HARMAN, an automotive technology company and subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. focused on designing consumer experiences at automotive grade, today unveiled its latest road-ready innovations that can deliver tangible and meaningful automotive experiences to drivers, passengers, and other road users. The HARMAN EXPLORE showcase, on display during CES 2023 at the Virgin Hotel in Las Vegas, features live in-vehicle demonstrations of new products, ready now for integration by OEMs and designed to enhance safety, well-being, and entertainment in new ways.

Visitors to the HARMAN EXPLORE showcase will have the opportunity to participate in live demonstrations of HARMAN’s latest products to experience how new technologies will impact drivers, pedestrians, and the communities we travel within. All innovations — from Ready Care, which features an industry-first visual and cognitive load measurement product that keeps eyes and mind on the road, to Ready on Demand, an industry-first product that features a software platform for delivering branded audio experiences — reflect the meaningful features and technology that consumers want to see in their vehicles today and tomorrow.

In addition, each new product unveiled at HARMAN EXPLORE 2023 can work independently to deliver specific benefits, or can be integrated for an even more enhanced safety, well-being, or entertainment experience. And, because they are from HARMAN, each innovation is designed to meet the rigorous demands and standards of the automotive environment — a value proposition that HARMAN calls 'Consumer Experiences. Automotive Grade.’

“The consumerization of automotive has rapidly and drastically changed expectations for what vehicles today need to deliver,” said Christian Sobottka, President, Automotive at HARMAN International. “We all expect our vehicles to become an extension of our digital lives and deliver the same connected experiences we enjoy at home, at work, and everywhere in between. At the HARMAN EXPLORE showcase during CES 2023, we’re excited to show our latest innovations that are built with consumer experiences in mind, at automotive grade. From leveraging real-time data to improve safety to infusing consumer electronics innovations into the cabin, we’ll demonstrate how thoughtfully applied technology can transform vehicles from simple transportation into vehicles that connect our digital and physical lives — today as opposed to years from now.”

On display during the HARMAN EXPLORE 2023 Showcase in the Virgin Hotel January 4 through January 7, HARMAN will feature the following interactive automotive demonstrations:

• Ready Care: HARMAN Ready Care is the industry’s first closed-loop interior sensing and tailored interventions product that measures a driver’s eye activity, cognitive load and vital signs to determine the level of focus and attention on the road ahead. Using neuroscience, artificial intelligence and machine learning, Ready Care classifies a driver’s behavior into a focused versus distracted state and initiates a personalized in-cabin response to help mitigate dangerous driving situations such as stress, anxiety, distraction, and drowsiness. Through the September 2022 HARMAN acquisition of CAARESYS, Ready Care now incorporates additional in-cabin sensors that offer child presence detection and contactless measurement of human vitals such as heart rate, breathing rate and inter-beat levels to determine a driver’s state of well-being.
• Ready Display: Launching with Neo QLED Auto, Ready Display optimizes premium performance, price and design to fit virtually any modern vehicle display need. Consumers today demand the engaging and advanced visual experience that we’ve come to expect from smartphones and similar technologies. Through its relationship with Samsung, HARMAN applied consumer electronics innovations into its Ready Display technologies. As a result, Ready Display delivers on both visual experience and cost effectiveness to create a product that meets consumer expectations and OEM development needs.
• Ready on Demand: Ready on Demand is a software platform for delivering branded audio value, feature enhancement, upgrades, and monetization opportunities in an easy to-use app. An industry first product, Ready on Demand is the foundation for providing expanded experiences and future upgrades that can be unlocked by the consumer at any time via in-app purchases throughout the life of the vehicle. In addition, Ready on Demand demonstrates the ability to differentiate and personalize branded audio systems as naturally as consumers add features to their smartphones now, and with even more “wow” effect. Ready on Demand also provides a means to extend feature availability beyond the original point of sale and introduce new features as they become available.
• Ready Upgrade: Just like a smartphone needs software updates to ensure users are receiving the latest in security features and applications, vehicles need regular updates too. HARMAN is introducing Ready Upgrade to provide OEMs and their drivers with innovative software and hardware that enables frequent and efficient interface updates. As a result, consumers will enjoy a longer vehicle life cycle that keeps pace with their needs and preferences due to a much-shortened development cycle, and reduces new feature time to market and cost for OEMs with low-code software development tools, pre-validated software, and production-ready hardware.
• Ready Vision: Ready Vision provides an immersive audio-visual experience to assist the driver and create a safer and more informed journey with its Augmented Reality (AR) head-up display hardware and AR software. As technology becomes more accessible in our vehicles, multiple screens and alerts heighten the risk of driver distraction and place a strain on cognitive load. Ready Vision provides OEMs with an end-to-end product that combines a wedgeless display with a large field of view, directional audio alerts, and AR technology to serve the right content, at the right time, with the right level of visual detail. As a result, drivers are empowered with the optimal level of information that helps them focus on the road ahead.
• Sound and Vibration Sensor + External Microphone: HARMAN will debut its Sound and Vibration Sensor and External Microphone products, which allow for a variety of applications to enhance safety and user experience, from detecting emergency vehicle sirens to listening for exterior speech commands from drivers or traffic controllers to detecting glass breakage or vehicle impact. The Sound and Vibration Sensor can be invisibly integrated into a vehicle’s exterior while the External Microphone has been designed to withstand environmental elements and can be configured as a single element or multi-element array. Enhanced communication possibilities for drivers, passengers, emergency vehicles and other vehicles on the road are all enabled by external microphones and sensors, which enable greater ease of use, safer interactions and new vehicle features for EVs and autonomous vehicles of today and tomorrow.

Each of these new products, along with additional HARMAN innovations, will be on display at the HARMAN EXPLORE showcase during CES this week at the Virgin Hotel in Las Vegas. Attendees can experience each of these in a live demonstration, see how products integrate for enhanced benefits, and hear from experts on how HARMAN’s latest technologies are delivering consumer experiences at an automotive grade.