At CES 2024 Harman unveiled the expansion of its Ready product portfolio, highlighted by ongoing work with Samsung and close collaboration with industry-leading companies. "In an era marked by radical technological advancements and evolving consumer expectations, Harman and Samsung share a commitment to delivering impactful in-car experiences and leading the industry forward. This latest evolution of Harman's road-ready product lineup emphasizes connectivity and cohesion by infusing new technologies with third-party solutions to create consumer experiences at automotive grade that raise the bar for what we expect from our vehicles today and tomorrow," the company stated.
"Harman’s growing synergies with Samsung have been as transformative as the changes we’ve witnessed across the automotive landscape. Our unique blend of experience — Samsung’s leading consumer technology portfolio together with Harman’s unrivaled automotive expertise — allows us to predict change sooner, build solutions faster, and help consumers receive the same high caliber experience in their vehicles that they are accustomed to getting from their other devices," says Christian Sobottka, President, Automotive at Harman International.
"As the industry continues to be disrupted by technologies like advanced connectivity, artificial intelligence, and electrification, the winners will be those who can harness these forces into heightened in-cabin experiences. Together, Harman and Samsung will help our customers capitalize on the opportunities that come with this transformation."
The active Harman Automotive and Samsung relationship created innovative new products and experiences for the car cabin. Technology innovations such as industry-leading displays powered by Samsung Neo QLED into the automotive environment, while Harman has also placed further focus on partnering with like-minded companies, like Gentherm and Cisco, to extend the capabilities and connectivity of its products, allowing automakers to deliver more impactful experiences to consumers.
Harman is also working with preeminent business consulting and services firms that understand the automotive industry’s transformation at a deep level. Together, they are helping OEMs through this paradigm shift, enabling delivery of modern features and services, with the seamless updates and lifetime connectivity of Harman’s Ready Upgrade program.
New additions to the Ready product portfolio combine the power of Harman and Samsung to enhance safety, personalization and sustainability for automakers and consumers. This includes the use of Samsung technology in Harman’s new Ready Connect TCU product portfolio, the Ready Vision and Ready Display products powered by Samsung Neo QLED, the Ready Upgrade Advanced with Samsung Exynos processor that powers consumer experiences, and collaboration to develop vital and stress-sensing technology for the Ready Care in-cabin monitoring product. Across the growing portfolio, Harman’s new products leverage Samsung’s consumer electronics innovations offering seamlessly integrated and richer in-cabin experiences.
Harman’s ongoing approach to industry collaboration is driven by a belief that no individual entity can accelerate the consumer technology-driven transformation of the automotive industry on its own. From integrations with popular consumer apps like ChargePoint in the Harman Ignite Store, to collaborations with global automotive suppliers including Gentherm and Adient that enhance the value proposition of Ready Care and SeatSonic, Harman is working alongside other companies across the automotive and technology industries to enable road-ready products and experiences that make a meaningful impact on consumers today.
New Automotive Solutions
At CES 2024 Harman introduced more than a dozen new products for the entire vehicle ecosystem. One of those is SeatSonic, a new approach to in-car audio systems designed from the seat out that delivers exceptional audio performance while reducing system complexity and energy consumption. Each new product can work independently to deliver specific benefits or can be integrated for an even more enhanced experience. Each product is designed to meet the rigorous demands and standards of the automotive environment — a value proposition that Harman calls 'Consumer Experiences. Automotive Grade.’
"Harman Automotive products live at the intersection of consumer demand, technological advancements, and our uncompromising drive to transform the in-cabin experience in the most meaningful ways," notes Armin Prommersberger, Senior Vice President of Automotive Product Management, Harman International. "Our focus on partnerships to access a broad spectrum of content and capabilities combined with delivering the right products at tech company speed enables OEMs to stay current with what their customers want — the newest experiences that make every drive safer and easier. As part of Samsung, one of the world’s most respected consumer electronics companies, we aspire to make the vehicle a seamless extension of consumers’ connected lifestyles, for as long as they choose to keep it on the road."
Also new are the Ready Vision QVUE & AR HUD displays, transforming the windshield with pillar-to-pillar projection to bridge the physical and digital worlds. Ready Vision seamlessly integrates the most important visual needs for consumers, creating a safer and more informed driving experience that helps keep the driver’s eyes and mind on the road. The new Ready Vision QVUE delivers an unprecedented experience, providing the right information in the right place for minimized distraction and maximized engagement, bright illumination in all light conditions along with size and feature-set flexibility.
Ready Vision QVUE concisely delivers the information most important to the driver — like mileage, speed, driving stats and alerts — on the lower portion of the windshield, allowing for easy readability without obstructing their view of the road, while also offering a large field of view for all vehicle occupants. This cost-effective HDR-capable reflective display powered by Samsung Neo QLED offers high-resolution display quality with vivid colors and brilliant optics.
Through partnerships with leading third-party applications via the Harman Ignite Store, consumers can receive key information including low charge status alerts from ChargePoint and severe weather alerts via The Weather Channel in the QVUE display. For OEMs, QVUE offers modularity and scalability with different display sizes, from a single cluster replacement unit to full pillar-to-pillar coverage.
