Smart Cabins Change Driving

August 22, 2023

Adam Kimmel

Why the Smart Cabin Is Changing How We Interact with Our Vehicles

Image Source: metamorworks/Stock.adobe.com

By Adam Kimmel for Mouser Electronics

Published August 23, 2023

The automotive industry has undergone many changes since Ford first mass-produced the Model T over 100 years ago. Over that time, fuel and production efficiencies increased, passenger comfort and ride smoothness improved, transmissions became automatic, and quality improved. But the vehicles still burned hydrocarbons for propulsion in internal combustion engines (ICE) and have required active driver operation for transportation.

However, drivetrains are moving from ICE to battery electric, a global regulatory movement is under way to reduce carbon footprint, and there have been step-change improvements to vehicle autonomy. These three factors have jolted the automotive industry into massive disruption, innovation, and change like no other time in the industry's history. The technology is truly changing the way people move.

Furthermore, an increase in the amount of technology enhancing the driving experience for passengers has raised the bar for what occupants expect regarding personalization, increased safety, and enhanced comfort. This article will examine the latest in-cabin technologies that are delivering these expectations while continuing to enable progress on the automakers' electric vehicle (EV), autonomous, and lower-carbon objectives.

Personalization

Modern consumers have become accustomed to personalizing their experiences with technology. The car is no different—each invention moves it from a functional transportation option to a truly mobile device. Customized cabin settings and infotainment are two of the most significant opportunities to achieve a personalized driving experience.

Cabin Settings

Through the increased complexity of automotive technology, vehicles can now sense (and save) different comfort, safety, and operation profiles for each driver. For example, the Tesla Model 3 customization profile includes assignable adjustments for exterior mirrors, steering wheel, and seat positions¹. In contrast, BMW's profile has added ambient lighting, infotainment, digital instrument, and climate control in its 2 Series Coupe 2023².

Infotainment

Infotainment is an increasing area of emphasis for automakers to make the driving experience more enjoyable, customized, and immersive. One immersive advancement is in audio, where engineers have employed active noise cancellation to enable a focused driving environment that can enhance safety. Similarly, the improved audio can enrich the quality of music or talk in the vehicle for a more natural experience.

Another infotainment advancement is the addition of augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) features (or both) to provide drivers and occupants with real-time, dynamic content through an immersive interface. And by seamlessly integrating smartphones and apps with vehicle technology, users' preferences and digital device settings carry through for access during the ride. Figure 1 illustrates the amount of technology to deliver infotainment while optimizing power to integrated circuits (ICs) for better efficiency and performance.

Figure 1: Infotainment technology deliver critical applications for a personalized experience. (Source: Analog Devices)

Increased Safety

Any highly disruptive and new technology carries consumer concerns over safety. With the technology handling an increasing number of functions, it is vital for occupants to feel safe with a vehicle that uses them. Fortunately, the technology can also provide added safety measures to protect vehicle occupants. Many of these improvements take the form of advanced driver monitoring systems (ADAS).

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems

The shockwaves that artificial intelligence (AI) has sent through nearly every industry also apply to ADAS. The sensors in these systems can detect signs of driver drowsiness or distraction and alert the driver of upcoming weather events, traffic buildups, crashes, or cars in the driver's blind spot. As shown in Figure 1, the added cameras provide a comprehensive view of the surroundings for added driver safety support. The impact and integration of AI is discussed in detail later in this article.

Integrated Digital Vision Systems

In addition to providing the driver with a 360° view of the vehicle's surroundings, digital vision systems are integral to achieving vehicle autonomy. The cameras collect constant images of the vehicle's surroundings and send them to the processor to direct the vehicle's response to the environment.

AR Rearview Mirrors

Rearview mirrors have long been a staple of driver safety features in a car. Adding AR to overlay elements onto the mirror's surface can show the driver navigation directions, information on an incoming call, or an alert to nearby obstacles without the driver having to look down or away from another screen. Increasing the visibility of critical safety features in the driver's primary field of view can significantly improve safety.

Enhanced Comfort

In addition to improved safety features, smart in-cabin technologies provide new and enhanced features for occupant comfort.

Automatic Climate Control

Automatic climate control extends the personal climate settings many vehicles already use. Automated systems employ sensors to read the interior humidity and temperature and exterior vehicle temperature via sensors in zones throughout the car. These levels inform the system on how to modify the airflow, distribution between heads and feet of occupants, and A/C engagement to adjust the temperature according to the driving, weather, and engine temperature conditions most efficiently and quickly.

