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001.28        Tehnologies / Function

The technologies we will seek out in this project is basically what is presented to us in the curse itself, but we´ll be adding at large VR / AR technologies, which are very interesting to us. And the very well built GPS 3D Mapping systems which exist, in order to see what we can achieve in visualizing the scenarios.

001.29        Virtual Rality VR & Augmented Reality AR

Many people remember these technologies from the 80`s, as the technology which would revolutianize the gaming industry. And as such one can say that it never really reached its potential, at least not in the Western Industrialized Countries. The systems basically concist of goggles with screens inside them, and gloves, that show up on the screens. Then you can put in whatever scenario you wish, not ever having to step outside.

www.wikipedia.org
Virtual reality (VR) is a technology which allows a user to interact with a computer-simulated environment, be it a real or imagined one. Most current virtual reality environments are primarily visual experiences, displayed either on a computer screen or through special or stereoscopic displays, but some simulations include additional sensory information, such as sound through speakers or headphones. Some advanced, haptic systems now include tactile information, generally known as force feedback, in medical and gaming applications. Users can interact with a virtual environment or a virtual artifact (VA) either through the use of standard input devices such as a keyboard and mouse, or through multimodal devices such as a wired glove, the Polhemus boom arm, and omnidirectional treadmill. The simulated environment can be similar to the real world, for example, simulations for pilot or combat training, or it can differ significantly from reality, as in VR games. In practice, it is currently very difficult to create a high-fidelity virtual reality experience, due largely to technical limitations on processing power, image resolution and communication bandwidth. However, those limitations are expected to eventually be overcome as processor, imaging and data communication technologies become more powerful and cost-effective over time

www.wikipedia.org
Augmented reality (AR) is a field of computer research which deals with the combination of real-world and computer-generated data. At present, most AR research is concerned with the use of live video imagery which is digitally processed and “augmented” by the addition of computer-generated graphics. Advanced research includes the use of motion-tracking data, fiducial marker recognition using machine vision, and the construction of controlled environments containing any number of sensors and actuators.
www.howstuffworks.com
On the spectrum between virtual reality, which creates immersible, computer-generated environments, and the real world, augmented reality is closer to the real world. Augmented reality adds graphics, sounds, haptics and smell to the natural world as it exists. You can expect video games to drive the development of augmented reality, but this technology will have countless applications. Everyone from tourists to military troops will benefit from the ability to place computer-generated graphics in their field of vision.
Augmented reality will truly change the way we view the world. Picture yourself walking or driving down the street. With augmented-reality displays, which will eventually look much like a normal pair of glasses, informative graphics will appear in your field of view, and audio will coincide with whatever you see. These enhancements will be refreshed continually to reflect the movements of your head. In this article, we will take a look at this future technology, its components and how it will be used.

www.cs.unc.edu

What is Augmented Reality good for? Basically, applications of this technology use the virtual objects to aid the user’s understanding of his environment. For example, a group at UNC scanned a fetus inside a womb with an ultrasonic sensor, then overlayed a three-dimensional model of the fetus on top of the mother’s womb. The goal is to give the doctor “X-ray vision,” enabling him to “see inside” the womb. Instructions for building or repairing complex equipment might be easier to understand if they were available not in the form of manuals with text and 2D pictures, but as 3D drawings superimposed upon the machinery itself, telling the mechanic what to do and where to do it. Groups at Boeing and Columbia are exploring these types of applications. Fundamentally, Augmented Reality is about augmentation of human perception: supplying information not ordinarily detectable by human sences.

