{"id":121638,"date":"2017-12-12T12:14:12","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T17:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=121638"},"modified":"2017-12-12T12:14:12","modified_gmt":"2017-12-12T17:14:12","slug":"mercedes-taking-new-user-experience-to-ces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2017\/12\/mercedes-taking-new-user-experience-to-ces\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercedes Taking New \u201cUser Experience\u201d to CES"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The interior of the next Mercedes-Benz A-Class shows off its expansive display technology.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has become a showcase for the auto industry, as much as it traditional was for computer, TV and smartphone manufacturers. A number of intriguing products, such as the Volkswagen BUDD-e van and Chevrolet Bolt EV have debuted there in recent years, but Mercedes-Benz is taking a different tack next month, using CES to reveal a completely new infotainment system.<\/p>\n

Dubbed the Mercedes-Benz User Experience, or MBUX, it is designed to replace the German marque\u2019s now-familiar COMAND system. Using artificial intelligence and what Mercedes calls \u201can intuitive operating system,\u201d the goal appears to be finding a way to add even more technology into tomorrow\u2019s luxury products without confounding owners.<\/p>\n

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Tech News!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That\u2019s a major challenge. Today\u2019s cars are loaded with as many as 100 different microprocessors operating such things as a vehicle\u2019s engine and safety gear. But manufacturers are also loading up with lots of new infotainment technologies and in many cases, they can turn out to be \u201cnightmares\u201d to operate, Renee Stephens, vice president at J.D. Power and Associates noted when unveiling the research firm\u2019s latest APEAL study earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Balky navigation systems have become a particular headache, but consumers also routinely complain about faulty voice recognition systems and the various knobs, touchscreens and other devices used to operate the latest infotainment systems.<\/p>\n

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The latest version of the Mercedes-Benz COMAND controller includes a touchpad.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And that creates a conundrum for carmakers. Take Ford: the automaker has found that its Sync system has widespread appeal to tech-savvy millennials. But problems with the first two generations of Sync led to Ford taking a sharp tumble on quality and reliability studies, such as the Power Initial Quality Survey. Ford wound up breaking with Microsoft, which developed the initial infotainment package, turning to Blackberry, the company best known for its early smartphones, to develop the latest Sync 3 version.<\/p>\n

Developing a good user experience for the automobile can be particularly challenging, experts say, because there are more and more features and functions being added to today\u2019s cars. It can be a challenge to learn all the basic commands, and whether trying to use a knob, touchpad or touchscreen, that can be difficult in a vehicle bouncing down a rough road at 60 mph. Voice recognition systems have to adjust to a wide range of accents, from Southern drawls to nasal Northern twangs, as well as the speech of non-native English speakers.<\/p>\n

Daimler isn\u2019t saying much about the MBUX system, beyond noting in a press relative, \u201cFeaturing innovative technology based on artificial intelligence and an intuitive operating system, the MBUX is set to usher in a new era in terms of infotainment and Mercedes me connectivity. To ensure a pioneering in-car experience, the technology will be introduced as standard equipment in the next compact car generation as early as 2018.\u201d<\/p>\n

The image accompanying the Mercedes release shows the interior of the next-generation A-Class model which adopts the same sort of extended screen first seen on the big S-Class. That includes a reconfigurable virtual gauge cluster behind the steering wheel, and a widescreen infotainment display atop the center stack.<\/p>\n

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Ford addressed endemic complaints about its infotainment system with the launch of Sync 3.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The latest S-Class \u2013 and other Mercedes models \u2013 attempts to give motorists a variety of ways to operate the various technologies onboard. That now includes not only the familiar COMAND knob on the center stack but a touchpad above it upon which a driver can do things like sketch in a number when programming an address or a phone number. And along with a touchscreen, a motorist can opt to use voice recognition.<\/p>\n

Whether all those various controls will be available on the MBUX system isn\u2019t clear. It also remains to be seen whether Mercedes will require that future models have access to the cloud to use its new AI system. That\u2019s the way the iPhone\u2019s Siri and Amazon\u2019s Alexa operate, as the cloud can provide far more computing power than a standalone phone or even a vehicle. But that creates a potential problem when driving through a tunnel or into a big parking structure where signals can be lost.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll have to wait until CES next month to see precisely how much smarter and easier to use the new Mercedes MBUX system really is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today’s cars are computers on wheels, but studies show motorists becoming increasingly frustrated by balky navi systems, voice controls and other functions. So, Mercedes plans to show off a new, AI-enhanced “user experience” at next month’s CES. Look for it to start going into future products later this year, reports TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7,8,12,9],"tags":[],"make":[56,85],"post-state":[],"category_old":[149,150,274,248,316,163,196,291],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121638"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121638"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=121638"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=121638"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=121638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}