A steering apparatus for a vehicle that utilizes steer-by-wire controls and may selectively be operated in an autonomous mode comprises a body mounted sliding steering column. The body mounted sliding steering column includes an arm that slides between a stowed position and a use position on at least one rail attached to a frame of the vehicle. The arm supports a steering column that may also be adjustable between a retracted position and an extended position. The arm also houses a force feedback motor in force-transmitting communication with the steering column.

The invention relates to an actuator (7) which comprises: a frame (11) intended for being in contact with the tactile interface via a contact wall (13) so as to transmit haptic feedback to the tactile surface; a stator (15) connected to the frame (11); a movable core (19) connected via at least one resilient element to the frame (11) and intended for being moved by the stator (15) so as to generate the haptic feedback; an electromagnet (17) and at least one permanent magnet (20), one of which is supported by the stator and the other by the movable core (19). The actuator (7) also comprises a shock absorber (23) arranged between the movable core (19) and the contact wall (13), and said resilient element is sized so that, when the electromagnet is not powered, the movable core (19) applies a bearing force towards the contact wall (13) and, when the electromagnet is powered according to a predetermined polarisation, the movable core (19) moves away from the contact wall (13).

A charging cable unit for a charging column of an electric filling station has a cooling unit and a charging cable which is preferably provided with cable shoes. The coding unit includes a heat exchanger with first connections and second connections. The charging cable has a secondary coolant circuit that is fluidically connected to the second connections. The cooling unit is designed to cool the secondary coolant circuit if the first connections are fluidically connected to a common primary coolant circuit of the electric filling station. Also described is a mounting method using such a charging cable unit.

The present application generally relates to a method and apparatus for driving automation control of a motor vehicle. In particular, the system is operative to determine a vehicle maneuver, such as a lane change, and provide a first kinesthetic cue to a supervisory driver or vehicle occupant indicating the start of a vehicle maneuver. The system and method are then operative to complete the vehicle maneuver and provide a second kinesthetic cue indicating the completion of the vehicle maneuver.

Embodiments are disclosed for systems and methods for operating a display actuator to provide user-configurable actions. An example device for a human-machine interface includes a display on a first surface of the device, an input interface adapted to detect one or more of touch input, rotation input, and push input directed to the device, a controller configured to generate control instructions based on input received from the input interface, the control instructions including display instructions for controlling output on the display, and an output interface configured to send at least a subset of the control instructions from the controller to a receiving device, the device being removably coupled to the receiving device.

A vehicle includes: an input interface configured to receive a control command for a target module that is a target to be controlled among a plurality of vehicle modules; a sensor portion configured to sense a state of the target module; and a controller configured to change a shape of the input interface based on the sensed state of the target module.

An operating knob for an operating apparatus extends away from a reference plane that delimits the operating knob on a rear side. The operating knob is in the form of a three-dimensionally protruding body in relation to the reference plane up to a knob height. The operating knob has at least one side wall extending between the reference plane and the knob height at an angle greater than 20 with respect to the reference plane as a placement surface for at least one finger operating the operating knob. Luminous outputs of at least one luminous segment or a pixel matrix are provided on the side wall.

The electromagnetic actuator (10) as an actuator of a mechanical feedback unit of a control device for a vehicle component is provided with a stator (12) and a translator (24), which can be moved in translation along a movement axis (36) and which, whilst maintaining a distance to the stator (12), can be moved back and forth between a rest position and at least one end position and preferably one of two end positions, which, relative to the rest position, are arranged in opposite directions along the movement axis (36) starting from the rest position. The actuator (10) further comprises a guidance arrangement (40) for guiding the translator (24) in translation while its moving, wherein the guidance arrangement (40) has at least one leaf spring (38), which extends transversely to the movement axis (36) and has a central attachment portion (46) and a fixing portion (42) on either side of the attachment portion (46). Either the translator (24) is mechanically coupled with the attachment portion (46) of the leaf spring (38) and the fixing portions (42) thereof are mechanically coupled to the stator (12), or the stator (12) is mechanically coupled to the attachment portion (46) of the leaf spring (38) and the fixing portions (42) thereof are mechanically coupled to the translator (24).

A tactile and auditory sense presentation device includes an actuator configured to impart vibration to an operating surface on which an operation is performed, a sound output unit configured to output a sound, and a controller that is configured to present a cross-modal feedback by controlling the actuator such that the actuator applies the vibration to the operating surface as well as controlling the sound output unit such that the sound output unit outputs the sound at a timing of when the vibration is presented.

The invention relates to operating devices for a vehicle with haptic feedback comprising a touch-sensitive position detection device (30) for determining touch positions as input parameters on a touch surface (31) of the touch-sensitive position detection device (30); an actuator device (50), coupled to the touch-sensitive position detection device (30), for generating the haptically detectable feedback on the touch surface (31); and an operating logic (1030) which is designed to execute a triggering of functions and/or vehicle systems depending on detected input parameters, wherein the touch-sensitive position detection device (30) and the actuator device (50) are designed with a haptic control device (100) in an operating device (2), and the operating logic (1030) is designed in a central control unit (330), which is designed separately from the operating device (2) and coupled in terms of information technology with the operating device (2), and detected input parameters are transmitted to the central control unit (330) as well as to the haptic control device (100), wherein the haptic control device (100) comprises a memory device (133) in which multiple different templates (401-404) are stored, wherein the multiple templates (401-404) each comprise at least one trigger condition for a haptic feedback, and the operating logic (1030) is designed to transmit a template signal for selecting or generating a current template to the haptic control device (100), and wherein the haptic control device (100) has a comparison device (140) which compares the detected input parameters touched during a user input in the operating device (2) via the operating device (2) with the at least one trigger condition of the current template in order to determine whether the detected input parameters satisfy the at least one trigger condition, and the haptic control device (100) is designed to control the actuator device (50) for generating the haptic feedback if the comparison device (140) has identified the satisfaction of the at least one trigger condition. The invention also relates to a method for detecting user inputs.