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TECHKNOW98 TOPCAR.CO.ZA|January 20 16``````DrThomas Müller, vicepresidentfor el ectrics,electronics and e-propulsion, Volvo, holder of aPhD in nuclear physics, gazes into his cr ystal ba llThe next big thingsby Volvo’s e-tech guruCONNECTIVITY ISTHEkey to autonomous driving.From a Hu man Machine Interface (HMI) perspectiveit’s clear you need a safe and intuitive method ofbringing the driver in and out of the controlloop. Inthe near future we will not see cars without steeringwheels, and people gazing out of the window. You will seeautonomous driving on some roads, so how do we do the handov er?If you’re going to allow people to read or browse the internet, maybeit’s via a programmable cockpit. So the car is in controland you’rechecking your emails on the display. Three kilometres ahead of thehandov er there’s a notification. With 30seconds to gothe emails fadeout and the driving instruments return.>INTHEfuture there will be a great need for data exchange``````between multip le vehicles. You canbuy static information from themapping companies, and the carswill have sensors, but they will alsoneed real-time dynamic data aboutwhat is happening on the electronichorizon. They need to be able topred ict and to modify their drivingahead of time, as a good driver does.This collaboration between differentvehicles won’t be easy – we are allcompetitors. Finding the right modelfor anonymous data exchange is key.>OUR CLOUDtechnology willimprove the user experience. There’spotential for over-the-air activesafety. If somewhere there is anemer gency-braking situation, or gripis low, why not communicate that tothe cloud and on toother cars in thearea? Information from the cloudwill also pre-condition a plug-inhybrid electric car in the right way tobetter deploy its available ener gy, using ge o-fencing on zero-emission zones for example, so the car knows to pres erve chargeand to sh ut off the combustion engine.>HMI TOOKa big step when Apple intr oduced the iPhone. iDrivewas the automotive equivalent of computers’ mouse and menusystem. It worked beca use people understood the logic from theircomputers. Now consumers have learned touchscreen interactionfrom their smartphone. A touchscreen gives you two dimensi ons forcontroland moreflexibility. The menustructure is much flatter too,moreintuitive. The next stage is proximity sensing. In navigationthe screen would show only the map, bringing in the menuandmaking the relevant part of it bigger as you reach for it, improvingaccuracy.>PEOPLETALKabout a future ba ttery electric car [Volvo willlaunch a mid-si ze BEV with a 520km range by 2019] and everybodytalks ab out inductive [wireless] charging. The vision for thistechnology is very desirable, certainly in the premium segment. Youarrive at your garage and step out, th e car positions itself perfectlyover the charging coil and that’s it, you’re charging, maybe whilealso downloading a software update. It’s possi ble but there are costand safety issues. What if the car is charging and your cat walksbetween the car and the charger? It’s a very unfortunate situation!INTERVIEW BYBENMILLERTHOMASMÜLLERWhat’sthe big idea?Kirobo is anexperi ment inhuman/robot interaction,featuring voice and facialrecogniti on softwaredeveloped by Toyota. Heactually star ted life as arobot astronaut, and wassent to the internationalspace station to cheerup Japanese stationcommander Koichi Wakata.Now he’s planning to tryto cheeryou up too, whileyou’re stuck in traffic.Why doesToyotathink``````weneedcheeringup?You’re driving a Toyota,for a star t. More cr ucially,studie s have shown thatdrivers in a bad mood drivetoo fast, too clos e to thecar in front and have moreaccidents.HowdoesKirobo plantoovercomethat?Hehas a facial recogniti oncamera just above oneof hi s eyes, and canidentify expressions, soif you’re fr owning he’ll tryto engageyou in a bit of``````helium-voiced chat. Hecan understan d speech (aslong as you’re Japanese)and has a databaseofphrases.So, will Kirobo bestandardonthe nextAuris?Sadly not, buthe’s part of a seri ousexperi ment to te st how yourcar could interact wi th you.He may be able to interactwith your sat-nav andmusic too. If you haven’talready hurled him out ofthe window, that is.FRESHTHINKING:Toyota’sin-carrobotMeet Kirobo. He lives in your cupholderKirobostartedlifeinspace. It maynotbethe lastflighthetakes