Volkswagen is on the hunt for Tesla Model 3 buyers with its new ID.7 sedan and since the car looks about as exciting as the small print on a loan application you might be filling out to buy it, VW’s engineers have come up with an interesting tech to tempt us into showrooms: smart air vents.
We heard about the ID.7’s intelligent air conditioning system at CES in Las Vegas earlier this month when VW unveiled a disguised version of the car we’ll see in full later this year. But now it’s released a video showing the climate control and its trick vents in action.
The clever techy stuff starts before you’ve even dropped your butt into the driver’s seat, as the car recognizes the key as you approach the door and activates a suitable stream of air. That means cold air on hot days and vice versa, the breeze being distributed over a large area via “dynamic horizontal movements” of the electronically controlled vents.
Once you’re in the car you can use the controls on the new 15-inch infotainment screen, whose climate keys are always accessible no matter what other content the screen is displaying. And answering the criticisms from existing VW owners, those temperate sliders are now backlit so you can see them at night.
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Not that you need to use your hands anyway. The system responds to voice controls, switching on the ID.7’s heated steering wheel and blowing warm air at your hands if you tell it your mitts are cold, for instance. And the system can even recognize which angle the sun’s light is coming from thanks to a sensor in the windshield, and if necessary will blow air to a particular portion of the car to equalize the temperature. The setup can also be personalized to suit different drivers if the car is shared between multiple users, much like electric seat positions can be stored on current cars.
We don’t have long to wait now until VW unveils the production ID.7 and we’ll get some idea of whether the smart climate system is a game-changing feature or just another pointless bit of tech that adds weight and that no one really needs. The firm’s first all-electric sedan will be revealed in the second quarter of this year before arriving in European and Chinese showrooms later in 2023, and in North American dealers in 2024.
