Predictive touch keeps eyes on the road and fingers off screens

Developed by Jaguar Land Rover and Cambridge University, the patented predictive touch technology is said to use artificial intelligence and sensors to predict a user’s intended target on the touchscreen - such as sat nav - without touching a button.

Interview: Elizabeth Hill of Jaguar Land Rover

Lab-tests and on-road trials showed the predictive touch technology could reduce a driver’s touchscreen interaction effort and time by up to 50 per cent, as well as limiting the spread of bacteria and viruses in a post COVID-19 world.

According to Jaguar Land Rover, artificial intelligence determines the item the user intends to select on the screen early in the pointing task, speeding up the interaction. The company add that a gesture tracker uses vision-based or radio frequency-based sensors to combine contextual information such as user profile, interface design and environmental conditions with data available from other sensors, such as an eye-gaze tracker, to infer the user’s intent in real time.