

Engineers at the University of Cambridge have developed a “no-touch” touchscreen for cars. How does that work? They call it predictive touch. The development team includes researchers from Jaguar Land Rover. They say their patented screens can predict the exact spot a user plans to touch on the screen. These screens are equipped to select the correct item before the user’s hand reaches the display. The new touchless touchscreen could be a game changer in a post-COVID-19 world, now that people are trained to keep their hands to themselves!
According to Tech Explore, lab tests, driving simulators, and road trials show that predictive touch technology works. It cuts a user’s screen selection time by up to half. That’s because it can sense the user’s target almost as soon as a finger points at the screen. Does that mean a car screen feature can actually read a driver’s mind?
The technology gathers information to determine the item a user is going to choose. Basically, it makes a really good guess. That guess comes from clues. Sensors track arm and finger movement. They pick up on environmental conditions and eye movement. Even stored user profile information shares clues about which button the user plans to press next.
The car experts at Driving.ca boast that this new technology really can figure out the user’s intention in real time. That’s key to its success.
A media release from jaguarlandrover.com touts the benefits of the patented predictive touchscreens. Scientists hope predictive touch technology will be helpful as lockdown restrictions around the world let up. Reducing the need to touch could prevent bacteria and viruses from spreading.
A greater benefit to touchless touchscreens is safety. Professor Simon Godsill from Cambridge led the predictive touch project. He explains, “Touchscreens and other interactive displays are something most people use multiple times per day. But they can be difficult to use while in motion, whether that’s driving a car or changing the music on your phone while you’re running.” If a screen can sense a user’s choice moments before it’s actually made, that cuts down distraction time.
But what if . . . What if the touchless touchscreen predicts wrongly? What if an arm bounces or finger wiggles? Or, what if a user changes his or her mind at the last moment? Can this new technology adjust for split-second decisions? Maybe predictive touch technology is as much a misnomer as “touchless touchscreens.” Could it more aptly be named “best guess” technology?
1st COMMENT!!!!
i dont know.it might guess wrong,but its still really cool.
Yes! First Comment!
Woohoo! I just started commenting today!
Hey, someone else just got the first comment.
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ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm you okay there?
We have these
My library has something like this. It's very interesting and it took some practice to use xD So now we don't touch the checkout screen we hover our finger over it and a red light corresponds with the numbers, if this makes any sense.
~Nadia A.
@Above
This is interesting, but even before I read the last paragraph, I was thinking of some of those things! Nadia, that makes sense! Kinda cool. Probably expensive!!! XD
This is London
I wouldn’t use this what If like a song came on or something that you didn’t mean to. It’s like alexia/Siri you talk to it and it messed up completely
Can't touch this add=can't
Can't touch this add=can't touch this..LOL XDDD
10th comment P.S. This is Caro
Wow... What if you are listening to a book (as an example) and you reach over to do something else on the screen and it skips way ahead? That would be really annoying. But it is still cool!
Lol
That sounds like Tony Stark/Star trek's holo-computers lol
*Use the force Luke....*
*Use the force Luke....*
Hmm...
Interesting... I wonder how it’s going to work out.
No difference
There's no difference between touch screens and no touch screens! You still have to lift your arm, so you might as well just touch it!!!
@above
Yeah, I think non-touch screens are more dangerous the ones I've used take a lot of concentration and focus to land the beam thing on what you want to press and not the things next to it.
:o
that's a little creepy
to risky yet cool
this is a little like those new driverless tractors for farmers, the tractors do the job by themselves, but what if one malfunctions and roles into the highway. same with this touchless touchscreen what if the computer thinks we want to touch something else besides what we want to touch, then the car swerves and...... well it crashes
@Asher E
I know what you mean. I have heard of the tractors that drive themselves. WE don't have any though, and I don't think that I would want to! I like driving the tractor and knowing that I am in control of it. Who knows what sort of things could go wrong with the technology, and what accidents could happen if no one was driving! Yikes!
Might be danger
Like the article said, if you change your mind, it might lead to an accident
Wow!
That is sooo cool!
Cool, but kinda scary
It’s amazing how far we are coming in technology, but at the same time it’s kinda scary. While we do come father in technology that helps us, that means technology that can be used for bad is coming father to.
Wow
That is Cool.