Author: Mr.Yu

On June 21, 2022, the Ideal L9 was released with a price of 459,800 yuan. Whether it is popular or not, the influx of users cannot be ignored. The sudden increase in traffic overwhelmed the Ideal Car APP, even triggering the server’s fuse mechanism.

On June 22, Ideal Car’s stock welcomed a strong start on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange after the release, with a peak increase of 15%.

In one of my few WeChat groups, even unrelated podcast listeners are discussing the Ideal L9.

The next morning, someone forwarded a Bilibili video in the group, showing the editor of a top game media in China using a Nintendo Switch in the Ideal L9 cabin, leaning on the second-row seats with massage turned on, playing the highly acclaimed “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge” on the rear entertainment screen with a brilliant smile on his face.

Playing video games on a means of transportation may have a rebellious meaning to some extent, but it does not prevent people from extending their needs, which were previously bound by time and space, to unimaginable areas. In this respect, the Ideal L9, the Ideal Car team, and Li Xiang himself, have set a good example.

The car’s interactive interface is also innovative. Using the HUD and the long safety driving interactive screen on the steering wheel to replace the traditional instrument panel, using the 3D ToF gesture control to realize the rear seat passenger’s control of the entertainment screen, employing multiple high-standard OLED screens, and implementing lateral warning through sound field, etc. We seem unable to accurately describe the various innovative features in the Ideal L9 car with “pioneering” or “bold” alone.

This also aroused our interest. When the “Intelligent Cabin Intelligence Bureau” column re-evaluated the Ideal ONE last year, the conclusion was that these people, who wrote their name as Ideal Car, were actually very pragmatic-so we came up with the title “Both Ideal and Realistic“.

We believe that everyone has a good knowledge of the functions and configurations. So this time, let’s take a look at the impressive interactive features in the Ideal L9, and try to analyze the logic behind them.

Let’s start with the most talked-about HUD.

Speaking of HUD, which was originally a military technology, becoming a standard configuration of cars is still not very common. Do you remember the brand that retrofitted HUD in China, which once used “to get a driving fighter-like experience” to describe the product? To be honest, regardless of the huge difference in usage environment between the two, it is also a bit exaggerated to convey the experience of HUD in this way.

Whether it is various luxury brands or the newly released Apple CarPlay in early June, they have put a lot of effort into display methods and aesthetic design. The core display information of the instrument panel, such as speedometer and tachometer, is still unchanged despite the variety of designs, such as naked-eye 3D meter and various designs with richness comparable to the dial market.

With the visualization of ADAS, the user’s overall grasp of the road environment within a certain range has significantly increased. In our in-depth survey of intelligent car users, the vast majority of users said that after turning on the ADAS-related functions, they are most concerned about the relative position and movement of other traffic participants on the road. At the same time, some users also expressed dissatisfaction with the unstable performance of visualized information. For example, the system identifies the parked cars on the roadside in the community as approaching dynamically and triggers collision warnings and forced braking, or identifies pedestrians who have already walked far away in pedestrian-intensive areas such as the vegetable market as approaching and triggers pedestrian collision warnings.

On the ideal L9, the instrument panel has completed its historical mission, and the functions and responsibilities have been shared by HUD and the safety driving interactive screen on the steering wheel that uses Mini-LED technology.

We have had in-depth discussions with multiple groups of users, and everyone is relatively cautious about the form of HUD directly replacing the instrument panel. The main concerns are focused on the imaging effect and anti-interference ability that directly affect usability. However, another part of the users who have used HUD are relatively more tolerant. Some professional users believe that whether it can be well integrated with the driving assistance system of the vehicle is one of the core rules that affect the usability of HUD.

The HUD system of Ideal L9 is partly responsible by FUTURUS, a friend of GeekCar, located in Beijing, as the core supplier of future black technology.Ideal L9 provides a 13.35-inch HUD with a larger display space that includes information modules such as speed, speed limit, driving mode, gear, navigation, steering information, ADAS visualization, and more, which are sufficient for driving.

