Researchers in Australia and Germany hope to bring fun and functional applications in the interior of your car

Researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia and Germany are developing a system of in-car entertainment that aims to solve the old "Are we nearly there yet?" problem using motion controls and holographic screens.

Tentatively titled Interactions nice in the back seat, the project will seek to mix holographic screens and off-the-shelf motion detection technology similar to gaming systems like Wii Kinect Microsoft and Nintendo to create a variety of applications for the rear seat designed for use on long car trips for adults and children.

Dr. Steffen Walz, director of RMIT Games and Entertainment Experimental Laboratory (GEElab), says the idea for the project came to watch the cars not just as means of transport, but rather as symbols of personal freedom.

The joy of traffic jams?

"Where's the fun in driving, if you are constantly stuck in traffic jams? What we're trying to do is find a way to entertain people during the trip itself, so they are less focused on reach their destination faster and more on enjoying the car itself. the kind of technology we are trying to develop, especially holographic displays, work very well in the closed cocoon-like space of a car. "

The system uses a combination of sensors in the rear seat armrest screens integrated into the seatbacks to create images in three dimensions controlled exclusively by upper-body gestures. Walz provides a number of applications for the system, video games with motion control for Office programs that allows passengers to check email and make video calls without a keyboard or any remote control.

On a broader scale, Walz says the system could also be used for social applications, educational programs that teach children about their immediate surroundings, and even a matchmaking application that would scan passing vehicles for potential dates.

With pencil and paper

Walz, who heads GEElab of Germany, and his team have been commissioned to build the prototype of Audi GEElab is a partner of the industry, soon jumped on board to sponsor the project. The team has already done a test run dry prototypes - pens and paper - with a group of children, asking them to imagine all sorts of educational applications that could control the fingers and hands.

Most of these scenarios involved simple association wordplay, and the tasks that required children to choose a real life object (one that would see while sitting in the car) and answer questions about that object.

While Walz believes such applications offer social and educational benefits for children, it also recognizes that some parents might criticize the system on the basis that it has the potential to hinder human contact.

focus passengers

"I have a daughter 22 months old and never build anything to break the communication between her and me," he says. "I think of it as something that will involve all passengers in a collaborative manner. We are trying to think of it as something that will foster communication and interaction between families and educating children."

This involves the development of educational applications that allow parents in the front seat to set tasks that require a combination of real and virtual worlds to solve puzzles and interaction. Walz and his team are also thinking about the problem of motion sickness, but have yet to find a solution for inclusion in the finished product.

While there are no plans to commercialize the prototype, Walz believes that the system could start appearing on passenger vehicles in the next five years. "Definitely going to have something to show for ourselves in the next couple of years, but technology like this takes time to develop. In an ideal world, this type of system will revolutionize the car driving and even help to fix things as car sickness. If anyone wants to use, then no. But that's how science works. "