At the 2015 International CES, automotive tech provider Valeo is demonstrating two new ways that we’ll interact with the self-driving cars of the future: with its Mobius adaptive information display and InBlue smartphone and smartwatch virtual-key tech.
Valeo’s InBlue tech is the virtual key system that will allow drivers to ditch their car keys and bulky key fobs and use a smartphone or smartwatch to unlock and start the vehicle.
Valeo envisions that this tech, which will be available in the next few years, will also put remote monitoring of the vehicle’s fuel level, tire pressure, mileage and service intervals, GPS location and more right on the driver’s wrist.
“There will be no more looking for your keys and no more looking for your car,” says Jean-Francois Tarabbia, Valeo senior vice president of Research, Development and Product Marketing, also pointing out that our smart devices are always with us and that InBlue-enabled cars will be GPS-connected.
Looking a bit ahead, Valeo hopes that drivers will be able to simply walk out of the front door and automatically summon their Valet Park4U self-driving car from a nearby parking deck simply by checking their wrist. The supplier also thinks that smartphone virtual-key technology will help with the spread of car-sharing services, which it claims 4 out of 10 European drivers are interested in.
Mobius, on the other hand, is much more conceptual. This dashboard is designed as a demonstration of how autonomous cars could display different information depending on whether they’re under manual or machine control.
