The excitement at auto shows usually center on the shiny cars and powerful engines. Automobile manufacturers increasingly have focused on what the drivers sees from the inside of the car, adding electronic dashboards and interactive displays. Now that innovation is making its way to the driver’s position in the car itself, using hydraulics and sensors to anticipate what the driver will be facing on the road.
Frdric Charon, technology strategy manager for leading automotive Tier 1 supplier Faurecia SA, recently told IndustryWeek about technology that will combine the traditional automotive pneumatics with GPS and sensors to change the way a driver sees the road.
GPSFit takes internal car information and assesses the road car speed and the weather to “dynamically predict the best seating position and adjust the occupant's posture to ensure the best possible driving experience,” Charon told IndustryWeek. “GPSFit then influences the seat fit and posture settings to be more appropriate for the changing nature of the task at hand. If, for example, a driver is moving down a highway in a relaxed posture, then exits to a busy local road, the seat will automatically change to a more alert posture—while the owner is still driving—keeping hands and feet in appropriate contact with pedals and the wheel.
The second Faurecia app, called MicroFit, provides the seat’s existing pneumatic system with more data to adjust to the individual driver.
“While SmartFit initially adjusts cushion height, backrest height, reclining position and tracking, MicroFit uses the pneumatic system to read the pressure levels of the occupant's body on the seat surface,” Charon said. “Based on those pressures—from sensors on five bladders in the backrest and two in the seat cushion—MicroFit automatically balances the pneumatic system, giving a touch more support to areas where too little pressure exists or relief where too much pressure is indicated.”
Reprinted with permission from IndustryWeek.
