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Volkswagen has given a glimpse at its next generation infotainment system at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas fitted to an e-Golf. The system follows on from that shown in the Golf R Touch concept car at CES 2015. Called the Modular Infotainment Toolkit (MIB) it is a gesture control system and is believed to be at the stage of early series production.
It features a 9.2-inch high resolution display with 1280 x 640 pixels and has a clear glass surface much like an iPad. There are four touch-sensitive buttons; Menu, Home, Car and App as well as a rotary controller. The right of the screen consists of two configurable tiles that can be assigned any of ten different functions such as telephone or media information.
The MIB system will also utilise advanced voice control technology that has been developed to allow the user to issue commands in a more natural way and without having to first press a button to activate the function. Users will be able to program a phrase that will start it, for example, "Hello Car". Volkswagen plans to introduce this new voice control system later this year.
Another interesting technology in the Volkswagen e-Golf Touch is the use of electronic voice amplification. This amplifies the voice of the driver and front-seat passenger for the rear-seat passengers through the rear loudspeakers. The volume automatically adjusts in relation to the car's speed to counteract road and wind noise too.
Volkswagen has also fitted the e-Golf Touch with wireless charging for mobile phones via a tray located under the infotainment system while rear seat passengers also get the ability to wirelessly charge thanks to an inductive charging tray integrated into the rear armrest. In addition to these the e-Golf Touch is fitted with the new type USB C ports, which allow for high speed data transfer via USB along with charging capabilities that are claimed to drastically reduce charge times in the future.
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Also due for public release later this year is the third generation of Media Control. Via a tablet, connected to the car's WiFi hotspot, it can then control all of the infotainment system including USB, CD, DVD, hard drive and online music streaming while also giving users access to the satellite navigation. Other connected devices, such as tablets being used by the kids in the back, can also be controlled independently from the infotainment system, giving parents the ability to stream two different movies to them for example.