We may not have rocket cars yet but we’re moving ever closer to the day when cars will be fully automated and the people inside will simply have to decide how they occupy themselves during the ride. I came across two videos that show simulations of ideas that are currently being developed: the Toyota Window to the World project and the Dassault Systems Aeon Project.
Toyota’s Window to the World is a joint effort of Toyota Motor Europe’s Kansei1 Design Division and the consultancy arm of the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design. The video shows a girl using a passenger-window touch screen to draw objects that stay attached to where she placed them, find out the distance of particular objects from her, see and hear the names of things in view in the language of the area of travel, and zoom in on details. The sheep at the end is a particularly charming touch. Prototypes were on display at the “Our Future Mobility Now” exhibition in Brussels this summer, but there’s no word yet on when the final version might make it into cars.
The Aeon Project video shows the driver/passenger in an automated car using a touch screen to choose virtual icons. He gets navigation information, finds out more about the area he’s driving through, or chooses among virtual reality options that let him focus on entertainment rather than the road. It’s up to him whether to stay grounded in the (imagined) here and now.
Both videos are as remarkable for the utter seamless simplicity of the touch-screen interactions as they are for the imaginative vision of the system. We may not be saying “Xbox, drive” now but it’s easy to think we might be tapping and dragging on the windshield before too long.
