POWER ELECTRONICS


NEW INTERACTIONS Fully digital clusters are no longer a novelty in vehicles, and there isn’t an OEM that isn’t replacing traditional instrument clusters with digital equivalents. Curiously though, once the traditional physical speedo or tachometer is removed it frequently reappears as a replicate on the digital screen. There is good reason for this. A traditional spring and pin speedometer not only shows the speed you are doing, but also visually shows acceleration as the needle rotates around the dial. By contrast, a simple digital number that rises and drops confuses the eye as there is no frame of reference for acceleration or deceleration. For this reason there is merit in aping the physical instruments. This is known as skeuomorphic design, and is practised across many digital sectors. The term skeuomorphic is derived from the Greek words for “tool” and “shape”, and notable examples of skeuomorphic design can be found on the iPhone; the notes app with a background paper texture and the books app simulating a page turn, to name a few. Skeuomorphs are popular as they can make an interface feel more familiar or comfortable, a useful trait when introducing new functions and features to a driver. Skeuomorphs appear not only on


screen but also in newer HMI inputs such as gesture control. Gesture controls first appeared in the car sector in 2015 with the Seat Ibiza offering volume and call answering functions, and have propagated across all the other OEMs since. Interesting examples of


skeuomorphic gesture design can be found in the Toyota Yaris and the BMW 5 Series. To adjust the volume with a gesture in the Yaris the driver moves their hand left to right, as if moving a slider. In the 5 Series the driver rotates their finger, as if turning a volume knob on a HiFi. It remains to be seen whether individual OEMs will keep their unique inputs or if, over time, set gestures will become standardised across the automotive industry.


GESTURES AND SAFETY An advantage of gesture control is, in theory, it allows you to interact with the vehicle while keeping your eyes on the road, and with safety a top priority for all


HMI for Triumph’s Street Triple (see box copy)


truck OEMs it would seem logical that gesture control will become standard in trucks going forward, yet to date truck manufacturers have been slow to adopt the technology. More concerning, when looking at some of the next-generation cab HMIs is the gradual fading out of physical buttons, most notable in the Tesla trucks. Both the Tesla Semi and the (not quite) bulletproof Cybertruck have cockpits dominated by one or two large screens and nothing else. Buttons, be it for any vehicle feature, offer direct tactile feedback and we quickly memorise their location through use, negating the need to take our eyes off the road. Touchscreens offer no such feedback, and so we have to glance at them to execute an action. Gesture controls could alleviate this


problem, although it’s early days for the technology and no OEM has completely replaced inputs with gestures, simply using gesture as an alternative way of interaction, not a replacement. Although Tesla envisage a buttonless


future, it’s telling that Mercedes Benz has introduced an array of buttons


under the right-hand screen in its new Actros truck. Driver distraction was almost certainly at the forefront of their minds when they made that design call. One interesting technology that


might augment gesture input it is air- based haptic feedback. Earlier this year Ultrahaptics merged with Leap Motion to form Ultraleap. Their technology is based on an array of micro speakers that create a focused beam of ultrasound that the user can feel in the air. In short, as you execute a gesture you can feel air on your hands and fingers, giving real haptic feedback. Their own research completed in conjunction with the University of Nottingham shows that when air haptics were introduced into a vehicle, eyes-off-road time was reduced by 25% and close to 40% of users trialling the hardware were able to perform set tasks without taking their eyes off the road at all. It’s an exciting new area of


development, and with Bosch and Ultraleap experimenting with in vehicle haptics since 2017 we’ll hopefully see the fruits of the efforts in the near future.


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