Visteon
Latest
Visteon's HABIT is a concept infotainment system that puts road trip copilots out of a job (video)
A good acronym also hints at what it does, and Visteon's new intelligent in-car concept, HABIT, is a good example of that. The Human Bayesian Intelligence Technology system -- to give it its full name -- learns the behaviour of drivers so it can automatically change the temperature, heat the seats and drop that Biohazard album just when you need it most. Factors such as weather, time of day and real-time road conditions all play a part, plus, of course a log of all your typical in-car interactions. It promises to go above just warming your behind on a cold morning though, offering intelligence that would be able to divine local radio stations that play your kind of jam when you're out of town. It could also seamlessly mix these with your local / tablet / smartphone library and internet sources. Sound a little too creepy? Wait until you see the computer-generated demo video presenter past the break.
Control a car's interior via a dashboard-mounted iPad from Visteon
Visteon doesn't have the first idea for integrating an iPad into an automobile in some way, but it has arguably the most ambitious one so far. At this year's CES, Visteon brought forth their iPad dash product which not only integrates into an auto's audio controls, but it has the ability to handle all interior electronic controls. The iPad communicates via Bluetooth with the box pictured to the right of the iPad, above. That device is installed in the car, in place of controls for climate, seat positioning, and engine information, among other things. There's also weather information displayed within the interface, access to a GPS, and more. There is a dock connector for the iPad, at the bottom of the iPad holder, but it's to provide power only. Obviously you're going to need a 3G-enabled device and a data plan to go along with it, in order to take advantage of the weather and GPS. It's not clear what cars this device is planned to be compatible with, but from the placement and size of the iPad holder, I have a feeling compatibility will be limited. Engadget also has a nifty hands-on video of some of the iPad app's functionality.
Visteon puts an iPad in a car dashboard, we go hands-on (video)
We happen to think the future of the car dashboard is a gradual path to obsolescence, dying and getting replaced by a mobile device. Visteon also think there's a future for mobile devices in a dash -- but not for actually replacing the car stereo. Visteon showed off its Consumer Electronics Device to Vehicle HMI (human/machine interface), which is basically a stupidly long name for a system enabling device integration of the sort we haven't seen yet. Yes, you can stream tunes through the car's stereo but, more impressively, actually change the channel that it is tuned to. That's just the beginning, with a navigation display and even simplified web browsing, but most impressive is the ability to manage the rest of the car's interior. You can change seat positions, adjust climate controls, and probably much, much more than the semi-functional demo unit we got our hands on can do. There is a dock connector for the iPad but that's just for providing power: the connectivity is entirely wireless, meaning people in the back seat can change the channel -- or push up the seat of the person in front of them. The box that handles all this is going into production soon and so should start showing up in cars sometime over the next year. Which cars? Your guess is as good as ours, as Visteon works with more car marques than it doesn't. %Gallery-113075%
Next-gen dashboards get Tegra 2, Moblin, Atom, we go hands-on
Intel Atom processors, capacitive touchscreens, NVIDIA Tegra 2 graphics, Moblin installs... sounds like a suite of hot next-gen ultra-portables, right? Think again. Those are just some of the technologies used in the dashboards of cars that will be appearing on showrooms in the coming months and years, dashes that were largely on display at CES -- minus the cars themselves, usually. There we were treated to mobile glimpses of Google Earth, Pandora, and Slacker Radio on the go, plus the ability to lock and unlock your car via Ye Olde Internets. It's the future, and it's coming soon, so click on through already and get a sneak peek.
Visteon looking into multi-use DS and Wii devices
Those of you who like all-in-one devices might be familiar with Visteon's Dockable Entertainment system. Even though we see this as more of a "we like the idea but wouldn't actually buy one" item, this portable player supports Game Boy Advance games, as well as DVDs and music. Therefore, it's the perfect device for people who were looking for a GBA-meets-music-player-meets-DVD-player to keep them (or their children) busy on long drives.This is all old news and exposition, though. The interesting part is that Visteon told GamerTell in an interview that they hope to come out with two new Dockable Entertainment systems, one featuring the Wii and the other the DS. These plans are nowhere near definite, but the fact that Visteon is looking into them is enough to get us excited. Granted, a portable Wii device that can also play DVDs and CDs is the more appealing of the two, but a DS version isn't too shabby of an idea, either. Of course, the potential pricing on these devices has us nervous, considering that the GBA version cost a cool $1,200 with installation when it came out.
Dockable DVD player with GBA drops in May
We first got our hands on Visteon's portable DVD player cum Game Boy Advance at CES back in January and, frankly, weren't impressed. Our final assessment: "Needless to say, the engineers have their work cut out for them." Well, those engineers have had a couple months, let's see if they've eliminated the major shortcomings of the prototype. First off, the controller more closely resembles the interface of a GBA. Gone are the "Help" and "Backup" buttons, with the perennial Start and Select buttons in their place. A superficial, but welcome change. The five face buttons have been reduced to a more reasonable three...which is still one more than they needed. Why two A buttons guys?The screen resolution issues appear to have been solved, at least if we're taking the press image at face value. In the prototype, there was some problem with the GBA feed not filling the entire screen, and suffering from the conversion to 16x9. In the marketing mockup above, there is no sign of this problem. We're hopeful this accurately reflects the final product. No word on price, but it will be "available May 2006." Now I wish I had a minivan to put this in the back of...and someone to drive me around in it...and somewhere to go...See also:Coby DVD player with 8-bit Sega game[Thanks, Sense and Sean]