001.30        GPS 3d Mapping

The Simulator sceneries have reached new peaks the last years, making true digital environments practically realistic. And with the use of GPS positioning one will in the future be able to land aircraft by looking at a computer generated scenario portraying real life. With mm precision, the car industry will also benefit from these developments, and in this project we look at this as one of our main focalpoints.

www.gpsrview.net
When most people think of GPS devices with a “3D” display, what they picture is a view of the road ahead from the perspective of near-ground level. The width of the road ahead narrows to give the illusion of 3D. The area at the bottom of the GPS covers a shorter distance (more closely zoomed in) than the area at the top of the GPS furthest away from you. But we will soon need to drop this definition of 3D displays, because “true” 3D maps are coming to GPS devices before too long. So what is different about the new “3D”?
Instead of just displaying a 2D map at an angle to give a 3D perspective, new devices and maps will actually be able to represent height of relative objects. Medians can be drawn on the GPS and those drawings can have shadows to illustrate their relative height. More importantly buildings can be shown in 3D to serve as landmarks, guiding the driver to know exactly when to turn.
While we won’t likely see these types of maps in the next few months, we will see them over the next few years. These images come courtesy of Tele Atlas and show the progress they are making on their 3D models. Note in the first image that you can actually see the color and construction of the buildings…. think of the possibilities of verbal instructions that might be possible with such data. “In 500 feet turn right after the red brick building”. Wouldn’t that be nice?
Volkswagen is reportedly working with Google to provide data and software as well as Nvidia (graphics chipset maker) to provide some of the necessary hardware. The idea is to build a GPS navigation system that doesn’t just take 2D maps and display then in 3D view like current GPS system do, but to actually display 3D data (terrain and buildings) on screen.
001.31        Synthetic Vision Information System SVS

www.wikipedia.org
Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) are a set of technologies that provide pilots with clear and intuitive means of understanding their flying environment. Synthetic Vision provides situation awareness to the operators by using terrain, obstacle, geo-political, hydrological and other databases. A typical SVS application uses a set of databases stored on board the aircraft, an image generator computer, and a display. Navigation solution is obtained through the use of GPS and Intertial Reference Systems. Highway In The Sky (HITS), or Path-In-The-Sky, is often used to depict the projected path of the aircraft in perspective view. Pilots acquire instantaneous understanding of the current as well as the future state of the aircraft with respect to the terrain, towers, buildings and other environment features.
www.rockwellcollins.com
The Synthetic Vision Information Systems incorporates three types of displays to help increase pilot situational awareness. The head-up display includes terrain cues and helps keep the crew aware of the situation outside of the aircraft. The primary flight display (PFD) integrates all tactical information including flight path, pathway and terrain to augment the crew’s decision-making capability. The multifunction display (MFD) provides key strategic information, improving crew awareness of terrain, obstacles, traffic and weather.

001.32        Heat Sencitive Cameras

www.as.l-3com.com
As the human eye detects variations in color, the IR camera detects variations in heat. Originally developed for the military, this revolutionary system is now affordably available for all types of aircraft. IRIS technology measures heat signatures and creates an electronic image of everything in view. A real-time, black and white image of people, animals, aircraft and terrain is displayed on a variety of compatible cockpit display systems and electronic flight bags. Because the system detects heat and not light, bright oncoming light, solar glare or the darkness of night is not a problem for pilots flying IRIS equipped aircraft.

001.33        Night Vision Goggles

www.wikipedia.org

Night Vision are telescopes, binoculars or cameras with a large diameter objective. Large lenses can gather and concentrate light, thus intensifying light with purely optical means and enabling the user to see better in the dark than with naked eye alone. Often night glasses also have a fairly large exit pupil of 7 mm or more to let all gathered light into the user’s eye. However, many people can’t take advantage of this because of the limited dilation of the human pupil. To overcome this, soldiers were sometimes issued atropine eye drops to dilate pupils. Before the introduction of image intensifiers, night glasses were the only method of night vision, and thus were widely utilized, especially at sea. Second World War era night glasses usually had a lens diameter of 56 mm or more with magnification of seven or eight. Major drawbacks of night glasses are their large size and weight.

