The Yanfeng XiM23 concept's slim, curved, pillar-to-pillar display can be raised to 50, 100 or 200 mm (about 2, 4 and 8 inches).
The Yanfeng Experience in Motion 2023 (XiM23) concept car is an "odd mix," Vice President of Design and User Experience Tim Shih said. That's because it combines the interiors specialist's current technologies with "very futuristic" elements, he says.
"It is kind of the bandwidth that Yanfeng wants to show; that we have the forward-thinking vision, but we also have things that you can buy and use today," he told me on a video call.
Click here for a video of the Yanfeng XiM23's features
It's an interesting evolution of the concept car series from Yanfeng, because it's not as radically progressive as the XiM20 autonomous pod and not as focused on today as the XiM21.
The XiM23's features that are already headed toward luxury cars -- or will soon be there -- include zero-gravity seats that give the feeling of weightlessness, smart surfaces and using lighting to communicate with the driver.
The stuff that will take longer to become a reality includes the illuminated "Autodrive" button on the fold-away steering wheel to switch on the car's Level 4 full autonomous capability and the XiM23's slim, curved, pillar-to-pillar display, which rises up from the instrument panel.
The 8K display -- Shih noted the best current TVs offer 4K -- can rise 50 mm or 100 mm or up to 200 mm in self-driving mode.
The Yanfeng XiM23 concept has an illuminated Autodrive button on its steering wheel to switch on Level 4 autonomous capability.
Shih said the immersive experience that can be created for occupants in the XiM23 is something that gives automotive suppliers an advantage over the screens most people already take into their cars via their iPhones or Android devices.
"An immersive experience with such a large screen is so much more powerful than whatever small display you might have in your hand," he said. "The industry can really leverage that."
Another potential area of strength for the industry is maximizing the power of lighting, which Shih said posed a major challenge when he and his team created the XiM23.
Yanfeng VP of Design and UX Tim Shih sees lighting playing a much bigger role in future models.
"If you think about it, we cannot sketch lighting," he said. "Designers had to learn how to take their ideas, put them on paper or in the computer and then animate them. Then they had to figure out how to transfer that to an engineer to make the hardware."
Shih said before the XiM23 there was no established process for this.
"We had to develop our own tool chain and find the right simulation software so we could communicate with engineers. We now use this process for production projects and other lighting-related topics," he said.
The way that lighting is being used in architecture or at restaurants to create unique experiences is "inspirational" to Shih.
"We try to bring that into the automotive environment," he said. "Whether it's ADAS functionality or hands-off detection, the lighting helps to communicate these things. We've just scratched the surface when it comes to the potential of lighting in the car."
The XiM23 is the sixth concept from the interiors supplier since 2015.
