Continental’s 3D Touch Surface Display Receives Highest Honor at CES 2018 Innovation Awards

• World’s first touchscreen featuring a 3D surface selected as one of CES 2018 Best of Innovation Awards Honoree in the “In-Vehicle Audio/Video” category
• The 3D Touch Surface Display ensures greater safety and an enhanced user experience
• The innovative technology offers design freedom and individualization in the cockpit design

Las Vegas(U.S.A.), Babenhausen (Germany), January 8, 2018. The world’s first touchscreen, featuring a 3D surface, combines a unique visual appearance with a brand-new operating concept by Continental. The innovative 3D touch surface display can be operated instinctively, enhancing the user experience and increasing safety. The technology company was awarded the CES 2018 Best of Innovation Award in the “In-Vehicle Audio/Video” category, the highest awarded honor in its category, for its state of the art design and breakthrough technology.

“Our latest display solution combines three elements: design, safety and user experience. The 3D surface not only allows for exciting design, but it also ensures that drivers can operate the various functions without having to take their eyes off the road,” said Dr. Frank Rabe, head of the Instrumentation & Driver HMI business unit at Continental. “The CES Innovation Awards honor technologies for the very highest standards of design and engineering prowess, so we are absolutely delighted to have received this award.”

The growing demand among users for new features and digital content means that in-vehicle touchscreens are getting bigger and bigger. While conventional screens are ideal for the flexible display of digital information, their shortcomings quickly become apparent when it comes to user-friendliness and design possibilities for vehicle manufacturers. To address this, Continental developed a 3D surface for its new touchscreen. The 3D elements allow brand-specific individualization of the high-quality plastic surface and, at the same time, finger guidance that users can actually feel.

Drivers can use the touch-sensitive 3D elements on the sides of the display like sliders to set frequently used functions such as volume or temperature settings without having to navigate away from the displayed menu. In the center of the display are specific, virtual buttons allowing blind operation of a range of applications, which change depending on the current menu. To prevent the driver from triggering any functions accidentally when interacting with the 3D elements, the touch force is measured (force sensing) before a command is executed. In addition, haptic feedback tells drivers when they have reached the edge of a screen element as they pass their finger over the screen, which allows them to distinguish between different virtual buttons without having to look at the screen. Haptic feedback is provided in the form of a short and highly precise mechanical pulse that is transferred to the display surface; any mechanized movement of the display is completely invisible to the naked eye.