Why the Automotive Seat is Ready for Innovation
New interaction methods are offering new opportunities for seat manufacturers. Our team has been scoping and building sensitive body pressure mapping capabilities for a ranging of in-chair environments. Each concept uses our patented pressure mapping technology to deliver valuable real-time information, including on occupancy, posture, movement, and weight distribution. And industries including automotive and aviation are taking notice and partnering with our technology team.
TG0 New Business Lead Jakub Kamecki said: “We’ve been working on perfecting in-seat sensing capabilities for many years, beginning with a game-changing Airbus project, but then moving into multiple use cases across diverse industries.
“Our original data-capture seat was designed to monitor passenger and pilot behaviour, while meeting aesthetic guidelines and regulations on fire retardancy.
“We’ve since refined our seating concepts even further, producing more prototypes and working hard on improving our software. Although we started with the aerospace concept, this same technology is ideal for other body pressure mapping use cases, including yoga and exercise mats, in-soles for runners, smart mattresses and even sports grips."
TG0’s unique technology makes it possible to map body pressure via a versatile interface in any material and any shape. Pressure and movement is automatically detected by TG0’s smart surfaces, which deliver real-time insights via industry-leading software.
This pressure mapping technology can be used in many seating settings, for example:
- Aeroplanes to detect occupancy levels, plus pilot and passenger movements in flight
- Child seats - or even prams and cots - to detect movement levels
- In cars to ensure comfort and provide inferences into driver fatigue
Automotive has been a key early adopter of TG0’s pressure mapping capabilities, primarily for vehicle interiors. TG0’s body pressure mapping for automotive seats is explored in more detail in our white paper here. TG0 has also worked on innovative automotive seat control mechanisms, including with JOYSONQUIN and Novares.
“Automotive is an exciting place for us, not only in the seat but in the entire interior,” said Jakub.
“Our automotive partnerships are progressing at pace, as OEMs and even vehicle brands can see how we can take in-car interaction to the next level. We expect to release more details of our automotive projects and our other seat sensing and control capabilities in due course.”
If you’d like to learn more about TG0’s smart surfaces for seats, and / or our body pressure mapping capabilities, contact us.
