For years now, cars have been able to read what we're thinking. Complicated algorithms, allied to sensitive accelerometers can read the position of the steering wheel, the brakes, the throttle and more to predict what we're trying to do and where we're trying to go, and then do things to help us. Computers in the gearbox learn our driving style and then predict which gear we're most likely to want next.
Now though, Jaguar Land Rover wants cars to take a further step, and start reading the thoughts we didn't even know we were having – it wants to go deep into our sub-conscious.
The concept revolves around ever-more sophisticated computers and sensors that would not actually read our minds (phew!) but would instead make notes on all of the small, unconscious actions and reactions we have while driving and interacting with a car. It's not technology that will be used to alter the car's performance on the fly, but instead will feed back into the development of the next-generation model.
Speaking to Automotive News, Jaguar Land Rover Connected Car Director Mike Bell said that “the greatest benefit the connected car gives us is data to better understand the real-world usage of the car, which in turn may lead to us engineering our cars differently. When someone is driving they’re doing a lot of tasks subconsciously and being able to access this real data would enable us to improve the driving experience of our vehicles.”
Bell went on to say that the data would be carefully anonymised and protected so that customers’ personal information was not vulnerable to unauthorised usage.
Jaguar Land Rover is running hard to catch up with its luxury car competitors in new technology, following years of under-investment. It has also developed plans for a fully active and interactive intelligent windscreen, which would project (hopefully non-distracting) augmented reality information across the drivers' full field of vision.
