One idea that keeps bubbling up into Hyundai's CES displays is how to negotiate the car interior of the future
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| © Alexander Stoklosa Hyundai’s Latest Concept, a Car Interior of the Future, Really Listens to You |
By Alexander Stoklosa, Car and Driver
Hyundai
has had a strong presence at the CES technology show for years, so
we've covered a fair number of its future-think projects, autonomous-car
advancements, and even a robotic exoskeleton
it designed to help those with trouble walking—or humans looking for
super strength. One idea that keeps bubbling up into Hyundai's CES
displays is how to negotiate the car interior of the future, and this
year the automaker has a new Intelligent Personal Cockpit concept that
tackles the idea head-on.
Previously, Hyundai's dabbling in next-generation car interiors involved a snazzy infotainment concept in 2013, fresh head-up-display thinking in 2015, and a car that literally docks with one's home
at last year's show. The Intelligent Personal Cockpit embraces
artificial intelligence and enhanced voice recognition as the future
driver's bedfellows.
As Hyundai imagines it, our automotive future includes the
ability to bark orders at our cars to initiate everything from the
opening of a sunroof to climate-control adjustments to locking or
unlocking the doors. The Intelligent Personal Cockpit at the automaker's
CES booth leverages SoundHound voice recognition and Internet of Things
(IoT) networking to enable car-to-home commands such as turning on
lights before arriving home and even multiple-part queries such as
asking the car to adjust the temperature and commanding it to manipulate
a control inside your home in the same sentence. Hyundai's example? A
driver saying to the car, "Tell me what the weather is like tomorrow and
turn off the lights in our living room."
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| © Provided by Car and Driver Hyundai Intelligent Cockpit concept |
Less impressive—or, at least, less new—is the artificial-intelligence
aspect of Hyundai's project. The automaker pitches it as a "proactive
assistant," which, translated, means it acts more or less like Google's
predictive algorithms and can remind you when to leave for habitual
destinations such as your office or the gym. Creepier components include
a "steering-wheel biosensor" and a heart-rate monitor that can sense
stress and "provide access to online visual consultation with a
doctor"—which sounds to us like it might stress out the driver more.
Strap in; the future's gonna be weird.
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