurately.

Jaguar took the plunge this year with voice-activated climate, audio, and phone controls in its new S-type sedan. Developed by Ford's Visteon unit, the system instantly recognizes a range of voices, adapts to different accents and dialects, and comprehends continuous and natural speech. Drivers activate the system by pressing a "voice" button on the steering wheel.

The Visteon system can be programmed to understand several languages besides English, including Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Japanese. The company points out that its technology can easily be added to existing vehicles without redesigning the instrument panel or control knob layouts.

Expect more voice-activated controls, mainly because they let you operate complex features while keeping your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road.