The 84th International Geneva Motor Show officially kicks off tomorrow, and attendees and participants are all set at the Geneva Palexpo convention center in Switzerland.  The event will span until the 16th of March, but there are already some interesting developments announced ahead of the event.

This week’s SmartCar roundup features Apple’s revamped in-car platform, a concept autonomous car that focuses on the passengers, and a concept car with a massive touchscreen dashboard.

Apple CarPlay

Apple announced that it has rebranded its iOS in the Car initiative to “CarPlay”, touted as the vehicle equivalent to the AirPlay.  It features Siri, Maps and digital music, plus seamless integration with the driver’s iOS device.  CarPlay is designed with safety in mind, so it is optimized for voice commands as that minimizes the need for the driver to look at the dashboard.  Siri allows for voice interaction with CarPlay, so everything a driver needs is just a voice command away such as asking for directions, making or answering phone calls, reading messages outloud, and deliver spoken turn-by-turn directions, and much more.  CarPlay also allows for streaming music from iTunes or other services such as Spotify and iHeartRadio.

Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo will be among the first to feature CarPlay in their vehicles.  Apple is working on a deal with other car manufacturers such as BMW Group, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai Motor Company, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia Motors, Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan Motor Company, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Subaru, Suzuki and Toyota Motor Corp., to feature CarPlay in their vehicles.

Rinspeed’s Xchange

Have you ever thought about what you’ll be doing in the car once it’s able to drive on its own?  Rinspeed has and at the GMS, it showed off a concept car that centers on what passengers can do while their car is speeding down the highway.

Rinspeed concept car

Rinspeed used a Tesla Model S and pimped it out with something it calls as the Xchange.  The Xchange features seats that can swivel, tilt and slide into 20 positions; touchscreen dashboard; two pivoting LCD displays where passengers can check mail, watch their favorite shows, surf the web, make video calls; a movable steering column so the wheel won’t get in the way when you just want to sit back and relax, and everything is connected to the cloud for real-time information and access to cloud services.

Though this is just a concept car, Rinspeed worked with established sub-contractors to prove that everything can be done, albeit for a (high) price.

Volvo

Volvo unveiled its Escape Concept car at the show, displaying a vehicle that features a glass roof, orange interior accents, bucket seats, a glowing crystal gear lever, but the highlight of the vehicle comes in the form of a huge tablet smack-center on the dashboard.

As stated earlier, Volvo is one of the manufacturers that will be using Apple’s CarPlay for its future vehicles, and though the Escape is still a concept, the dashboard will already be present in its new XC90, which will be released later this year.

What make’s the tablet on the Escape different from what others offer is that it provides both touchscreen functionalities, but there are still buttons and knobs below the screen.  The iPad-like screen uses four tiles to keep everything organized for the driver such as navigation and weather apps.  If a tile is selected, it will expand, but the other tiles will still be viewable for easy access.  As for the media controls, panic lights, and defrosters, easily accessible physical buttons and knobs are still in play.

“The basic idea is to organize controls and information in a perfectly intuitive and user-friendly way. Everything is exactly where you expect it to be, making the drive more enjoyable, efficient, and safe,” said Thomas Ingenlath, Senior Vice President Design at Volvo Car Group. “The new user interface is designed to create a smooth, logical and safe interaction between the driver and the car.”

feature image: GMS