001.34        Laser Technology

www.wikipedia.org
A laser is an electronic-optical device that emits coherent light radiation. The term “laser” is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.[1] A typical laser emits light in a narrow, low-divergence monochromatic (single-coloured, if the laser is operating in the visible spectrum), beam with a well-defined wavelength. In this way, laser light is in contrast to a light source such as the incandescent light bulb, which emits light over a wide area and over a wide spectrum of wavelengths.
The first working laser was demonstrated in May 1960 by Theodore Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories. Recently, lasers have become a multi-billion dollar industry. The most widespread use of lasers is in optical storage devices such as compact disc and DVD players, in which the laser (a few millimeters in size) scans the surface of the disc. Other common applications of lasers are bar code readers, laser printers and laser pointers.
In industry, lasers are used for cutting steel and other metals and for inscribing patterns (such as the letters on computer keyboards). Lasers are also commonly used in various fields in science, especially spectroscopy, typically because of their well-defined wavelength or short pulse duration in the case of pulsed lasers. Lasers are used by the military for rangefinding, target identification and illumination for weapons delivery. Lasers used in medicine are used for internal surgery and cosmetic applications.
Laser as distanse measuring device, is interesting, as that would allow for the points measured to be represented graphically, thus you could paint a representation of the world by using lasers. But that would demand many lasers.

001.35        Integration

The goal to a certain extent is to integrate these optical technologies (IR, SVS), in a AR system. Thus creating a new kind of interface not created before. This will be put into play in a module, that has the VR AR systems and new controlsystems integrated. That means a module with seating, controlsystems, HMD with the new integrated technology interface. And normal modules, not for controlling the automachine. And Modules for more than one person and soforth.

001.36        Environment Analysis

In order to get a clear overview of todays  functions in a normal car, which in most cases must be present in future vehicles aswell. There was done tests. We drove 1 hour, and the whole ride was filmed in order to locate problemareas, and filter out functions, actions and reactions carried out by the driver. These were then written down and put in a system of  “importance”, sorting out the main functions in a car “cockpit” from the lesser / but yet important secondary functions.

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001.20        Ergonomics
In these future Automachines the ergonomic layout we know today will not be eminent. Due to the layout of today, we already know that it is basically to much to handle for many people.

001.21        Pedals
For example the instrument – like play of the pedals is basically redundant, the feet should not be an active part of driving, thus cutting the amount of informational sencoral organs to a minimum. The go – system, or todays throttle, could easily be controlled by a stick, adding the brake to the same means of movement. Forward GO – Backward STOP, easy to do and easy to understand for all people.

001.22        Steeringwheel
The steeringwheel is also up to debate, as it may not be the best means of controlling a car
www.timesonline.co.uk
The Carving makes use of so-called “steer-by-wire” technology, the same system that makes the steering-wheel-less Mercedes SL possible. The concept is the same as in “fly-by-wire” aeroplanes, where the pilots’ inputs are transmitted by electronics rather than pulleys, levers and pneumatic pipes. Steer-by-wire essentially removes the need for any mechanical linkage between the steering system and the wheels. Instead, sensors register the driver’s steering movements and transfer these to microprocessors, which in turn control the electrically driven steering gear.
The joystick-controlled SL takes this concept further, so that all the mechanisms usually controlled by mechanical linkages — gears, brakes and accelerator — are taken over electronically in a “drive-by-wire” system.
“The sidestick SL could revolutionise car design,” says Pletschen. “It means you can have the airbag in front of the driver, just like the passenger, because you don’t have a steering-wheel column to disturb the driver — so it will be safer. The space that this frees up also means that you can completely re-create the cockpit. And it means that you can move from right-hand drive to left-hand drive without having to make great changes to the car.”
Of course the road to a different system of driving a car is long, but imagining the idea is interesting as it will alter the interiour of the car  totally. Giving dasigners excsessive possibilities in shaping the cabin in new ways. We take away the pedals and the steeringwheel.

