Faurecia Oasis seat (Faurecia)
La-Z-Boy is about to get out la-z-ed.
Two automotive seat suppliers are developing fully automatic car seats that use cameras and pressure sensors to autonomously adjust themselves to the shape of their occupants, Automotive News reports.
Faurecia and Johnson Controls are each working on the sci-fi style chairs, and the technology could debut in a production car as early as next year.
Faurecia’s Oasis seat uses a video camera and pressure sensors to alleviate the toil of occupants having to make manual adjustments to seats that in luxury cars today can be adjusted in as many as 22 different ways. It also incorporates a massage function and built-in audio system.
Johnson Control’s take asks passengers to enter their height, then adjusts the head and leg rests while using pressure sensors to position them into the perfect posture, as the car deems fit.
While Johnson Control’s version is in the early stages of testing, Faurecia tells Automotive News that it expects to see elements of its seat incorporated into a North American automaker’s car in 2015.
Possible candidates include Cadillac’s rumored super sedan, as Faurecia already supplies interior components to the brand’s ATS sedan, or a Mercedes-Benz model, considering that the current Alabama-built GL SUV uses Faurecia seating.
Either way, it looks like you’ll soon be able to sit back, relax and…not have to do much else.