Partnership creates touch surfaces for car interiors

Coating manufacturer Kurz Group, Fürth, Germany, has developed a human-machine interface (HMI) concept car panel with several partnering companies and its own subsidiaries. Concept vehicles of auto manufacturers increasingly feature car cockpits with no mechanical switches or buttons. The solid, seamless and curved surfaces are instead equipped with functions activated by touch. Control elements, concealed under the surface, only become visible when required. For Kurz Group’s HMI concept panel, the central operating element is a touchscreen with multi-touch function and supplementary touch buttons. The touch panel is used to control a backlighting function integrated into the design. When the illumination is deactivated, the touch controls and ambient lighting disappear. Photo: Kurz Group.