New in-car Entertainment System

Researchers at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia and Germany are developing an in-car entertainment system that aims to solve the age-old "Are we nearly there yet?" problem with the aid of motion controls and holographic displays.

Tentatively titled Enjoyable Interactions in the Rear Seat, the project will attempt to mix holographic displays and off-the-shelf motion sensing technology similar to gaming systems like the Microsoft Kinect and the Nintendo Wii to create a variety of rear-seat applications designed for use on long car trips by both adults and children.

Dr Steffen Walz, director of RMIT's Games and Experimental Entertainment Laboratory (GEElab), says the idea for the project came from looking at cars not as mere means of transport, but rather as symbols of personal freedom.

Putting pen to paper

Walz, who runs GEElab from Germany, and his team have been commissioned to build the prototype for GEElab's industry partner Audi, who jumped onboard early to sponsor the project. The team has already conducted a dry prototype test run – pens and paper – with a group of children, asking them imagine all kinds of educational applications that they could control with their fingers and hands.


Most of these scenarios involved simple word-association games, and tasks that required children to pick an object from real life (one they would see while sitting in the car) and answer questions about that object.

While Walz believes such applications would provide educational and social benefits for children, he also acknowledges that some parents may criticise the system on the grounds that it has the potential to hinder human contact.

guardian.co.uk