Kia to showcase SEED Car, BIRD Car at CES 2019

Kia Motors, which will launch its first car in India later this year, will preview technologies developed for the post-autonomous driving era at CES 2019, to be held in Las Vegas from January 8-11. Building on its ‘Beyond Autonomous Driving’ vision for connected vehicles presented at CES 2018, Kia is looking ahead to a time when autonomous driving has become the norm.
R.E.A.D. System

“In a future where vehicles have the potential to drive themselves, Kia is laying the foundations for major technological development to improve human mobility. Central to the presentation of this ‘Space of Emotive Driving’ vision at CES 2019 is Kia’s new Real-time Emotion Adaptive Driving (R.E.A.D.) System—an AI-based in-cabin space centred on human senses,” the company said in a statement.

The R.E.A.D. System can personalise vehicle cabin by analysing a driver’s emotional state in real-time through AI-based biosignal recognition technology, which monitors a driver’s emotional state using sensors to read their facial expressions, heart rate and electrodermal activity.

An interesting feature of the R.E.A.D. System is music-response vibration seats, where occupants can ‘feel’ their favourite songs as well as listen to them. The technology adapts seat vibrations according to sound frequencies of the music being played. The vibration seats can also be set to massage mode to increase cabin comfort, as well as enhancing safety by providing haptic warnings from the vehicle’s advanced driver-assist systems.

Visitors to the CES can experience the R.E.A.D. System at the Kia booth that will have experiential modules; they will be able to experience vehicle technology that recognises their physiological emotions based on facial expressions, electrodermal activity and heart rate.

SEED Car

At the CES 2019, Kia will also present a potential solution for smart-city mobility with its SEED Car concept—it’s is a four-wheel electric cycle with a range of 100-km (62 miles) based on a pedal-electric hybrid system, requiring pedal input from the driver but with a high degree of electric power assistance to make it effortless.

For longer journeys, SEED Car is housed within the BIRD Car—an autonomous shuttle vehicle capable of travelling further than the four-wheel cycle’s range capabilities. Once within 100-km of its final urban destination, the SEED Car is ‘dispersed’ to complete its journey.