BYD’s New Patent Allows Steering Wheel to Control In-Car Gaming

On October 18, a patent named “Graphical User Interface for Game Operation Settings on Screen Panels” applied by BYD was authorized and made public.

According to public information, the patent belongs to the type of design which can be used to display the current status of the automobile, its applications and communications. The key point of the design lies in the content of the graphical user interface that can be displayed onscreen. The graphical user interface can be used to connect the steering wheel or controller with in-car games based on the vehicle system, so as to realize the connection between the steering wheel or controller and the in-car gaming.

In the main interface, when the user clicks the “Start Game” button, an in-car game application will be shown and the gaming functions can be operated through the steering wheel. The display screen panel can be the central control screen of the vehicle, vehicle-mounted computers, smartphones, tablets and computers.

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In recent years, with the development of smart cars, car entertainment controls based on the enclosed space of a vehicle have attracted automobile enterprises to invest in the field of car entertainment.

At present, Tesla has its “Tesla Arcade” gaming platform already built into the car system. BMW Group announced that it will work with the game platform AirConsole to launch a series of in-car single-player and multiplayer casual games, and the BMW 7 Series will adopt the features in 2023. In the domestic market, Li Auto‘s L9 can connect a Switch console with the central control screen, the co-pilot entertainment screen and the rear screens through a Type-C cable. XPeng Motors and Huawei-backed AITO have also adopted mobile game operability for several vehicle models.

However, safety problems presented by in-car gaming has become a real barrier to overcome, and automobile manufacturers are avoiding potential risks and disputes via restrictions. Tesla has turned off the gaming function when the vehicle is in a driving state; XPeng said that the in-car game operation can only be started when the vehicle is parked; BMW also announced that AirConsole games will only be started when the car is parked in the future. The Li Auto‘s L9 co-pilot entertainment screen and rear screens support Bluetooth headphones, so that the contents of the corresponding screens can be played through headphones, thus avoiding any distractions to the driver.

In a nutshell, with the continuous enrichment of the entertainment ecology of devices within vehicles and the further efforts of major companies in building those configurations, the market potential of vehicle entertainment is considerable. According to ICVTank, by 2025, the market size of smart console in China will reach 103 billion yuan ($14.2 billion), of which the market size of vehicle infotainment systems will account for 46.4%.