BMW's iDrive multi-function control depends in part on an emerging science of providing information to drivers through their fingers.
So far, only the small Silicon Valley company Immersion Corp. specifically specializes in so-called haptics technology, but the automotive applications are already spreading from BMW to Volkswagen and Rolls-Royce.
Derived from the Greek word for touch, haptics is tactile feedback technology.
Almost since the beginning of the industry, automakers have worked to refine how information about the vehicle and its environment - speed, acceleration or deceleration, turning rate, road surface - is physically conveyed to the driver's feet, hands and body. Early power steering systems, for example, virtually eliminated the "road feel" with excessive damping, but auto engineers gradually learned how to tune some tactile feedback into the systems.
But luxury automakers are starting to turn to Immersion for haptics technology that lets them program the feel of a control - a radio knob or heater switch - that drivers use without taking their eyes off the road.
Automakers are looking at the technology for two reasons. First, automakers must create instrument panels without a lot of clutter. Secondly, they need to improve driver safety.
"The number of functions that require interaction between the driver and the automobile is increasing," says Joe DiNucci, Immersion vice president of sales and marketing. "The number of buttons to go along with that has increased to a point where it's bordering on the absurd."
That's the reason BMW introduced iDrive on the 7 series last year. Critics have called it too complicated and counter-intuitive. But those criticisms largely focus on the number of functions and learning time rather than whether the tactile feedback helps the driver operate it.
BMW will continue and expand use of iDrive, BMW spokesman Gordon Keil says.
"BMW is very committed to iDrive," he says. "There will likely be a form of iDrive on the next 5 series."
Immersion's haptics technology also appears in the new Rolls-Royce Phantom and the European version of Volkswagen's Phaeton luxury sedan.
Startup specialty supplier
That's good news for San Jose, California-based Immersion, which is still looking to turn a profit. The 130-employee company posted revenue of $20.2 million (E19 million) and a net loss of $16.5 million last year, following a net loss of $21.7 million in 2001. But the company says the Rolls-Royce and VW deals will help make it profitable.
"We are in active dialogue with every major and minor automotive manufacturer, and Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers as well," DiNucci says. "We are the center of gravity with programmable haptics."
Devices such as iDrive concentrate a variety of functions into one control knob, much like the mouse of a computer. The difference is that the knob, or controller, incorporates force feedback. By pressing or twisting the controller, the driver receives tactile feedback to signal that he is controlling a device, such as navigation or climate controls.
Michael Levin, Immersion vice president of technology development, says the technology should be viewed as another communications channel.
"You could actually get a lot of information through your sense of touch, which could then reduce your dependency on visual cues," he says.
Depending on the device the driver wants to operate, haptics technology can give the control a different feel.
"Even within a screen," says Levin, "it could feel different."
A haptics device, such as iDrive, contains its own microprocessor and communicates with other processors within a vehicle.
The big benefit, says Levin, is that by centralizing controls to operate a variety of vehicle functions, such as navigation or heating, driver distraction is reduced.
BMW's Keil says BMW began studying driver distraction about a decade ago. "Back then, the dashboard was getting pretty cluttered," he says.
Developing iDrive with Immersion was a way to address the problem, he says, although he acknowledges the criticism and concedes that iDrive "does require some learning."
Keil says: "The sole purpose of iDrive is to eliminate driver distraction."
