HARMAN Showcases Vision of Automotive Industry’s First Mobility Concept for Megacities

PRLog (Press Release) - Feb. 22, 2013 - Geneva, Switzerland – HARMAN, the premium global audio and infotainment group (NYSE:HAR), will showcase a vast array of cutting edge solutions and products at this year’s Geneva Motor Show. The numerous ground-breaking exhibits range from the world premiere “microMAX” show car to a variety of leading innovations such as HARMAN’s cloud platform or QuantumLogic 3D. The HARMAN exhibits in Geneva will not only once again set new standards for the whole automotive industry, but will also enable completely new business models and strategies.

Car World Premiere
A highlight of this year’s Motor Show will be the “microMAX” show car developed in cooperation between Rinspeed and HARMAN. This world premiere of the car with the size of a Mini is presented at the joint Rinspeed-HARMAN booth 6240 in Hall 6. The electric driven “microMAX” is set to revolutionize short distance transport. The ecologically friendly vehicle is designed to encourage potential passengers to get in and ride because it is convenient and simple. Its lounge-like, high class interior finish and the height of 2.2 meters create, together with the upright seats, an outstanding sense of spaciousness. The “microMAX” utilizes HARMAN technologies that are all already available today and links them together to enable “urbanSWARM”, HARMAN’s vision of a holistic, cloud-based mobility concept of the future. By linking cloud-based community with real time navigation and personal content accessibility with a secure cloud platform, HARMAN’s “urbanSWARM” combines the benefits of multiple individual mobility approaches while avoiding their downsides. The visionary concept makes HARMAN’s end-to-end approach tangible by including in-car components and apps as well as the cloud-based platform. Thereby, HARMAN adds considerable value to the car itself, and enhances it from a limited individual vehicle to a “clever“ member of a swarm community.

3D Sound Experience
Beyond the prototyping work with Rinspeed, HARMAN is also premiering in Geneva a number of its own leading infotainment and branded audio innovations for the first time in Europe. A special highlight will be Quantum Logic 3D. The new technology is based on HARMAN’s Quantum Logic Surround (QLS) and is the automotive industry’s first true three-dimensional surround sound experience. HARMAN’s QLS innovations reflect years of research into the science of sound perception and advanced signal processing, along with an intimate knowledge and expertise in acoustics, recording and playback technologies. QLS-3D technology is compatible with mono, stereo, and multi-channel content and creates a natural three-dimensional sound field without the artificial effects used by competitive surround sound technologies.

Integrated and Personalized Radio
With its Entry-Level Connected Radio, HARMAN has developed a value solution for OEMs which includes leading-edge mobile content integration as well as a seamless radio experience for consumers. HARMAN’s Connected Radio platform is redefining basic radio and offers a solution for drivers to stay connected to their digital worlds – home, office and friends – in a way that is easy and fun to operate. It’s affordable enough to be standard on all vehicles, yet still provides a rich set of features due to smart device integration – navigation, for instance, uses the navigation app on the user’s own Smartphone.

Another HARMAN innovation presented at Geneva is the Aha radio solution. It is the first interactive platform that organizes web-based content into personalized, live, on-demand radio stations that consumers can access anywhere. The Aha service brings hundreds of new personalized stations of location-based services to drivers – offering everything from local weather info, traffic info, music and news to local shopping discounts. By the end of 2013, Aha will be installed into vehicles by more than 10 automotive manufacturers, which in total represent more than 50 percent of all cars sold in the USA/Canada and up to 30 percent in Europe. Over a million cars on the road will be equipped with Aha then.

Internet solutions of tomorrow
The infotainment content delivered by Aha is just the first service of the new HARMAN Cloud Platform (HCP), an amazing innovation for the future on display at the Motor Show. The HCP enables automakers to future-proof their cars for the Internet of tomorrow, freeing them from the open-ended cost of creating and maintaining custom apps. With the HCP, automakers can use the Harman Cloud to map Internet content years into the future, without sacrificing the unique user experience of their head units. Our latest product, HARMAN Insight, enables OEMs to capture in-depth intelligence – in nearly real time – on how their vehicles are being used in the field. As such, it is a superb feedback tool for building responsive customer relationships and planning products.

Safety and Security
Also presented in Geneva will be HARMAN’s scalable app-centric infotainment platform. The newly developed scalable mid-tier platform uses automotive-grade Android enabling vehicle owners to discover and download new applications and services they want to enjoy in their cars. These apps and services will be "driver-centric" and aware they are in "car-mode" – ensuring they are deployed safely and securely for their intended environment. HARMAN’s new infotainment system also delivers key ADAS functions. HARMAN is collaborating with companies such as iOnRoad to help drivers increase visibility and awareness of their driving environment. HARMAN is working with other solutions providers to continue evolving 360 degree views of the vehicle to assist with parking, provide rear camera views and warnings, and other applications.

In addition, visitors of the Motor Show can get a first-hand impression of HARMAN´s solution for tomorrow’s premium infotainment system with connected in-car safety and entertainment technologies. The new concept combines augmented navigation, free hand gesture control, high speed networking, smart connectivity and an interactive head-up display that offers a higher resolution and more brilliant viewing experience than any other system on the market – for the ultimate in-car premium infotainment. The system also allows a variety of ADAS functions like lane guiding, collision-, blind spot- and lane departure warning, augmented reality guidance and more, using the head-up display to project all these information directly into the driver’s view, helping him to keep his eyes on the road at all times.