001.23        Seating
Then we can look at the seeting arrangements, how the positioning of the body may be altered to give people a more comfortable ride. We will presumably be travelling at higher speeds, and as such the seating must accomodate this by being stable sideways, and directionwise. Therefore the seats will be body adaptable, meaning they will wrap around your body as you set yourself down in the seat fitting to you perfectly. You will also have the possibilty in demanding your own style in how you are seated. If you want to lay back or sit more upright. The seating will also be dynamic, meaning it will move carefully ass you drive / fly. Which means you´ll never experience excessive preassure anywhere on your body during long rides. To accomodate this actual movement, the seat and control systems will be a module, separated from the surface of the interiour. Moving together, also limiting excessive g-force by having anti excelleration devices, as such moving backward as you excellerate. This means every person in the Automachine is sitting inside a module which moves inside the vehicle itself. The modules contain what a passenger in the future will be used to. Access to the web, which means full coverage in media in general. But also warious modes, where you can sleep, work, sit backward, forward, sideways. The module will be highly agile, and move, act and adjust as you wish.

001.24        Instruments
The placement and arrangement of analogue instrumentation will dissappear completely, as the space will be altered due to the modular design system and the removal of the common piston engine technology. The instruments will be altered and processed to accomodate the eye, in a HUD (Head Up Display) system mounted either on the persons head or in the modular interiour part. You will only see what you need to see, and your car will tell you when something is not right, visually, or by sound.

001.25        Induced Reality
If the pilot or driver has a HMD (Head Mounted Display) that could give an altered version of reality. like a pair of Virtual Rality Glasses, or an equal means of receiving information. The designers would have full freedom in altering and changing the visual interaction with the world. Thus giving the pilot / driver an environment in which he or she is more likely to find more control. The system is induced because we give the person the choice of how one should use the “eyes” of the car. The Automachin`s Eyes would consist of existing known technologies, that would enhance our vision, making the driving experience both more safe and easy no matter what situation might be like. For exmple it would bi highly likely, that one could remove all unnececary information, and just focus on what matters. And at the same time highlight items that matter, by “painting” them digitally. Which means we in the future can build functional things graphically that is not there in real life.    Increaing rationality, and reducing cost of building infrastructure dramatically.
The thought is that one could choose up to several different levels of “Reality”, and as such change the view from full VR (GPS Mapping), a situation where you are driving a simulator which is really reality (full digitalization of the real world). To the situation where you are driving looking at the world as it really is, only with the minor information you need, like speed indication. Then one could design many levels in between where we cross the two worlds taking the best parts of each visual entity an mixing them together to create a smooth informative interface which would work.

001.26        Haptics / Control
There would be an advantage if one could easily integrate all movements, and / or commands you would need into some simple steps, either done orally, or by adding some kind of menu system to the interface system. In that sence the joystick and throttle would be integrated parts of the module with details which were easy to control. For instance by using surfaces that are easily felt, because you will not necessarily see them inside the glasses. Therefore the sticks must be highly touch reactive (haptically perfect) in regards to the feedback you will get on wether or not your hands are in the right spot or not.

001.27        Brain Load
All of these methods should ultimately result in an more comfortable ride, removing stress on the brain, thus creating more safe atmospheres. Another major contributor to this is the fact that we are using drive by wire and digitalization, which means programming will take over what one would refer to as finetuning the ride. An easy example could be that the control organs alter their input at different speeds. This is common in aircraft technology, and in some modern cars. It means you could never push hard on the stick when your going fast, the car would react just to its limits, avoiding rolling over on its back. And sencor systems would cover the car so that it registers other vehicles making it impossible to drive into others. All in all, you could really relax as you drive in the future, if you happend to fall asleep, your car would know this because it measures your vital signs, thus it would react by bringing you to a stop and then asking you if you want to sleep some more. All in all your Automachine will act more like a travelling tool than it is now. Accomodation, and ease is major goals.

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(Your) Induced Reality

000.00 Abstract

The Concept that will evolve in this assignment, Will be linked to the Words Function Integration / Uncomplicated Everyday Life & ?Sustainability?. We will look at future concepts within future mobile solutions, looking at a time between 2030 – 50. Above all try to understand and grasp the system that is needed in order to host new solutions within transportation in the future. This is done in a cooperation with the respective department for research within future solutions at Volkswagen Germany & the Ergonomics Department at Duisburg – Essen University.

