Gesture recognition: coming to a car near you
By Roger Stansfield - 6:30AM BST 19 Aug 2012
New technology could allow drivers to operate car radio, telephone and climate control with a wave of the hand or raise of the eyebrow.
Gesture recognition: coming to a car near you
Long wave: Manufacturers are currently working on gesture recognition technology that could be used to control in-car audio systems Photo: ALAMY
Imagine being able to operate your car radio, telephone or climate control settings just by making simple hand gestures. Consumer electronics experts believe it is the next logical step after central control switches, touch-screens and voice commands.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, Mercedes-Benz showed an experimental system called DICE (Dynamic & Intuitive Control Experience), which lets drivers perform basic functions with a hand gesture.
And Harman – whose various brands include Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL and Mark Levinson – is also working on integrating gesture recognition into future infotainment systems.
Harman is currently building up a "gesture catalogue", based on its studies of human behaviour. The gestures will need to be intuitive and easily recognised and differentiated by sensors, says Hans Roth, the company's director of technology, marketing and business development.
Anything that smacks of driver distraction will have to be avoided or users could be open to prosecution. At the same time the gestures will have to be movements that people might already make when operating electronic features to gain acceptance.
Roth believes infra-red sensors will be the best solution for cars, and that the ideal position for them will be somewhere near the gearlever so that they operate over only a small area. That would prevent accidental use by other people in the car.
"It will be no different to taking your hands off the wheel to shift gear or change the radio station," he says. "As with everything, it will be the responsibility of the driver to operate the car safely."
And hand gestures are not the only option under study – facial expressions are also being considered. Well, Roger Moore enjoyed a successful career as James Bond by seeming to do little more than occasionally raise an eyebrow, so why not?
"They would eliminate the need for drivers to take a hand off the wheel, but they have one drawback – social acceptability," says Roth. "We are at a very early stage with facial expression recognition and need to tread very carefully in that area, but I believe we will see some form of gesture recognition in cars within two to three years".
Kinda curious ! Certainly being able to retain your 'hands on the wheel' for indicating or light control, could become just a new way of operation, than distraction .... but what if it fails ? Is there a standard operation and do motorists then become distracted in trying to operate it physically again ?
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