跟汽车沟通还要学会手语？

对包括汽车业者、电视业者、手机业者…等每一家消费性电子技术开发商来说，要打造出完美的人机接口(HMI)都是个永无止尽的挑战；但最近发表的一篇 IHS 报告，却令我大感惊讶。 该篇标题为“汽车近接感测与手势识别系统销售表现迈向高峰(Sales of Automotive Proximity and Gesture Recognition Systems Shift into High Gear)”的报告预测，汽车人机接口应用的近接感测与手势识别系统销售量将在未来十年成长50%。 这是真的吗？汽车厂商已经开始采用手势控制技术了？我的直觉反应是：在这个地球上，在车内使用手势识别与近接传感器，怎会比操作旋钮或是使用触控屏幕更好？你可以说我老土，但驾驶人难道不是会比较喜欢能真正触摸到的旋钮、按键或是实体接口？

IHS预测汽车人机接口应用的近接与手势识别系统销售量将在未来十年成长50%
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为此我请教了IHS汽车市场的资深分析师Mark Boyadjis，他也是另一篇新报告“新兴技术：新一代人机接口趋势(Emerging Technologies: New Human-Machine Interface Trends)”的作者。 他特别澄清：“我并没有说手势识别或是近接传感器“比较好”，我只说手势识别与近接开关是“具高度价值”的用户界面。”高度价值？这是什么意思？Boyadjis的想法是，在用户界面上，选择性是关键，没有单一种人机界面技术可以胜出。 他并非指“多模式用户界面(multi-modal user interfaces)”，Boyadjis解释 ：“相较于实体按键，有些人偏爱语音识别，但也有人可能讨厌语音；不同文化环境下的不同使用者，对使用者接口会有不同的偏好。” 这倒是没错，不难想象汽车驾驶人的手势可能会有多么丰富的涵义──不只是对路上的其它驾驶人来说，对车用资通讯娱乐系统来说也是──可以想见，手势能挟带更多的信息。 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 本文下一页：成本是最大的考量

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{pagination} 成本是最大的考量 车用近接感测与手势识别系统的成长，主要还是与近接传感器的安装成本与简易性相关。Boyadjis坦承，他们对“未来十年该类系统将成长50%”的预测，主要驱动力并非手势识别系统，而是近接传感器。 IHS估计，在2023年市场上将售出3,873万套车用近接感测与手势识别系统，其中有九成的驱动力来自于近接感测系统。 Boyadjis进一步说明，近接感测系统有三种，一是基础性的近接感测(例如凯迪拉克的人机界面系统Cadillac User Experience，CUE)，二是能识别整只手掌的先进近接传感器，三是需要可辨别1根手指与2根手指之立体摄影机的高分辨率近接传感器。

凯迪拉克的CUE近接感测系统
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近接感测是利用较小型、价格较便宜的近接传感器，通常是红外线技术，来侦测使用者的手或是其它接近显示器、控制旋钮的物体。 Boyadjis表示：“这类技术可能可以、也可能无法理解手势的意义，但可辨别手或是物体接近。近接感测能用来叫出汽车显示器上的选单，选单上有一些经常使用的功能；该选单在不使用的时候会自动消失。” 他指出，无论是否具备不同程度的近接感测功能，以红外线技术为基础的近接传感器是低成本的零组件，而且对汽车制造商来说，很容易将该类传感器添加或整合到现有的车用平台上。 当然，若是高分辨率的手势识别系统，情况就复杂得多：“你需要考量一些错误否定(false positive)议题，而且需要进行智能型设计。”Boyadjis 指出，大多数手势识别系统将会配备在高级车款，而且手势识别不会是车内的唯一人机界面选项。 而就如同Boyadjis所言：“没有任何一种──我的意思是说到目前为止还没有人打造出──最完美的车用人机界面。” 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 编译：Judith Cheng 参考英文原文：Learning Sign Language to Talk to Your Cadillac，by Junko Yoshida

