The Volkswagen ID. 4 Will Talk To You Using Light

Many manufacturers nowadays are including unique interfaces in their vehicles to allow occupants to communicate with it, and vice versa. Some use heads-up displays, while others use voice controls, but in the case of Volkswagen’s ID. 4, they’ve come up with a different solution that in some ways, reminds us of smart speakers such as the Amazon Echo and Google Nest. 

Called the ID. Light, the system is a long strip of 54 LEDs that spans the width of the car’s dashboard. It uses colors and patterns to communicate information to the driver or passengers of the vehicle.

Some of those include sweeping in the direction of navigation instructions, filling up as an indicator of charging status, and acting as a visual waveform for the car’s virtual assistant. The light is positioned to be in the driver’s peripheral vision, so they can still safely focus on the road even while receiving information.

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As soon as the driver steps into the ID. 4, the ID. Light greets them with welcome animation in the brand’s colors of white and blue. Also, since the ID. 4 is electric, and therefore doesn’t make noise, the light makes the reverse pattern to let the driver know the car is off before they leave. Incoming phone calls register as a green pulse in the center, and warnings for things like emergency braking come as harsh flashing in red.

Mathias Kuhn, Volkswagen’s Head of User Interface Design commented on the ID. Light, saying, “We were looking for a new kind of communication between the car and the human. We wanted to create a minimalistic, yet revolutionary interaction that was both easy to understand and emotional.”

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VW also believes it will help reduce distractions.

“As screens in the vehicle grow bigger, it can take more time for your brain to look at the display and process all the information you need to receive from them,” said Stefan Franke, the “father” of the part at Volkswagen. “Even hearing a navigation system tell you a direction makes your brain pause a second to understand the remark. We knew we needed to find new ways to communicate with drivers to help minimize distractions from the driving task.”

The ID.4 (and ID. 3) are Volkswagen’s first EVs to include the ID. Light as standard, and the company only plans to add to its capabilities as time goes on via over-the-air updates.