The Ready Vision AR HUD is highly flexible, and provides superior performance combined with a unique and space-saving wedgeless design. The Ready Vision AR software is hardware and navigation agnostic, and adds 3-dimensional object detection with multi-sensor fusion for accurate positioning with low-latency. The Ready Vision augmented reality software incorporates artificial intelligence, combining depth perception with real-time visuals such as traffic, 3D navigation, and hazard alerts to increase the driver’s situational awareness.
The Harman Ready Upgrade program can take OEMs to market in as quickly as 6 months with a product built for re-usability across vehicle lines and model years. To enable hardware and software upgrades throughout the lifecycle of the vehicle, keeping the in-cabin experience as modern as possible and elevating vehicle sustainability, Harman is now offering two new Ready Upgrade domain controllers with unmatched cost and time to market, future proof technology and consumer-electronics-like cycles with seamless upgradability.
The new Pre-Certified IP69 Base Domain Controllers are aimed at utility and adventure vehicles, targeting a whole new set of customers. Built for rugged environments, Ready Upgrade Base offers a dynamic combined in-vehicle infotainment and cluster experience on a single display. This enables users to choose their viewing preference on the attached 8" display. Multi-user communications, such as sharing songs and intercom conversations, are unlocked with dual Bluetooth connections between driver and passenger helmets.
The new Advanced Domain Controllers are optimized for premium line vehicles and OEMs that want to power more displays and add safety features and connected services in the car. The Advanced Domain Controller leverages the new Samsung Exynos processors to deliver premium in-cabin experiences and introduces the ability to access new features and services on demand through the Harman Ignite Store and third-party apps. Additionally, for the Advanced Domain Controller, Harman is collaborating with TE Connectivity to enable easier upgradability between hardware generations, utilizing their NET-AX+ modular hybrid connector.
Ready Care is an industry-first in-cabin monitoring product that measures a driver’s visual and cognitive load in real-time to identify when distractions or potential drowsiness arise, and then offers tailored intervention strategies to enhance safety. The visual and mental cognitive-load-measurement uses neuroscience, artificial intelligence and machine learning to classify a driver’s behavior into a focused versus distracted state. Harman-designed sensors in Ready Care provide crucial information about the vehicle’s occupants and initiate personalized interventions for maintaining eyes, mind and safety on the road.
Ready Care now offers Driver Activity Detection, identifying if a driver’s hands are on the steering wheel and detecting other activities, such as eating and smoking, in real-time to ensure the driver has control of the vehicle. An interior-mounted radar sensor provides Life and Child Presence Detection which distinguishes between adult and child occupants in the vehicle as well as occupant position — critical for proper deployment of safety features like seatbelts and airbags.
Harman is working closely with Samsung to further develop vital- and stress-sensing technology, while also collaborating with Gentherm, a leading supplier in thermal management and pneumatic comfort technologies for the automotive industry, and Adient, an automotive seating specialist, to sense driver drowsiness and vitals in driving scenarios and deliver personalized closed-loop in-cabin interventions to return drivers back to a more optimal state behind the wheel.
Ready Connect is Harman's portfolio of 5G telematics control units (TCUs) and, at CES 2024, the company introduced the latest addition to its expanding portfolio of products. Ready Connect improves in-vehicle connected mobility experiences focused on entertainment, productivity and enhanced situational awareness. It provides OEMs with a future-proof solution, via modular hardware upgradability from 4G to 5G with a highly scalable software architecture to maximize software reuse across product variants.
Ready Connect comes with configurable features and built-in antennas developed in collaboration with Samsung to provide maximum connectivity performance and minimize cable and signal loss, saving additional cost and weight. In collaboration with Traffic Technology Services (TTS), a content aggregation prediction platform for connected safety and mobility solutions at intersections in United States and Europe, Ready Connect enables the display of real-time traffic information pertinent to a driver’s route, such as traffic light awareness, without having to rely on roadside or in-vehicle sensors.
Scalable Seat-Based Audio System
Harman's new SeatSonic offers a new approach to traditional in-cabin audio system architecture, moving speakers from conventional locations like doors, trunks and trim panels into the seats and putting users at the center of a high-quality, personalized listening experience.
SeatSonic’s user-centric approach delivers a personal sound subsystem for every passenger that is flexible, lightweight and energy-saving while freeing up space in critical spots for trim designers. According to Harman, the product is a combination of specifically designed near-field transducers integrated for both acoustic performance and safety in the headrest. Added to this is a proprietary bass unit in the lumbar section of the seat to provide a multi-modal experience that is both audible and haptic.
SeatSonic is available as a standalone product or can be combined with partner features and/or other Harman products to create a holistic offering, such as in SeatSonic Plus which includes WellSense by Gentherm, and in SeatSonic Max which includes WellSense by Gentherm, Harman Ready Care and a branded audio package. To bring SeatSonic to the market, Harman is working with Adient, a specialist in automotive seating, to bring a vast array of these personalized experiences to the car.
Car.Harman.com | www.harman.com
