Consumer Electronics Show | Sensors and purifiers to make the car a “healthy cocoon”

(Las Vegas) Air purifiers, sensors to prevent a child from being forgotten, smart sun visors: there are more and more tools to make motorists feel safe in their car.

The idea is to transform the vehicle “into a sort of healthy cocoon”, explained Christophe Périllat, deputy managing director of the French equipment manufacturer Valéo, during a press conference at the big tech fair taking place this week in Las Vegas.

Obsession with security

To do this, the group offers various technologies ranging from driver attention control, air filtration through the provision of personalized thermal comfort to each passenger.

For buses and coaches, Valeo has also released an air purifier supposed to eliminate more than 95% of viruses, including COVID-19, during journeys with passengers.

Also present in Vegas, CabinAir and Marelli have developed air purifiers for cars that can be integrated into the passenger compartment or simply installed in the cup holder.

Gentex is working on a nanofiber-based sensor that can monitor air quality and identify possible contaminants.

Attention to the health and well-being of the driver first appeared in road transport, where long driving hours have a real physical impact on drivers, explains Carla Bailo, director of the Center for Automotive Research .

After seeking to make the seats and cabins more ergonomic, manufacturers began to develop tools to identify, for example, possible heart problems, then solutions to “monitor” the driver and his ability to drive.

Stress

The proliferation of sensors in the car was then fueled by new regulations imposing, for example, in Europe warning systems in the event of drowsiness or distraction of the driver.

In Italy, a law requires warning systems on child seats.

Drawing on its experience in the country, the Italian start-up Filo came to Las Vegas to launch its cushion in the United States, where a few dozen forgotten babies and children die each year from hyperthermia in cars.

“With our hectic lives, stress, an email from work, it still unfortunately sometimes happens that parents have a blackout, are distracted, and leave their child in the car”, explains Rudolf Jantos, Marketing Manager.

Filo’s cushion, linked via Bluetooth to the parent’s phone, can spot if a child, not a bag, remains in their seat when the driver leaves the vehicle and alert them.

Other systems can identify the forgetting of a child in the car, via cameras, radars, vibration detection, weight sensors, underlines Mike Ramsey, specialist in the automotive sector at Gartner.

These products are, for the most part, not entirely new, but they “have become more practical in terms of cost and capacity” thanks to advances in algorithms and the rise of processors, he says.

Respect for privacy

The development of driving assistance systems, with the installation of cameras and radars on certain cars, has also participated in the movement, believes Jacques Aschenbroich, CEO of Valeo.

At the same time, these devices entered the passenger compartment.

“Where our customers previously focused mainly on seat comfort and thermal comfort, they are now also in demand for visual comfort and safety with these new technologies,” he says.

The Bosch equipment manufacturer is thus exhibiting at CES a transparent sun visor called Virtual Visor, capable of blocking only the rays directed towards the driver’s eyes thanks to a camera detecting their position.

“The essential element in these technologies is to use them to improve the customer experience, not to give the impression of being too invasive,” notes Carla Bailo.

“There is a delicate balance to be struck between ‘we are there to ensure your safety and your health’, and ‘we are there to monitor what you are doing'”, she concludes.