Last year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Volkswagen showed off a Golf R with a concept gesture-controlled infotainment system. This year, VW is back with the e-Golf Touch concept, which previews an updated infotainment system headed to the company’s cars in the near future. “How can we make the car smarter, safer, and more intuitive? ” asks Dr. Volkmar Tanneberger, Volkswagen global Head of Electric and Electronic Development. The new Modular Infotainment Toolkit (MIB) interface has a 9.2-inch touchscreen display with four touch-sensitive buttons beneath it, as well as a physical rotary switch. On the system’s home screen, drivers can select “tiles” that show specific information, such as the current song’s cover art or caller ID from a connected phone. Drivers can “stretch” those tiles to fill the entire display, for seeing things like navigation maps or Apple CarPlay/Android Auto smartphone displays. To keep your gadgets juiced up, the Volkswagen e-Golf Touch concept has wireless charging for smartphones, with a special inductive charging system built into the phone tray beneath the infotainment system. And there’s a USB Type-C port for high-speed charging of newer phones, tablets, and even laptops that support the new standard. Finally, the Volkswagen e-Golf Touch concept has a special amplification system so back-seat passengers can easily hear the driver. Using the hands-free calling microphone, the system automatically amplifies the driver’s voice for passengers, adjusting the volume to compensate for listening to loud music or for excessive road noise.
Ah, the joys of Web site statistics. Do you just scratch your head trying to make sense of the report's techno-babble? How much do you really understand? Can you differentiate between a stellar month and a poor month, or good design from bad? Can you identify Web site problem areas? Most of you read these reports, but have no idea what to look for. Before we look at what to measure, let's address why we measure. You should measure Web site effectiveness to help track advertising ROI, success (or shortcomings) in accomplishing Web site objectives, the impact of changes, and business function improvement. You should track and measure the "things" you expect from your Web site as they relate to your job role and business. If I hear one more Web site manager tell me "We just want people to read our information," I'm going to explode. Do yourself (and me) a favor, and ask yourself: Why do I want visitors to read our information? Which would you rather tell your boss?
1. Hey boss, people leave never to return after they read the information on our Web site! 2. Hey boss, people inquire and buy from us after they read the information on our Web site! Remember, potential customers constantly use your Web site to decide among purchase alternatives. Every entering visitor represents an opportunity to sell your service, product, or brand. Revisit the purpose of your Web site. What are its objectives? What do you want visitors to do once inside? What are your expectations? This determines what you measure. You may want to grow your newsletter distribution list. If that's the case, track the number of visitors who subscribe (during the report period) and compare it to the total number of entering unique visitors. That percentage is your Web site's macro-conversion rate for acquiring newsletter subscriptions. Take it a step further. Was it an increase or decrease? How many didn't subscribe? Note: you may have to pull data from sources other than your Web site statistic report. Track micro-conversion rates to help pinpoint problem areas. For example, what percentage of visitors did not click beyond your home page? What percentage viewed your contact form, but failed to submit it? Track the components that support the objective. For example, how long did an average visitor stay inside your Web site? How long did she stay on a specific service page? This will help pinpoint problem areas. Key metrics can prove Web site improvements are necessary. Which search terms did visitors use to find your Web site? Are they relevant to your business? If not, your Web site will struggle. Irrelevant search terms will reduce homepage effectiveness, which hurts the macro-conversion rate and ultimately prevents online success. Yeah, yeah, yeah - it's golf season.
The model puts the next-gen infotainment system into the spotlight and features the company’s gesture control system and the MIB (Modular Infotainment Toolkit) with a 9.2-inch high-res display. There are four touch-sensitive buttons facing the driver (Menu, Home, Car, App) and a push-rotary switch and, just as expected, the technology provides support for Android Auto, Apple CarPlay and MirrorLink. Smartphone notifications will be shown on the display and these can be read aloud at the driver’s request. VW’s CES concept car comes with wireless charging, thanks to the inductive charging system integrated into the mobile phone tray, under the infotainment system, while smartphones can also be charged, wirelessly, in the back seats, via the rear armrests. High-speed USB data transfer is available too, as the car is equipped with a new USB Type C port. Speaking of the rear seat occupants, the driver can communicate with them better thanks to the electronic voice amplification, a system that uses a hands-free microphone in conjunction with the rear speakers. The driver can also store individual settings in a user account in the cloud, via Personalization 2.0, using the Volkswagen Car-Net ID. This feature allows the man / woman behind the wheel to load up the saved settings into another car too. The Car-Net has been updated and hosts new programs that include Calendar Import and Intelligent Route Planning.