For example, when the engine is cold, engaging the automatic ("AUTO") function directs airflow to the windshield and side windows. Many systems have a "SYNC" or "MONO" setting to tie the passenger and rear cabin vehicle settings to the driver's or to enable distinct levels.

System efficiency directly influences driving range in ICE or EVs, which is most critical at extreme ambient temperatures where climate control is most needed. Studies have shown that automatic climate control can reduce energy consumption by 33 percent in electric vehicles³.

Active Motion Seat Massage

Many vehicles already employ a heating coil tied to a thermostat that can maintain the seat's temperature. Now, automakers are adding seat massagers to enhance the occupants' comfort while driving. Active motion massage is an option on the infotainment menu on an increasing number of vehicles and includes options like:

Upper back/shoulder rolling
Lower back/lumbar rolling
Air pocket inflation for legs and other body regions that contact the seat

Audi, Bentley, Cadillac, Ford, Hyundai, Porsche, and VW are a few companies already using active motion in their products⁴.

Sustainability Advancements for Comfort

With many companies publicly claiming sustainability improvement targets, several innovations in comfort are helping them deliver on those promises. Companies are using recycled post-consumer PET plastic for seats, bio-based materials, foam alternatives comprised of recycled cotton, and functional fibers for dashboards and carpets⁵.

Passive and Hybrid Climate Systems

The use of waste engine heat (in ICEs) and solar panels (in EVs) can offload the battery during high-load climate control settings. Vehicle range is the cost of climate comfort, so these enhancements and vehicle-to-grid technology can substantially affect the vehicle's comfort delivery and lifecycle carbon performance (LCCP).

Low-GWP Refrigerants

Following the move away from ozone-depleting materials in the 1990s, new lower-global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants deliver the same climate control performance at significantly lower carbon dioxide equivalents (CO₂e), the key performance metric for regulatory compliance in this space.

Integration of Connectivity and AI

The smart cabin enables users to connect with their vehicles like never before. With the exponential rise of AI applications, users will soon expect all their technology—including their vehicles—to learn their preferences. They will want to decide on one piece of technology and have that decision carry through to their entire tech stack.

This increased desire for connectivity is entering smart cabins in two forms: digitalized content and autonomous and immersive experiences.

Smartphone Apps and Connectivity Options

Incorporating voice-controlled personal assistants like Alexa and Siri delivers hands-free, non-disruptive access to the internet and user preferences from inside the car's cabin. These voice assistants can seamlessly suggest destinations and on-demand updates for the vehicle. With the addition of AI, this technology can begin learning the user's preferences and suggesting changes based on those preferences and deliver real-time alerts of weather and traffic changes.

AI can also help coordinate virtual meetings or video calls (ensuring they protect the driver's safety during operation) or propose a suitable meeting location between group members at various locations in an area, like at a conference or trade show destination.

Dynamic/Over-the-Air Updates

Along with providing vehicle occupants access to their digitized content, including contacts, maps, and other media forms, the vehicle will begin to adapt to the driver through in-cabin sensing. Virtual updating is the mechanism that updates personal preferences via third-party applications that will reach the car. A unique user profile developed for a driver's personal car could be saved and uploaded to a new or rental vehicle, delivering instant personalization and safety with a much faster learning curve.

Ethics and Safety Considerations

For all the current and potential benefits of the smart cabin, it is vital to consider the ethical implications of introducing a significantly higher amount of data to an automobile. Manufacturers will have to communicate what data they are collecting from the users, how the vehicle data will be used and stored, and who has visibility to it. In addition, software providers will need to protect the data from security breaches.

Conclusion and Future Trends

The smart automotive cabin makes sense: Users want and will expect to have personalized, enhanced experiences in the car in line with what they have in their homes. Smart cabins provide digital access to data and media, personalized comfort and infotainment, and streamlined interaction with information. Personalized climate and seat settings, driver assistance, safety, and sustainability improvements will become the baselines for automakers.

Furthermore, the sensor technology developed for the smart cabin will help deliver vehicle autonomy through accuracy and processing improvements. Electronics industry participants and Tier-1 suppliers must continue innovating to give OEMs options when implementing these functions into their vehicles. It is important to consider how technology can help enable sustainability and driving range improvements, along with expanded AI integration applications.

Future development will expand the use of AR and VR experiences and the integration of smart cabin data and autonomous vehicle operation features, which will further reduce the burden and error opportunities for human drivers, thereby improving safety.