Jaguar Land Rover reveal the car of the future

Jaguar Land Rover aim to reduce driver distraction and improve safety with a host of new technologies that make use of head-up displays and gesture control.

Dr Wolfgang Epple, director of Research and Technology for Jaguar Land Rover, said: “We are working on research projects that will give the driver better information to enhance the driving experience.

“By presenting the highest quality imagery possible, a driver need only look at a display once. Showing virtual images that allow the driver to accurately judge speed and distance will enable better decision-making and offer real benefits for every day driving on the road, or the track.”

Virtual windscreen

The virtual windscreen is Jaguar’s head-up display for cars. Unlike Google Glass, the virtual windscreen is the optimal user experience for safe driving. By superimposing information and graphics onto the windscreen, the driver is able to maintain their whole attention on the road. It will display information such as the current vehicle speed, braking guidance, hazards, ghost cars and racing lines.

Gesture control

Who needs lots of buttons? Not Jaguar Land Rover! They’re aiming to limit the amount of physical button pushing required whilst driving so as to keep the driver’s eyes on the road and reduce distraction.

“We have identified which functions still need to be controlled by physical buttons and which could be controlled by gesture and carefully calibrated motion sensors,” said Dr. Epple. “The system is currently being tested on a number of features including sunblinds, rear wipers and satellite navigation maps. It has the potential to be on sale within the next few years.”

Self learning car

The car of the future will be self-learning and know all of your personal preferences, such as your preferred climate control settings in particular weather conditions and which journeys you prefer to take. The Smart Assistant feature will recognise that you’ll be late to your meeting and text ahead to say you’ll be 10 minutes late. It will even change the entertainment system based on who’s in the car.

With features such as Auto Adaptive Cruise Control (AACC), your future car will even learn how you drive and can replicate your driving techniques. All to help minimise driver distraction.

The pot hole avoider

Are you fed up of driving over pot holes and the damage they can cause? Well now there’s a solution. The Discovery Vision concept will use lasers to scan the road ahead and prepare the car’s suspension to minimise the impact of things on the road such as pot holes as much as possible.

3D  instrument clusters

Jaguar Land Rover are also looking at technology that could replace rear view and external mirrors with cameras and virtual displays. The problem in the past has always been that with just 2D interfaces driver’s can’t accurately judge the distance or speed of other road users. Therefore, JLR have developed new technology in the form of a 3D instrument cluster that uses head and eye-tracking technology to create a more natural 3D image on the dashboard. This creates a perception of depth that enables the driver to judge distance.