In actual use, the HUD of Ideal L9 rendered and controlled directly by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip has a high frame rate. This frame rate covers the changes in graphics and numbers, the real-time update of the navigation position, and the changes in the position of surrounding vehicles when cutting into the lane, resulting in a very smooth visual effect. This is particularly important for information modules such as navigation and ADAS visualization that emphasize real-time positioning and have a direct impact on driving safety and efficiency.

Compared with the previous practice of using a single MCU to process HUD in most cases, this is the correct use posture that is in line with the strong SoC identity. There are too many factors to consider when it comes to whether HUD is a toy that adds a finishing touch, a troublemaker, or a trusted driving interactive core interface. However, on the road where environmental information changes rapidly, “fast” is still the core indicator, especially when HUD becomes the core interactive interface.

“We believe that the product managers of Ideal Cars are very clear-headed. With HUD, users will significantly reduce the frequency of looking down at the instrument panel, and the instrument panel, as the original core display interface, will continue to dilute in its role and value. At the same time, users do not need to continue to switch their attention between two different-dimensional interfaces, and the brain’s way of recognizing information is fixed in the same dimension. The relatively more natural interaction method will also save energy expenditure during driving to a certain extent.”If the interface provided by HUD is clear and intuitive enough, and the optical display quality is good enough to help users quickly read information, rather than violently putting the entire navigation and instrument interface into the user’s field of vision. These are all tests for the technical level and design ability of the HUD team. In addition, continuous optimization of the HUD interface in subsequent OTAs to obtain a better experience is also essential.

On the second day after the official release, many familiar friends went offline to experience the Ideal L9 statically. I also caught up with one of the Ideal ONE owners and exchanged experiences about the HUD. The friend said that the static experience was very good and only waited for on-the-road verification.

The safety driving interaction screen on the steering wheel is one of the interesting designs we believe.

In the first batch of image spoilers of the Ideal L9 that began in March, it was still in the state of Ideal LOGO without any unnaturalness, and its true identity was only revealed in the second batch of spoilers.

According to public information, this safety driving interaction screen, which uses mini LED technology and multi-touch technology, is provided by JuFei Optoelectronics, a vehicle display supplier from Shenzhen. The safety driving interaction screen of the Ideal L9 can not only display necessary driving information clearly, but also realize touch interaction, and safely and conveniently select various functions including power mode.

Considering the changing lighting environment during driving, this screen has extremely high requirements for peak brightness.

We believe that there are three meanings to this safety driving interaction screen:

• After the traditional instrument panel disappears, the key driving information is borne by the HUD. Some relatively low-frequency and secondary information, such as power mode and energy consumption information, also need a relatively intuitive outlet. This screen can reduce the pressure on the HUD in terms of information richness, while also reducing the quantity of non-key information, as well as key but non-high-frequency information in the field of front vision.- The safe driving interaction screen can provide complete redundancy for HUD. In extreme and unpredictable lighting conditions, the screen with high peak brightness can stably display the speed and other information. At the same time, it provides users with a relatively stable implicit support on the psychological level, rather than relying entirely on HUD for the sense of security in displaying critical information. The screen located below the line of sight is within easy reach of the driver’s vision, and the gaze can quickly return to the front road after a simple glance.

• This car-grade Mini LED screen with multi-touch support is located at a position that can be easily touched by moving the hand slightly upward and touching with the thumb when holding the steering wheel with both hands. From the actual experience, the actions of flipping and selecting are very responsive, and the menu logic framework is extremely simple, ensuring ease of use. Similar to wearable devices such as smartwatches and smart bracelets, the operation of scrolling and switching the interface by flicking the thumb up and down has a very low learning cost, and users can quickly get started and master it.

A small screen reflects the ingenuity of the team behind it, and its function is practical.

Let’s take a look at the 3D ToF gesture control of the rear entertainment screen.

In the first picture spoiler in March of this year, the rear entertainment screen that can be connected to Nintendo Switch became one of the hot topics of this car. People discussed the most about “why play games in the car”.

I remember that the GeekCar editorial department also had a debate at that time, with the key point being “what is the most reasonable interaction method for that screen”. Some people said it was a remote control, some said it was voice, some said it was air gestures, and some said it was touch.

In the demonstration video released later, the little girl and her father performed a series of operations related to play, car control, and projection.

