Cadillac CUE: Intuitive & Connected Driving in 2012

Cadillac CUE, a comprehensive in-vehicle experience that merges intuitive design with auto industry-first controls and commands for information and entertainment data, will benefit consumers by offering personalized, connected driving beginning in 2012.

“CUE will transform personal transportation by  simply and efficiently integrating luxury design and instinctive technology with unparalleled levels of customized in-vehicle connectivity,” Don Butler, Vice President, Cadillac Marketing, announced at the CTIA Wireless Association’s Enterprise and Applications conference.

CUE will debut in 2012 in the Cadillac XTS and ATS luxury sedans and SRX luxury crossover. CUE is designed to be unique for each consumer, from the “simple user” to the fully connected “super user.”

“For the tech-savvy, it’s everything you want it to be – a full suite of infotainment, navigation and communication tools that keeps you fully connected. For the tech-averse, its power is remarkably simple, intuitive and accessible,” Butler said.

CUE, which stands for Cadillac User Experience, will pair entertainment and information data from up to 10 Bluetooth-enabled mobile devices, USBs, SD cards and MP3 players with a vehicle infotainment system that reduces complexity through customized information, natural voice commands and fewer buttons and larger icons

For example, most of today’s luxury cars have around 20 buttons controlling the radio and entertainment functions. CUE reduces that to just four buttons.

“CUE doesn’t replace your smartphone or your iPod™,” said Micky Bly, executive director, Global Electric Systems, Infotainment and Electrification.  “Rather it allows consumers to securely store those mobile devices and channeling the information on those devices, along with your navigation tools, weather maps with Doppler radar, AM/FM and XM radio, instant messages and emails, through a central portal in your Cadillac, keeping hands on the wheel and eyes on the road.”

The heart of CUE is the 8-inch LCD touch screen, seamlessly integrated into the top of the central instrument panel and a motorized fully capacitive  faceplate at the bottom concealing a 1.8L storage area.   The vibrant LCD screen displays CUE’s home page, which resembles a smart phone’s screen by using large, easy-to-target icons to execute commands. Capacitive refers to using electrodes to sense the conductive properties of objects, such as a finger.

“CUE is a very elegant in-vehicle hub of all the information and entertainment in your life. All of CUE’s controls use the same design vernac¬ular to create a harmony unique to Cadillac,” said Dave Lyon, executive director, Cadillac Interior Design. “Vibrant colors, a piano black face plate, precision-milled buttons, intuitive touch screen placement and sculpted front console provide a spacious, fashion-forward cabin.”

To improve simplicity and connectivity for consumers, CUE will feature several auto industry firsts.
• Proximity Sensing:  As the user’s hand approaches the   LCD screen, command icons appear. Icons can be customized and arranged by consumers to improve ease of use.
• Haptic Feedback: Buttons on the fully capacitive faceplate pulse when pressed to acknowledge the driver’s commands and helps keep the driver’s eyes on the road.
• Multi-Touch Hand Gestures: interactive motions (tap, flick, swipe and spread) popularized by smartphones and tablets allow tasks on the LCD screen, such as scrolling lists, zooming maps and searching favorites to be easily accomplished.
• 12.3 in. LCD reconfigurable gauge cluster (on select models) offers four selectable displays – Simple, Enhanced, Balanced  and Performance  – that can mix traditional vehicle data such as a speedometer and fuel gauge with navigation, entertainment and 3D vehicle image.
• Natural Speech Recognition lets consumers speak logically with fewer specific commands to recall stored media or input navigation destinations. CUE’s text-to-speech feature will also allow consumers to receive text messages by system voice and to send recorded text messages in return. 
• Linux operating system, “open” software platform and ARM 11 3-core processor, each operating at 400 million of instructions (mips) per second. This  hardware setup offers 3.5 times more processing power  than current infotainment systems, and allow developers to write applications to CUE that be downloaded by consumers. 

“It’s processing speed and power that make CUE so capable,” said Bly.

CUE development began in 2008 when Cadillac designers rode with 32 consumers for six months to study driver habits. Engineers and designers then used the data to develop CUE.

CUE’s LCD screen features the driver’s five most frequently used functions stored along the top of the screen. Along the bottom of the screen, users can select up to 60 favorites from music to points of interest, addresses, maps for weather or directions, phone numbers or system commands, such as “tag song.”

Favorites can also be re-ordered and named to be easily recallable. The steering wheel contains a five-way controller on the right side to navigate the cluster display, a vol¬ume control and buttons to cycle through favorites, while the five-way controller on the left side manages cruise con¬trol functions, voice recognition, phone hang-up and heated steering wheel.
 
