Kia plans to unveil its READ Self-driving system concept during the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2019 taking place in Las Vegas from 8 to 11 January. Standing for Real-time Emotion Adaptive Driving (READ), the system will focus on the user experience in a fully self-driving car.
Created by researchers from MIT, it employs Artificial Intelligence observing the car occupants’ emotional condition with the help of stress level detectors and bio-signal recognition technology to enhance the passengers’ cabin experience. This will allow for a more comfortable and relaxing drive.
READ self-driving system also has a gesture control interface named V-Touch, which records the passenger’s eyes and fingertips movement. This allows the driver to control the lighting, climate control, and entertainment systems through simple hand gestures. The system can also turn music frequencies into vibratory signals supplied to the car seats, and deliver a more immersive music experience so that the passengers can listen to their music as well as feel it through seat vibrations.
In addition, the seats have a massage mode offering increased occupant comfort. It also provides sensory warnings from advanced driver-assist systems to optimize road safety.
Kia aims to produce and market partially autonomous driving systems around 2030. However, its basic self-driving features including automatic parking, traffic-jam assistant, and a highway driving mode may arrive by 2020.
During the CES 2019, the company will also reveal a hybrid concept model named Seed, which integrates pedal power with an electric motor. The Seed will be used to take passengers to a fully autonomous driving shuttle, named Bird, and connects with it to run on greater speeds to cover farther distances.