Designers Strive for Safe, Satisfying Infotainment

As car buyers are demanding more content inside their vehicles, it falls to interior designers to make interaction with the technologies safe and satisfying.

Statistics confirm the need for systems allowing safe use of navigation, hands-free calling, texting and soon, social media.

For example, there are 275 million cell-phone users in the U.S. who demand fulltime access to their devices.

But a crash is four times more likely when a driver uses a cell phone, and multiplies by 20 when the driver is text-messaging.

“Clearly, there is a recognition something must happen,” Michael Tschirhart, manager-Human Machine Interaction at Visteon Corp., tells a panel on “Responsible Connectivity.”

And while public-service programs are educating drivers about distracted driving, Tschirhart says many Americans are convinced some risks are less serious than others.

For example, he says, psychologists have found many people consider air travel risky, but the chances of a plane crashing are slim. But many of those same individuals will perform various tasks while driving, despite data underscoring the dangers.

“People are overconfident,” he adds. “And people who think they would be very good at multitasking are sometimes the worst.”

Further complicating the situation, much of the content coming into vehicle interiors was designed for use in front of a desktop or on a hand-held smartphone.

In response, device maker Nokia Corp. has partnered with Valmet Automotive Inc. and auto maker Fiat Auto SpA to deploy a connectivity system called “Terminal Mode.” The system marries hand-held devices such as smartphones with existing vehicle components through Bluetooth and USB connections.

Nokia deployed an advanced version of the system on a Valmet concept car at the 2010 Geneva auto show, as well as a simpler variant on a Fiat 500 at the same event.

Vesa Luiro, director-Nokia Automotive, says the system extends the capability of the car's infotainment system and enhances the usability of mobile devices safely and simply.

Tom Schalk, vice president-voice technology at ATX Corp., says new speech-recognition technology will prove helpful.

Systems considered “cumbersome” a decade ago have evolved to more user-friendly technologies, capable of browsing the Internet and texting via voice commands, as well as receiving advanced destination entries to navigation systems.