Iconmobile designed this instrument concept for Nvidia's automotive chip.
(Credit: Iconmobile)Forget analog gauges; the instrument cluster of the future will be a 3D dynamic display configurable by the user. Computer graphics company Nvidia is has developed a chip designed specifically for the automotive market. This chip holds system software and graphics processing capabilities to show 3D instruments on an LCD. Partner Iconmobile, which did earlier work on Audi's A1 concept car, designed an interface for the chip that combines car information with navigation and entertainment. The Iconmobile interface serves as a demonstration and is not slated for a production car.
With the Fusion Hybrid, Ford is showing off the flexibility of a digital instrument cluster. NVidia's chip would bring 3D to the equation, potentially allowing for more useful navigation guidance or information structures.
Digital instrument clusters could save automakers money by letting them use a common hardware platform across models, and programming a different look and feel into the instruments to distinguish cars. Likewise, drivers could reconfigure the instrument cluster by personal preference or for different driving conditions. For example, a larger tachometer could used for sport driving, then minimized for the daily commute.
A woman uses virtual-reality technology to preview a vehicle's options.
(Credit: CATER)Many new car buyers face a similar dilemma: You want to customize a new car, but don't know if you'll like the maroon leather interior that looks great in the catalog but always seems too pimplike in person. Not wanting to make an expensive mistake, you go with the safe silver-and-black combo, just like everyone else.
Cater, a technology group funded by the European Commission, is working on software that could help shoppers customize with confidence.
Using virtual-reality technology, Cater is building a car customization application that helps customers picture more realistically, and spatially experience, what their configured vehicle will look like.
New Web-based software can help car buyers in Asia and the European Union customize a new vehicle based on image keywords. Customers can view their selections from several angles, inside and outside the car.
(Credit: Cater)The system is based on a stereoscopic TV set that enables stereo vision using so-called shutter glasses, according to Cater's Web site. The relatively inexpensive virtual-reality system can be installed for between about 10,000 euros and 12,000 euros. The technology ideally will enable customers to make more informed customization choices and enable dealerships to offer a greater range of vehicles to the public without having to display them on the showroom floor.
For online shoppers, Cater has also developed a Web-based customization tool that takes into account a person's age, country of residence, gender, and image keyword (aggressive, sporty, sexy) when suggesting products.
Using the Cater system, customers would select a package and view how the products will look in the car from a variety of 3D angles. A Web-based demo of the product is available online, though only for PCs.
(Source: ScienceDaily)
(Credit:
Crave Asia)
If there was ever a comic book hero named Mapman, this would be his ride. Tele Atlas, a map content company out of Netherlands, is the owner of this orange van and the attached equipment. It creates maps of the roads it plies using a potpourri of location capture devices.
Mounted on top are four cameras, each capturing three images per second. The van can be configured with up to eight cameras depending on the landscape it is mapping, making it possible to capture 24 images per second when needed. Those are accompanied by laser scanners that help to determine the outline of buildings, allowing Tele Atlas to make 3D models of the environment for its 3D navigation maps. Check out our photo gallery to see more of what's in and on Tele Atlas' mapping van.
Tele Atlas operates 47 mapping vans all over the world, and this one in Singapore is the second vehicle in Asia Pacific after Taiwan. The company already has maps of Singapore since 2000 derived from GPS data and field survey. The purpose of the van is to improve on those maps already available, as well as to create 3D models of the cityscape.
It will take the van anywhere from six weeks to two months to complete its drive around Singapore, after which it will be deployed in other countries in Southeast Asia. It will be redeployed in Singapore at least once every year so that map data can be updated.
3D maps for Europe are already used by some device manufacturers. An example is the Mio which has deployed the 3D maps into some of its PNDs (personal navigation devices). Mark Steele, chief operating officer of Tele Atlas in this region, told us that 3D maps of Singapore will be available in navigation devices from the third quarter of next year.
(Source: Crave Asia)
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