Our problemdefinition is as follows; In a world (2050) where carmanufacturers are delivering mobile solutions services and not cars, we seek to imagine how to make personal travel more efficient, and as such increase safety to such a degree that it becomes a reraty to have an accident. And further more seeking to evolve the automachine in a way that makes it accomodated to the metatrend uncomplicated everyday life.

Phase 001.0 Research

001.01 Problem Areas

Todays traffic situation is horrible. More people die in accidents everyday than ever before. Volkswagen is not an exception. So, research has to be done into what causes accidents. We´ve found 7 situational reasons for accidents occuring;

Handling & Monitoring
Fatigue
Weather
The Dark
Time, Stress & Irritation
Disruption
safety Feeling
Suicide

Each of these will be described further.

001.02 Handling & Monitoring
Cars like other products can be measured by how easy they are to use. Most people would say that it´s easy to drive. But if just one person says it is not easy, well then driving is´nt easy. And why is it hard for some people? Designers can never say people are the ones who are stupid , so the answer in many ways lie in the amout of information that has to be processed as you drive. On the outside signs must be read, other cars must be avvoided, lines must be held, and on the inside, all your instruments must be followed, your mirrors must be looked at, airflow adjusted and the CD player fingered with. So we can safely say that integration of certain elements in carhandling is needed in order to make driving easier than it is.

001.03 Fatigue
Many accidents happen because of tiredness, due to on the one hand the obvious lack of sleep, but on the other hand use of medicine, drugs or alcohol. People fall asleep, or don´t have clear vision.

001.04 Weather
The Weather is a major contributor to difficulties in handling cars. Weather makes the view bad, and the ground slippery.

001.05 The Dark
When nighttime arrives it changes all the paramtres, nothing looks the same. Your eye has to addapt to a totally new environment. And it is clearly a problem area in regards to accidents. Especially in viewing people and objects on the road which are dark.

001.06 Time, Stress & Irritation
The feelings of stress and irritation due to time deficit, is maby not the biggest contributor to accidents, but it certainly is a big social problem.

001.07 Disruption
Being submittet to all kinds of disruptions, the drivers of cars can experience ending up in dangerous situations. If it comes from the inside or the outside of the car is really not important. The fact is that drivers are in no way protected from disruptional forces, and are therefore likely to experience problems with that as a reason.

001.08 Safety Feeling
Giving all people a sence of feel in while driving is importan, one of the more common reasons for problems in traffic is also that people in some way are afraid, or not confident in how they manouvre the car. Or how the car moves them.

001.09 Suicide
In many a case people decide to end their lives in a car, and as uch often bringing several other people with them.

001.10 Discussion
Talking about contextual areas that make it difficult for people to handle their car as bad design, is always interesting grounds for discussion. In this assignment we are ultimately removing some of the responsibility from people themselves and putting it onto the makers of vehicles. As we know the following facts;

One accident is one too many.

Innocent people die in traffic every day.

Stupid people does´nt exist; only design that does not understand people

In giving such statements we´re ultimately saying that the mobile systems of today do not work, are unefficiant, and even hurts and kills people on a daily basis. Ergo we need design that focuses on new areas, safe mobile solutions for the future.

001.11 4 Contextual Levels
As we delve into the problems of finding solutions for future personal travel systems. There is one parameter that is important to set clearly; the project should to a great extent consist of existing technologies. In seking out ideas linked to existing technologies, we will study the problem from six contextual views.

Global
Local
Vehicle
Individual

001.12 Context Global: The World in a nutshell In 2050 the aircraft Industry and auto industry have bonded, and the new improvements within navigation and seperation systems allows incredably close flying / driving. The world will resemble an “onion”, with layer upon layer with traffic. These layers are travelling – paths. The highest levels which will rome over 100 000 feet above the surface are for Global movements. Airways that take you from New York to Bankok within hours.

001.13 Context Local: Cities
Taking your automachine and going for a weekend on the other side of europe, will not be uncommon, as such it will be a typical thing to do. And the cities will look different as traffic will emerge in the skies. Lines of automachines moving through the air on invisible roads.

