Multi-touch display offers programmable textures and haptics
The 15” display, developed in partnership with Innolux Corporation, implements TanvasTouch technology to produce an infinite variety of software-defined textures and haptic effects that can be felt with the swipe of a finger. Streamlined surfaces are replacing physical knobs and dials inside the cabin, and this technology assists the driver to find and adjust controls while keeping eyes on the road.
The solid-state TanvasTouch technology, which uses an electric field to modulate friction locally where the user’s fingers move across a surface, replaces traditional vibrotactile haptics, with no moving parts and without generating any vibrations. This eliminates the need to build dampening structures into the assembly of a display which produces vibration-based haptic effects. It also introduces new manufacturing options which enable automotive manufacturers to re-imagine the design and feel of the vehicle’s interior.
Unlike electro-mechanical haptics, solid-state TanvasTouch haptic technology can also be implemented in any display format, including large and curved displays. The technology can be deployed on surfaces of any shape. Suitable substrates include glass, plastic, metal, ceramics, and natural surfaces.
“The automotive display has until now been a predominantly visual interface even though the focus of the driver’s eyes should be on the road, not on the screen,” said Phill LoPresti, CEO of Tanvas. “Tanvas’ technology, now realized for the first time with an automotive-qualified display supplier, allows car manufacturers to create a rich and vivid palette of effects and textures to enable touch rather than vision to become the primary means of control of the Center Information Display.”
Tanvas – www.tanvas.co
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