Reporter's Notebook: Embracing "New" Conveniences
Things that may have been thought of in some science fiction novel some 75 years ago. Now, they appear on today’s vehicles.
You know, automotive design, technology, and engineering sill fascinates me. The idea that you can tell a vehicle to call something through voice recognition or get a massage at highway speeds continue to astound me.
What a time to be alive…
In last month’s historiography, I explored how “convenience” features were different about half a century ago. How we went from rolling up windows to one-touch electric operation…among other things.
What I want to do here is explore some of the craziest features I encountered. Things that may have been thought of in some science fiction novel some 75 years ago. Now, they appear on today’s vehicles.
Science fiction? If you have $50,000 rolling around, you can live your futuristic fantasy right now. Seriously…
Who knew you could simply sit down behind the wheel and the vehicle would be “on.” I first encountered this in the Volkswagen ID.4, their battery-electric SUV. How could this possible? If you have the key fob in your pocket, you can sit down, and that vehicle is ready to start. When you depress the brake pedal, it is ready to go. Simple.
Simple, but absolutely weird.
It is not weird, however. When you have a proximity sensing key fob on you, you can walk up to your vehicle and the doors are unlocked. It is the same technology that has enabled this form of ignition starting sequence. Volkswagen is not the only one that has this kind of starting sequence. General Motors has it on their newer Ultium platform models.
If you’re looking for an interesting feature that makes things a bit more convenient, how about closing the driver door with a press of the brake pedal?
This feature gives the least lazy person a way to close the driver’s door without reaching for the door handle. Especially on luxury cars. In particular, the Genesis G90 flagship sedan I reviewed over a year ago. This was an elevated form of convenience that is mind blowing at first.
Key to this feature is the soft close actuation for the doors. That is where you do not “slam” the door close. Just softly close the door to almost the latch and let it go to a full close. Taking the same actuation and giving that extra operation makes these “self-closing” doors work.
Voice actuation has been with us for some time. We have seen this feature elevated to truly recognize your natural voice. That includes those of us who do not have perfect diction and enunciation.
It is not about how the voice recognition software has evolved. Rather, it is the expanded vocabulary the system uses and the functionality it is capable of enabling. You can thank Google for that, with its built-in software and the utilization of Google Assistant to drive this system.
We are seeing Google built-in on various vehicles. General Motors and Volvo are among the manufacturers integrating this software onto their infotainment systems. While it replaces smartphone integration, some of us do not have Google accounts, trust the vehicle’s software with our information, or use Apple iOS exclusively.
To make matters more inconvenient, General Motors will begin to not allow you to do any smartphone mirroring on their Ultium platform electric vehicles soon. Other manufacturers are either doing so or will begin to do so by the end of this decade.
Speaking of infotainment, notice how the touchscreens have evolved. They’ve grown as much as the pickup truck. Some General Motors vehicles have screens as large as 17.7 inches. Ford screens have tipped over 15 inches. Some have basically taken over the dashboard itself.
While convenient, these screens also house other functions. You have to use these screens to change the ambient lighting, enact the seat massage function, change drive modes, read performance and efficiency stats…and so forth. Some center screens have taken over for the instrument cluster, along with changing then logic of some physical controls.
Your opinion on the evolution of the center screen is valid. We get the pros and cons of these screens. However, I am of the belief that you should pay attention to your driving and keep your eyes focused on the road and not worry about what song comes on your screen. Oh, and while they’re at it, keep the instrument cluster in front of the driver and install head-up displays…
Let me stop here before I say something to the effect of “get off my lawn.”
While these conveniences offer innovative solutions to the most mundane operations in an automobile, there are flips sides to each of them. The quandary between giving up control for the sake of technology or to embrace the future as it is now here. Some of which are straight out of the science fiction novel or movie you enjoyed the most.
All photos by Randy Stern