Gesture control and tablets coming soon

Anybody that has owned a Kinect motion device for the Microsoft Xbox range of gaming consoles will be familiar with gesture control technology.

A series of cameras and sensors detect motion and – with relatively recent advances – pick out individual finger movements and gestures in 3D space towards or away from the sensor.

On a game console it results in some rather foolish looking waving around, and at times frustrating, unresponsive game play, despite the technological improvements.

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Asia in Shanghai recently, two stablemate automobile companies showed off the next iteration of Gesture Control for in-car infotainment services.

Volkswagen and Audi have similar but different approaches to the tech.

VW is being the most invested and bold at this point with the integrated Columbus based infotainment system already sporting a proximity sensor that contextually animates touch screen buttons as an operator's hand approaches. The multi-gesture option is an intuitive next step.

The VW sensor suite for gestures works best with a hand at a low level, it currently detects three types of gestures (with all road-rage types currently disabled); swipe left and right to move the menu, push up and down or utilise the single finger 'click' to select as appropriate. Your hand is presented large and blue on the infotainment screen as a helpful guide.

On the show floor and in the Golf R-Touch, VW made the gesture control accessible to CES Asia attendees, and it was clear it would take practice in its current form to master. In fact, watching people use the system it was obvious that in a practical sense this is not an interface for drivers, there is simply just too much eyes-off-the-road time.

To its credit VW says that this is at a prototype stage only, and gesture controls are not implemented for functions other than simple media selection and navigation map movement.

Audi is instead taking a much more cautious approach to gesture control, keeping it away from the driver and giving it to passengers instead.

The portable Audi Android-based tablet can be housed in a special mount for back seat passengers (pictured). At CES Asia Audi showed a special version of this mount that included a 3D camera that senses hand motion.

In a roomy luxury car there can be a distance between the passenger and the touch screen of the tablet. With the gesture control a passenger can recline in their seat, hold up their open hand and use a "grip" motion to have the circular cursor lock to a menu item. To select the option the passenger can pull their arm back.

In navigation mode the map can be "gripped", moved around, and zoomed with pull and push motions.

Again this is a prototype, and having used it, it does take a little more practice than what we all experienced with our first touch screen for example. Sensibly however, none of this involves the driver.

At the CES Asia stand VW were also showing the very slick and good looking tablet and smartphone remote-control application already available in the west. In China however it is presented as part of the relationship with telco Baidu (with Google not available in the country).

Up to five devices can connect to the in-car WI-FI hotspot, which provides a way for the device users to interface with the entertainment system, and also use the devices Baidu Maps system, contacts and calendar list to allow navigation coordinates to be sent to the car's satnav.

To reduce any possible stupid in-car antics from drunk mates, the driver has complete control on whether to allow the device remote-control updates.

Fellow Germanic car manufacturer BMW is also getting involved with gesture controls as part of the 2016 7 Series roll out.

Rotating your finger clockwise will turn up the volume of the 7 Series infotainment system, anti-clockwise to lower the volume.

Context-specific gestures are also available. For example, waggling your finger in what is called an "air pinch" will accept an incoming phone call, a dismissive wave will decline the call sending it to voice mail instead.

Keeping the driver gesture controls simple is a key focus of the BMW system, one that should mean eyes remain on the road.

It is all part of the teasing rollout of the new 7 Series, which also includes an updated multi-touch screen as well as key-controlled auto parking and extensive use of carbon-fibre in the core body construction.