Visteon to wow CES 2020 with next-gen digital cockpit tech platforms

Visteon Corporation, the leading automotive cockpit electronics technology company, is to showcase at CES 2020 a range of technology solutions designed to enhance safety and the driving experience by enabling the transformation of cockpits to all-digital environments. CES 2020 opens in Las Vegas on January 7. It will also mark Visteon’s 21st year as an exhibitor, making it one of the longest-running show participants in the automotive industry.

Visteon will display innovative cockpit electronics technology platforms in four core areas:
- Driver Information – Industry-leading digital clusters and multi-display modules
-SmartCore – Industry-first cockpit domain controllers
- DriveCore – Enhanced safety domain controllers for Level 2-plus automated driving
- Infotainment – Scalable Android-based infotainment solutions

Bridging the gap between LCD and OLED tech
Digital displays are key enabler of the cockpit of the future, and as a highlight of its CES exhibit (Central Plaza, Pavilion 13), Visteon will debut a new digital display technology that delivers exceptional brightness and contrast with a rich colour gamut. This patent-pending technology is designed to bridge the gap between LCD and OLED display technologies, keeping rigorous automotive requirements in mind. Visteon will also premiere a flexible rotating glass cockpit, which can bend around the driver in sport mode or bend back to flat mode to allow the front passenger to view the display.

Furthermore, Visteon is to demonstrate the integration between its SmartCore cockpit domain controller and DriveCore ADAS/automated driving technologies. These cockpit innovations establish a consistent human-machine interaction (HMI) experience between the driver and vehicle, enabling vehicles to seamlessly enable advanced automated safety functions, which will help smooth the transition from Level 2-plus to higher levels of autonomy.

“The cockpit is evolving to a fully digital environment with multiple curved, flexible displays that show information about the driving environment, vehicle dynamics and safety, as well as connected multimedia content,” said Sachin Lawande, Visteon president and CEO. “This transition requires the development of several new technologies to enhance the complete driving experience. As a global leader in multi-display modules and centralised computers, we will show our latest innovations that address this digital transformation at CES.”

Innovative driver information displays 
Digital cockpit displays are becoming larger, curved and flexible, with multiple displays integrated with a glass cover lens that gives the entire system a seamless and high-quality look and feel. At CES, Visteon will show innovations ranging from 3D clusters with eye-catching pop-out safety alerts to its new, breakthrough display that delivers pure, deep black and vibrant colours with high brightness – without sacrificing reliability.

Infotainment solutions for connected cars 
Visteon is presenting scalable Android infotainment solutions for seamless connectivity including seamless integration with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay technologies for smartphone projection. In addition to this functionality, Visteon also provides an onboard artificial intelligence (AI)-based voice assistant with natural language understanding – tailored for in-car use without the need for cloud connectivity.

Next-gen SmartCore cockpit domain controllers
The next generation of SmartCore – Visteon’s industry-first domain controller that launched on production vehicles in 2018 – now seamlessly connects HMI across multiple display domains – including the digital cluster, infotainment, rear-seat infotainment, surround view, and in-cabin sensing of driver drowsiness, attentiveness and facial recognition. With its robust computing power, this enhanced SmartCore elevates the user experience while managing system-level cost and providing efficiencies in weight and power consumption. 

Enhanced DriveCore autonomous driving controller
At CES, Visteon will show an enhanced iteration of DriveCore, its open, scalable platform for addressing multiple levels of vehicle automation, with a focus on Level 2-plus. DriveCore consists of the hardware, in-vehicle middleware, and PC-based software to enable sensor fusion and process AI/machine learning algorithms for advanced Level 2 functionality.

Visteon will introduce an updated DriveCore Studio development environment announced earlier this year, which allows developers to leverage Microsoft Azure Cloud – Microsoft’s global, hyper-scale intelligent cloud solution – to develop, test and validate autonomous driving algorithms. This new version allows developers to compare two automated driving algorithms simultaneously, helping meet the computing demands of Level 2-plus systems.