New-Tech Europe Magazine | March 2018

Map display supplemented by augmented reality is a completely new feature. A video image of the surroundings taken with the aid of the front camera is augmented with helpful navigation information, for example arrows or house numbers are automatically superimposed directly onto the touchscreen of the media display. This makes it easier for the driver to search for a certain house number, or to find the correct side road for turning off. As an example, imagine you are driving with your navigation system and you follow it’s instructions. Just before you are reaching to a turn point you will usually glimpse towards the map to see the 2D view of it and then when looking out of the windshield you will try to understand which turn you should make. In some cases, this task is trivial, mainly when there is only one option to turn or the turn is a simple turn but in some cases there could be more than one road that you can turn into – this is when the augmented reality come in handy – it will show you a highlighted street sign oriented towards the exit you should take with the street name in it – now the task of transforming the data from the 2D map to the view in front of us becomes easy and clear. Other feature I really like is house numbers – especially when I had to drive to locations I didn’t know. Once you are getting close to the destination point the camera view will pop-up next to the map and will show you the view in front overlaid which house numbers for each house. You will also see the house you are looking for highlighted so you will know exactly where you are. “The task we gave to the team was to find a way to show only the relevant contextual data at the right moment – to expect the driver need and show it to him”, says Akiva.

Picture 1: The car demonstrates a high-resolution widescreen cockpit with touchscreen operation of the media display Credit: Daimler AG

Its further strengths include the high-resolution Widescreen cockpit with touchscreen operation of the media display, the navigation display with augmented reality technology (optional) plus intelligent voice control with natural speech recognition, which is activated with the words "Hey Mercedes". Its highlight is the comprehensive touch operation concept – the combination of a touchscreen, touchpad on the centre console and

touch control buttons in the steering wheel. In addition to the intuitive operating experience, less driver distraction is another advantage. MBUX is a revolution of the user experience in the car. Emotively appealing showcasing features underline the comprehensibility of the control structure and thrill through brilliant 3D maximum-resolution graphics, which are rendered, i.e. calculated and displayed, in real time.

Picture 2: The new Mercedes-Benz A-Class Credit: Daimler AG

New-Tech Magazine Europe l 21