Crow: Mobility and Connectivity

As a UX Lead Engineer at Mitsubishi Electric, I spearhead a global development team in creating innovative automotive user interfaces and determining future technology strategies. The theme for Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2018 is “Make the move to mobility.” My vision for this project is to see the automobile as a part of an ecosystem of smart devices that allows users to transition seamlessly through various aspects in their lives. The proof of concept for CES 18 shows realistic use cases of connectivity and customizability.

• Home-to-Car Connectivity
  Trip planning often takes place prior to arriving inside a vehicle. Imagine yourself able to ask Alexa to send a destination to your car ahead of time instead of searching for a destination on your phone and having to type it onto the touchscreen.
• Wearable Biometric Authentication
  Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and smartwatch integration allow biometric authentication as the driver approaches the vehicle and offers access to various functionalities depending on the user’s distance from the vehicle.
• Driver/Passenger Identification
  Through the voice recognition system, the vehicle is able to identify the identity of passengers and their seating location.
• Hybrid Haptics Button
  An OLED Display button minimizes distraction by allowing a driver to feel the button physically. Each button can be assigned with most frequently used functionality such as Media though voice or touch and drag.
• Predictive User Interface
  A predictive algorithm is able to learn user’s behavior and over time suggest a favorite playlist or a stop at a favorite coffee shop. A web of connected devices make it possible for the vehicle to become aware of a grocery item in an online shopping cart. It is, therefore, able to optimize your drive by suggesting a stop at a grocery store before heading home.
• Parking Assistant Drone
  Urban drone is your last-mile buddy that helps save drivers time locating the closest parking spot, especially in a large sports venue. Once the spot has been identified, the drone can send the car a GPS location and provide turn-by-turn directions to the driver.
• In-Vehicle Payment
  A drive-thru can be a social experience. In-vehicle Payment makes it possible for each passenger to customize a coffee order independently while allowing to orders to be placed as a group. Each passenger can pay independently or pick up the entire a tab.