Thinking about it carefully, if it is centered on voice, although the six-tone recognition of Ideal L9 can accurately distinguish the location of the interaction initiator, it is not feasible to conduct purposeless browsing in the streaming media library or to perform various operations during playback. Even if it works, it will be considered foolish.There’s no need to even think about touch controls. Even for adults, it’s not a good experience to frequently raise their waist to touch the screen while sitting in the second row. Not to mention, the little passengers may need to stand up and click on the screen during the trip, and the potential safety risks are self-evident.

A remote control may be a good idea, but it is not the optimal solution. As for the operating experience of the smart TV remote control at home, once you get used to the touch controls on other smart devices, the remote control can only be regarded as a last resort. Moreover, the remote control is filled with many unused buttons, which not only affects the size of the peripherals, but also does not work well in environments with frequent changes in light and vehicle shaking.

To be honest, when Li Xiang talked about this page at the press conference, I smiled.

I believe that the operating methods that originally conform to people’s cognition actually have pain points that are difficult to make up for in a short period of time. These become the reasons that promote the selection of 3D ToF gesture control as the core method for rear entertainment screen. With a simple logic, as long as users of all ages can master it through simple learning and reasonable interactive guidance.

In the previous article “Gesture Interaction, Is It Reliable?”, we summarized the three major problems of gesture interaction, including recognition rate and stability, cultural differences, and learning costs. These are also the main reasons why many people have criticized gesture interaction in the car.

Can the Ideal L9 give the position of gesture interaction, which is in line with human nature, a good reputation in the car? Judging from the cautious selection and careful polishing of the Ideal team for the APP on-vehicle, the experience of this part can be expected.

After experiencing the cabin of Ideal L9, I had my own answer in my heart.

The rear entertainment screen based on the 3D ToF technology logic is not complicated. In the content menu interface, the palm is recognized as a cursor similar to a mouse pointer.

In operations that require large-scale movement such as sliding, the cursor is very responsive, and the delay can be ignored. More importantly, when operating remotely, the elbow can be supported on the armrest of the seat, which largely avoids the fatigue caused by the arm hanging in the air.The common operations during movie playback through hand gestures are as follows: the first gesture recognized by the Ideal L9 3D ToF hands-free gesture control is a horizontal swing with a fist for dragging the progress bar and a vertical swing for adjusting the volume.

Overall, the Ideal L9 3D ToF hands-free gesture control exceeded my expectations in terms of delay and follow-up degree, and is also able to satisfy needs for precise operations such as clicks.

However, I have a vague feeling that there is an optimal recognition zone for the sensor with respect to the palm of the hand, and that recognition rate might be affected if the distance is too close or too far. Nonetheless, this feature might have been adjusted as a compromise to accommodate the arm length of child passengers, and is only present for those who are new to this interaction.

After all, for most of the interactions available in the car, it actually takes a process of mutual adaptation and getting used to, after setting clear ability boundaries between people and machines.

By the way, I recall the subtitles in the official video that pay homage to “Star Wars”. The hands-free interaction method, combined with the strong force, is really interesting.

Finally, to be honest, the mood behind writing these words is somewhat complicated.

As with everything, some people like it while others may not. There have been criticisms both in our experience video and in media comments: some criticize that the new car’s design of a large number of functions is a “misplacement of priority” in terms of automobile design, or blame the 20-minute app crash after release as a despicable means of creating false excitement.

Some would even say, “Why do people only say good things? Why does it sound so annoying?”

On June 24th, Ideal Auto released a set of data: more than 30,000 pre-order users have paid a deposit of CNY 5,000, and the percentage of pre-order users who chose the electric pedal as the only hardware option reached 64%.

Very impressive.

When some viewers criticism of the Ideal L9 as a pile of functions, I realized that humans may not be able to understand each other, which is why we need product managers.In my opinion, what really makes L9 meaningful is not the news value for us and other media peers, but the team’s observation and thinking of the pain points of users’ demands, and the attempt to reasonably put the solutions into practice, whether it is the unattainable and fanciful features in many luxury cars and concept cars, or the fleeting novelties.

Therefore, it is not so much about the right person choosing the right car behind the hotness, as it is about the mutual pursuit of people and their needs. Ideal team’s product managers and interactive designers will have more highlights in this “all-in” on the new car.

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.