CUE’s customization and control features are further enhanced through OnStar’s suite of safety, security and connectivity  services , such as Turn-by-Turn navigation, Automatic Crash Notification, hands-free calling and the OnStar RemoteLink mobile application.

Key OnStar features are available through CUE’s LCD screen, gauge cluster and steering wheel controls.

• CUE borrows the gestures used on tablets and smart phones and brings them to a car, with homepages, less text, large icons and the ability to customize your information. This makes connectivity simple
• Industry-first proximity sensing: Screen layout, clean and uncluttered, brings only the information the driver needs¬ – when they need it. As the user’s hand approaches, icons appear and carry out commands. Icons can be customized and arranged by consumers
• Industry-first haptic feedback: Buttons on the fully capacitive faceplate and screen pulse when pressed to affirm that the command is being carried out. This technology gives the customer familiar tactile feedback with the clean, edgeless design of a capacitive touch panel
• Industry-first capacitive multi-touch interface: interactive gestures (tap, flick, swipe and spread), made popular by smart phones and tablets, make it easy to scroll through lists, enlarge maps or search for favorites
• Industry-first natural speech recognition: lets consumers speak as they would in conversation and not with awkward commands and sequences. This makes it easier to recall stored media or input navigation destinations 
• Linux operating system, “open source” software platform and 3-core, ARM 11 processor; executing 1.2 billion instructions per second (400 MIPS per core).
• For developers: CUE uses a Java script, HTML5-enabled browser
• CUE’s software can be upgraded during the life of the vehicle, so the infotainment system never becomes outdated
• The colors pop off a piano black background. The screen has 24-bit color depth and its 1000 nit brightness, which is more than two times brighter than an iPad or current navigation systems and five times brighter than a laptop. Unlike displays in consumer devices, the screen has been tested to -40 degrees Fahrenheit
• CUE’s center stack display is a vivid 8-inch LCD touch screen, with an industry-first capacitive, optical lens – eliminating the old picture-framed integration. A motorized faceplate at the bottom, conceals a unique 1.8-liter storage area for smart phones, wallets, garage door openers and sunglasses
• Text messages can be read to you while you drive. Automated responses are provided or you can create your own customized responses
• The most frequently used applications are available along the top of every screen in the system in an ‘app tray.’ This app tray can be customized, the user can simply drag any icon from the home page to the top of the screen, and this will be accessible from anywhere in the system
• Weather maps with Doppler radar and 3D navigation maps with turn-by-turn directions
• 12.3-inch reconfigurable LCD gauge cluster (available on select models) can be customized into one of four screen layouts. These “packages” mix traditional vehicle data, such as readouts for fuel levels and speed, with navigation, phone and entertainment information
• The 12.3-inch gauge cluster features a 3D animated car with performance data callouts
• Built-in HD Radio that makes AM radio sound as crisp as a CD recording
• Designed under the philosophy of offering contextual information and reduced complexity (from 20 audio buttons to 4)
• The dramatic ‘piano black’ center stack has graphics that are lit at up to 1000 nits when the system is operating. These graphics disappear completely when turned off – making it a sculpted and artistic centerpiece
• Audio, phone and navigation are integrated into the instrument cluster. The driver manages this information from the steering wheel controls, or voice recognition, keeping hands on the wheel and eyes on the road
• Industry first: Single line destination entry for navigation. Allows users to enter simple approximations for destinations and leverages search and auto-fill functions to complete specific address options
• CUE automatically aggregates music into a single list from multiple media devices. The driver can speak a song command and CUE will carry it out, from whichever device it’s stored (USB, SD card, MP3 player, smart phone or tablet)
• With a simple swipe of a hand, turn-by-turn navigation or audio information can be moved from the center display to the instrument cluster
• Ability to store up to 60 presets or ‘favorites’ from music, to points of interest, addresses, maps for weather or directions, phone numbers or system commands, such as “tag song”

Other features include:
• AM/FM/HD and XM radio
• 2 USB ports
• SD card
• Latest Bluetooth 3.0 hardware
• Bluetooth phone synchronization (address-book, contacts, pictures)
• Bluetooth Audio Streaming (AVRCP 1.4 supports browsing of media players)
• Natural Language Speech recognition for music, phone and navigation
• iPod integration
• Rear-facing camera, w/dynamic gridlines to assist the driver when backing up
• Available BluRay rear seat entertainment
• Pandora and Stitcher availability