- The patented technology is known as ‘Predictive Touch’
- Helps keep the driver’s eyes on the road and reduce the spread of virus/bacteria in post COVID-19 world
JaguarLand Rover (JLR) in collaboration with the University of Cambridge has developed a new contactless touchscreen technology. The patented technology, known as ‛Predictive Touch’, uses artificial intelligence and sensors to predict a user’s intended target on the touchscreen - whether that’s satellite navigation, temperature controls or entertainment settings - without touching a button. The company claims that the ‘predictive touch’ technology will help keep the driver’s eyes on the road and reduce the spread of bacteria and viruses in the post COVID-19 world.
It is believed that lab-tests and on-road trials have shown that predictive touch technology could reduce a driver’s touchscreen interaction effort and time by up to 50 per cent, as well as limit the spread of bacteria and viruses. Uneven or poor road surfaces can often cause vibrations that make it difficult to select the correct button on a touchscreen. This means drivers must take their attention away from the road, increasing the risk of an accident.
The technology uses artificial intelligence to determine the item the user intends to select on the screen early in the pointing task, speeding up the interaction. A gesture tracker uses vision-based or radio frequency-based sensors, which are increasingly common in consumer electronics, to combine contextual information such as user profile, interface design and environmental conditions with data available from other sensors, such as an eye-gaze tracker, to infer the user’s intent in real-time. This software-based solution for contactless interactions has reached high technology readiness levels and can be seamlessly integrated into existing touchscreens and interactive displays, so long as the correct sensory data is available to support the machine learning algorithm.
Speaking on the occasion, Lee Skrypchuk, Human Machine Interface Technical Specialist, at Jaguar Land Rover, said, “As countries around the world exit lockdown, we notice how many everyday consumer transactions are conducted using touchscreens: railway or cinema tickets, ATMs, airport check-ins and supermarket self-service checkouts, as well as many industrial and manufacturing applications. Predictive touch technology eliminates the need to touch an interactive display and could, therefore, reduce the risk of spreading bacteria or viruses on surfaces.”
Professor Simon Godsill from Cambridge University’s Department of Engineering has led the project. He said, “Touchscreens and other interactive displays are something most people use multiple times per day, but they can be difficult to use while in motion, whether that’s driving a car or changing the music on your phone while you’re running. We also know that certain pathogens can be transmitted via surfaces, so this technology could help reduce the risk for that type of transmission.”
