-Increasingly, car makers are going to the cabin to differentiate their vehicles.
Yes!
Power, and efficiency, and pricing, and sheath metal still matter, but the cabin is becoming in many ways the defining statement of the car maker.
So here in Porsche this year at the LA Auto Show, they're showing a concept of a cockpit that they call [unk].
And among the key technology features we're looking at are these sort of soft cover, upholstery based
flip up lid, which is an idea for them to give the passenger as much technology of the driver.
Normally, this is kind of a digital ghetto over here, but check this out.
Here's a rear projection screen they're envisioning or it could also be a flexible OLED screen dedicated to the passenger's mobile device, which would live down here in a tray that has wireless charging, inductive charging, which is on the market but hasn't really taken root yet.
This could also have a wireless data link to bounce out the signal using like iPod Out or the connected car consortium technology to give me a nice reliable interface from the device,
but I needn't even see it.
It could all be projected right here.
Even a lowly air-vent gets a little bit of a technology touch.
You know today, you've got something with little slats and louvers that you rotate this eyeball around and it always looks it gets kind of cockeyed.
In this case, nothing here moves, but the actual airflow can be changed up, down, left, and right because of special guts they have engineered in the dash.
This always looks the way the designer intended it.
Let's go to the drive side.
Now here in the cockpit of course, this is concept car stuff, but the idea is give me either a rear projection or an OLED screen like we saw on the passenger side and this is truly all contiguous screen, again, that could also bring in elements of the driver's mobile device while combining them safely and intelligently with automotive information.
Also here, a vent thing going on.
Here in the structure of this central pod is the airflow technology, structures that bring it right to your face where you're always trying to get it,
but you gotta use these vents on either side that sort of barely reach where you really got the sweat working.
We've also got a central controller here and again wireless connectivity for the driver's mobile device here for either charging or for data connection from apps to the car and vice versa.
And one more thing I'll show you, it's kind of low tech/high tech, but how many of you have asked me about this?
Why is the door armrest always on the wrong position for you?
Here is a power-operated armrest.
Moving up.
Moving down.
Get it where you want it.
What took so long?
