Today, there has been a constant upgrade on car electronics running alongside the enhancements that we are able to enjoy with our hand held electronic gadgets. Car manufacturers focus on feedback from actual buyers in choosing the best improvements in their human machine interface implementations and these include buttons, switched, joysticks, visual displays, and the latest craze in auto enhancements – voice control. Newer and more innovative options on driver interaction especially when it comes to entertainment and comfort controls are being developed and installed on the latest cars and SUVs.
However, many consumers today remain clueless as to how to use these high tech devices, so says a survey conducted by Gartner Koslowski in order to determine drivers’ preferences on HMIs or human machine interface technology. And in the same survey, what turned out to be the device which consumers are most interested in are those, which can be controlled by voice.
With laws on electronic device use while driving getting stricter and stricter, distraction while driving remains to be the main consideration applied by car electronics manufacturers in the design and manufacture of new gadgets. With the knowledge that distraction is going to be eternally tied up with the use of car electronic gadgets, most agree that banning their use would not be the right direction to take since consumers will continuously use, banned or not. The most appropriate thing to do right now is to improve the design of these gadgets with the aim of minimizing distraction and increasing efficiency while driving. This would be a two-pronged attack because with more capable and less distracting car electronics devices, both the government and the consumer are satisfied.
Ford is making headway in hitting the right spot when it comes to technology and safety combined. To begin with, the car giant is making sure that in its future releases, it would be known through its brand signature technology, features that are unique only to the Ford tag. These technologies include Sony and THX for its car audio, SYNC, and its refueling system that does not require the use for fuel caps, Easy Fuel. Understanding that customers’ perception remains one of the biggest factors affecting people’s decision when buying things, Ford is using technology branding and associating it with the Ford name to make people see them as technology leaders and innovators.
There is an increasing consumer demand for car electronics systems that promote safety and driver assistance and this has led to many enrichments in car manufacture some of which are lane departure warning systems, blind spot detection, and speed warning systems.