相关阅读：
• 环视ADAS方案触手可得，图像处理技术是关键
• 替代机械按键——电容式感应解决方案让产品快速上市
• 扫除盲区，百万像素高清3D全景行车辅助系统指日可待Vrtesmc

{pagination} Learning Sign Language to Talk to Your Cadillac Junko Yoshida, Chief International Correspondent MADISON, Wis. — Nailing down the perfect human/machine interface (HMI) is an eternal quandary for every serious consumer technology developer, whether carmaker, TV manufacturer, mobile handset company... the list goes on. When I stumbled on a recent press release by IHS, whose headline read "Sales of Automotive Proximity and Gesture Recognition Systems Shift into High Gear," I almost gasped. The market research firm predicts that sales of automotive human machine interface (HMI) proximity and gesture recognition systems will rise by a factor of 50 during the next decade. Source: IHS Automotive Source: IHS Automotive Really? Carmakers are plunging into gesture control? My gut reaction was: How on earth, in a car, could gestures and proximity be better than turning knobs or using touchscreens? Call me old fashioned, but wouldn't drivers like to have that tactile assuredness of knobs, buttons, and physical contact? I got in touch with Mark Boyadjis, senior analyst and manager, automotive infotainment, for IHS Automotive. Boyadjis is the author of a new IHS Automotive report entitled "Emerging Technologies: New Human-Machine Interface Trends." Once we got together on the phone, Boyadjis corrected me: "No, I didn't say that gestures and proximity are 'better.' I said that gestures and proximity are 'highly valued' user interfaces." Highly valued? What does he mean by that? Boyadjis subscribes to the idea that when it comes to user interfaces, the key is choices, not a single winning HMI. Jargoning away about "multi-modal user interfaces," Boyadjis explained, "Some people prefer voice recognition over hard keys, while others might hate voice. Different people in different cultures prefer different user interfaces." That does ring true. Setting Italian drivers aside, it's not hard to picture how expressive a driver's gesture could be -- not only to other drivers on the road, but also even to an infotainment system inside the car. Conceivably, gestures could carry more information. Cost, cost, cost But the real reason for growth in proximity and gesture recognition systems in cars has more to do with the cost and the ease of implementation of proximity sensors. Boyadjis acknowledged that much of "the systems rise by a factor of 50 during the next decade" -- predicted by IHS -- is not so much driven by gesture recognition systems, but by proximity sensors. IHS forecasts sales of 38.73 million units in proximity and gesture recognition systems in 2023, and 90 percent of that growth is concentrated in proximity-based systems, according to the analyst. Cadillac CUE proximity sensing Cadillac CUE proximity sensing Boyadjis further explained that there are three categories of proximity systems: a) basic proximity sensing (i.e. used in the Cadillac User Experience, or CUE); b) advanced proximity sensors that recognize the presence of a whole hand; c) high-resolution proximity sensors that require stereoscopic cameras that recognize the difference between one and two fingers. Proximity sensing uses smaller, less expensive proximity sensors, typically infrared technology, to detect the user's hand or another object approaching the display or control knob. "This technology may or may not understand a gesture but rather the presence of the hand or object in proximity. Proximity sensing can be used to bring up menus on a car's display with frequently used functions, which disappear when not in use," according to Boyadjis. Regardless of different levels of proximity, an infrared, technology-based proximity sensor is a cheap component. For automakers, it's easy to add the sensor and integrate it into current automotive platforms, the analyst explained. Of course, when it comes to high resolution gesture recognition systems, things get more complicated. "You need to factor in false positive issues, and they need to be intelligently designed," said Boyadjis. Gesture recognition systems will be most likely to be deployed for luxury cars, and even at that, a gesture reader can't be the only HMI available in the car, he added. As Boyadjis pointed out, "No one -- I mean no one -- has yet perfected an HMI in cars."