Check out the weird car tech shown at Kia’s Idea Festival
From windscreen dusters to communicating with your smartwatch, here’s what was on show.
A communication alert system for hard of hearing drivers and a robotic mobility scooter were among the new car tech shown at the Idea Festival in Seoul, South Korea.
This year was the eighth edition of the festival, and the seven finalists demonstrated covered a wide range of motoring innovations.
1. Smile Taxi
Voiced by an animated child – included as a further incentive to drive carefully – Smile Taxi also shows current driver rankings.
2. Thinker Belt
The device detects when a passenger takes a seat and automatically buckles the seat belt.
3. Dust Buster
The small bot can also wipe away and vacuum up dust and other dirt that gets on to a car, carrying out a cleaning job while parked.
4. MotoNoff
The result is new types of motorised transport, with the motors even customisable to be used as hoverboard or Segway-like devices.
5. Sympony
A sensor-enabled video screen in-car can also be used to translate audio calls into sign language, as well as read gestures from passengers in sign language and convert them into text messages.
6. Romo
It has a robotic arm to help with daily chores around the home, but also comes with a seat space to help those less able to move around more freely.
7. Fluidic Space
A novel approach to car boot space, Fluidic Space places rubber-tipped poles in the boot of a car, which can be customised to suit whatever items are placed into it.
The developers say the result is the ideal storage space for any sized item – securing it in place by raising or lowering the poles around it to prevent movement and any damage as a result.
It’s worth noting that despite their appearance at the Idea Festival, none of the prototypes are guaranteed to go into production.
This is not a surprise in some cases – but grand prize winners Sympony will travel to Kia facilities around the world to showcase their design to other engineers.