001.14 Context Vehicle: Automachines
The vehicles of course look different, not being dependent upon todays engine technologies. And having wheels that leave the road to disappear inside the fuselage. And accidents are a thing of the past, therefore the cars are built to accomodate the people inside solely.

001.15 Context Individual: You
This is the context number one in this project, where we look at you as a means of improvement in regards to future mobility. You with all your weaknesses. We say “you” because almost everyone drives a car. And in the future even more people will drive cars. We`ve ripped out all the interiour, and taired down the exteriour of todays primitive vehicles. And built the new interiour in accordance to your needs. The Automachine will help you get where you are going. If theres a problem, the automachine will solve it for you. We will mix reality and virtual reality, giving you an augmented reality interface which gives you the opportunity to see everything. No matter how the weather is or how dark it might be. Using this system will be easy.
The Context4 idea is that you communicate with the futuristic vehicle space in a new way, haptically, visually, and orally. The automobile will tell you when somethings not right, and it will give you the solutions. When the ground or road or sky is`nt visable, you turn on you´re other eyes, or yo´re third eyes, to see. And you will see exactly what you need to see, without you´re pulse jumping.

001.16 Your Sences
In these future Automachines you will experience that your vehicle is much more an extention of yourself. The eyes of the car ultimately is your eyes. What you will see will be a culmination of various technologies bound together in order to give you the freedom of choice and a much more perfect flow of information. You will be a ble to give your car verbal direction, and as such you will feel as though you are talking to yourself. The car will not talk back, you will get messages visually, in that way not giving the machine too much of a personality. The sences a human has are five:

Sight (Eyes)
Smell (Nose)
Taste (Tongue)
Hearing (Ear)
Touch (Body, Hands)

The actual sences we will concentrate on is the Sight in particular, in fact you can drive a car based solely on this sence. Therefore it is the most important focal sence of the project. After Sight there are only two sences that are interesting in this particular assignment namely Hearing & Touch. As the Automachines of the future will have increased levels of haptical interaction and communication through certain sounds.

001.17 Your Eyes
www.howstuffworks.com
Vision occurs when light is processed by the eye and interpreted by the brain. Light passes through the transparent eye surface (cornea). The pupil (the black opening in the front of the eye) is an opening to the eye interior. It can get larger or smaller to regulate the amount of light entering the eye. The colored portion (iris) is really a muscle controlling the pupil size. The inside of the eye is filled with a gel-like fluid. There is a flexible, transparent lens that focuses light so it hits on the back of the eye (the retina). The retina converts light energy into a nerve impulse that is carried to the brain and then interpreted.

001.18 Your Ears
www.howstuffworks.com
Your ears are extraordinary organs. They pick up all the sounds around you and then translate this information into a form your brain can understand. One of the most remarkable things about this process is that it is completely mechanical. Your sense of smell, taste and vision all involve chemical reactions, but your hearing system is based solely on physical movement.
The ear consists of three parts: the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear.
The outer ear consists of both the pinna, or external ear, which captures sound waves and directs them inward, and the ear canal, which leads to the eardrum. In the middle ear, sound waves vibrate through three tiny bones commonly called the hammer (malleus), the anvil (incus), and the stirrup (stapes). The vibrations continue into the inner ear, where a spiral structure called the cochlea transforms them into nerve impulses. These impulses are conveyed to the brain via the auditory nerve.

001.19 Your Touch
www.howstuffworks.com
Consider this. You touch a hot object and immediately drop it or withdraw your hand from the heat source. You do this so quickly you don’t even think about it. How does this happen? Your nervous system coordinated everything. It sensed the hot object and signaled your muscles to let it go. Your nervous system, which consists of your brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves and autonomic nerves, coordinates all movements, thoughts and sensations that you have. In this article, we’ll examine the structure and functions of your nervous system, how nerve cells communicate with each other and various tissues and what can go wrong when nerves become damaged or diseased.