A control element for a motor vehicle provides a palpable response when touched. The control element includes a sensor, a touch-sensitive surface, which when touched causes the sensor to respond. An inert surface surrounds the touch-sensitive surface, which when touched does not cause the sensor to respond. An actuator is disposed between the touch sensitive surface and the inert surface and includes two components that can move relative to each other. One component is connected with the touch-sensitive surface, and the other component is connected with the inert surface. The actuator drives a motion of the touch-sensitive surface relative to the inert surface once a contact has been acquired.

The invention relates to a display and operating device (10) for at least one vehicle component, in particular a radio, a CD and/or DVD player or similar audio and/or video player, a navigation device, an infotainment device, a heating, ventilating or aid condition control unit, or a human-machine interface, which is provided with a mechanical control element (18) for setting an operational parameter of at least one first vehicle component and a touch screen (12) for outputting information, and control keys (14) and/or other operational parameters for the first vehicle component and/or at least one second vehicle component. The touch screen (12) comprises a recess (16) and the mechanical operating element (18) is arranged in the recess (16) of the touch screen (12).

A notification control system (NCS) is configured to coordinate the delivery of notifications issued from a set of devices to the driver of a vehicle. The NCS registers all interactive devices residing in a vehicle and causes those devices to conform to specific directives generated by the NCS. The NCS analyzes and predicts the cognitive and emotional load on the driver and also estimates the cognitive and emotional impact on the driver potentially caused by any incoming notifications. The NCS then coordinates the delivery of notifications to the driver in a manner that avoids overwhelming the cognitive and/or emotional capacity of the driver. Accordingly, the NCS may avoid situations where device notifications cause the driver to unsafely divert attention away from driving.

The operating unit (10) for a vehicle component is provided with a housing (14) having a frame (16) and a display (62) having a transparent cover pane (18) with an edge (22). A plurality of actuators (24) for introducing flexural waves into the cover pane (18) is arranged along the edge (22) of the cover pane (18). A contact surface (34) is assigned to each actuator (24) on the cover pane (18), by means of which contact surface the actuator (24) acts on the cover pane (18) in order to introduce flexural waves into the cover pane (18). The flexural waves introduced into the cover pane (18) by the actuators (24) are superposed in the cover pane (18) and give the cover pane (18) a tactilely sensible, locally resolved surface structure. The contact surfaces (34) are each arranged at a distance from the frame (16) of the housing (14), and consequently the introduction of flexural waves into the cover pane (18) and/or the propagation of flexural waves in the cover pane (18) is damped for wavelengths or frequencies resulting from the magnitude of the distance. The distance is selected in such a way that flexural waves having frequencies in the audible frequency range are damped.

A vehicle seat haptic system includes a vehicle seat and a controller. The vehicle seat includes a plurality of discrete haptic zones defined across the vehicle seat, and a plurality of actuators positioned in the plurality of haptic zones and configured to generate a haptic output. The controller is communicatively coupled to the plurality of actuators and configured to output a control signal to one or more of the plurality of actuators to generate an asynchronous haptic output across the vehicle seat based upon a position of a user in the vehicle seat.

An input device for generating improved haptic feedback. The input device includes a housing and an input component that defines a control surface and is movably supported on the housing with at least two degrees of freedom and associated mechanical natural frequencies. The input device is designed to assign a switching or controlling function to an operator touching or pressing the control surface, where the input device further has mechanical restoring means for restoring the input component into a rest position and an electromechanical actuator, where the actuator is designed to drive the input component along the at least two degrees of freedom and optionally decelerate the input component, counteracting the restoring force caused by the mechanical restoring means, in order to generate haptic feedback characterized in that the mechanical natural frequencies of the at least two degrees of freedom have a maximum deviation of less than 100 Hz.

A control interface with haptic feedback for a motor vehicle to take into account an action of a user by providing the user with a haptic feedback. The control unit includes a magnetorheological fluid module that has a rotary element which rotates about an axis of the magnetorheological fluid module, said rotary element being in contact with magnetorheological fluid and designed to be coupled to a grip element, and an application unit for applying a magnetic field to the magnetorheological fluid, designed to modify the strength of the magnetic field. The control interface also includes a control unit having a fixed tactile surface arranged at the centre of the grip element.

The invention concerns a system comprising a processor and a device. The processor may be configured to (i) analyze one or more vehicle systems and (ii) generate a first output signal and a second output signal corresponding to the vehicle systems. The device may be configured to (i) receive the second output signal and (ii) generate haptic feedback based on the second output signal. The first output signal is presented to enable feedback using a primary feedback device. The device may be worn by a user. The haptic feedback supports information provided by the primary feedback device. The second output signal is communicated to the device using wireless communication.

A vehicle intent indication system includes a sensor, a display, and a controller. The sensor is configured to detect an object in an operating environment of a vehicle. The display is configured to display a pattern visible to a person in the operating environment of the vehicle. The display includes light emitting components configured to be selectively illuminated to display the pattern. The controller is configured to receive information from the sensor indicating that the object has been detected in the operating environment and to cause the light emitting components to be selectively illuminated to display the pattern in response to receiving the information from the sensor. The pattern in configured to inform the person in the operating environment of the vehicle of an intent of the vehicle to perform a driving maneuver.

An apparatus and methods for rotating a console display device of a vehicle are disclosed. The apparatus includes a display device; a rotation mechanism connected to the display device and configured to rotate the display device between a portrait orientation and a landscape orientation; a touch bar having at least one button; and a memory storing instructions. The instructions include receiving a request from a user via the touch bar to rotate the display device from the portrait orientation to the landscape orientation; sending a message to the user via the display device providing a time for the user to cancel the request; executing, via the rotation mechanism, a rotation of the display device from the portrait orientation to the landscape orientation after the provided time to cancel the request elapses; and sending a signal to disable vehicle movement.